L1 speakers and expert L2 speakers of English are generally not aware of the variety of soundshapes that spoken words have. L1 speakers understand meanings without realising that there is very often a big difference between the soundshapes that occur in the acoustic blur of speech and the citation soundshapes that words have. The acoustic […]
Image from here. This post follows on from Listening Cherry 17. It continues to consider, guided by Sir Christopher Ricks’s commentary, the intonation of the final line of Philip Larkin’s poem An Arundel Tomb. What will survive of us is love. Ricks writes: … If you were to stress both ‘survive’ and ‘us’, the line would […]
Image from here One of Philip Larkin’s most famous poems is ‘An Arundel Tomb’. It is a poem about the tomb in Chichester Cathedral which you can see in the image. The key thing to notice is that the two figures have their hands joined. Here is the last stanza. Time has transfigured them into […]
In my previous posting I explained that phonologists/phoneticians (in their publications aimed at the ELT profession) mention the facts of everyday speech in ways that (a) downplay its true nature and (b) ignore the goal of listening. Their emphasis is on the genteel route to acceptable pronunciation. Unfortunately this genteel route is followed with an earnest […]
In the previous post I argued/complained that things that we teach, and get taught would fail a reality check. These were the rules of connected speech which we teach our students, and the phonology we get taught in our teacher-training. We are given simple rules which are easy to teach, which are good for promoting intelligible pronunciation […]
I am a big fan, and avid user, of Sonocent’s AudioNotetaker. I first came across it in 2012, and wrote about it in the final chapter of my book, Phonology for Listening. What makes AudioNotetaker so attractive is that it enables me to have images, text, and audio side by side in the same view. […]
Below are listed the research articles which provide the underpinnings for Speechinaction’s commerical publications. Many of the articles published since 1999 are available online – just click the link. All the articles are by Richard Cauldwell, unless otherwise mentioned. 2016 Consonant death and the teaching of listening perception. Conference presentation. IATEFL, Birmingham. Available here. 2015 […]
Discourse Intonation is an approach to the teaching and analysis of everyday speech. It consists of four components: a theory, a set of categories & realisations, a notation, and transcription practice. A list of key publications, which have had a major influence on classroom practice is given at the bottom of this page. Theory Discourse […]
Speech in Action is the publisher of Cool Speech and Phonology for Listening. A prize-winning publisher Our first publication, a CDROM, appeared in 2002 – the British/Irish Version of Streaming Speech: Listening and Pronunciation for Advanced Learners of English. This was a ten chapter publication for advanced learners of English which uses unscripted speech. The […]
Ulises is a medical consultant working in a major hospital in England. Click the speaker icon to hear all of the extract. Click on each line to hear that line. The numbers down the left hand side are reference numbers for each line. The numbers down the right hand side give the speed in words […]
Murray Walker, the famous British motor racing commentator, once said in a radio interview: ‘When I consider Formula One racing now with what it was twenty years ago, it’s safer, but not completely safe.’ Click on the loudspeaker to hear all of the words he said, or click on a line to hear it on […]
David Brazil (1925-1995) was the originator of Discourse Intonation. Below are brief details of his life and work. More detailed information can be found by clicking in the appropriate places. Make sure your sound system is turned on click on his picture below, and you will hear his voice. David Brazil was born on 1st […]
Mohamed is a university lecturer, who has worked in Sudan, England, and the United States. Click the speaker icon to hear all of the extract. Click on each line to hear that line. The numbers down the left hand side are reference numbers for each line. The numbers down the right hand side give the […]
Cool Speech: Hot Listening, Cool Pronunciation – Speech in Action
Buy the iPad app here Downloadable Teacher’s Guides for introducing Cool Speech are here and Student Guides are here Cool Speech is a prize-winning English Language Teaching app for listening and pronunciation. It provides intensive listening practice, and teaches fluent pronunciation, using recordings of spontaneous speech. It is suitable for upper-intermediate and advanced students of […]