Speech

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Dorota is a university lecturer, working 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 per minute of each […]

You’ll remember that Ying was a learner who kept a diary about learning to listen. She wrote: ‘Sometimes when a familiar word is used in a sentence, I couldn’t catch it. Maybe it changes somewhere when it is used in a sentence.’ (Goh 1997, p. 366) Ying’s dilemma is this: does she ‘know’ a word, […]

The evidence of everyday speech shows that the patterns of the stream of speech pull words out of shape. That is, the stream of speech changes the soundshapes that are given in the dictionary, often making them unrecognisable to learners. The speaker’s choice of which words to highlight has consequences for the sound-shapes of the […]

Caroline is a university researcher, working 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 per minute of each […]

Atsuko is a teacher of English in Japan. She has to speak English every day at work, and during her visits to 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 […]

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 […]

Students often ask advice about the correct way to say a sentence. Consider this one: ‘I read in a newspaper this morning that he wasn’t happy with you’. When giving advice, we might have recourse to text book rules and recommend placing prominences in the ‘content’ words, and dividing the sentence into two tone units. […]

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 […]

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 […]

Anne Hodgson lives and works in Germany, and writes a blog entitled ‘The Island Weekly’. She has written a great review of Phonology for Listening here. She ends the review thus: … Phonology for Listening represents an original and enormously practical approach to teaching an essential language skill that needs attention, and is clearly in […]

Wayne Rimmer (DOS, BKC-International House, Moscow, Russia; IATEFL PronSig coordinator) wrote this in the January 2014 issue of Modern English Teacher (you can download a pdf here – the review begins on page 80).

Jane Setter is Professor of Phonetics at the University of Reading in the UK. She has written an eight-page review, and gives a very good account of Phonology for Listening. She begins: Richard Cauldwell’s approach to speech, listening and pronunciation teaching and learning in English incorporates the best features of traditional methods with the recognition that […]

Phonology for Listening is a masterpiece of its time. You can read more here, and the full review here. Review in the Journal of Second Language Pronunciation, by Sinem Sonsaat A great reference book for researchers who are interested in second language listening and pronunciation instruction. Review from a Newsletter for ESOL teachers in Essex, by […]