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 […]
This is an example of how limericks may be used to practise pronunciation. The aim is to practise making the contrast between the ‘sheep’ and ‘ship’ vowels accurately, and to practise at different speeds. The idea is to give learners something memorable which they can practise first on their mobile device/computer and which they can […]
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 […]
I am delighted that Phonology for Listening has been shortlisted for the ELTon for Innovation in Teacher Resources. It is the third time it has been shortlisted since its publication last April. So may be third time lucky – but the competition looks fierce: Digital Literacies – Routledge (Taylor and Francis) The Disabled Access Friendly campaign […]
Richard (right) and Charlie with the award. On Thursday 22nd May, Richard Cauldwell and Charlie Warburton (Firsty Group) received a prestigious award – the British Council ELTon for Digital Innovation. Judge’s comment: I thought this was great. I can listen at different speeds, build up, try dictation. Record my own voice trying to speak faster […]
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 […]
Helen Ashton and Sarah Shepherd I went to a startlingly brilliant talk on accents at the British Council in London on Thursday 16th. It was given by two people who are somewhat outside the ELT professon: they are accent coaches who work with actors, and teach in schools of drama – but who also work […]
Stress timing is a term with only one legitimate use: as a shorthand term for pedagogic exercises which demonstrate the relationship between prominent and non-prominent syllables (stressed and unstressed syllables if you prefer) in isolated clauses. The term, even in this use, is misleading. It is a relic from a much discredited (but surviving, and […]
Image from here. I believe that 23rd May (next Monday!) is the due date for the publication of the new EPUB 3.0 standard for electronic publications (books read on mobile devices). I don’t speak to many people ‘in the know’ about it, but two that I do are both associated with Firsty Group who seem […]
Hi Everyone, Thanks for the comments and questions. Ray, I see the three-part metaphor being used at all levels, in ways that I hope will become clear over the next few days. I believe we need to get students at all levels familiar and comfortable with the idea that the words they know have a […]
I am working on some experimental listening materials with Sheila Thorn of ‘The Listening Business’. We have just had a very interesting disagreement about a recording, involving Randy from Montana USA. Is he saying [1] or [2] below? You will hear both the original and a slowed down version. [1] And he was like ‘Oh […]
Image from here I promised more about squeeze zones. Here it is. The reason for my fascination with listening, and for my interest in squeeze zones, comes from reading an article about a Singaporean learner called Ying. Ying is a learner who kept a diary about her experiences while she was learning to listen. She […]
MET – Rimmer | Speech in Action
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).