Beth Sheppard and Brian Butler of the University of Oregon published a paper last year (Sheppard & Butler, 2017 – full reference below) which interests me greatly, as it investigates learners’ ability to decode the stream of speech. This is the first of three posts where I take one of their findings, and then rant […]
Image from here Specific rave The recordings are the star feature of this publication by Ian Badger. They are gorgeous. They come in mp3 format on a data CD, and they vary in length from 22 seconds (message on telephone answering machine) to 2 minutes 44 seconds (registering for, and starting a conference call). Being […]
There is one major prerequisite for becoming an effective user of a language. (Being a prerequisite means that it is an essential requirement before you can start doing anything meaningful.) This prerequisite is ‘substance mastery’. By this I mean mastery of the substances of both writing and speech, the ability to form (in writing and speaking), […]
Limericks for Pronunciation and Listening takes minimal pairs (& trios) of vowels and consonants into original fun (clean) limericks which will enable people to practise pronunciation at different speeds. This link has an example which gives practice in distinguishing between the short vowel in Tim and the long vowel in team, at slow medium and […]
We teach listening well – that’s the problem. We have a well-established listening comprehension methodology which counts as/masquerades as ‘all we need to do to help learners achieve their listening objectives’. It has evolved over decades to fit what we think our learners can (sort of) manage and what teachers can actually manage. To qualify […]
The first video is below, or here, and is available from 1st May 2020. The other three videos will be released one by one over the first ten days of May. Handouts and sound files are here. The second video is below, or here. The third video is below, or here. The fourth video is […]
Alice Henderson works at the University of Savoie, and has written a review of Phonology for Listening in the Journal of the International Phonetic Association – the August 2014 issue. Like Jane Setter’s review, it gives a comprehensive account of the contents of the book and ends: This book, from an author who seems genuinely interested […]
Streaming Speech: Listening and Pronunciation for Advanced Learners of English (USA and Canada) was published in 2004 as part of a family of publications that were part of an online service. It is a twin publication to the British and Irish version of Streaming Speech. Like the British/Irish version, it has eight main chapters each […]
Damien Herlihy, who runs a language school in Thailand, provided the following comments after trialling Jungle Listening. Overall Overall these materials fit in nicely with Phonology for Listening and Cool Speech. They address the gap of not having pre-made materials for teachers to use in the classroom. It allows teachers to teach these concepts in […]
A number of authors make good use of Limericks to teach pronunciation. I have been doing it for years in my teaching, most recently using Sonocent’s AudioNotetaker. 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 […]
Jungle Listening: Survival Tips for Fast Speech This is a pilot publication of ten units of demonstrating how listening to fast speech can be taught using Presentation/Practice/Free Production methodology. Student’s Book and Teacher’s Book are available in pdf form, sound files are available for download from this website. More here. Limericks for Pronunciation and Listening […]
Sinem Sonsaat has written a review in the first issue of a new journal, Journal of Second Language Pronunciation. Her review ends with this stunning last paragraph: This book is definitely as crucial to second language pronunciation teaching and learning as it is to listening. Currently I am teaching oral communication skills to the international teaching assistant at Iowa […]
The sound files are available either as a download, or to view and hear on webpages. The downloadable sound files for all the extracts in the book are available from here. (Extract 22.13 was updated on 19th March 2018). The webpages where you can see click and hear the sound files are listed below. Click […]
Phonology for Listening – Speech in Action
Buy print from BEBC or Amazon. Sound files are here. First published in 2013, Phonology for Listening was shortlisted for three prizes: The British Council’s ELTon, the English Speaking Union’s Book Prize, and for the Ben Warren International House Trust prize. It has received unanimous praise from reviewers. A masterpiece of its time … A veritable […]