This page contains a Flash movie. If you are viewing this page in Safari, and cannot see the movies, you need to change your preferences. For instructions on changing your preferences for Safari, go here, and for Chrome, go here. Theory & the tone unit DI views intonation as discoursal (not grammatical, not attitudinal) in […]
I offer workshops for teachers to improve the teaching of listening. The focus is on decoding, and on making the most of the recordings contained in textbooks. The workshops range from one hour to a week in length. You can see me giving a session here. Forthcoming workshops and talks Electronic Village Online: Listening – Decoding […]
Listening Cherries is a blog where I talk about listening issues – from classroom activities to academic research. Listening Cherry no. 2 features a productive disagreement about a transcription. A colleague visited me a short while ago, and we discussed a TED talk that I was working on. The TED talk is by Tom Wujec. […]
A Syllabus for Listening: Decoding is a finalist in the Teacher Resources category of the British Council’s ELTONs awards 2019 for innovations in English Language Teaching. More here. . A Syllabus for Listening: Decoding is available as both a printed book and as an eBook. You can get the print copy either from Amazon here or […]
Listening Cherries is a blog where I talk about listening issues – from classroom activities to academic research. Listening Cherry no. 7 raves about a recent publication from Mark Hancock and Annie McDonald. There is so much to like and admire about Authentic Listening Resource Pack, the latest offering from Mark Hancock and Annie McDonald. […]
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 […]
The Botanic metaphor of the Greenhouse the Garden and the Jungle has proved popular with teachers and students. Here is a brief description, with an explanation about how the metaphor can be used in the classroom. In the Greenhouse, words have soundshapes which are treated as if they are isolated plants – each one separate, […]
Jungle Listening – Survival Tips for Fast Speech – Free materials Jungle Listening is a set of ten units which aim to make students (B1 upwards) familiar and comfortable with the unruliness and messiness of fast speech. They have been piloted in France, Thailand and Poland. Each of the ten activities focuses on a key […]
Jungle Listening – Survival Tips for Fast Speech – Free materials Jungle Listening is a set of ten units which aim to make students (B1 upwards) familiar and comfortable with the unruliness and messiness of fast speech. They have been piloted in France, Thailand and Poland. Each of the ten activities focuses on a key […]
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 […]
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 […]
Discourse Intonation
Overview 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. Discourse Intonation was developed at The University of Birmingham (UK) in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The originator of this approach was […]