How to Teach Old Ears New Tricks “Hi! I'm Gabe. What's your name?” “Seung-heon. Uh-oh. “Sorry, I missed that. “Seung-heon.” This is bad. “Sung-hon?” “Seung-heon. I hate it when this happens. When we decide to do something rash like learn a foreign language, however, we run into difficulties. Why We Can't Learn Like Kids Most of us English speakers can't tell the difference between Seung, Seong and Sung now, but back when we were babies we could. Some of the best data on this phenomenon come from studies of Japanese adults learning to hear the difference between r and l. When you were a baby, you learned to tell rocks from locks by listening to lots of auditory input. The researchers then tried something new. Many studies have subsequently confirmed that feedback is an essential ingredient in training our brain to hear new sounds, and when we can hear new sounds, we naturally start to produce them more accurately. Teaching the /r/–/l/ Discrimination to Japanese Adults: Behavioral and Neural Aspects.
Pronunciation Teaching: 11 quick multi-sensory techniques - Evolutions In this post I’d like to start a list/discussion of useful pronunciation teaching techniques. One of my favorite teachers-who-write, over at The Other Things Matter, inspired by another one at The Breathy Vowel, tweeted the following: Inspired by @breathyvowel tomorrow I start my weekly pron class. #SteppingOutofMyComfortZone — Kevin Stein (@kevchanwow) April 25, 2013 Then later he mentioned something about cellphones and progress in the pronunciation area. And that’s the problem with most of what’s out there — a great deal of it isn’t that different from “listen and repeat”. Before we get started, finally, let’s remember that anybody with a smartphone brings a mirror to class everyday… opportunities abound! update: the videos of segmental techniques posted here in response to reader comments were filmed during a CBI pronunciation workshop with pre-service and in-service teachers for whom English is a 2nd language. Pronunciation: Segmentals 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Feel the beat: how rhythm shapes the way we use and understand language Do you feel the rhythm? Or a French rythme, Spanish ritmo, Swedish rytm, Russian ритм (ritm) or Japanese rizumu? Is there a difference? For millennia we have been singing, dancing, clapping, drumming and talking to a beat. An extensive 2010 Oxford University study comparing a series of rhythm algorithm measurements for English, French, Greek, Russian and Mandarin found – “surprisingly”, as the study itself expressed – that none of these languages could be separated, and that languages do not have dramatically different rhythms. A world of stress, a matter of meter Languages use rhythms composed of syllables that are variously stressed and unstressed, all in a variety of patterns that, though discernible and often complex under analysis, we mostly use unconsciously. A mother’s heartbeat may be the first rhythm most of us hear. Stress patterns occur in everyday speech and songs, not merely high forms of literature. The benefits of rhythm Rhythm perception
IPA transcription systems for English John Wells, University College London1. Introduction: the IPA. 2. Pronunciations in dictionaries. 3. Consonants. 4. Stress. 5. Lastly we have the diphthongs. The PronPack Sound Chart – PronPack What is the Sound Chart for?The PronPack Sound Chart is primarily a reference tool and several versions are now available in the Resources to accompany the Pronpack books. Teachers may print a copy as large as possible to put on the classroom wall. Orientation The PronPack Sound Chart is intended to help you and the class find your way around the sounds of English. Comparison The PronPack Sound Chart graphically represents relationships between the sounds, showing those that are comparable with one another and those which are very different. I designed this chart while teaching pronunciation classes at a language school in the North West of England. Most teachers of English will have come across a sound chart at some point, but few realise how arbitrary they are. At every stage in the creation of a chart, the author will have made decisions which could equally well have been otherwise. Related