Expert English Pronunciation, Accent Reduction & Fluency
Dr. Kjellin is a leader in the study of auditory processing and second language learning. If you teach English pronunciation (or any language’s sound), I recommend his work and research. Here are a few quotes from one of his white papers. “Choral Read More …
This is an amazing TedTalk. I had thought (and hoped) that exposing babies to the sounds of second and third languages through video or radio might be a viable way to teach them to recognize the sounds of those languages, Read More …
I teach pronunciation so I’m always interested in how speech and language develops in L1 and L2 (first languages and second languages). I just watched a wonderful video by Dr. Deb Roy, an MIT researcher, who studied his baby’s first Read More …
There are English words that can be nouns or verbs, depending on their stress. As nouns, they have 1st syllable stress; as verbs they are stressed on the 2nd syllable. Remember, stressed syllables have stronger, clearer vowels, and unstressed syllables have reduced vowels. The Read More …
What are “minimal pairs”? Two words that have only one sound different between them, but it’s a sound that changes the meaning. Here are some examples of important “minimal pairs” to conquer, for different language speakers who are working on their English pronunciation. Read More …
When we learn to speak another language, we must acquire some new sounds and strategies. We may also have to reset how and when we employ stress and timing. These slides will accompany a webinar conversation between Peggy Tharpe, M.A. Read More …
For a few years now, I have been doing empirical research in my one-to-one courses teaching English pronunciation. I discovered that certain specific gestures, mostly hand and arm, actually change and improve the pronunciation of my clients, and quicken their Read More …