Expert English Pronunciation, Accent Reduction & Fluency
Teaching English pronunciation and intonation is a challenging job. And learning it is even harder. Part of the problem is that we are born with our first language intonation already programmed; we know that babies, by 6 months in utero, Read More …
For 10 years, Fernald and her colleagues and students have traveled worldwide to record mothers interacting with their babies, bringing the tapes back to Stanford for detailed acoustical and linguistic analysis. She has found that mothers of all nations Read More …
Ann Fernald: “Sound is kind of like touch at a distance.” We at Radiolab did our own study of infant-directed speech, recording more than a dozen different parents. The melodies of these recordings illustrate Fernald’s findings that there are a Read More …
I have a few “principles” that guide my teaching and planning. One of them is this: Disequilibrium is a good thing.” I say that because as a teacher, I have found most big jumps in learning come when a Read More …
Even if you never reach fluency and never sound like a native speaker, keep studying…the benefit to your brain is measurable and remarkable! In this NYT post, William Alexander shares his own experiences failing at French, and some research that Read More …