The document discusses advanced ESL pronunciation issues, focusing on challenges such as pausing, linking, intonation, and blending. It provides various strategies for speech improvement, including using technology and speech models like TED Talks to practice and analyze pronunciation. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of feedback and self-assessment in improving spoken English.

1. English Speech I:
Fluency work
Lawrie Hunter
Editor/mentor, GRIPS CPC

2. The usual ways of improving ESL pronunciation
are
1. Listen and repeat
2. Contrasting pair work (flight / fright)
3. Shadowing
4. Read-aloud (Hunter’s favorite) [parallel text]
These approaches are useful,
but they are not the end of the story.
ESL pronunciation work (not today)

3. For advanced readers/writers of second language English,
the main sound obstacles to speaking intelligibly are:
January 10, 2019
1. Pausing: where may/should the speaker pause, and for
how long?
2. Linking: the joining of a final consonant in one word
with an initial vowel in the next,
e.g. “Have a seat.” is usually pronounced “Ha va seat.”
January 24, 2019 Using technology for speech work
3. Intonation: on which syllables does the stress fall?
4. Blending
ESL/EFL speech issues

4. Linking is connecting a word that ends in a consonant to a
word that starts with a vowel.
Examples:
1 come over => ca-mo-ver to my house.
2 shut up => shu-tup (British); shuddup (American)
3 put it in a box => putitina box / pudidina box
4 the end of the year ===> thee-YEN-dov the year
https://pronuncian.com/introduction-to-linking/
ESL speech issues: Linking

5. Blending:
-when a word ends in a sound and the next word
starts with the very same sound
- it's very hard to tell where one word ends and the
next one starts.
bad day
June ninth
phone number
left turn
orange juice
ESL speech issues: Blending

6. Speech improvement strategy
Speech models and recurring self-assessment
1. How often do you speak English?
2. How could you speak English more often?
(read-aloud / memorizing / listen & repeat )
3. How much feedback/monitoring should you have?
4. What kind of feedback is best?
5. What kind of practice material is best?
6. One-way communication vs. interacting
ESL speech issues

7. 1. Use internet video for speech models
2. Find a video with transcript
3. Listen intelligently
4. Repeat intelligently
5. Record yourself
6. Compare your speech to the model
Hunter’s suggested approach

8. Choosing a speech model: TED talks*
1 British vs American
2 TED vs movies (topic vs narrative)
3 Native speaker vs non-native
4 Fast vs slow (software: Audacity)
5 Subtitles? e.g. TED in Japanese
http://digitalcast.jp/v/23525/
6 Pausing: much vs little
7 Long text vs short
8 Female speaker vs male
9 Attractive vs boring
*https://www.ted.com/ スーパープレゼンテーション

9. Using TED talks’ interactive transcript
1 for controlled listening
2 repeated listening
3 listen and repeat
Janette Sadik-Khan
Pico Ayer
Anne Curzan
Lakshmi Pratury
John Koenig
Eventually:

10. Model analysis: listening for pausing
Janette Sadik-Khan
Where will she use pausing?
Listen and confirm.
Activity 1:

11. Model analysis: listening for linking
Janette Sadik-Khan
Where will she do linking?
Listen and confirm.
Activity 2:

12. https://www.ted.com/talks/janette_sadik_khan_new_york_s_streets_not_so_mean_any_more/
https://www.ted.com/talks/deborah_gordon_what_ants_teach_us_about_the_brain_cancer_and_the_internet/
flat intonation / fast with few pauses
https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_on_the_myth_of_violence
powerful pausing, subtle intonation
https://www.ted.com/talks/james_nachtwey_s_searing_pictures_of_war
almost no pausing, little intonation
https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_jordan_pictures_some_shocking_stats
great linking great pausing
https://www.ted.com/talks/edward_burtynsky_on_manufactured_landscapes
bursts of staccato, very short pauses, bursts of slow rhythmic theming
https://www.ted.com/talks/hetain_patel_who_am_i_think_again
Assumptions/Dialects
https://www.ted.com/talks/pico_iyer_where_is_home
sharp pausing, dramatic intonation
https://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice
rhythmic, pausing, intonation subtle but strong
https://www.ted.com/talks/carmen_agra_deedy_spins_stories
poetic/standup comic: variable speed, variable intonation, foreign accents (Cuban)
https://www.ted.com/talks/anne_curzan_what_makes_a_word_real
https://www.ted.com/talks/pico_iyer_the_beauty_of_what_we_ll_never_know
https://www.ted.com/talks/john_koenig_beautiful_new_words_to_describe_obscure_emotions
https://www.ted.com/talks/lakshmi_pratury_on_letter_writing
amazing linking, blending, long pauses, thin intonation
Various models:

13. On Hunter’s web site (this page under construction)
https://lawriehunter.com/pronunciation/speech-work/
Hunter’s slideshare (this powerpoint and many others)
https://www.slideshare.net/rolenzo/presentations
Hunter’s speech work resources: