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PronPack Review in CATESOL Journal

Banner Graphic for CATESOL Journal • Volume 30 • Number 1 • 2018
CATESOL Journal • Volume 30 • Number 1 • 2018

There are loads of really great pronunciation articles in in the current special edition of The CATESOL Journal (30.1) – click on the link at the bottom of the CATESOL page  (they are all free-access).

Check out, for example, the article on the status of word stress in ELF pronunciation teaching by Lewis and Deterding. This remains what Jennifer Jenkins called a ‘grey area’, but after this article, tipping a little more in the direction of ‘yes, do teach it’.

There are also some reviews in the journal, including a review of PronPack from an American perspective by Ellen Rosenfield.

“In Hancock’s latest work, PronPack, he delivers a marvelous collection of classroom-ready online materials for teaching and practicing key features of English pronunciation.”

Continue reading “PronPack Review in CATESOL Journal”

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Post-ELF 1: The ELF-Premise

Post ELF series - Article 1. The emerging rainbow beam is the post-ELF idea
Post ELF series – Article 1. The emerging rainbow beam is the post-ELF idea

Do you remember the millennium bug? We were all warned that on new year’s day of 2000, our computers would cease to function properly. Didn’t happen. What DID happen around that time however was a quiet but seismic shift in assumptions about the goals of pronunciation teaching.

In the late nineties, people like Brian Jenner were already worrying away at the unchallenged assumption that learners should aim for one of the standard, prestige accents of English such as RP. Jenner (Jenner 1997) pointed out that millions of people were able to make themselves understood in any number of regional or global native accents, so why would we insist on a specific variety? Continue reading “Post-ELF 1: The ELF-Premise”

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Putting Vowels on the Map

Putting Vowels On the Map
Putting Vowels On the Map: from article in Modern English Teacher

In this article, I will present and explain a map of the vowel system specifically created to guide the general English language learner. The map is designed with three main aims in mind:

  1. To provide useful insights for the learner.
  2.  To support memorable and effective classroom activities.
  3. To be relevant in an international context by being flexible enough to deal with accent variation.

Continue reading “Putting Vowels on the Map”

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Pronunciation SIG Event in Chester

IATEFL PronSIG poster for event in the beautiful city of Chester on February 17th, 2018.

IATEFL PronSIG is holding an event in the beautiful city of Chester on February 17th, 2018. Only 2 hours by train from London, Chester is a place steeped in layers of history, and the event will take place at the city’s University. ‘Pronunciation: the Missing Link’. As the title implies, many of the presentations at this event will be about the link between pronunciation and other areas of language teaching – links which are often neglected.

Continue reading “Pronunciation SIG Event in Chester”

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PronPack in Modern English Teacher

Article by Mark Hancock and a review by Brian Brennan in MET
Article by Mark Hancock in MET

The PronPack Sound Chart is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Modern English Teacher. Inside the magazine, I have written an article explaining the vowel chart entitled “Putting Vowels on the Map”.

Meanwhile, in the “Book I’ve Used” section, there is a review of PronPack written by Brian Brennan of Ih Barcelona. Here are a few quotes…

“Hancock’s approach is strikingly innovative”
“Hancock has reconceptualised our pron chart brilliantly”
“PronPack sets out to fill a gap and it does so admirably”