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.”

Here are a few more quotes, see the link at the bottom of the journal page.

“The chapters devoted to suprasegmentals, such as word stress and connected speech, are among my favorites – partly because of their very clever design.”

“The clear and sometimes whimsical visuals are a key strength of Mark Hancock’s materials. Nowhere is this skill in graphic design better illustrated than in his cleverly designed hexagon vowel chart, which begins each of the four books. What is ingenious about this chart is that it builds on the familiar IPA trapezoid vowel chart, based on the idea of “front vowels” and “back vowels” with phonic-based concepts of “short” and “long” vowels… Probably the most striking innovation in this series is the above mentioned focus on phonics… most pronunciation materials for English language learners pay little attention to spelling or to the rules that relate sound to spelling.”

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