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.
However, Richard Cauldwell will start the day by arguing that pronunciation and listening should not be linked – or rather, that they should work toward very different language models. Later in the day, he will go on to suggest practical ways to tackle the nitty-gritty of teaching listening. In a similar vein, Annie McDonald will recommend that listening can become more fluent if we help learners to ‘listen in chunks’. Meanwhile, Catarina Pontes will investigate why pronunciation itself is a missing link in many EFL classrooms, and why it shouldn’t be. Gemma Archer will focus our attention on the link between pronunciation and assessment – a link we often shy away from. Marina Cantarutti will tackle what for many is the most tricky aspect of pronunciation – intonation, taking a refereshing new angle. Meanwhile, Wayne Rimmer will argue for the benefits of using prose and poetry as a way into motivating pronunciation learning. Finally, Mark Hancock will argue for pedagogic simplification in pronunciation teaching, and he will illustrate this idea by looking at ideas for the teaching of tonic stress. It looks like being a great day! Inscription open until the weekend. Don’t miss it!