Musical pronunciation: Teaching the production and perception of English prosody

A common question I’m frequently asked is ‘How to improve English pronunciation?’

Well I’m excited to be joining the Pronunciation Special Interest conference on Saturday 14th October 203 with leading research professors speaking from the States and Australia.

This special English pronunciation group has been at the forefront of the practice and theory of pronunciation teaching for more than 20 years.
The association is made up of volunteers and gives teachers the opportunity to exchange ideas about methodology, such as English pronunciation guidelines, and materials, discuss theoretical and practical matters, and work on the interdependence of English pronunciation and other areas of language learning.

Its broad mission is ‘Developing and teaching English pronunciation for a world which speaks it!’

Accent reduction is not necessary. In fact it is strongly not advised.

The title of the 2023 pronunciation conference is ‘Musical pronunciation: Teaching the production and perception of English prosody’

“Learning the melody of a new language can be challenging. From birth, and even before, we are immersed in the musical patterns of our mother tongue, primed to hear its prosody. When the time comes to begin learning a second language, these prosodic features can stubbornly stick around, transferring into the new language, and leaving traces in our speech which can impact our intelligibility and confuse listeners. For teachers of English, this transfer is well known, but what is less known is how can we best support students to perceive and produce English’s prosodic features, alleviating their struggles to notice and comprehend its intonation patterns, overcoming ‘stress deafness’, and in turn, pinpointing specific ways they can become more intelligible and effective speakers of English.

In this whole day online conference, IATEFL PronSIG invites you to join us to listen, learn, exchange, and take away a variety of methods and strategies for teaching the music of English.”

Extract written by Gemma Archer and Adam Scott, Joint Coordinators of this amazing Group of professionals who bridge the gap between academia and practitioners.

If you are looking to discuss your company’s Business English communication needs (including Pronunciation support) or Presentation skills, I offer free 30-minute consultations through my site. I’d love to meet you.