Search found 55 matches

by CEJ
Tue Jan 17, 2006 1:10 pm
Forum: Applied Linguistics
Topic: 'Dicourse analysis and efl'
Replies: 6
Views: 3474

Any approach that helps the teacher be more aware of the use of language for communication might have application in the classroom (which is, among other things, the place that is supposed to foster language learning). Direct connections don't exist except in the minds and practices of capable pract...
by CEJ
Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:54 am
Forum: Pronunciation
Topic: Difference between "s" and "sh"
Replies: 19
Views: 51539

Have her say 00, as in boot. The mouth will be rounded. Keeping the rounded position, have her say /su/ as in sa si su se so. It's interesting because the /si/ in Japanese is /she/, but the lips are not rounded. They cannot hear the difference between see and she, because the /si/ in Japanese is no...
by CEJ
Sat Jan 14, 2006 9:53 am
Forum: Pronunciation
Topic: Difference between "s" and "sh"
Replies: 19
Views: 51539

Something related came up under the thread for the young learner with a possible lisp (Korean native speaker), but I thought what I last wrote might be of relevance to this thread as well. So I repeat: I thought some more about the s, sh, and th sounds, and another thing to consider in connected spe...
by CEJ
Sat Jan 14, 2006 9:51 am
Forum: Pronunciation
Topic: Private student witl lisp
Replies: 11
Views: 15264

I thought some more about the s, sh, and th sounds, and another thing to consider in connected speech (or models of it): assimilation. Considering the point of articulation (and I would say there is variation, I agree with EH on that, and there is also secondary articulation as well) the s sound , f...
by CEJ
Sat Jan 14, 2006 9:08 am
Forum: Pronunciation
Topic: Private student witl lisp
Replies: 11
Views: 15264

It might be useful to know that /s/ is one of the latest developing sounds in English; only by age 6 or 7 have about 90% of kids mastered it. It is also one of the latest developing sounds in Korean. -EH Wow, now I did learn something new. I never knew this. In comparative linguistics terms, I beli...
by CEJ
Fri Jan 13, 2006 6:22 am
Forum: Pronunciation
Topic: Should we teach the kids phonectic symbols?
Replies: 22
Views: 30983

[quote="fluffyhamster"]I didn't say I'd just give/present students with long lists of frequency statistics to makes worthless inferences from: there is obviously a lot exposure, knowledge and experience that needs to be gained by the students, either through pedagogical preparation on the teacher's ...
by CEJ
Wed Jan 11, 2006 12:24 am
Forum: Pronunciation
Topic: Should we teach the kids phonectic symbols?
Replies: 22
Views: 30983

Word frequency by itself is of course "empty", but a course (and I mean a substantial course, with many many examples) compiled with reference to WFs will be principled and of great relevance and value; sorry but I don't ultimately see a huge difference between encountering a word (n) times in auth...
by CEJ
Tue Jan 10, 2006 8:10 am
Forum: Pronunciation
Topic: Should we teach the kids phonectic symbols?
Replies: 22
Views: 30983

CEJ, I know it's not what you meant, but your starting phrase in your last post ('And I highly doubt that phonics approaches are useful at all in most EFL situations') does make one wonder at first glance whether you are countering someone's previous opinion or simply introducing your own (new and ...
by CEJ
Sun Jan 08, 2006 6:55 am
Forum: Pronunciation
Topic: Should we teach the kids phonectic symbols?
Replies: 22
Views: 30983

I think the original poster is talking about phonics, aka as in the reading system "hooked on phonics." I don't think they are talking about phonetics, such as the schwa or alternate alphabets. (In counterpoint to pro-phonics stances for EFL beginners, but not in counterpoint to superhal) And I hig...
by CEJ
Sun Jan 08, 2006 6:51 am
Forum: Pronunciation
Topic: Should we teach the kids phonectic symbols?
Replies: 22
Views: 30983

What's misleading about word frequency? I think people tend to get the wrong idea about it, like it is just to do with learning discrete items from a list, and forget it's more a reflection of underlying combinatorial complexities. That is... Broad phonemic transcriptions aren't that problematic fo...
by CEJ
Fri Jan 06, 2006 4:49 pm
Forum: Pronunciation
Topic: Should we teach the kids phonectic symbols?
Replies: 22
Views: 30983

I'm not so keen on corpora anyway. The Brown is only small if you like large corpora (which is what specialist corpora researchers like). I don't like the misleading picture they give, for example, about word frequency (a common activity with the data is to figure out word frequency). After the firs...
by CEJ
Fri Jan 06, 2006 4:43 pm
Forum: Material Writing
Topic: change the way they think
Replies: 4
Views: 5386

There is no 'logic' of writing. Good writers explain complex ideas so that even rather weak readers can understand. That means, in English, the responsibility is on the writer to be understood. It's premature to have students work on a specific thesis or an introduction. Rather, they need to brainst...
by CEJ
Thu Jan 05, 2006 12:46 pm
Forum: Pronunciation
Topic: Should we teach the kids phonectic symbols?
Replies: 22
Views: 30983

[quote="fluffyhamster"]American dictionaries should switch to adapted IPA instead of using their various crummy respelling systems; they could also do with investing bigtime in computerized corpora. I don't own any for these two reasons (sometimes make use of online versions, though).[/quote] Either...
by CEJ
Wed Jan 04, 2006 10:05 am
Forum: Material Writing
Topic: Reading comprehension
Replies: 5
Views: 7602

I recommend bilingual screenplay books (with tie in to the film on video) for low motivation, low level students, such as the ones I face in Japan. The danger, though, is that the students try to read both languages at the same time, or fail to read the English. You can lead a horse to water, but if...
by CEJ
Wed Jan 04, 2006 9:58 am
Forum: Material Writing
Topic: writing textbooks
Replies: 2
Views: 3856

The problem with material writing is the better I have got at teaching, the more of a waste of time I think most materials marketed commercially actually are. Which creates a problem if I want to write materials. Publishers here in Japan are looking for the smallest amount of titles possible to lock...