Steve--

I appreciate your advice.

I have a woman living in my home who is in a sink or swim situation-- 
she is here from thailand to get a master's degree, and is having  
real problems following teachers in class.  Fortunately, she can  
press a button on her computer and re-run the lecture.  Any advice  
from you on this?

Thanks.

Andrea

On Sep 18, 2008, at 2:50 PM, Steve Kaufmann wrote:


> I speak 12 languages including 4 Asian ones. I do not think it is  

> useful to focus too much on the specific differences in breathing  

> or phonemic exposure of different language groups. I have found  

> that dealing with pronunciation as an integral part of the  

> imitation and emulation of the language behaviour of the target  

> language group is more helpful than isolating pronunciation as a  

> problem.

>

> Learners often acquire a preoccupation with accent or  

> pronunciation, when more often it is unnatural usage that causes  

> communication problems.It is not helpful, in my experience, to  

> cater to that preoccupation.

>

> Massive listening exposure to, at first, a limited range of content  

> via an MP3 player, then followed by more extensive listening to  

> content of interest, will usually lead to an acceptable level of  

> pronunciation in time. The listening, if combined with a program of  

> reading and vocabulary study based on the reading, and then writing  

> and speaking, will improve all language skills at the same time,  

> including pronunciation.

>

>

>

>

>

> -- 

> Steve Kaufmann

> www.lingq.com

> 1-604-922-8514

> ----------------------------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

> Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list

> professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov

>

> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/professionaldevelopment

>

> Professional Development section of the Adult Literacy Education Wiki

> http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/ 

> Adult_Literacy_Professional_Development


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/attachments/20080918/db673bf4/attachment.html