The main point that I had intended to make by sending the research article was that adult ESL students can learn pronunciation with the method that the article calls "slow exaggeration."
For years I have used this method from the first class on. 
In doing so I make sure that I maked a complete fool of myself so that the students will begin to feel more comfortable.
The results?
Students learn to pronounce English fairly well within a month.
Most students tell me that the reason they do not like to speak English is because they feel intimidated. Going shopping or to the post office are good examples.
And when they learn more pronunciation and begin to feel more comfortable, their
confidence increases dramatically.
I have studied, to one degree or another, six languages. And the first thing that I learned was pronunciation, and then conversation.
Anyway, the point is -it is not necessary to wait and wait a year or longer to teach basic communication skills.
Finally, concerning research. Reasearch can  never be "useless". Well, maybe research on how many drops of water it takes to make a spoonfujl may be a little useless.  Steve states:
"there is ample evidence that trying to pronounce a new language right from the beginning is not a good idea."
My questions is - where is this evidence? I would like to see it.
 
I think it is a good idea to base our opinions on facts and not just on our personal experiences and predjudices. All too often it gets political, which should be another discussion.
To conclude, the article I sent also mentions the use of technology.  
My website, PUMAROSA.COM, which is and will remain free, is interactive with my voice.
I and others have observed that the students' "silent period" is shortened after a week or so of using the website.
"Try it, you'll like it".
Paul Rogers
Below is an excerpt fromthe article:
"So researchers are improving the technology that adults tend to use for language learning, to make it more social and possibly tap brain circuitry that tots would use.
Recall that Japanese "L" and "R" difficulty? Kuhl and scientists at Tokyo Denki University and the University of Minnesota helped develop a computer language program that pictures people speaking in "motherese," the slow exaggeration of sounds that parents use with babies.
Japanese college students who'd had little exposure to spoken English underwent 12 sessions listening to exaggerated "Ls" and "Rs" while watching the computerized instructor's face pronounce English words. Brain scans — a hair dryer-looking device called MEG, for magnetoencephalography — that measure millisecond-by-millisecond activity showed the students could better distinguish between those alien English sounds. And they pronounced them better, too, the team reported in the journal NeuroImage."

--- On Thu, 7/23/09, Michael Gyori <mgyori at mauilanguage.com> wrote:


From: Michael Gyori <mgyori at mauilanguage.com>
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 4582] Re: interesting research - children learning languages
To: "The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List" <englishlanguage at nifl.gov>
Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009, 1:14 AM




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Hello Steve, Paul, and all,

I wouldn't say that the research that Paul has cited is intrinsically unhelpful, but rather circumstantially so: as you have rightfully stated, many or most children grow up monolingually.

That said, I have always been a proponent of children growing up bilingually, and the question remains how best to accomplish that when you need to create bilingual input.

I grew up trilingually, and subsequent language learning experiences would possibly have been far more challenging for me had that not been the case.

As for your psycho- and neurolinguistic- based comments (motivation, interest, wiring, etc.), they, too, remain unhelpful in the absence of  language learning opportunities.    

I'll leave it at that for now, and would recommend that we focus on the possibilities that reseach and anecodotal observations might point to rather than discounting them out of hand.

Michael
www.mauilanguage.com

Sent via Blackberry by Turkcell 




Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 07:24:55 -0700
From: steve at thelinguist.com
To: englishlanguage at nifl.gov
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 4581] Re: interesting research - children learning languages

Yet another research report that i s largely unhelpful to language learning. Few children are brought up bilingual. Kids who emigrate after the age of seven, pick up languages quickly from their peers if surrounded by the language, Yes, your native language is increasingly hard wired, but you can create room for new neural networks to handle other languages, at any age. I have done it many times and observed others do it. The key is the attitude of the learner, his/her interest, commitment and confidence.

It has been my experience, and there is ample evidence that trying to pronounce a new language right from the beginning is not a good idea. I have found it more effective to engage in a lot of listening, repetitive listening to limited content, even listening to the language read slowly at times, as a part of getting used to the language, before trying to pronounce. Russian is hard to pronounce, learning it on my own, listening an hour a day or so on my iPod, I went 18 months before speaking to anyone. Meanwhile I acquired enough vocabulary and listening comprehension to enjoy literature, audio books, news interviews and the like.  Now my pronunciation is considered very good by natives, it certainly was not at the beginning.

Steve



-- 
Steve Kaufmann
www.thelinguist.blogs.com
www.lingq.com
604-922-8514

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