Conference: How to improve English Pronunciation with Technology?

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How to improve English pronunciation.

As a non-native English speaker, how intelligible are you?

Does everyone understand you the first time, whether in meetings or when you're presenting?

Just spent a fascinating day with leading researchers and professors learning how can technology help my clients to:

  • Increase their understanding of articulation and sound contrasts. Yes! The pronunciation of English vowels, silent consonants and word stress can be a super tricky.

  • Practise their sounds and word stress autonomously. Accent reduction is never the goal, it’s authentic communication.

  • Use podcasts and other apps to improve their English pronunciation and pitch

A conference with speakers showing different tech tools to help students improve their English pronunciation, free speech coaching tools! 

Vocaroo

A simple online voice recording tool to record your speaking and give feedback. Especially good for word stress and connected speech. To learn more about Vocaroo, click here.

Praat

Praat was developed by Pavel Sturm at the Institute of Phonetics, Charles University in Prague.

Recordings in the Praat app show the sound waves at both sound and word levels. This tool is great for testing a common pronunciation exercise of minimal pairs. The students can hear and see the difference in the waveform patterns, bit and beat, fit and feet, bed, and bid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7-rk9D6cwo

Audacity

This was the tech tool used by most tech-savvy pronunciation specialists. Good for making video clips and editing podcasts. Exercises demonstrated using a combination of Google forms and YouTube videos to improve articulation, listening, and various communicative activities from controlled to more fluid communication. To learn more about Audacity, click here.

High variability phonetic training HVPT

This tech tool showed that older people improve English pronunciation faster, often because they start at a lower level. To learn more about this tool click here.

If you would like to discuss your organisation’s (corporate, NGOs, Associations and Universities) Business English (including pronunciation) or Presentation skills needs, I offer free 30-minute consultations through my site. I’d love to meet you.