Richard Cauldwell - A Syllabus for Listening - Decoding (Fixed format layout)

A SYLLABUS FOR LISTENING

DECODING

RICHARD CAULDWELL

A Streaming Speech publication from

Speech in Action

Speech in Action Birmingham, UK

www.speechinaction.com

Speech in Action 2018

This publication is copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Speech in Action.

Edited by Sheila Thorn, The Listening Business

Page design and layout by Rosamund Saunders Printed on demand by Amazon Cover design by Jane Bromham

First published 2018, 2nd printing June 2018

A Streaming Speech publication from Speech in Action

While every attempt has been made to do so, it has not always been possible to identify the sources of all the recordings used, or to contact the rights holders. If any omissions are brought to our notice, we will be happy to include appropriate acknowledgements in future editions.

Speech in Action has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy of external websites referred to in this publication. Speech in Action does not guarantee that any content on such websites will continue to exist, or remain appropriate.

Contents

Acknowledgements.................................................xi Symbols and notation............................................... xii Introduction 1

Part 1 Decoding and perception Key ideas

Decoding speech and writing the differences................ 8

Styles of speech Greenhouse, Garden, Jungle............... 12

Understanding versus decoding............................ 16

The expert listener and the blur gap......................... 21

The expert listener and the decoding gap.................... 23

The land of in-between mondegreens...................... 25

The unit of perception.................................... 29

Words are flexible forms................................... 32

Visualising the issues three zones.......................... 35

10 Diagnosis............................................... 39

Part 2 A critique of training, theory and practice

Teacher training......................................... 44

11 .1 Teacher training..................................... 44

11 .2 The knowledge...................................... 44

11 .3 Greatest fear and greatest wish........................ 46

11 .4 Annas anger....................................... 46

11 .5 The smiling class imperative........................... 48

11 .6 My confession....................................... 49

11 .7 Summary and whats next............................. 50

Virtuous obstacles........................................ 51

12 .1

Exposure.......................................... 51

12 .2 The link to reading.................................. 52

12 .3 Just listen to the stresses............................ 52

12 .4 Assigning too much power to context.................. 53

12 .5

Second mention.................................... 55

12 .6 Success in comprehension means success in decoding... 55

12 .7 The limitations of the transcript........................ 56

12 .8 Goal mimicking activities............................ 56

12 .9 Goal mimicking one listening only.................... 57

12 .10 The lure of authenticity.............................. 57

12 .11 Important information is not in the training chain......... 58

12 .12 The role of strategies................................ 58

12 .13 Weve done it in pronunciation...................... 59

12 .14 Summary and whats next............................ 59

Models of speech....................................... 61

13 .1 Careful speech model (CSM)......................... 61

13 .2

First approximation.................................. 62

13 .3 The Careful and Spontaneous Speech Models........... 62

13 .4 The shaping of speech.............................. 63

13 .5 Greenhouse, Garden and Jungle..................... 64

13 .6 Units of speech..................................... 64

13 .7 Disfluencies and drafting phenomena.................. 66

13 .8

Soundshapes...................................... 67

13 .9

Weak forms........................................ 67

13 .10 Speed............................................ 68

13 .11 Rhythms of speech................................. 69

13 .12 Connected speech rules............................. 70

13 .13 The meaning of intonation........................... 72

13 .14 Summary and whats next............................ 74

The when and what of decoding........................... 75

14 .1 The when-question and the what question........... 75

14 .2 Not at all Annas lesson............................ 75

14 .3 The phases pre-, while- and post-listening............. 76

14 .4

Strategy training.................................... 77

14 .5 Expanding the post-listening phase.................... 78

14 .6

Materials design.................................... 78

14 .7

Discovery listening.................................. 79

14 .8 Summary and whats next............................ 80

Part 3 A syllabus for listening

Words.................................................. 86

15 .1 Mental representation of a word...................... 86

15 .2 The numbers problem............................... 87

15 .3 The other words problem........................... 88

15 .4 Words occur in speech units.......................... 89

15 .5

Observing adverbs.................................. 90

15 .6 Summary and whats next............................ 95

Word clusters............................................ 96

16 .1

you know, I mean, do you know what I mean?.......... 96

16 .2

then and the deth-drop........................... 98

16 .3

a lot of a lot of people............................ 100

16 .4

and it was........................................ 102

16 .5

I think............................................ 103

16 .6

it was just........................................ 104

16 .7

kind of and that kind of thing....................... 105

16 .8

one of the........................................ 107

16 .9 Summary and whats next........................... 108

Streamlining I Consonant death.......................... 109

17 .1 Reminders: streamlining, practical not theoretical....... 109

17 .2

Consonant death................................. 110

17 .3

Deth-drop....................................... 110

17 .4

Theta-blur I think................................. 111

17 .5 T-drop & t-blur.................................... 112

17 .6 D-drop d-blur.................................... 114

17 .7 K-drop k-blur.................................... 114

17 .8 V-drop v-blur.................................... 115

17 .9 P-drop p-blur.................................... 116

17 .10 T-drop and cluster simplification...................... 116

17 .11 The Hiss effect, the buzz-effect and the creak effect..... 117

17 .12 Summary and whats next........................... 120

17 .13 Further reading.................................... 121

Streamlining II smoothies to teenies....................... 122

18 .1

Smoothing....................................... 122

18 .2 Vow-ell vocalisation of l.......................... 124