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1. Helping Professionals Prepare Presentations in English for International Conferences

   In: English Teaching Forum 2003, Volume 41, Number 1 Format(s): Text

   This English teacher in Argentina describes how she helped a local doctor prepare for a presentation made in English at an international trade conference held in the United States. The article discusses how the author prepared to work with the specific topic, ophthalmology, the use of cognates in the specialized field, tips for helping the physician with his pronunciation, and the outcome of the presentation.

2. Phonetic Symbols: A Necessary Stepping Stone for ESL Students

   In: English Teaching Forum 2002, Volume 40, Number 4 Format(s): Text

   This article discusses why English pronunciation and intonation have been ignored in Hong Kong ESL classes. It also discusses why it is essential to teach English phonetic symbols to attain better pronunciation skills. The article describes what actions should be taken to implement an English pronunciation component into teaching ESL.

3. Teaching Weak Forms

   In: English Teaching Forum 2003, Volume 41, Number 2 Format(s): Text

   This article describes a pronunciation concept referred to as the weak form, a compression of sounds used to keep the rhythm of spoken English. The author uses the word “that” as an example. Stressing or not stressing the word “that” when reading aloud the sentence “John thinks that man is evil” changes the meaning. Reading “that” as unstressed is an example of the weak form. The author provides examples of how to teach the weak form to provide students with better spoken English and better comprehension.

4. Teacher Resources

   In: English Teaching Forum 2004, Volume 42, Issue 1 Format(s): Text

   In this special section of Forum, four commercial publications are presented. Topics include techniques to help middle school students with reading, student involvement and choice; an introduction to the concept of genre (of interest to ESL teachers, writing teachers, etc., including genre-based assessment and the importance of audience in writing); the use of literature circles with elementary learners to foster discussion and love of literature; and a book of EFL methodology.

5. Save the Lofty Trees

   In: English Teaching Forum 2005, Volume 43, Number 1 Format(s): Text

   This is a script for a play called “Save the Lofty Trees,” intended for students use in ESL classrooms and is intended for young learners. This play gives students a chance to take part in group work by acting out the various scenes of the script. This will provide students with opportunities to use their skills and build fluency.

6. Pronunciation Textbook Discrepancies

   In: English Teaching Forum 2005, Volume 43, Number 2 Format(s): Text

   This article identifies the most common differences among popular English pronunciation textbooks. Vowel symbols, number of diphthongs, and the different ways of marking primary and secondary stress are a few of the pronunciation features addressed. These differences can make it confusing and frustrating for teachers and students. Instructors should be aware of these differences and address them with their students while encouraging students to use the instructor’s preferred transcription system.

7. An Investigation of the Effectiveness of Teaching Pronunciation to Malaysian TEFL Students

   In: English Teaching Forum 2001, Volume 39, Number 3 Format(s): Text

   This article examines the benefits of pronunciation instruction for young adult language learners. It reports findings from a study in which pronunciation training was implemented into a university-level EFL speaking and listening course. The study found that students claimed to have benefitted from both the top-down approach and the bottom-up approach. This article endorses the value of pronunciation training using both segmental and suprasegmental instruction, and addressing oral production and aural comprehension.

8. The Lighter Side: "Listen Up!"

   In: English Teaching Forum 2012, Volume 50, Number 4 Format(s): Text

   This activity sheet presents a listening exercise based on rhymes.

9. Developing Fluency through Oral Reading

   In: English Teaching Forum 2020, Volume 58, Number 1 Format(s): Text

   The author presents sets of easy-to-incorporate activities designed to improve reading fluency at the word-, sentence-, and passage-level.

10. Using Movie Dubbing to Improve Natural English Pronunciation Skills

    In: English Teaching Forum 2021, Volume 59, Number 1 Format(s): Text

    The article describes ways that having students dub their own voices into English language movies can improve their pronunciation and intonation; the author presents a dubbing project that helps students focus on pronunciation in a way that is both challenging and enjoyable.

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