Introduction to Communication Clarity

2021

Introduction to Communication Clarity

Agenda

Learn what's important to learn in what order

Goals & Priorities

04

Intelligibility, accents and accuracy.

4 Important Things to Consider

03

The 4 skills that are improved by improved pronunciation.

Why Does Pronunciation Matter?

02

What causes communication breakdown?

Why Does My Mouth Not Say What I Want It To Say?

01

Click here for answers

What causes the most misunderstandings in communication? Guess a percentage for these 4 things:

1. Grammar...?
2. Vocabulary...?
3. Pronunciation...?
4. Other (distractions and so on)...?

?%

Communication Breakdowns

...are usually caused by pronunciation. This includes the way you say something, the tones you use, body language, vocal fry, upspeak, and the melody overall, as well as the individual sounds.

Communication Breakdowns...

38% = other

72% = pron

What else causes communication breakdown?

Why Does My Mouth Not Say What I Want It To Say?

What do you need to do to stop worrying about how you speak?

Ever wondered why your mouth and brain work independently?

The Policeman in your head

Prepare notes to discuss...

The 4 skills that are improved by improved pronunciation.

Why Does Pronunciation Matter?

The impact on speaking

If your brain is too busy thinking about how something is pronounced, it won't be able to focus on using the grammar that you know but don't often use.

Avoidance of Structures

Avoidance of Vocabulary

If your brain is too busy thinking about how something is pronounced, it won't be able to focus on finding more words from your passive vocabulary.

Poor Intelligibility

Intelligibility means clarity of speech. If you don't know how to pronounce something you may sound unclear when speaking which means you will sound less intelligible.

The Impact on Listening

Your brain can't cope with recieving too many pieces of information at once and will go into melt down!

Data Overload

i. Phonemesii. Word stress iii. Sentence stress

Recognition of:

The Impact on Reading & Writing

Phonological loop and phonics. Check out Catherine Walker in 'Speak Out!' 41, 2009 for more on this

Reading

i. Invented spellingsii. Mispellings

Writing:

The Impact on Listening, Reading & Writing

Your brain can't cope with receiving too many pieces of information at once and will go into melt down!

Data Overload

Important Things to Consider

Important Things to Consider

Just remember that not all pronunciation challenges are equal.

Don't stress about everything...

• Intelligibility (clarity of speaking) vs accent - Accented pronunciation ≠ unintelligible
• Accuracy vs fluency
• Fluency vs clarity
• Clarity vs speed

How to plan & focus

What Are Our Goals & Priorities?

If you need to communicate with people from all over the world, you probably need to use clear and concise 'International English'. This is also called 'English as a Lingua Franca' (or ELF)

What are your goals & priorities?

What Are Our Goals & Priorities?

Let's crack on...