Articles and ideas

Many of these Articles have appeared in a variety of English Language Teaching publications and here we continue to write for teachers and colleagues in the field of ELT.

Micro-Drilling

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Publication: 
English Teaching Professional issue 115
Articles - hancockmcdonald.com/ideas

John Field, in Listening in the Language Classroom (CUP 2008) suggested that the traditional comprehension approach to listening tests the product of listening but does nothing to teach the process.

Motivation Island

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Articles - hancockmcdonald.com/ideas

Motvation Island is a map of ideas that teachers can explore when looking for new strategies to motivate their classes. Download a copy of the map below, a colour slide for powerpoints, and a two-page article explaining the map.

The Art of the Chart

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Publication: 
IATEFL Pronsig "Speak Out" Issue 54
Articles - hancockmcdonald.com/ideas

Most teachers of English will have come across a sound chart at some point, but few realise how arbitrary they are. I do not mean 'arbitrary' in the negative sense of 'with no good reason', but rather in the sense that there are choices that the designer has had to make. At every stage in the creation of a chart, the author will have made decisions which could equally well have been otherwise.

Cat Got you Tongue

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Publication: 
English Teaching Professional
Mark Hancock's tongue cats vowel chart

Follow this link for my article on imagining the tongue as a cat in vowel sounds work:

https://www.etprofessional.com/cat_got_your_tongue_25769820737.aspx

Pronunciation and Phonetics Review

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Publication: 
English Language Teaching Journal 68/4
Pronunciation and Phonetics by Adam Brown

This review of Adam Brown's book Pronunciation and Phonetics first appeared in the ELTJ in October 2014.

On Using the Phonemic Script in Language Teaching

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On Using the Phonemic Script in Language Teaching

Do you use the phonemic script in teaching? If you say, "It depends", what does it depend on? What are the pros and cons of the IPA? What kind of students does it help, and how does it help them? These are some of the issues broached in this paper.

A Map of Pronunciation Teaching

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Publication: 
IATEFL Pronunciation SIG newsletter 'Speak Out', Issue 50, Feb 2014
A Map of Pronunciation Teaching - hancockmcdonald.com/ideas/map-pronunciation-teaching

There is an Indian parable in which a number of blind men set out to discover what an elephant is like. Each feels a different part of the

Motivational Teaching: Value and Success-Expectation

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Publication: 
BRAZ-TESOL Newsletter
BRAZ-TESOL Vol 03.2013

Students in different educational settings, for example, private language institutes or mainstream education, present teachers with different motivational challenges. I’ve taught learners in both settings and found that Expectancy-Value theories, the most researched factors in the area of motivation, have helped me generate and maintain motivation in my classrooms.

5 Pronunciation Games for Brazil

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Publication: 
New Routes (DISAL), May 2013
Pronunciation - hancockmcdonald.com/focus/pronunciation

This is an article which featured in the online magazine New Routes.

A Chat about Pronunciation, ELF and listening

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 - hancockmcdonald.com/ideas.xml/67

Mark Hancock, in an interview with Andi White for IATEFL Online, talks about English as a Lingua Franca and about pronunciation as a listening skill. Read the transcript on the PDF below. Listen to the talk about pronunciation for listening here.

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