ELT365 · Day 172 — Connected speech — helping learners hear the joins

Idea — Connected speech features — linking, elision, assimilation, weak forms — make natural English hard to decode. Explicit teaching of these features improves listening measurably.

Example — Linking: ‘pick it up’ becomes /pɪkɪtʌp/. Elision: ‘next day’ becomes ‘nex day’. Teach the pattern, not just the example.

Try — Take one sentence from a listening you use. Mark where sounds link or drop at natural speed. Teach that one pattern explicitly.

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