The Edgewise blog
How speech therapists help people say more, what four decades of language research say about learning to speak, and practice you can try today.
How a coach helps you speak
Moves from speech therapy and language research, and when each one fits.
- Speech Therapy Techniques That Help Adults Speak a New LanguageSLPs draw out longer, clearer sentences for a living. Borrow their techniques (recasts, cueing, wait time, story retell) to speak a new language.
- How a Good Speaking Coach Responds: 9 Moves From Speech Therapy and Language ResearchBuild, comment, fix, slow down, wait, ask again, echo, hand back, upgrade: 9 coach moves from speech therapy and SLA research, and when each one fits.
- Builds: Expansion, or Your Sentence Plus One PieceExpansion means a coach repeats your sentence and adds one piece. How it differs from recasts, what research shows, and Spanish and Korean examples.
- Comments: Extension, or Why Good Partners Add a ReasonAn extension adds a reason, feeling or prediction to what you said and leaves the next part to you. Why it works, with Spanish and Korean examples.
- Fixes: Recasts, the Quiet Correction (and When It Fails)A recast fixes your sentence without stopping you. What research says about recasts, what makes them work and when a prompt works better.
- Upgrades: Tier 2 Words for Advanced LearnersAn upgrade swaps one plain word for a sharper one in your own sentence. How Tier 2 vocabulary works for advanced Spanish, French and Portuguese learners.
What the research says
Input, interaction, output and feedback, and what independent studies say about apps.
- What 40 Years of Language Acquisition Research Says About Learning to SpeakInput, interaction, output, feedback and task repetition: what 40 years of language acquisition research says about learning to speak.
- Comprehensible Input: What Krashen Got Right, and What Input Alone MissesKrashen was right that understanding input builds comprehension and vocabulary. Here's what research says input alone misses for speaking.
- Negotiation of Meaning: How Conversation Teaches YouNegotiation of meaning is the "what do you mean?" work of conversation. What 40 years of research found, and why learners rarely ask on their own.
- Do Language Apps Work? What Independent Research SaysStudies of Duolingo and Babbel find real gains, even in speaking. But the speaking evidence is thin and mostly company-funded. Here's what to look for.
Pronunciation
Practice sounds like a motor skill, and retrain the English rules that follow you.
- How to Practice Pronunciation: Motor Learning Principles for Language LearnersPronunciation is partly a motor skill. Use motor learning principles from speech therapy to train the Spanish r, French u, Korean stops and more.
- Blocked vs. Random Practice: Motor Learning for Articulation and PhonologyBlocked practice feels better, but random practice often sticks. What motor learning research says, with practice plans for Spanish, French and Korean.
- Why Your English Sound Rules Follow You (and How to Retrain Them)Aspiration, schwa, dark L and the English R follow you into Spanish, French, Korean and Portuguese. Retrain them with methods from speech therapy.