Bad English is like bad breath-when people notice it, they're too polite to tell you about it. Break the Language Barrier! teaches you how to avoid the errors in English grammar, word usage, pronunciation and punctuation that might be branding you as someone who is not right for a new job, not right for a promotion, not someone whose ideas and opinions are worth considering, not a suitable romantic partner. The person you're talking to may keep smiling, but now there's an invisible barrier between you and professional or social advancement.With easy-to-understand explanations and numerous examples, Break the Language Barrier! will help you speak and write with confidence; avoid embarrassment; improve your chances for a raise, a promotion, a date; impress your boss, colleagues, friends; enhance your social life and stay out of trouble with the Grammar Police.

In school, but "locked out" 13 youth, each with fewer than 10 productive words to use to build their relationship with families, teachers, and friends. That is, until they were introduced to the System for Augmenting Language, or SAL. In a wonderful meshing of science and the real world, this remarkable book chronicles the process of language learning through augmented means for people who have significant difficulty acquiring spoken language. In engaging storytelling style, speech-language pathologist Romski and psychologist Sevcik describe how they carried their research from language lab to school and in the process changed the lives of the youth to whom they brought the SAL. A replicable system that fosters naturalistic exchanges between communicative partners using electronic speech-output devices, the SAL extends the power of communication to children otherwise locked out of the world around them. With a new level of vocabulary mastery, students enjoy not only enhanced communicative skills but also higher judgments of competence from both familiar and unfamiliar observers. One award-winning SAL application, Project FACTT (Facilitating Augmentative Communication Through Technology) provides innovative augmentative communication services to school-age children with severe disabilities and is described in detail.

Breaking the Sound Barrier: Teaching Language Leaners How to Listen.To cite use Conti and Smith (2019).This book is for language teachers who want to help their students become more effective listeners. It focuses on the processes involved in aural comprehension, blending the latest research evidence with over 200 engaging listening activities, as well as lots of useful practical classroom ideas and lesson sequences.Chapters include the principles of "listening as modelling", developing phonological and lexical retrieval skills, grammatical parsing, interpersonal and task-based listening. There are also chapters on how to make the most of songs, cognitive and metacognitive strategies, assessment and preparing for examinations. The final chapter offers a framework for language teachers or departments who wish to develop a strategy for improved listening. The book aims to place listening at the forefront of lesson planning.Gianfranco and Steve have around 60 years of classroom experience between them and a track record of offering instantly usable, low-preparation activities for the classroom, supported by second language acquisition research. Their handbook The Language Teacher Toolkit is already widely used around the world. Too often, classroom listening is neglected by teachers and a source of fear for learners; how can we make it a successful and enjoyable experience for all? This book is truly unique in its genre, in proposing a different and more impactful answer to this question. We sincerely hope you enjoy it.