Why is Mouth Movement so important?
Speaker mouth movement is absolutely critical for helping the listener focus on and absorb the information. If the speaker mumbles or doesn’t enunciate clearly, the listener may either struggle to understand the speaker- or worse, begin to think about dinner. Is this efficient or effective communication?
English is a stress-timed language. It can significantly help the listener if the speaker attempts to produce the stressed and unstressed sounds clearly. This increases the chances that the listener will focus more on the information, and less on adjusting to the speaker’s pronunciation. For this reason, the speaker needs to concentrate on moving his or her jaw, lips, and mouth to produce the stressed sounds clearly,
Key lesson: Speaker mouth movement is of utmost importance for speaking clearly in English.
Look at this video
How does this clear speaker look when he is speaking in English? How would you describe his mouth movement?
- Jaw?
- Lips?
- Mouth?
Take out a mirror
Look in the mirror and introduce yourself in your native language? How would you describe your mouth movement? Jaws? Lips? Mouth?
Now, introduce yourself in English. How would you describe your mouth movement now? Jaws? Lips? Mouth?
Awareness is Important
To improve your speaking skills in English, it is important to pay careful attention to how you, your peers, and other speakers are speaking in English. TED.com is a great resource for finding videotaped presentations on different topics. As you watch a video, pay attention to how the presenters speak.
Jaw? Lips? Mouth? What do you see?
