SpeechInAction (speech-in-action) is the publishers of Streaming Speech listening and pronunciation courseware based on recordings of unscripted speech. Streaming Speech courseware puts students of English in touch with real speech. SpeechInAction is a two person operation: Richard Cauldwell is the author and publisher, and Mike Beilby (of CBLProjects Ltd) is the technology partner.

Our first publication, a CDROM, appeared in 2002 - the British/Irish Version of Streaming Speech: Listening and Pronunciation for Advanced Learners of English. This is a ten chapter publication for advanced learners of English which uses unscripted speech.

The course was conceived by Richard Cauldwell while working at the University of Birmingham in England. It proved a popular classroom resource for teachers, and a novel learning tool for students working at an advanced level. [ List of Clients...] [ Reviews...]

In 2004 Streaming Speech won an ELTON, the British Council's award for Innovations in English Language Teaching. The picture on the right shows Catherine Walter presenting the ELTON to Richard Cauldwell.
Photo courtesy of ELT Group, The British Council, 2004.

In the years since the award, three more publications have been produced and more are planned. In 2005, CD-ROMs were discontinued, and all publications were delivered online. Online delivery makes is easy for students and teachers to review progress. The first online course was the British/Irish version of Streaming Speech and it was used successfully to support English Language training programmes for student groups in Hong Kong. The online courses now known collectively as the Streaming Speech online courses. [ More about these courses...]

In 2005 the web site www.speechinaction.com was launched. Four full courses were available on this site: the original Streaming Speech, an American Canadian version of Streaming Speech, and two Listening to Accents publications.

The web site gave direct access to courses for students working independently using the Online Single-User service. Student purchased six-month subscriptions to courses and were given exclusive access to their own workspace which contained their answers to questions and a record of progress. Certificates were awarded for good work. [ More...]

Institutional services were also available in both class mode [more...] and in cluster mode [more...]

Speechinaction publications arise from 25 years of research and teaching. The systems of Discourse Intonation are used as a 'window on speech' to build the publications, and to conduct research into natural speech. Our teacher training website, SPARC (the SPeechinAction Research Centre) publishes research papers and teacher-training articles. [ Visit SPARC...]

Richard Cauldwell's own publications have a close relationship between research, teacher-training, and classroom practice. [ More...]

Richard can be contacted at richard@speechinaction.com
10 Victoria Road, Harborne, Birmingham, B17 0AH, United Kingdom

Tel: 44-(0)121-427-5056
Fax: 44-(0)121-240-9804

Streaming Speech courses were delivered online using Fabris, a learning management system developed by the technology partner, Mike Beilby of CBLProjects Ltd. A particular feature of Fabris is its ability to embed Flash movies in lessons and present the student with questions of various types, animations, sound and video. [ More on Fabris...]