Jonathan Marks

I live in Gdynia, Poland, and work on a freelance basis as a teacher-trainer, writer and translator. I previously lived and worked in Germany, Sweden and the UK.

I've written and co-written books and articles in the fields of teacher resources, coursebooks and  teacher development, and I’ve contributed to monolingual and bilingual dictionaries. As well as The Book of Pronunciation, my English Pronunciation in Use – Elementary (CUP) is a product of my particular interest in pronunciation. I’m a founder member and former coordinator of the IATEFL Pronunciation Special Interest Group.

I like studying languages and tracing connections between them, and I'm - still - intrigued by the question: Given that so many people in the world learn foreign and second languages informally, without books, teachers and so on, how can formal instruction help them most effectively, as opposed to interfering with the learning process?