Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)We have used Accurate English as a textbook in our pronunication and intonation classes at our university because it is a great technical resource for students who are trying to improve their pronunciation and simultaneously want to learn something about how sounds are produced. The book's approach is to help non-native speakers learn about and experiment with the principles of articulatory phonetics (the way the sounds of language are produced by the mouth, tongue and vocal tract). It explains many of the terms used in linguistics and speech pathology in a way that anyone can understand, and encourages students to become more aware of the ways that they produce speech sounds. This approach can be very very helpful, even with students whose non-native speech habits have become deeply entrenched.
The book covers all the essential components of a course in pronunciation: consonants, vowels, rhythm, stress, and intonation. It has lots of exercises to help students learn the sounds of American English and they way they are produced. It also has some of the best information I have seen on learning how the sounds of English correspond with orthography (spelling). It is a perfect book for one-on-one tutoring in accent reduction or pronunciation. If you are using it as a classroom text, it tends to be a little dry, but it does contain a lot of exercises. They just aren't as context-based as some of the others out there. It wouldn't be hard to supplement the exercises in this book to keep students interested, however. It can also be a resource for teachers to use to supplement an advanced class with meatier material.
If you are a student, you will need to find a native speaker to help you with some of the exercises and provide feedback. If you buy the tapes, you'll be able to listen to the exercises, but you'll still need to get someone to listen to you and help adjust your pronunciation. This is true for all pronunciation books, by the way; it's not unique to this book.
Great book!
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Accurate English: A Complete Course in PronunciationThis pronunciation text helps students achieve a near-native accent.*Teaches vowels, consonants, rhythm, stress, and intonation using principles of articulatory phonetics. *Provides precise illustrations of lip positions of vowels and consonants, and a diagnostic speech sample. *Reinforces theory with numerous practice exercises that include phrases, dialogues, reading passages, and oral presentations. *Includes spelling patterns for ordinary words and academic words.
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