Teaching American English Pronunciation

Oxford Handbooks for Language Teachers

by Peter Avery, Susan Ehrlich

A textbook and reference manual on teaching the pronunciation of North American English, written specifically for teachers of English as a second Language (ESL).

Unlike books aimed at linguistics students or individual learners of English, Teaching American English Pronunciation specifically addresses the needs of ESL teachers. It provides the descriptive knowledge needed to teach pronunciation effectively. But it is also full of practical teaching ideas.

The book is divided into three main parts:

- Part One is an introduction to the English sound system. It covers spelling and pronunciation, the individual sounds of English, English sounds in context, the shape of English words, word stress and vowel reduction, and connected speech. Throughout this part of the book, the authors use examples of typical errors made by ESL students to illustrate the descriptions and concepts they describe.

- Part Two describes the pronunciation problems that most ESL students have with English vowels, consonants, stress, rhythm, and intonation. It then goes on to look at the specific pronunciation problems of speakers of fifteen different languages: Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Hindi and Punjabi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

- Part Three consists of a set of articles about practical issues in pronunciation teaching. These are written by ten North American teachers and language researchers with a wide range of experience of teaching in many different contexts. The topics covered include: pronunciation syllabus design, pronunciation-based listening activities, developing self-correcting and self-monitoring strategies, and drama techniques in the pronunciation class.

Genres: Nonfiction, Language, Education, Teaching, Linguistics

252 pages, Paperback

First published June 4, 1992

About the author

Peter Avery currently teaches linguistics at the University of Toronto. He is involved in teacher training throughout the TESL Certificate programme at George Brown College, Toronto, Canada. His research interests include theoretical phonology and second language acquisition.

Reviews

[Bill Michaud · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as part prep work for tutoring a Cantonese college student in pronunciation. I think it is not only practical but fascinating. It's amazing to take an in depth look at how the language you speak every day really works.

As a teacher's tool, this book does a great job of breaking down all the major parts of American pronunciation. If I recall correctly, it even contrasts the American pronunciation to the British pronunciation. Once I get the money, I intend to purchase this book to keep in my teacher's library.

[Princess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book as part of my ESL endorsement course. Brilliant! It was interesting to learn exactly how the mouth works to produce individual sounds and I liked the breakdown in chapters 7-8 of how to help with specific pronunciation difficulties.

[Chey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank god for this pronunciation bible

[John Garcia- Landry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just begin taking a TESOL Course at Florida Atlantic University. My professor recommended this book as a supplemental reading. I thought that this book was very interesting and enjoyable. I read this book in order to assist me with an assignment on the pronunciation of an English Language Learner and I feel that this assignment was very beneficial.

[John Garcia- Landry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book because it was a supplemental reading for my TESOL Course. This book helped me to better understand the many different aspects associated with English Language Pronunciation. This book has very in-depth descriptions and details about the different muscles and parts of the mouth that are used to pronounce various sounds. This book contains many relevant examples of English Language Learners. This book truly allows for teachers and pre-service teachers to learn a great deal about how and why certain words are pronounced in a certain manner.

This book also helps to describe the different pronunciation differences between other languages and English. This book helps to give a better understanding of why English Language Learners pronounce words like they do.

[Debs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for my TESL Ontario Course.

I haven't read other pronunciation books so it's hard to make a comparison, but I found it quite clear and helpful, particularly chapters 1-8. It would have been nice if it were consistent with IPA - there's the potential for confusion with different symbols. I got it from the library but would like to purchase it in the future. I could see myself referencing it often for sure.

[L Jung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Methods

[Slushy Mccormick · Rating 3 out of 5]

good except they had to get original with the phonetic script.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worked well as a textbook.

[Amy-Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

first book read for my esl certification / learned the wonders of IPA & where the tongue is placed in the mouth to produce certain sounds / didn't use all standard IPA - which is annoying...

[Mills College Library]

421.5407 A955 1992

[Hoedhaajha · Rating 4 out of 5]

it very usefull to used as my reference in my research

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

helpful with lots of practical ideas. good reference book

[Thiện Lê]

dvsđx

[Ann Yanchura · Rating 2 out of 5]

This covers important theory and practice in very specific linguistic instruction but it does not address authentic application to my satisfaction. Too little and too late.