Accurate English: A Complete Course in Pronunciation [Paperback]

Rebecca M. Dauer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 4, 1992 | ISBN-10: 0130072532 | ISBN-13: 978-0130072535

This 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.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Aimed at enabling readers to improve their pronunciation of English so they can be understood effortlessly by native speakers in both formal and informal situations, this handbook teaches the vowels, consonants, rhythm, and intonation of American English using the principles of articulatory phonetics. Stressing a cognitive approach to learning and providing do-it-yourself exercises designed to put theory into practice, the reference hands readers techniques for improving their accents ... provides steps for working up from phrases to dialogues, reading passages, and oral presentations ... includes spelling patterns for ordinary words, academic words, and exceptions, as well as rules for stress placement ... offers detailed treatment of rhythm, including reduction and linking ... and contains a diagnostic speech sample and self analysis to help readers pinpoint their own language problems. Ideal for individuals who are non-native speakers of English and want to achieve a near-native accent.

Product Details

• Paperback: 246 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall (December 4, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130072532
• ISBN-13: 978-0130072535
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #280,550 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great resource for adults, February 13, 2003

By 

lindyjulie (Evanston, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Accurate English: A Complete Course in Pronunciation (Paperback)

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!

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for the Amateur, March 26, 2000

By 

Vera Parr ([e-mail]) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Accurate English: A Complete Course in Pronunciation (Paperback)

This is a terrific book for students of: linguistics, accent improvement (with a cerebral view) and speech modification coaches/teachers who are interested in the nitty gritty linguistic explanations of what goes on with pronunciation and intonation. I believe for most anyone who wants to teach pronunciation and intonation with excellence in mind, this book is a must for your reference library. I have used this book in accent achievement coaching in the educational setting,and I found it was too top-heavy with metalinguistics and had to supplement with functional self-made worksheets for students.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Accurate English is a professionally engaging text, February 9, 2001

By 

Sandra C. Browne (Branford, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Accurate English: A Complete Course in Pronunciation (Paperback)

This text is what Language Consultants who work in the area of accent reduction have been looking for. Aimed at adults, it contains both a diagnostic speech sample and a helpful "self analysis section". The use of the IPA is clearly and carefully done. The chapter divisions make it easy to move around in the text and focus on what an individual speaker needs. In addition, the audio tape has up-to-date dialogues with natural speech and idioms. Finally, the index and the accompanying teacher's manual make this a text not to be missed.