Customer Reviews

Accurate English: A Complete Course in Pronunciation: Instructor's Manual

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

Accurate English is a text language consultants who work in pronunciation have been using for more than seven years now and it is still the best in its field for training adults to speak American English. Most of my colleagues use it and are pleased to report that the quality of the linguistic material, the clarity of presentation and the up-to-date dialogues on the accompanying cassette make this package not only useful but pleasant to work with. My clients agree.

Since these cassette tapes were expensive and are soldseparately from the book of the same name, I expected the tapes to"stand alone"; in other words, I didn't expect to need the book to get the full benefit out of the tapes. I was disappointed in that this was not the case. The tapes reference charts and pages in the book, which I did not purchase - this should be indicated to the customer, in my opinion. However, some of the material is still understandable. A similar program that I highly recommend is "Perfecting the Sounds of American English :Includes a Complete Guide to the International Phonetic Alphabet" by Dr. Bernard Silverstein. Unlike the cassette tapes by Rebecca Dauer, Dr. Silverstein includes a cassette and a booklet, which are used together. END

To my knowledge, the best course on American pronunciation. The title says it all: it is accurate and complete. There are practices with minimal pairs, and it uses the IPA symbols. Sections on fast speech rules, vowel reduction and stress placement will bring advanced speakers to near perfection. Audio tapes are superfluous with a good knowledge of the phonetic alphabet.

Accurate English: A Complete Course in Pronunciation

I bought this book for 27$, was used in good condition, it was full of doodles, the previous owner had written the whole book, but to study it well,, .. advice to all who better to buy a book that was never used cost $ 1 more is better! my classmate has paid $ 28 for a new book on Amazon .. the shipping was quick, so I recommend it to everyone..

It includes many rules that are necessary for the student to learn how to pronounce correctly. If the student has practiced following the book, his pronunciation will be improved.

This is a text book for my friend who is taking ESL class, and I found her English pronunciation really improved.

This is a great book. In my opinion it is the best pronunciation book, I used it as a 2nd level textbook (it is far more advanced than other books, though very clear and easy to deal with). My University pronunciation professor at Columbia suggested it as an additional tool for those who were interested in going deep into the subject. Good both for beginners and advanced students, you can customize your study experience avoiding the advanced parts or some exercises.
Cons: The only audio support available are audiotapes (who can still use them???), and they are expensive indeed.