English - Introduction to English Pronunciation

The course will cover the following aspects of English pronunciation: Production of Speech Sounds; Short Vowels; Long Vowels ; Diphthongs & Triphthongs; Voicing & Consonants; The Phoneme and Allophones; Fricatives & Affricates; Nasals and Other Consonants; The Syllable; Strong & Weak Syllables; Stress in Simple Words; Complex Word Stress; Aspects of Connected Speech; Introduction to Intonation.
We will also work on aspects of pronunciation related to students’ first language, such as specific transfer issues from e.g. Chinese/German/Spanish/etc. We will also briefly examine some of the different varieties of spoken English (including US Englishes, Australian Englishes, British Englishes, etc.).

Upon completion of this module, students’ pronunciation of English will have improved in accuracy and they will have developed a better understanding of the production and linking of English sounds and of basic English phonetics and phonology. Their speech will be show greater fluency and accuracy of intonation, especially when speaking on topics of special interest and daily necessity.

Students should have a minimum course entry level equivalent to CER B1/B2

Via short lectures at the start of each session and accompanying exercises, the course will provide students with a foundation in English phonetics and phonology in order to enable them to identify and analyse areas of weakness and improve pronunciation. Class work will incorporate active discussion of theoretical aspects of pronunciation based on the reading material together with practical exercises to improve actual production in pairs, groups and individually. There will be reading homework each week and some written exercises.

Powerpoint presentations to accompany lectures; Printed handouts; Audio and video recordings from a variety of sources; Written and spoken exercises from a variety of sources

Roach, Peter. English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course. Cambridge University Press (4th Edition)

Final assessment is based on class participation and completion of homework assignments (10%), on course oral assessment (15% of final grade), a mid-Semester written exam (25% of final grade) and a final written exam (50% of final grade). Duration of the final examination: 60 minutes.

The homework assignments and exams allow students to demonstrate comprehension of learned features of English pronunciation and to assess levels of improvement in recognizing and producing them in various learning and communicative contexts.