English - English Pronunciation C1

The first part of the course introduces students to a variety of English accents, resources for the independent study of pronunciation and the differences between pronunciation in slow and fast speech. The second part of the course concerns pronunciation in words and phrases, including consonant clusters and stressed and unstressed syllables, and the pronunciation of foreign words. The next section of the course is about pronunciation in conversation, including how intonation contributes to meaning. The final section deals with pronunciation in formal settings, including professional contexts such as giving business or conference presentations.

The focus of this course is on improving pronunciation in communication rather than practising individual sounds or words. Students will be able to understand a variety of English accents; identify correct stress in words and phrases; identify and use features of fluent speech in conversation such as linking sounds, omitting sounds, and using intonation to convey meaning. Students will also be able to use understandable pronunciation in formal settings.

Corresponds to C1 of the CER.

The students' English pronunciation should be understandable by native and non-native English speakers. They should have a general understanding of the correlation between spelling and individual vowel and consonant sounds. For students who do not meet these criteria, the course Introduction to English Pronunciation is more appropriate. Students should have a minimum course entry level equivalent to CER C1 (evidenced by the score on the placement test at www.moodle.tum.de)

Using the course book as a guide, the course instructor gives short lectures and explanations regarding content, and then works together with the students to put the information into practice. The course instructor works together with the students in order to determine individual areas of weakness. The emphasis of this course is spoken English; therefore, the students have plenty of opportunities to speak in order to practice new skills. The students engage in conversation pairs, group discussions, and individual spoken exchanges with the course instructor. Although the focus of the course is spoken pronunciation, the students are given the opportunity to practise listening to speech at conversational speed and in a variety of English accents.

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Handouts and selected extracts from published sources will be used in the course. Key literature will be advised by the teacher and/ or listed in the course description.

Performance, testing the learning outcomes specified in the module description, is examined by a cumulative portfolio of competence and action-oriented tasks by means of students' weekly tasks (50%) and a final exam (50%). The tasks includes recording exercises in order to determine areas of weakness, so the instructor can provide individual feedback and exercises.

As the course may be offered in various formats (online or classroom) the form and conditions of the final exam (with or without aids) will vary. Where audio or video is recorded, we observe the Basic Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO, Art. 12 -21).