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Accent Modification Training Materials and |
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Book Review
Speakers of English as a foreign language often report that they were taught the rules of grammar and basic pronunciation of American English, but even after years of practice and use, their speech remains accented and appears "different" from those in their region of the country. While the reasons for an individual's accented speech may be, of course, multifactorial, one factor contributing to that difference may be the lack of knowledge of or exposure to the idiosyncratic rules of American English. Marjorie Feinstein-Whittaker and Lynda Katz Wilner have addressed these rules in a very comprehensive and straightforward manner within their new book, RULES: Rules for Using Linguistic Elements of Speech. This book can serve to be an invaluable assessment and training tool for speech-language pathologists working in the area of accent modification.
Within RULES, 23 critical and frequently misused grammatical, semantic, and syntactic rules of American English are addressed. Feinstein-Whittaker and Wilner have provided excellent activities to evaluate and target these idiosyncratic rules with three main areas of instruction: stress and intonation rules, pronunciation rules, and grammar rules. Abundant activities developed for the different areas of instruction are provided with answers and helpful notes to the trainer, when necessary.
After being provided with the rationale and instruction for each of the targets within these areas, the trainer and client then have an excellent variety of ample exercises with which to practice these rules in the final area of instruction, entitled "Putting It All Together." This section of the book contains exercises centered on practical, useful activities that provide the client with more activities targeting these rules. Answers and helpful suggestions to trainers, if possibly required, are also provided.
As stated in the preface to their book, Feinstein-Whittaker and Wilner have targeted it for use with nonnative speakers of American English. One might assume that most native speakers of American English would have assimilated these idiosyncratic rules through exposure to the language on a constant basis in their environment. However, this author's observation is that this is frequently not the case. Even the most skilled speakers or those who speak on a professional basis may have mispronunciations or misusages idiosyncratic to their own facility with American English. These speakers may also benefit from individualized instruction obtained from this book.
This ample book (364 pages) is one that this author would recommend. My personal experience has been that clients who have received instruction from RULES have reported being unaware of these rules and expressed enthusiasm and appreciation for this valuable source.
Elizabeth Roberts, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
CORSPAN Treasurer, Professional Image Consultant Speech Services
