AMERICAN ENGLISH ACCENT TRAINING:

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• AMERICAN ENGLISH ACCENT TRAINING
• PRACTICAL STRATEGIES

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I. INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL SUGGESTIONS

• 1. Do a contrastive analysis with the L1.
• 2. Remember, clients will make many more errors
  at the conversational level. They can be
  deceptively accurate at the word level.

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• 3. Most clients need to open their mouths more,
  move their lips more, and prolong their
  vowels (MOOSE)
• 4. Have clients bring in material that they
  would like help with

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• 5. Have them bring (or you can give) a
  notebook/folder for homework
• 6. When you create goals and objectives, show
  them to the client.

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• 7. Periodically ask your client how its going
• 8. Encourage distributed, not massed practice
• 9. We have POEC audiotapes downstairs. But it is
  nice if you spend the last 10 or so minutes of
  the session making them their own personal
  audiotape

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• DONT do this at home at 300 AM!
• Say words or phrases with their target sound(s).
  Pause to give them time to imitate you, then
  give the next word/phrase.
• They can even practice in the car ?

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• 10. Lorna Sikorski says that to really make a
  noticeable change, clients need to practice
  one hour daily for at least 6 months.
• 11. Foster realistic client expectationsthey
  will sound improved and more intelligible, but
  not like they were born here.

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• Syntaxgrammar quizzes, crossword puzzles its
  interactive
• a4esl.org
• Google.com esl activities

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• 12. Help clients become more comfortable with
  American culture by using materials such as
  magazines, newspapers.
• 13. Encourage clients to speak English and
  interact with native American English speakers
  as much as possible.

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• Even watching English TV or listening to CNN on
  the car radio can be helpful
• (without closed captioning)

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• 14. Use mirrors, tongue blades, diagrams, and
  other visual aids.
• 15. Have them practice speaking on the telephone
  and in front of groups.

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• 16. Show an interest in your clients language
  and culture. Download info from the internet
  and bring it in to discuss while they practice
  their therapy goals. They LOVE this.

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Bring a map of their country

• And have them plan a vacation for you

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• 17. Use tape recorders, the facilitator, and/or
  the language master.
• 18. Use backwards chaining for polysyllabic
  words that they are struggling with.
• E lec tri ci ty

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• 19. You and/or the client can bring a dictionary
  to each session. (mw.com)
• 20. Use Mr. Mouth to illustrate tongue
  placement.

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21. Create rating scales

• For example, you can create a scale of 1-7 where
  they rate themselves on parameters such as
  slowing down, opening their mouth, elongating
  vowels, etc. You can record them in a 2-minute
  conversational sample. Play the tape back. You
  rate the client, and they also rate themselves.
  Then you compare ratings.

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II. SPECIFIC PARAMETERS

• A. Voice
• Is it too loud? Too soft?
• Watch trailing off at the ends of sentences!
• The SonaSpeech is very helpful. (VisiPitch,
  voicelight)

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B. Resonance

• Are they hypernasal? May be slightly hypernasal.
• If so, they can immediately improve this by
  opening their mouths more and speaking a little
  more loudly.

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C. Rate

• Many clients speak too fast.
• The average WPM is 150-180.
• For public speaking, the ideal is 160 WPM.
• They should be at the slow end of this.

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D. Pragmatics

• Look especially at nonverbal skillseye contact,
  facial expression, body language

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E. Syntax and Morphology

• Watch especially for omission of bound morphemes
  like s, -ed

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F. Polysyllabic words

• I use an incidental teaching format for these
• If and when they come up in therapy, I write them
  down right away and ask clients to practice them

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G. Consonants

• Begin with at least one readily stimulable
  phoneme. Usually /th/ is a good one.
• Watch devoicing of voiced cognates.

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• When working on voicing contrasts, use minimal
  pairs to point out meaning differences
• E.g., chip-ship, loss-laws

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Use the consonant frequency chart

• To guide yourself and your client in terms of
  priorities
• They love having a copy of this frequency chart!

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Give clients diagrams

• Of how consonants are produced

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H. Vowels

• Make sure duration is long enough
• Use visuals to show tongue position!!
• Explain the tense/lax tongue distinction (e.g.,
  /i/ vs. /I/

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• Watch for reduction of diphthongs
• Watch for a/ae, o/a

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III. OTHER ISSUES

• Teach question vs. declarative intonation

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IV. SUGGESTIONS FOR PRESENTING TO GROUPS

• Speak loudly enoughproject your voice to the
  back of the room
• Avoid monotonelet your vocal dynamics vary
• Use pauses to give listeners time to thinkdont
  go too fast

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• Avoid interjectionsum, you know
• Know your audience beforehandwhat do they know?
  What dont they know?
• Introduce yourself, your qualifications, and an
  overview of what you will be talking about

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• At the end of the speech, go back and recap the
  main points
• Use stories to illustrate examples
• Its OK to use notesjust dont read them

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• Maintain good eye contactlook at each audience
  member for 2-3 secondsno more
• Dont use too many gestures
• Maintain posturedistribute weight evenly

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• Move around, but dont pace
• Dont fidget!