Practising english consonants

Abstract

This text is aimed at first- and second-year university English Phonetic and Phonology students and is designed to be used as an accompaniment to theoretical classes and for individual practice and revisión. The difficulties Spanish speaking students encounter with English pronunciation are only too well-known and our idea here is to offer a practical tool to help students struggling with the gap between theory and practice.

Our approach to the subject is basically a practical one and the result of years of classroom experience in which we have always attempted to help our students put into practice the theory studied in class. We remain firm believers in the necessity of insistence upon a clear and correct articulation of the individual sound and in this text specific focus is placed on the English consonants and their articulation both in isolation and in connected speech.

Using this book students will find that they are required from the very beginning to practise articulating and transchbing examples of the theoretical points explained and they must, therefore, be familiar with the phonemic symbols to be able to complete the numerous practical exercises provided both for classroom work and/or individual study. A pronunciation dictionary will be necessary for checking work.