Exercises for Students
American English Pronunciation Practice
Charles
Kelly (2001)
http://www.manythings.org/pp/
Twenty-four
minimal pair lessons with sound files, plus a song, a limerick, and a few tongue twisters.
ESL Learning
Centre: English Pronunciation
EnglishClub.com
http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/index.htm
Includes
lessons on word stress, sentence stress, pronunciation of –ed, and pronunciation of
“the.”.
Online Intonation
John
Maidment, Department of Phonetics & Linguistics, University College London
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/johnm/oi/oiin.htm
A set
of exercises intended to provide practice in associating the sound of an intonation
pattern with a commonly used system of notation.
Plato
John
Maidment, Department of Phonetics & Linguistics, University College London
http://www.btinternet.com/~eptotd/vm/plato/platmen.htm
A set of exercises in perceiving tonic stress (sentence prominence). User sees and hears a sentence and then manipulates
onscreen arrow keys to place stress on the correct syllable.
The Vowel Machine
John
Maidment, Department of Phonetics & Linguistics, University College London
http://www.btinternet.com/~eptotd/vm/vowelmachine/vowelmachine.htm
Multiple-choice listening exercise for isolated words, focusing on distinguishing vowel
sounds. Uses British pronunciation.
Toni
John
Maidment, Department of Phonetics & Linguistics, University College London
http://www.btinternet.com/~eptotd/vm/toni/tonimenu.htm
A set of exercises in perceiving final intonation contours (called nuclear tones). User sees and hears a sentence and then chooses
from seven possible contours. Sentences are
spoken in British (RP) English.
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General Pronunciation Sites &
Additional Links
Authentic American Pronunciation
Eva Easton
http://evaeaston.com/pr/home.html
Part of E. L.
Easton language teaching site. Requires a lot
of navigation, but rich in audio files and links to other resources.
English Pronunciation
about.com
http://esl.about.com/cs/pronunciation/
Covers both
British and American pronunciation. Good
resources if you can put up with the advertisements.
English Pronunciation
Virtual
Language Center, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
http://www.edict.com.hk/vlc/pronunciation/
Beware: The sound files on this page can take
a long time to download. Also, the site
frequently has technical difficulties.
English Pronunciation/Listening
Okanogan University
College
http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/
Includes
QuickTime movies of dental fricatives.
English Pronunciation
Tip of the Day
John
Maidment, Department of Phonetics & Linguistics, University College London
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/johnm/eptotd/tiphome.htm
Includes audio files. Pronunciation is British
English.
ESL
Independent
Study
Lab—Pronunciation
Michael
Krauss, Lewis & Clark College
http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/pronunciation.html
This is an
organized list of web resources, graded by level.
ESL: Pronunciation
Internet TESL
Journal
http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Pronunciation/
A
list of pronunciation links of interest to both teachers and students. See also the “Links for Students” at the
top, then select “Quizzes,” “Quizzes with Sounds.”
Pronunciation
eslGold.com
http://www.eslgold.com/pronunciation.html
A
variety of resources, including diagnostic readings, exercises, minimal pair lists, links,
and textbook recommendations.
Pronunciation
ESLPoint.com
http://www.eslpoint.com
Similar
to eslGold. From the above link, click on
“Pronunciation.”
Pronunciation Sites
for International and ESL Students
Student
Learning Centre, Flinders University, Australia
http://www.flinders.edu.au/SLC/Pages/pronunciation.html
A list of
links to WWW resources especially chosen for students.
Includes a link to audio files of various accents of English, male and female
versions.
Pronunciation Web Resources
Marsha Chan,
Sunburst Media for Language Learners
http://www.sunburstmedia.com/PronWeb.html
Another menu
of links to WWW resources, including pronunciation courses with audio and animation. Although housed on Marsha Chan’s web site,
this menu was originally developed by Donna Brinton and Chris LaBelle at UCLA, and
overlaps with “Sites for Teaching Pronunciation” below.
Relaxed
Pronunciation
Inglês
Online
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/8995/relaxed.html
A somewhat
light-hearted glossary of reduced forms. Example: “tsko” = “Let’s go.” Sometimes difficult to access.
Sites
for Teaching Pronunciation
Donna Brinton
and Chris LaBelle
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~jlevis/SPRIS/brinton.html
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Listening
Hotlist
on Real World Listening
Linda Grant
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/listlisteninli.html
Provides
links to authentic speech samples, including a site with recordings of historic speeches. Some links are out-of-date.
IDEA:
International Dialects of English Archive
Paul Meier
& Shawn Muller
http://www.ku.edu/~idea/
A well
documented collection of recordings of accented English from throughout the World.
Randall’s
ESL Cyber Listening Lab
Randall Davis
http://www.esl-lab.com/
Scripted
listening exercises with multiple choice questions. Includes
link to related Randall site, “Train
Your Accent,” which focuses on relaxed pronunciation.
Speech Accent Archive
S.
Weinberger, George Mason\ University
http://classweb.gmu.edu/accent/
Provides an English passage read by speakers from many different language backgrounds.
The Audio Archive
Igor Merfert
http://alt-usage-english.org/audio_archive.shtml
A collection of sound files for listening to a variety of English dialects from
“center countries” plus India.
Worldwide
Accents of English
Gabriele
Azzaro
http://www.gazzaro.it/accents/files/accents2.html
Well-organized
sound clips of a variety of English dialects. Site
includes a commentary on RP, GenAm, Scottish, USA Southern Mountains, Texan, Russian,
Black African, Asian Indian, and Nigerian.
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Phonetics
English
Phonetic Alphabet
English
Department of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
http://ipap.calpoly.edu/epa/index.html
Includes
consonant and vowel charts with recorded segments of each sound. Video animations of the oral tract are
unfortunately inaccurate.
fenetiks:
The Sounds of Spoken Language
University of
Iowa
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#
An excellent resource for articulatory descriptions of consonants and vowels. Includes animated cut-away side views.
Fonetics.org
http://www.fonetiks.org/
Sound clips of selected sounds in a variety of English dialects, as well as other
languages.
Interactive Sammy
Daniel Currie
Hall
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~danhall/phonetics/sammy.html
Using
“radio buttons,” this interactive page allows you to manipulate the setting of
the lips, tongue, velum and vocal cords on a “Sammy” diagram, and displays the
IPA symbol for the sound corresponding to each configuration you construct.
International Phonetic Association
http://www2.arts.gla.ac.uk/IPA/ipa.html
Includes
complete chart of all IPA symbols for all language sounds.
SIL Encore IPA
Fonts
The SIL
(Summer Institute of Linguistics) IPA fonts can be downloaded from:
http://www.sil.org/computing/fonts/encore-ipa.html
You need to read the README files and help packages to find out how to use the fonts. I would recommend the older “Legacy fonts: SIL
IPA93.20,” as they appear to be more user-friendly.
Symbols for
American English Vowel Sounds
George
L. Dillon, University of Washington
http://faculty.washington.edu/dillon/PhonResources/newstart.html
A reference
chart of English and British vowels and diphthongs. Point to a key word to hear it
pronounced. A link to “British/American Vowels” provides companion vowel
charts of the two dialects. Vowels in each can
be heard by pointing in the same way.
The Sounds of English
and the International Phonetic
Alphabet
antimoon.com
http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm
Includes
audio (.mp3) of minimal pairs, some for both American and British English.
UCLA Phonetic Data
Peter
Ladefoged, UCLA
http://hctv.humnet.ucla.edu/departments/linguistics/VowelsandConsonants/
Includes a
web version of the CD that accompanies Ladefoged’s latest books. Includes film of larynx in action. Also includes recordings of sounds from many of the
world’s languages.
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Resources for Teachers
Common Mistakes in
English by Language Background
Ted Power,
English
Language Learning and Teaching.
http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/phono.html
Common pronunciation errors for learners of English from 19 different language
backgrounds.
Computer-Mediated
Tools in Teaching Speaking and Pronunciation
Deborah
Healey
http://oregonstate.edu/~healeyd/tesol2007/cmc_tools.html
This page
includes a link to a PowerPoint presentation from the TESOL2007 Technology & Speech
Academic Session panel: “The effectiveness of computer technology in teaching
speaking and pronunciation skills.” The
page also includes links to various technology resources.
Dave’s
ESL Café Idea Cookbook: Pronunciation
Dave Sperling
http://www.eslcafe.com/ideas/sefer.cgi?Pronunciation:
A vast inventory of pronunciation activities submitted by readers.
English Tongue Twisters
Michael Reck
http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/en.htm
Part of the
“1st International Collection of Tongue Twisters.” Lists 404 English tongue twisters.
Overview
of
Pronunciation
Software
Deborah
Healey
http://oregonstate.edu/~healeyd/tesol2002/pron.html
This is an
updated handout from a TESOL 2002 presentation (last updated in May, 2005). It includes a table listing commercial
pronunciation software, with descriptions, prices, and links to reviews.
Sounds of
English
Sharon
Widmayer, George Mason University
http://www.soundsofenglish.org
This site is
rich in resources, well worth spending a lot of time in.
Includes a variety of exercises for students, some imbedded in “handouts”
from presentations. Includes handouts for
three presentations and two Pre-Convention Institutes from the TESOL 2007 convention.
Supports for
Pronunciation Teaching
John Murphy,
Georgia State University
http://www2.gsu.edu/~esljmm/ss/furtherreading.htm
A list of references, most of which are included in the course bibliography. Includes links to annotations of some references
and to some authors, in case you would like to make e-mail contact.
TESOL Speech
and Pronunciation
Interest Section
An excellent
resource.
http://www.soundsofenglish.org/SPLIS/
The Teacher’s
Listening, Speaking and Pronunciation Survival Kit
David
Mendelsohn, Michael Rost, John Murphy, and William Acton
http://dlll.yorku.ca/esl/survivalkit.html
This is the handout for a colloquium presented at the 2004 TESOL Convention.
The Tongue Twister
Database
Craig Staley
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8136/tonguetwisters.html
A simple collection of classic tongue twisters.
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Speech Recording and Analysis
Audacity
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Free,
downloadable software for recording and editing sound files.
Praat:
Doing Phonetics by Computer
Paul Boersma
and David Weenink, Institute of Phonetic Sciences, Univ. of Amsterdam
http://www.praat.org
[or http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/]
Offers
free downloadable software that teaches vowel and diphthong production by means of vowel
chart plotting.
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Vocal Anatomy
Laryngeal Video Recordings:
Pitch
James P. Thomas, MD
http://www.voicedoctor.net/media/video/normal/pitch_movie.html
“Slow motion” video of female
vocal cords, comparing high and low pitches.
Normal Larynx Video
Kevin
Cavanagh, MD
http://www.entusa.com/normal_larynx.htm
21 second video of female larynx, singing a high note.
Voice
Speech Source: The Larynx
Eric Armstrong
http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/journey/larynx.html
Provides anatomically accurate and
clearly labeled images of the larynx. Also,
“IPA charts” in the side bar links to a chart of IPA symbols. Clicking on a symbol activates an audio file of the
corresponding sound; consonants are pronounced in initial, medial and final position,
vowels with both level and falling intonation.
Commercial Sites
American Accent Training
Ann
Cook
http://www.americanaccent.com
Offers a selection of free material, including explanations, a few audio files for
listening, and a sample of reduced forms (e.g. “kwee geddit” = “Can we get
it?”)
The Streaming Speech
Project
Richard
Cauldwell
http://www.speechinaction.com
This site is essentially an advertisement for an online course, but offers a free demo. The focus is on linking in connected speech
(“streaming speech”). It
demonstrates the possibilities for computer aided instruction in intonation.
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