
Practical Pronunciation
Pronunciation Strategies in Practice
Dj Kaiser(Author)
The University of Michigan Press
Will be published approx. on 17. August 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
316 pages
978-0-472-04015-5 (ISBN)
Description
Practical Pronunciation offers an easy-to-follow road map for English learners to incorporate pronunciation into their everyday and professional speaking. With more than two decades of practice and expertise in teaching advanced English pronunciation and public speaking skills, DJ Kaiser guides readers through a series of hands-on strategies that bring pronunciation practice to life. Carefully ordered lessons cover segmentals, word stress, phrase rhythm and melody, the phrase focus syllable, and intonation. Balancing more advanced topics in pronunciation (like stress on compound nouns, intonation on various question types, and using gestures to bring focus to relevant content) with accessible language and practical strategies makes reaching pronunciation goals more attainable. The book includes access to video content and more than 4.5 hours of audio content. Practical Pronunciation is perfect for classroom instruction, small-group tutorials, and one-on-one tutoring sessions, or as a self-study tool for advanced independent learners.
CEFR Level: C1
Key Features
A series of 210 audio recordings provides opportunities for learners to listen for key aspects of pronunciation and practice items from the book on their own.
Twenty-nine videos provide short explanations and visual demonstrations of many of the strategies included throughout the book.
Recommendations on ways to integrate digital tools into pronunciation exploration and practice provide learners and teachers with multiple ways to customize pronunciation practice to meet varied professional speaking contexts, academic goals, and personal interests.
Practice items and exercises incorporate higher-frequency words from the Corpus of Contemporary American English.
A glossary and several quick-reference charts make it easy to look up or clarify key terms and linguistic terminology or to visually review consonant and vowel charts.
CEFR Level: C1
Key Features
A series of 210 audio recordings provides opportunities for learners to listen for key aspects of pronunciation and practice items from the book on their own.
Twenty-nine videos provide short explanations and visual demonstrations of many of the strategies included throughout the book.
Recommendations on ways to integrate digital tools into pronunciation exploration and practice provide learners and teachers with multiple ways to customize pronunciation practice to meet varied professional speaking contexts, academic goals, and personal interests.
Practice items and exercises incorporate higher-frequency words from the Corpus of Contemporary American English.
A glossary and several quick-reference charts make it easy to look up or clarify key terms and linguistic terminology or to visually review consonant and vowel charts.
Reviews / Votes
"This comprehensive, research-based coverage of North American English segmentals and suprasegmentals promises to become an instant classic. Its well conceived tables and figures, as well as its accompanying audio and video files and sidebars on digital tools, greatly facilitate the journey of advanced second language learners toward increased comprehensibility and intelligibility." * Donna Brinton, UCLA * "DJ Kaiser provides an accessible book on teaching and learning pronunciation that is certain to be welcomed by experienced and novice teachers. This extensive collection of established pronunciation teaching techniques includes both traditional and contemporary approaches and a wide range of physicalizations to help master suprasegmentals. The book furnishes many, many activities to choose from, and the book builds knowledge from chapter to chapter so that learners can continue to expand their understanding of important areas of pronunciation." * John M. Levis, Iowa State University *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Ann Arbor
United States
Illustrations
79 tables, 144 figures
Dimensions
Height: 279 mm
Width: 210 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-472-04015-5 (9780472040155)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
DJ Kaiser is Professor and Director of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages at Webster University.
Content
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Unit One: Sounds, Stress, and Rhythm
Lesson One - The Sounds of American English
Lesson Two - Word Stress: Identifying Strong Syllables
Lesson Three - The Basics of Rhythm: Rhythm Patterns
Lesson Four - Predicting Stress Placement and Rhythm Patterns
Unit Two: The Phrase Focus Syllable and Noun Constructions
Lesson Five - The Phrase Focus Syllable
Lesson Six - Noun Units: Compound Nouns and Noun Strings
Lesson Seven - The Phrase Focus Stress on Function Words
Unit Three: Stress and Intonation
Lesson Eight - The Basics of Intonation
Lesson Nine - Intonation in Questions: Part I
Lesson Ten - Intonation in Questions: Part II
Lesson Eleven - Non-Final Rising Intonation
Lesson Twelve - Highlighting Information with Stress and Intonation
Bibliography
Glossary
Appendices
Appendix A - Strong Prefixes (A Mini-Lesson)
Appendix B - Word Stress
Appendix C - Predicting Rhythm Patterns
Appendix D - Strong and Weak Verb Particles (A Mini-Lesson)
Appendix E - Stress on Noun Units and Compound Adjectives
Appendix F - Pronouncing Numbers and Letters
Appendix G - Digital Tools for Pronunciation Learning
Appendix H - Quick-Reference Charts
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Unit One: Sounds, Stress, and Rhythm
Lesson One - The Sounds of American English
Lesson Two - Word Stress: Identifying Strong Syllables
Lesson Three - The Basics of Rhythm: Rhythm Patterns
Lesson Four - Predicting Stress Placement and Rhythm Patterns
Unit Two: The Phrase Focus Syllable and Noun Constructions
Lesson Five - The Phrase Focus Syllable
Lesson Six - Noun Units: Compound Nouns and Noun Strings
Lesson Seven - The Phrase Focus Stress on Function Words
Unit Three: Stress and Intonation
Lesson Eight - The Basics of Intonation
Lesson Nine - Intonation in Questions: Part I
Lesson Ten - Intonation in Questions: Part II
Lesson Eleven - Non-Final Rising Intonation
Lesson Twelve - Highlighting Information with Stress and Intonation
Bibliography
Glossary
Appendices
Appendix A - Strong Prefixes (A Mini-Lesson)
Appendix B - Word Stress
Appendix C - Predicting Rhythm Patterns
Appendix D - Strong and Weak Verb Particles (A Mini-Lesson)
Appendix E - Stress on Noun Units and Compound Adjectives
Appendix F - Pronouncing Numbers and Letters
Appendix G - Digital Tools for Pronunciation Learning
Appendix H - Quick-Reference Charts