Clear Speech Student's Book: Pronunciation and Listening Comprehension in American English

Clear Speech is a well-conceived pronunciation text that, in my experience, students have found very pleasant to use. It covers individual sounds, as well as speech rhythm and intonation, in a very fluid way. It can help instructors teach ESL students to pronounce well not only word by word, but also to arrive at more natural-sounding sentence flow. I have found that the exercises in the book benefit students beyond their own pronunciation, and actually help them to understand native English speakers better. The third edition is a vast improvement over the previous one, because it guides students in deciphering English spelling and provides more practice in specific, troublesome sounds. The new edition also includes a practice CD, which is something many students using the second edition often wished for. The graphic simplicity of the book is a huge advantage over other pronunciation texts available. All in all, I think Clear Speech is one of the best - if not THE best - choice for teaching pronunciation.

I split this book to create a 2-level pronunciation course for lower intermediate and higher students in Japan. The courses were extremely well received time and time again. The book is an excellent guide for such classes. I rated the book at 5-stars on its own merit. However, together with the audio cassettes I would have given it four and a half stars, as I believe the audio component needs to be available on CD for cueing purposes and ease of use. Teachers who have training in teaching pronunciation will probably be delighted with the book. Instructors trying to use the book without the benefit of training in teaching pronunciation may not have the background to utilize it fully. Rather than use the tapes an instructor can easily use their own pronunciation to model the lesson targets. This allows for easy adjustments of the speed, timing and rhythm of the exercises for different class groups. Students can practice the targets as a group, and then individually during the listen and repeat sections. The students generally loved the excellent pair work that followed, which allowed them to further practice and master to some degree what they had covered. As much as it is a pronunciation course, listening skills are an equally strong component. Again, the pair work was excellent in ensuring each student strove to achieve the listening and production targets. This book allowed mixed levels of students to work together harmoniously, challenge themselves in a very enjoyable and insightful way, and achieve real gains in their struggles to produce and understand spoken English. Students liked the limericks. I agree with the other reviewer who stated the diagnostic test with the book is an extremely useful tool. Highly recommended.

This is a pragmatic approach to teaching pronunciation. Many pronunciation texts embellish lessons with unnecessarily difficult academic/phonological terms that serve no real purpose for the student, but rather confuse and complicate the student's learning process. Judy Gilbert simplifies this process and keeps the customer/student focus paramount. Her approach is refreshingly honest, stressing the most useful elements of pronunciation--those which are tied to listening. It frees the teacher and student from unnecessarily complex pedagogy. Over the past 6-7 years that I have used the text, I have found that this is one text that both the students and teachers can ENJOY! Thank you Judy Gilbert! (I look forward to using your new text "Clear Speech from the Start.")

I got this book to help one of my advanced level students with her pronunciation. I was surprised at what the book really focuses on, and I have found it to be quite helpful. THE GOOD: 1) This book is different from other pronunciation books in that it only spends part of the time focusing on the sounds of English letters. Rather, it is organized into chapters based on other features of English, such as rhythm, linking, syllable length, stress, intonation and reduction. This is a wonderful "next step" for students who have had adequate practice with the sounds of English letters, but still have an accent. 2) It provides practice exercises that allow the student to practice more than one thing at a time. For example, one exercise allows the student to practice linking words while practicing the "sh" sound. 3) I think that the most valuable part of this book is the Clear Listening and Clear Speaking test at the beginning of the book. These allow teachers to get very specific responses from students, and then focus on the problem areas. THE BAD: While the book is great at helping students practice consonant sounds, it doesn't give much practice or help with vowel sounds. This is really my only complaint with this otherwise wonderful book. OVERALL: A great book that will help students fine tune their English speech. I recommend it for high-intermediate or advanced students. If students are looking for a good way to reduce their accents, or make themselves more understood by Americans, or even understand North American English better themselves then I highly recommend this book.

This is one of the rare pronunciation textbooks that focus on helping speakers of English as a Second Language understand the way American English sounds when spoken in context, not just the way individual words are pronounced in isolation. Speaking more clearly and fluently often requires speaking word LESS clearly but using the proper simplifying rules. Native speakers 'know' these rules but are usually not aware of them. My colleagues and I have found that advanced students really love this book, and self-study is possible to some extent when used with the accompanying tape.