Improve Your American English Accent offers language learners an easy and enjoyable way to master the most challenging American English speech characteristics. Focusing exclusively on the core features that have the greatest impact on understanding American English speakers and being understood by them, it comprises six 35-minute lessons on three CDs, and a booklet containing written pronunciation guidelines and transcriptions of the sounds, words, and sentences introduced on the recording. Each lesson is short enough to be completed at one sitting and is presented in a friendly and lively manner that the learner will find engaging.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Session I 1.1 Introduction to Improve your American English Accent 1.2 What?s in Session I 1.3 The vowels 1, 6 and 10 1.4 Vowel sound 1.5 Syllables 1.6 Syllable stress 1.7 Consonants: Stops and continuants 1.8 The glottal stop: an important extra stop sound 1.9 Voicing and vowel duration 1.10 Stress in abbreviations and initials 1.11 Let?s try to apply this information 1.12 Assignment Session II 1.13 What?s in Session II 1.14 The vowels: Review of vowels 6 and 11 1.15 The vowels: Introducing vowels 3, 4 and 5 1.16 Different ways to pronounce stops 1.17 Linking words together (as the native speakers do) 1.18 Three variations of -sl-es noun and verb endings 1.19 Syllable stress with suffixes ?ion, -sion, -tion 1.20 Word stress in adjective + noun phrases 1.21 Let?s try to apply this information 1.22 Assignment Session III 2.1 What?s in Session III 2.2 The vowels: 1 and 2 2.3 The vowels: Front vowels 1, 2, 3 and 4 2.4 The vowels: vowel 12 2.5 The three ?ed verb endings (the regular endings for Simple past and past participle forms) 2.6 Practice using the ?ed endings 2.7 The between-vowel (intervocalic) d or t flap 2.8 Practice using the d or t flap 2.9 Stress in adjectives with ?al, -ial, or ?ual suffixes 2.10 Stress in noun + noun phrases 2.11 To stress or not to stress: the schwa 2.12 Stress and non-stress in some useful words 2.13 Let?s try to apply this information 2.14 Assignment Session IV 2.15 What?s in Session IV 2.16 Vowels: Vowel sound 8 2.17 Vowels: Back vowels 8, 9 and 10 2.18 Contractions: Is 2.19 Contractions: Are 2.20 Contractions: Does 2.21 Contractions: Did 2.22 Contractions: Will 2.23 Contractions: Would 2.24 Contractions: Can and can?t 2.25 Reducing the h in words that are not important 2.26 Stress with the common suffix -ity 2.27 Assignment Session V 3.1 What?s in Session V 3.2 The vowels: lower vowels 6, 7, 8, and 11 3.3 Practicing stress, pitch, linking, and reductions in declarative sentences 3.4 Practicing non-stress 3.5 Summary of some important speech aspects 3.6 When joining a front vowel to another vowel 3.7 When joining a back vowel to another vowel 3.8 Forming new sounds by joining sounds together 3.9 Linking words with the same (or closely related) sounds 3.10 Practice with some common helping verbs 3.11 Assignment Session VI 3.12 What?s in Session Six 3.13 Pitch pattern change after a subject has been Introduced 3.14 Usual pitch patterns in English information questions 3.15 Usual pitch patterns in North American English yes/no questions 3.16 Usual pitch patterns in North American English Either/or (choice) questions 3.17 Usual pitch patterns in North American English Attached questions 3.18 Breaking the rules of stress in special situations 3.19 Let?s try to apply this information 3.20 Assignment