Holger Schmitt

Pronunciation teaching has sometimes been referred to as the 'Cinderella of language teaching', implying that, like Cinderella in the folk tale, it has come to be neglected, compared to her 'jealous sisters' lexis, grammar and culture. One reason for this neglect is that many teachers do not feel adequately equipped to teach pronunciation beyond giving a few simple instructions like 'Put your tongue between your teeth to form the th-sound'. This book is an accessible introduction to many of the aspects that are involved in teaching English pronunciation. It starts out with the question of why pronunciation matters in the first place, looks at the models to be aimed at, reviews the factors that influence pronunciation, introduces methods and tools for pronunciation teaching and discusses the most important specific problems that learners of English with a German-language background (be it L1 or L2) have. It comes with a CD that contains a number of samples of German-influenced English for discussion and research.