1. A Review of a Coursebook

English Pronunciation in Use Advanced by Martin Hewings (2007) is appropriate for advanced learners of English. It is cleverly designed to fit into self-study and classroom use as it is well-organized and has the lessons which promote step-by-step English pronunciation development. It is suitable for classroom use and highly helpful for effective pronunciation instruction. It starts with a good warm-up for the latter part of the book by introducing learners to accents in different varieties of English, how to make use of dictionaries and online resources to improve English pronunciation and how slow and fast speech are different. Having a sound start with segmentals, the following section deals with pronunciation in words and phrases, including consonant clusters, stressed and unstressed syllables and pronunciation of foreign words. The third section is about pronunciation at conversation level, including how intonation leads to meaning, features of connected speech and use of thought groups to organize information in conversation. In the forth section of the book, pronunciation in formal settings, such as making effective business or conference presentations, is provided. Its supplementary section provides fun, creative exercises to allow students to further practice phonemic symbols, consonant clusters and word stress. Also, it gives a further reading list and a glossary of technical terms I find very useful.

The book comprises 60 units, each of which has two pages. The left-hand pages give explanations and examples of key pronunciation features and the right-hand pages provide a range of enjoyable, various practice exercises. All the examples and exercises are recorded and available on the accompanying, five, audio CDs. As students have many opportunities to listen to the authentic recordings with not just a British accent used as a clear model for students to listen and repeat but also different accents of English, they are able to improve not only their pronunciation but also listening skill. The phonemic symbols students of pronunciation should know are provided. However, as example words are given or found on the recording, students will feel comfortable when they encounter phonetic symbols.

All in all, English Pronunciation in Use Advanced is a thoroughly good book from start to finish. Its strengths lie in teachable, various, inventive practice exercises with authentic recordings embracing the essential pronunciation features, especially suprasegmentals students need to know for intelligible communication. Additionally, it has efficient, smooth organization that makes the book easily accessible and clear activity instructions. Its weakness lies in rather few illustrations which will help promote students’ interest.

Reference: Hewings, M 2007, English Pronunciation in Use Advanced, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.