Here's How to Do Accent Modification: A Manual for Speech-Language Pathologists

The text emphasizes realistic goal setting, so that clients focus on becoming effective communicators as opposed to sounding exactly like native speakers. The objective is a balance between clear and natural speech. Many SLPs favor intelligibility over naturalness because of their backgrounds working with speech delayed children, but with non-native speakers this often leads to unnatural speech and listeners focus on how something is said as opposed to what is said.

Here's How to Do Accent Modification is uniquely geared toward the skills and backgrounds of SLPs working with clients in a one-on-one setting, but is also an excellent introductory text for any English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher. Robert McKinney brings this unique perspective as a speech-language pathologist with degrees in both Communication Disorders and Teaching English as a Second Language.

Also included with the text are numerous practical activities and worksheets for working with clients. A PluralPlus companion website presents the worksheets in a downloadable format along with audio files and video clips to demonstrate working with non-native speakers.