6.4.4 Ways to encourage pronunciation practice

Reading aloud. If students are provided with stand-alone back-up resources, this can be a good way to work on pronunciation. Devise passages for reading practice, perhaps working on specific sounds or words, with an accompanying audio-tape, against which students can monitor their performance. Use either pre-recorded material or passages recorded by colloquial assistants. Commercially available language books with accompanying audio-cassettes will often include materials for practicing pronunciation, for example Routledge's Colloquials series (http://www.colloquials.routledge.com), available in several languages and aimed at beginners. Language courses on CD-Rom offer even greater potential: the Houghton Mifflin Speaking Series (http://college.hmco.com/languages/ ) allows students to record themselves speaking specific sentences, and to compare their voice patterns with those of native speakers.