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First published 1995
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The right of Clement Laroy to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the PE teacher who more than thirty years ago pointed out to me that learning is not exclusively a rational process.
Heartfelt thanks to all my students from all over the world who, over many years, have made me think, provided feedback, and tried out the ideas and exercises in this book. Without their criticism and their trust, this book would not have been written. In particular, I wish to thank my students in the Congo, as well as Vinh Định, Quôc-Nhân, Myriam, Véronique, Renato, Nathalie, and Sonia.
I need to express my deep gratitude to David Cranmer: his friendship, coaching, and encouragements have been crucial.
The following friends and colleagues have helped in various ways – often unknown to them: Joan Agosta (USA/France), colleagues and friends from the Athénée Warocquez in Morlanwelz (Belgium), Jean Auquier (Belgium), Ruth Baratz (Israel), Joseph Cocchio (Belgium), Elena De Ru (Holland), Edouard Desmed (Belgium), Bernard Dufeu (France/Germany), Seth Lindstromberg (USA/UK), John Morgan (UK), Mario Rinvolucri (UK), and Marco Saerens (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium).
I owe a lot to my wife and children; their patience and their uninhibited criticism have helped me to go further and to probe more deeply.
Finally, a special word of thanks to the team from Oxford University Press. Grateful thanks to Alan Maley for his support and his valuable advice and suggestions, to Anne Conybeare for her encouragement to write this book, and to Julia Sallabank for her thorough and sympathetic editing.
The publishers and author would like to thank the following for their kind permission to use extracts from copyright material. There are instances where we have been unable to trace or contact the copyright holder before our printing deadline. We apologize for this apparent negligence. If notified the publisher will be pleased to rectify any errors or omissions at the earliest opportunity.
L. L. Szkutnik and Veda Publishers for ‘Where are we?’ from Thinking in English (Szkutnik 1994: 35) and L. L. Szkutnik for ‘The English Language’ from Lyrics in English (Szkutnik 1993: 16).
Routledge Publishers for permission to adapt an extract from Knots by R. D. Laing (Tavistock, 1970) copyright © The R. D. Laing Trust 1970.
The following rhymes from The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book by Iona and Peter Opie (1955), by permission of Oxford University Press: ‘London Bridge’ (1955: 76), ‘Bow-wow, says the dog’ (1955: 23), and ‘Tommy Trot, a man of law’ (1955: 98).
For my parents
The author and series editor
During a career spanning more than thirty years, Clement Laroy has taught in secondary schools in Belgium and in Africa, worked for educational television (Scientific and Technical English), worked in the Department of Applied Linguistics at the University of Brussels (Institut de Phonétique), taught young children, and trained staff in companies. Since 1975 he has been a teacher trainer. He is also a trainer at ISC St Louis College for Business Studies in Brussels. He has published several articles and is co-author with David Cranmer of Musical Openings: Using Music in the Language Classroom (Pilgrims-Longman, 1992) and has contributed to the The Standby Book, edited by Seth Lindstromberg (Cambridge University Press, 1997).
Alan Maley worked for The British Council from 1962 to 1988, serving as English Language Officer in Yugoslavia, Ghana, Italy, France, and China, and as Regional Representative in South India (Madras). From 1988 to 1993 he was Director-General of the Bell Educational Trust, Cambridge. From 1993 to 1998 he was Senior Fellow in the Department of English Language and Literature of the National University of Singapore. From 1998 to 2003 he was Director of the Graduate Programme at Assumption University, Bangkok. He is currently a freelance consultant. He has written Literature, in this series, Beyond Words, Sounds Interesting, Sounds Intriguing, Words, Variations on a Theme, and Drama Techniques in Language Learning (all with Alan Duff), The Mind’s Eye (with Françoise Grellet and Alan Duff), Learning to Listen and Poem into Poem (with Sandra Moulding), Short and Sweet, and The English Teacher’s Voice.
Foreword
This book bears witness to the renewed interest in the teaching of pronunciation. It is interesting to note that pronunciation has been relatively neglected in recent years – many courses do not deal with it specifically at all, preferring to leave it to a process of osmosis – yet most learners attach great importance to it. The way we sound when we speak a foreign language has a strong influence on the assumptions other people make about us and the judgements they make about the sort of people we are. Our pronunciation is also intimately connected with our feelings about ourselves: our confidence (or lack of it), our sense of identity, and our self-esteem.
This book starts from the premiss that, when dealing with pronunciation, what goes on inside our heads (and our hearts) is at least as important as what we do with our mouths. It has been customary to present pronunciation work in an atomistic, analytical, and segregated way. Here by contrast the approach is holistic, synthesizing, and integrative. It is holistic in that it involves both physical and personality factors. It is synthesizing in that emphasis