Accent Reduction - Accent Reduction Training

Accent Reduction Training

Accent modification is offered by various certified speech-language trainers, linguists and specialists in ESL (English as a Second Language). In the United States, they are promoted by various organizations including the American Speech–Language–Hearing Association (ASHA), Voice & Speech Trainers Association (VASTA), and Accent Reduction Training Academy (ARTA). Accent reduction training is available in a variety of ways: through workshops, seminars, classrooms, software, online software products, over the phone, over webcam, through books and recordings, and on a one-on-one basis.

Key focuses for accent improvement teaches students how to pronounce difficult sounds such as /θ/, /ð/, /r/, /l/, and /w/; intonation, stress, and rhythm. Spanish and Portuguese speakers might add an /h/ before the vowel /ɪ/, as in "his" for "is". Therefore vowel sounds are also covered in accent reduction training. Practicing of the vowel /ɪ/ most commonly spelled "i" is done by reciting a few of the following differences: his versus is, hit versus it, hill versus ill. By not letting the back of their tongue touch the palate, native speakers of Asian languages (Chinese, etc.) can avoid adding a /j/ before the /ɪ/ for example in speaking "yin" instead of "in". (Hope, Donna (2006). American English Pronunciation: It's No Good Unless You're Understood. Cold Wind Press. p. 10. ISBN 1-58631-050-X.) Other activities by specialists to help the student include games, activities, and printable workbooks to help students practice what they learn.

Although the reduction of a student's accent can be achieved through training, some linguists are critical that they give students a false hope that they will lose their accents. According to Dennis Baron, a linguistics professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, eliminating an accent is difficult. Calming an accent, he said, takes years of interaction with native English speakers. Even so, under U.S. labor law, employers can make job decisions based on accent if it interferes with work. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission does receive a small number of complaints every year from individuals who believe they are victims of accent-related job discrimination.

The actors Charlize Theron, Portia de Rossi and Anthony La Paglia are examples of some notable people who received such training to lose their native accents and develop American accents, even in everyday speech.