What We Do

Effective Accent offers individual and corporate English language and pronunciation training for individuals who aspire to become more effective and understandable communicators of American English.

English Language Training:

English is a complex language and it’s easy to become overwhelmed in the complexities of grammar, slang, and idiosyncrasies. Effective Accent provides a client or student-centered approach to learning English that emphasizes effective English speaking, listening, reading and writing during relevant contexts and interactions. Emphasis is placed on functional English communication tailored to clients’ needs in the workplace or educational setting, as well as their social interests. Training may take place individually or in small groups, onsite at the client’s workplace or via live web-based training.

English Pronunciation Training

The goal of pronunciation training is not to eliminate one’s accent but to improve one’s ability to communicate clearly and effectively. Nonnative speakers of American English often pronounce English based on their native sound system, stress, and intonation patterns which can vary greatly from those of the English language. This can result in “strongly accented” English which may impede communication, decrease confidence, and pose the danger of the speaker being misunderstood.

Our training program is customized for each individual speaker, in order to most effectively and efficiently improve your American English communication. An initial speech analysis is completed by a certified speech pathologist, in order to determine an individual’s communication needs. This includes assessment of the speaker’s American English speech sound production, the speaker’s use of appropriate American English stress and intonation patterns and assessment of the communication needs of the speaker’s field of study or workplace. Following the analysis, an individualized training program is developed to specifically target those areas that will have the most impact on the speaker’s American English communication. Training occurs either onsite at the client’s workplace or via live web-based conferencing. Training may take place individually or in small groups, generally for one-hour sessions, one to two times weekly. More intensive training options are also available.

Training may include instruction in:

  • Standard American English pronunciation

  • Stress patterns of American English

  • Appropriate pitch and intonation patterns

  • Appropriate speech rate

  • Voice projection

  • Core vocabulary needed for effective communication in the educational setting or workplace

  • Carryover of learned techniques and pronunciation to conversational speech

  • A practice program for individual practice between sessions