Pronunciation Skills

The Office of General Education of the University offers ESL Pronunciation Skills 4001 to students whose native language is not English.  Students improve their pronunciation by focusing on sentence stress, rhythm, intonation, and body language.  The required course text is Targeting Pronunciation:  Communicating Clearly in English.

Course Objectives:

  • Students learn to recognize and use English thought groups, word stress, sentence stress, pausing, linking, intonation, and gestures in order to mimic American English speakers.
  • Students become more aware of their own weaknesses in pronunciation.
  • With the instructor’s assistance, students develop personal strategies and exercises to improve their individual pronunciation.

The class is open to undergraduate and graduate students of SMU.  It is free of charge, non-credit bearing, and will appear on your transcript as Pass or Fail.  Enrollment is limited and ESL departmental approval is required.  See the most recent semester's course syllabus.

Exact days and times for the upcoming semester's course are listed on the online Application Form.  If you do not receive an e-mail response with more details regarding registration procedure within one week, please re-send the form.


ESL 4001, Spring 2009