RULES Book Reviews/Testimonials

"For ESL trainers who provide services to corporate multinationals, RULES is an excellent speech and pronunciation resource. Advanced level English language learners will appreciate its spiral binding and overall professional appearance as well as its thorough information on and practical application of rules for stress, intonation, and pronunciation. The accompanying CDs and power point slides add additional instructional material and practice for both auditory and visual learners.

If you have struggled, as I have, to find pronunciation texts, supplementary materials, and self-study resources appropriate for individuals in a corporate, scientific, or technical setting, consider RULES. You will like what you see and hear!"

Judy West, Principal, English That Works, Inc.

"I purchased Medically Speaking, the Medical Speaking Inventory, and RULES at the Seattle TESOL Conference. I am writing to let you know how fantastic I think your programs are. I had been using a variety of different textbooks, but your program is far superior to all of them. I was formerly the Director of English Programs at a prestigious language school and have since quit to pursue my dreams of opening up an Accent Reduction Centre in Vancouver. Thanks for such a great product."

Jennifer Yun

"We finished our intensive program at the end of July. RULES worked out very well for the Pronunciation class I taught. It was the first pronunciation text I had used that presented rules which actually worked when put to the test with random language samples, and the abundance of examples and targeted exercises meant that I never had to supplement from other sources (also a first). Without lists like those in RULES, it is very hard for students to produce appropriate samples to practice points.

(I see the) strength of RULES in promoting vocabulary development. The long lists of examples not only serve to reinforce pronunciation patterns, but also to teach and/or reinforce common, modern vocabulary. For example, the section on compound nouns was full of regularly used vocabulary which my advanced students had yet to come across since these words were more commonly found in current, everyday speech than in textbooks or novels. RULES clearly illustrates the connections between pronunciation and grammar wherever appropriate, and lends itself to endless vocabulary reinforcement through its targeted lists.

‘Discoveries’ like RULES should become fixed in our syllabi. When I am asked to teach Pronunciation again, I know which book I will use."

Eitan Geft, Soka University of America, English Language Program, Aliso Viejo, CA

"I learned about RULES from a professional speech chat room. I have a private practice and recently designed a course for international students at a local college. I am very impressed with your materials and am looking forward to incorporating them into my classes this fall. I appreciate all of your hard work to produce such high caliber materials."

Shelley Jones, M.S. CCC-SLP, Director, Northwest Speech Center, McMinnville, OR

"I heard so many wonderful things about the RULES that I had to buy it. It's a fantastic resource, an indispensable tool for anyone who works with accented clients. It targets areas that have never been covered before in a way that's practical, clear and concise."

Judy Cavallo, Director of New York Speech Solutions

RULES is an extremely comprehensive book that I now use with all of my clients who speak English as their second language. Frequently, clients are looking for specific rules to apply to their English pronunciation and now I have a collective resource for them. The information is well organized and the exercises are practical. Several of my clients have even bought this book for their own personal libraries. Nice job, Marjorie and Lynda!

Barbara Christensen, President, Speech Advantage, LLC, Madison, WI

"If you teach American English pronunciation and have only one resource, this is it! RULES reflects a thorough understanding of the challenges faced by non-native speakers and pairs that with the most practical content I have seen in my twenty + years of accent improvement training. It's a must for anyone teaching American English pronunciation!"

Nancy Hiser, Director/Founder, SpeechCom

"RULES is the book that I have been waiting for! Finally, Marjorie Feinstein-Whittaker and Lynda Katz Wilner have given us a compilation of valuable, and necessary, information for use with accent modification clients. The explanations are clear and concise, the materials for training and practice are extensive, and the information is comprehensive. I use RULES constantly to teach my students and to train my clients."

Marjorie North, M.A., CCC–SLP, Director of Speech and Language Clinical Services, Northeastern University

"The Rules for Linguistic Elements of Speech (RULES) written by Marjorie Whittaker and Lynda Katz Wilner is a powerful resource for anyone who works with clients in foreign accent modification. I have had the workbook for 2 months, and it has already become an indispensable addition to the training materials that I use frequently. Professionals in the field of communication training will benefit tremendously from the information and exercises in this valuable resource."

Deborah B. Boswell, President, Professional Speech Services of Alabama, P.C.

"I recently purchased RULES as a result of someone in the CORSPAN (Corporate Speech Pathology Network) group recommending it. I have been INCREDIBLY pleased with the book and now consider it a "Bible." I find it very helpful for teaching many of the grammatical rules. It is a really a "gift" for our corporate libraries."

Jayne Latz, Speech Consultant, Corporate Speech Solutions

"The RULES system was just great. It was very clear and helped my accent step by step. The section about speaking on the telephone was practical and I could use it immediately for my work. It has made a big difference in how people see my business. I sound more professional and I am so happy. Also, because it is helping me analyze my own English language, it is helping me understand what others say also. I am so much more confident in both my expression and comprehension of the English language. Thank you so much for RULES!"

Y.M., B.S., pharmacology, Educator from Japan

 

Book Review
Speakers of English as a foreign language often report that they were taught the rules of grammar and basic pronunciation of American English, but even after years of practice and use, their speech remains accented and appears "different" from those in their region of the country. While the reasons for an individual's accented speech may be, of course, multifactorial, one factor contributing to that difference may be the lack of knowledge of or exposure to the idiosyncratic rules of American English. Marjorie Feinstein-Whittaker and Lynda Katz Wilner have addressed these rules in a very comprehensive and straightforward manner within their new book, RULES: Rules for Using Linguistic Elements of Speech. This book can serve to be an invaluable assessment and training tool for speech-language pathologists working in the area of accent modification.

Within RULES, 23 critical and frequently misused grammatical, semantic, and syntactic rules of American English are addressed. Feinstein-Whittaker and Wilner have provided excellent activities to evaluate and target these idiosyncratic rules with three main areas of instruction: stress and intonation rules, pronunciation rules, and grammar rules. Abundant activities developed for the different areas of instruction are provided with answers and helpful notes to the trainer, when necessary.

After being provided with the rationale and instruction for each of the targets within these areas, the trainer and client then have an excellent variety of ample exercises with which to practice these rules in the final area of instruction, entitled "Putting It All Together." This section of the book contains exercises centered on practical, useful activities that provide the client with more activities targeting these rules. Answers and helpful suggestions to trainers, if possibly required, are also provided.

As stated in the preface to their book, Feinstein-Whittaker and Wilner have targeted it for use with nonnative speakers of American English. One might assume that most native speakers of American English would have assimilated these idiosyncratic rules through exposure to the language on a constant basis in their environment. However, this author's observation is that this is frequently not the case. Even the most skilled speakers or those who speak on a professional basis may have mispronunciations or misusages idiosyncratic to their own facility with American English. These speakers may also benefit from individualized instruction obtained from this book.

This ample book (364 pages) is one that this author would recommend. My personal experience has been that clients who have received instruction from RULES have reported being unaware of these rules and expressed enthusiasm and appreciation for this valuable source.

Elizabeth Roberts, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, CORSPAN Treasurer, Professional Image Consultant Speech Services

Book Review
In their book Rules (Rules for Using Linguistic Elements of Speech), authors Marjorie Feinstein-Whittaker and Lynda Katz Wilner (2006) have prepared a "resource and interactive workbook" that offers a valuable resource to the classroom teacher who is preparing lessons on English pronunciation.

In keeping with modern research on the most effective ways of learning pronunciation, Feinstein-Whittaker and Katz Wilner take a suprasegmental approach toward teaching English speech patterns. For readers unfamiliar with the term, "suprasegmental" refers to elements of speech that function above the phonetic segments. The learning of individual vowel and consonant sounds would be a "segmental" approach, while this book emphasizes those elements of speech that connect the phonetic segments to give spoken English its "native" character. Accordingly, the book is organized into three sections, the first dealing with stress and intonation patterns of English, the second with assimilation and linking rules, and the third with rules for stressing (and using) English articles and pronouns.

A summary sheet at the end of the book compiles the rules presented and can serve as an outline for teachers preparing pronunciation curricula. Although titled "Rules" and presenting the rules discussed above, Feinstein-Whittaker and Katz Wilner's book offers many exercises that teachers can use in designing learning activities. These include setting a monthly schedule, making appointments, ordering from a menu, and a particularly authentic context, speaking on the telephone. Exercises include both sentential level and dialog level examples. In all, a treasure trove of valuable exercises is presented to the ESL teacher, who can either use these as-is, or design them into his or her classroom activities.

Charles Duquette, Adjunct Professor of TESOL, Northern Virginia Community College