English Pronunciation (ENG122)

The course components include consonant and vowel production in England and the United States as well as word stress, connected speech and intonation.

Knowledge

By the end of the course, the students will have gained knowledge of:

• central themes, theories, processes, and methods within the subject area
• the English sound system
• the processes of English connected speech
• the main intonation patterns in English and their functions
• the differences between British English and American English pronunciation based on the model accents Received Pronunciation (RP) and General American (GA)
• the most common problems in the acquisition of English pronunciation, with special reference to Norwegian learners

Skills

By the end of the course, the students will be able to:

• explain how English sounds are articulated
• read and produce phonemic transcriptions
• identify processes that take place in English connected speech
• explain the basic functions of English intonation
• distinguish between the RP and GA accents and describe the main differences between them
• explain why certain aspects of English pronunciation may cause problems to second-language learners, especially Norwegian ones

General competence

By the end of the course, the students will be able to:

• understand how speech sounds are used to create meaning
• apply their knowledge of the English sound system to improve their own pronunciation

• Two short home assignments (1-2 pages)
• Attendance of at least five group seminars

In order to take the exam, the assignments and attendance must be completed.

If the assignment is assessed as not approved on the first attempt, students are given one opportunity to submit a revised assignment.

References and AI

• All submitted assignments must be the result of the student’s own independent work. Students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the rules for source referencing.
• Information on source referencing is available on the University Library’s website: https://www.uis.no/en/library/citations
• Guidance on the use of AI tools in relation to exams can be found on the University of Stavanger’s exam pages: https://www.uis.no/en/student-pages/use-of-artificial-intelligence-ai-in-assignment-writing-and-exams