This course is a practical and theoretical introduction to English pronunciation, concentrating on segmental phonology, syllable structure, word stress, sentence stress and other characteristics of connected speech. Emphasis will be placed on transcription and dictation skills with the aim of improving students' awareness of the English sound system and their intelligibility. The variety of British English known as RP will be the model taken for the course but reference will be made to other varieties of English. Assessment is based on both oral and written tests at the end of each semester. Each teacher has her own course booklet, which will be available shortly before courses start at Copisteria X, via San Gallo, 72/r. Students (not students in Christine Richardson's groups) are required to buy the following book: Roach Peter,  English Phonetics and Phonology: A practical course. Fourth Edition. C.U.P. 2009.

There are eight groups of the annual course of Sounds of English. Students attend one two-hour lesson a week, for nine weeks in each semester.

Below you will find links which will help you become familiar with the phonemes of the English Phonetic Alphabet. The British Council BBC Learning page contains an interactive phonemic chart where you can listen to the sounds. There is also a link is to a chart which allows you to practise writing the phonemes. In the folders you will find material to help you practise for your end-of-semester I test and for the End-of-semester 2 dictation.