I wrote this book for teachers of English who feel the need for guidance in dealing with pronunciation. Although learners usually place pronunciation high up on their list of priorities, it is often neglected by teachers, perhaps because it seems difficult to teach. I’m hoping that this book will convince readers that pronunciation teaching need not be ‘difficult’, and that it can in fact be a pleasure. Could pronunciation be the part of the lesson that you and your learners look forward to most? I think so!

The reader I have in mind is a general English teacher, rather than a specialist. By ‘specialist’, I mean, for example, somebody teaching phonology on a linguistics course, or somebody who is training airtraffic controllers. By ‘general English teacher’, I mean somebody whose learners will need their English for general international communication, rather than some very specific professional or personal purpose.

The reader may not have a specific interest in phonology, beyond the basics they need in order to teach. For that reason, I have tried to keep the tips as light as possible in terms of terminology. I see no reason to put obstacles in the path of those who would seek to explore this fascinating area of language teaching. Where I have introduced a technical term, it is printed in bold (see ‘phonology’ above) and you will find a brief explanation of it in the glossary.

I imagine the reader may well be looking for practical advice on a wide range of issues, rather than in-depth analysis of one specific area. I have tried to strike a balance between ‘zooming in’ to focus on details, and ‘zooming out’ to get a wide view of the subject as a whole. I think this balance of detail and big picture is important, so that we don't focus exclusively on one thing and neglect the rest.

I wrote this book in the form of fifty standalone tips. You may choose to go through them in sequence from beginning to end, or simply to dip in to the topic that is of interest at any given moment. Each tip has references to useful teaching resources and further reading on the aspect of pronunciation focused on in the tip. The order of the content is not random. The tips are grouped into three sections A–C, and I would like to explain the rationale behind this.