As most experienced ESL teachers are aware, pronunciation is the area of language learning most resistant to change or improvement. By the time international students arrive in programs in the United States, they have probably already developed over a number of years speech habits which have fossilized and become progressively harder to unlearn or change without serious and concerted effort. This problem is often compounded by the students' own lack of awareness of their communication and pronunciation problems. They may well acknowledge in a general way that they have trouble being understood, but they do not know what their specific problems are and have no idea how to improve their comprehensibility. While they may focus on their inability to differentiate /l/ from /r/ or /p/ from/b/, it is in fact much more likely that their overall patterns of intonation, rhythm, and stress are the real culprits in their communication difficulties. These suprasegmental problems affect not only their own speaking skills, but also affect their comprehension of native speakers.

Targeting Pronunciation is a new text created to deal with these types of problems through a progression from controlled exercises to communicative and confidence-building activities which stress self-monitoring and recycling of previously learned material. Aimed at intermediate and advanced learners of English, the text is suitable for students in both general and academic English programs in the United States and could also be used for international teaching assistant (ITA) fluency courses with some supplementary materials to meet specific course goals. The level of vocabulary is appropriate to intermediate students who would not be distracted from the pronunciation focus by trying to figure out word meanings. In addition, the communicative exercises and activities are general enough to cover the experiences of most students, whether in the university or in the workplace. [-1-]

There are four specific goals listed for the textbook:

"to promote clear effective communication, with the understanding that native-like speech is neither essential nor realistic for most people learning a new language" (p. vii). The introduction for the student stresses that accents are normal for both native speakers and non-native speakers and that it is probably not realistic, nor is it necessary, to expect to sound like a native speaker. A reasonable and attainable goal, however, is to be able to communicate as clearly and as effectively as possible for the learner's own purposes.
"to reach beyond the classroom by addressing what students can do outside of class on their own to make lasting changes in their pronunciation" (p. vii). This text clearly promotes the transition from in-class learning to out-of-class real practice. Each chapter contains a section entitled "On Your Own," which lists five choices for out-of-class activities. These may range from very general "small talk" sessions to specific role plays in the community. Reflections on these activities are recorded on a Talk Times Plan in the appendix, in which students record their goal, a description of the speech situation, notes about what happened during the interaction, and a self-assessment of their own comfort level.
"to encourage students to take responsibility for their pronunciation changes by discovering their own errors, identifying their most important targets, practicing on their own, and slowly incorporating the newly learned pronunciation into everyday life" (p. vii). From the beginning of the textbook, students are urged repeatedly to monitor their own pronunciation and practice their speaking skills as much as possible outside the classroom if they are going to effect any significant change in their communicative ability. The text stresses that changing pronunciation habits is hard work and requires time and effort from the student. The many and varied activities in the book that require students to discover and correct their own errors ensure that students are given plenty of practice in class and many ideas for real communication outside class. However, the motivation, time, and energy for maximizing these opportunities are clearly the responsibilities of the student.
"to promote self-confidence and increase the student's comfort when speaking English" (p. vii). The types of activities included in the textbook give many opportunities for students to experience success and thereby improve their self-confidence in daily encounters with native speakers by gradually building skills in listening and speaking in both formal and informal situations.