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It's Here!

"Thinking About Speaking: 

The Adastra Approach to Mastering the American English Accent"

By Christi Barb, PhD

Adastra Speech is dedicated to helping individuals improve their American accent and overall vocal expression.

 

Dr. Christi Barb's book, 'Thinking About Speaking: The Adastra Approach to Mastering the American Accent,' lies at the core of her method.

 

This book details a research-based approach to refining spoken English communication skills for both non-native speakers and teachers of English language learners who want to go beyond surface-level pronunciation drills and explore the deeper cognitive aspects of speech learning and teaching.

Who It's For

Teachers - English as a Second Language, Speech-Language Pathologists

 

Anyone who wants to learn how to teach advanced ESL speakers. 

Anyone curious about what accent modification is, who chooses to do it, how it works.

 

Non-native speakers of American English who...

  • Know and have spoken English for years (are proficient) but want to work on the details to improve their speech. 

  • Feel they have been stuck at the same level for a long time and want to know why and how to change. 

  • Reached a level of career success and want to take their speech to a higher level.

 

  • Want to continuously improve their performance.

  • Are curious about the rationale behind typical spoken English exercises. These people ask “why?” when told how to do something. 

  • Have been confused about where to start and what order to work on things.

  • Have tried other methods to improve their speech but haven’t found what they needed. This book will show them what’s been missing from other methods.

What You'll Gain

  • Gain insight into what creates an accent, demystify “foreign accent,” and the most current method that goes beyond pronunciation.

  • Leave with a new understanding of what accent modification is, who it is for, and what realistic outcomes are.

 

  • Learn why traditional teaching methods don’t take ESL speakers to the highest level of speaking skills possible.

 

  • Understand the rationale and research behind each step of the accent modification process.

 

  • Discover specific examples of how real people made progress in a variety of ways

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