Speech Clarity for the Medical Professional
Speech Clarity for the Medical Professional
I’ve been teaching this Accent Modification training program for seven years through Emanate Health (Formerly Citrus Valley Health Partners) at Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina, CA. All of the highly motivated participants who have taken this 8-10 week workshop have made marked improvement in their use of pronunciation and intonation patterns that they now access “on demand” for effective American English speech. Group sizes have ranged from 5 to 12, and participants’ native countries have been quite diverse: China, Korea, Japan, Sri Lanka, India, Nigeria, Philippines, Guatemala, Columbia, and Mexico. The single most effective common denominator for the greatest benefit in accent reduction has been the degree of daily practice that each participant does consistently. There is no other “magic bullet” for improvement; for learning a new habit. I have asked myself what is it that distinguishes one person’s ability to volitionally utilize their newly learned American English cultural pattern of speech vs. another’s “falling back” into habitual native-language speech patterns. I believe the answer lies in establishing awareness of old speech habits, then using newly learned habits consistently in a practical way; Drills are important, but the critical element in learning is to reinforce these skills by planning a practice routine naturally into your daily life.
I have recently made some changes to the program format which include a more practical approach to the difficult “drudgery” of completing daily “homework” assignments. It is arranged into five categories:
- Setting yourself up for success: Tips for learning new skills, a speech notebook, speech “triggers”, self-evaluation with worksheets, weekly goal tracking
- American Speech Melody: features include how to eliminate a fast rate of speech, getting rid of oral/facial tension
- Breath, Voice and Resonance: Using an optimal respiration pattern, generating a voice without tension, using optimal vocal pitch range, American English sound-placement/resonance
- American consonant sounds: features include a detailed chart with similarities/differences, expanded /t/, /r/, /l/, and /s/ programs
- American vowel sounds: Includes how vowels carry the weight of meaning, shaping words with a sound image, detailed vowel chart, front/central/back vowel sounds, and diphthongs.
This is a comprehensive approach to identifying the primary habits related to accented American English speech. Motivated participants are guaranteed to have significant improvement with consistent, dedicated practice, and will provide an opportunity for you to own and use these newly developed skills “on demand” in your daily life.