I have seven years of experience as a certified EFL (English as a Foreign Language) instructor. Most of the students I’ve worked with in the past have been executives and professionals who want to improve their career prospects by studying English. This makes sense, as English is considered a vital skill at companies that engage in business transactions on a global scale.
One of the biggest problems my students had was overcoming their accents in order to speak English in an understandable manner. This seemed to occur no matter what the students’ native language was, be it Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, French, or anything else. Unfortunately, the school I worked for focused more on grammar and conversation practice than accent reduction, so I always recommended an external Executive English course for students who had extreme difficulties with pronunciation.
Most students showed tremendous improvement after taking a class that dealt specifically with accent reduction, and the changes were noticeable almost immediately. Plus, students naturally developed more confidence in their speaking abilities when their pronunciation improved and they saw that other people could now understand them.
The bottom line here is that learning English grammar and vocabulary simply isn’t enough. Pronunciation is every bit as important, which makes accent reduction a key component to the study of English as a foreign language. Take steps to improve your pronunciation now by checking out the class offerings at Executive Language Training!
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.