The second edition of Speechcraft: Discourse Pronunciation for Advanced Learners is designed to address the needs of advanced non-native speakers of English, specifically university-level students on North American campuses, who expect to interact with native speakers in academic and professional settings. These students need especially clear, intelligible speech to pursue their studies in their chosen discipline, to serve as international teaching assistants, and to interact well in their chosen professions.
A number of significant improvements make this edition better suited to meet the needs of this audience than even before. In particular, the model of English rhythm taught is now closer to that used by native speakers in their everyday interactions. Also, advances in linguistic research on English rhythm have been brought to bear on the lessons. An exploration of the pedagogical implications of these findings has led us to redirect the focus of Speechcraft, to reorganize lesson sequences, to clarify and simplify important regularities, and to develop new lessons to present important, missing content.