Improving English Pronunciation is a desire of most ESL (English as a second language) students.  This is a reasonable desire since good communication ability depends on clarity, and clarity in speaking depends at least a little on clear pronunciation.  Grammatical accuracy, vocabulary, and appropriate use of language for the situation are also key to clarity.

There are many ways to develop better English pronunciation, however computer based pronunciation software is becoming more common and popular.  The software out there designed for pronunciation work varies from very good to very bad, very interesting to very boring, and none of them are really cheap.

One such English Pronunciation software, that is perhaps a little better than most is called Eyespeak English.  You can visit their website here: Eyespeak English

We recently installed this software on the 22 machines in our computer lab and have had very good feeback from out students.   Below I've listed off what are the most common positive and negative comments we've had about the software.

Pros

1. Eyespeak English can be used as either a standalone application for one student on one computer, or it can be installed across a whole lab
2. Student work is saved so they can work on a variety of exercises and activities and track their progress.
3. With the full set of language samples in the premim version of Eyespeak English there are dozens of hours of practice available across many topic areas
4. Provides visual 'voice wave forms' so you can see how your voice compares to the samples.  This is a great way to see where your voice differs from a native speaker.  Just keep in mind that no two voices will ever match perfectly.
5. You can work on discreet sounds (vowels, consonants), minimal pairs, or phrases/sentences.
6. It isn't super expensive overall when you consider the volume of practice material available in the premium version.
7. You can choose between North American and British style pronunciation.

Now of course, no program is perfect, and as good as it is, Eyespeak English does have a few issues.

Cons

1. The recording 'buttons' are a little sticky.  They don't start/stop recording very quickly and so the recordings can be longer or shorter than the speaker planned.
2. There is an annoying little dancing wizard/guide in the demo version.  We asked the publishers to remove this guy for us and they did..which is a plus for customer service!  You may be able to do the same.
3. Some of the example phrases and sentences are a little forced.  They sound like they were read off a cue card rather than natural conversation.  But then again, this is exactly what they are, demo phrases, not real conversation.

Other than that, we have had no complaints about the software. 

In order to get the most out of it you will need to have a decent set of audio speakers (or headphones) and a microphone to record your voice.  If you're serious about using your computer for language learning you'll have these already anyways.

The reality is that no one pronunciation software (or book series) will give you everything you need to get perfect pronunciation.  Actually practice speaking with and listening to native speakers on a regular basis is the best way to improve.

However using a software program like Eyespeak English to help with English pronunciation is a good idea.  I certainly feel comfortable recommending it to my students, you might want to consider it as well.

Cheers,

Eric

The ESL Coach