Business and Academic Professionals

Given the differences in the languages spoken around the world, it's no surprise that verbal communication in English between speakers from different language backgrounds can be challenging. Adding to the difficulties are various regional dialects of American English and varieties of English spoken around the world as well as the range of vowel and consonant sounds and the often unique spelling patterns of English.

Accent modification retains a speaker's identity while providing training in positioning tongue, lips, and jaw to produce the vowel and consonant sounds familiar to native speakers in their community, in this case, in the American Midwest. Accent modification also builds a knowledge of syllable stress, intonation, and word stress within sentences.

Within just a few sessions based on diagnostic language assessment, overall intelligibility can increase for greater ease in spoken communication from telephone conversations to in person interactions including presentations.

Whether you're studying for the TOEIC or looking for speaking or writing support for your professional responsibilities, sessions are designed around meeting your goals. Building vocabulary for use in business negotiations and professional presentations as well as practicing conversation strategies for business-related social contexts aim to increase confidence and effectiveness.

Papers often benefit from having an outside reader assess overall organization and clarity. This process can reveal specific sections that can be strengthened with revised topic sentences, repositioning of content, or the addition of simple but essential guideposts for readers. Certain idiomatic expressions can increase reader ease and vocabulary substitutions can increase the precision and efficiency of the communication of ideas.

After giving a practice talk to prepare for a conference presentation, the feedback you receive from a language coach may relate to organizational structure, logical flow of ideas, speed of speech, pronunciation, and word stress. Making adjustments in these areas can optimize effectiveness when giving the actual presentation.