Philadelphia University
Faculty of Arts
Department of English
1st Semester 2015/2016
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Course Syllabus
Course Title: Phonetics
Level: 2nd Year
Prerequisite (s): 0120118
Course Code: 0120234
Credit Hours:( 3 )
Lecture Time: Mondays & Wednesdays:
8:15-9:30
Lecturer's Name: Dr. Hanan Ali Amaireh
Rank: Assistant Professor
Office Number: 412
Office Hours: Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday: 11: 10-12: 00
Monday & Wednesday: 11:15-12: 30
E-mail: hamaireh@philadelphia.edu.jo
Phone: + 962-64799000
Ext: 2119
Course Description
“To err is human, to forgive, divine” by Alexander Pope.
Committing mistakes is one of human beings’ characteristics. Do not feel frightened or
panicked if you commit mistakes when you pronounce words or phrases. It is normal.
The most important thing is to learn from these mistakes, and try to avoid them the next
time when you pronounce them.
Three hours a week are dedicated to teaching this course. This course is tailored to
develop the student’s abilities to pronounce English better than they do now. This course
will assist them to have a pronunciation that is easily understood by their lecturers,
colleagues and any English speaking community.
This course deals with the articulatory phonetics. It is mainly concerned with the
physical production of consonant and vowel phonemes of English. It concentrates on the
place and manner of articulation of each phoneme. It also focuses on the rules of stress
and intonation .It also tackles other areas such as diphthongs, triphthongs, assimilation
and the structure of the syllable. Phonemic and phonetic transcription is also
emphasized.
The course aims to introduce the students to the general principles of articulatory
phonetics and the study of the sound system in English. It also aims at improving the
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Philadelphia University
Faculty of Arts
Department of English
1st Semester 2015/2016
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student’s ability in the pronunciation of English and training them to use the
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) in Phonetic transcription.
Students are highly encouraged to listen to English as much as they can in order to
sharpen their ears for the sound of English, and this in turn will improve their
performance as the written materials, notes and instructions in the book cannot help
unless accompanied by an attentive listening to various English conversations, listening
to the radio such as the BBC and other forms of spoken English.
Moreover, there will be a library visit during which students will learn how to search and
find books in the library about phonetics and to find some relevant CDs that can help
them improve their pronunciation. In addition to that, students will learn how to search
online databases such as EBSCOhost, Science Direct, etc., and find online resources that
help them improve their English pronunciation.
Teaching Methods: ( Lectures, Discussion Groups, Problem Solving …etc.)
The material will be presented through lectures, handouts, and assignments of
different exercises on a daily basis.
The lectures will be given at the English Language lab. Students will listen to
some native speakers’ recordings whenever necessary. Cassettes & a cassette
recorder will be used in order to give the students the opportunity to listen to
native speakers’ of English.
Required Text(s):
Author. (Year of Publication). Book Title. Place of Publication: Publisher.
1. O’Connor, J. (1980). Better English Pronunciation (2nd edn.). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
2. Ladefoged, P. (2001). A Course in Phonetics (4th edn.). Boston: Heinle and Heinle.
Supplementary Readings: (E)Books, Periodicals….. etc.)
a) Ebook:
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Philadelphia University
Faculty of Arts
Department of English
1st Semester 2015/2016
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
Monray-Casas, R. & Arboleda, I. (2011). Systems for the phonetic transcription of
English: Theory and text. Germany: International Academic Publishers.
b) Online Journal:
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Wright, M. (2011). The phonetics–interaction interface in the initiation of closings in
everyday English telephone calls. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(4), 1080-1099.
doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2010.09.004
Assessment and Marks’ Division
Modes of Assessment
Score
First Exam
Second Exam
Assignments / Projects / Quizzes / Reports/ Presentations
Final Exam
Total
20%
20%
20%
40%
100%
 Make-up exams will be offered for valid reasons only with consent of the Dean. They may
be different from regular exams in content and format.
Expected Workload:
On average students are expected to spend at least (2) hours of study for each 50- minute
lecture.
Course Policies:
1. Absence from lectures and /or tutorials shall not exceed 15%. Seven absences are
permitted on Sundays / Tuesdays / Thursdays. Exceeding this limit without a
medical or emergency excuse acceptable to and approved by the Dean of the
relevant college /faculty will result in failing the course.
2. Coming late to lectures will not be tolerated. If a student comes to class once
attendance has been taken, he/she is allowed to attend, but will be considered
absent.
3. Students should independently do their homework, presentations and projects.
Any work submitted or presented must be their own work. Any reliance on
previous students' work is considered cheating.
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Philadelphia University
Faculty of Arts
Department of English
1st Semester 2015/2016
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4. Plagiarism or stealing other people's ideas or viewpoints and claiming that they
are your own without acknowledging them is considered a serious misdemeanor.
Depending on plagiarism will result in course failure.
5. Participation is vital in classrooms. It is not only coming to class; it also requires
preparing the material in advance, doing the required homework, and being active
in the classroom, etc.
6. Make-up exams will be offered for valid reasons if only they are accepted by the
Dean.
Protection of Copyright
Publications in all forms require permission from the copyright owner in advance. You
are not allowed to reproduce, store in a retrieval system, or transmit, in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the
prior permission of the publisher or a license from the Copyright Licensing Agency
Limited. (www.cla.co.uk).
Students are expected to respect and uphold the standards of honesty in all their activities.
Any cheating or plagiarism will result in disciplinary action to be determined by the
instructor based on the severity and nature of the offense.
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Avoiding Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a serious academic offense that will result in your failing the course.
Learning notes by heart and repeating the information word by word in the exam is a type
of plagiarism.
Documentation Style (with illustrative examples)
Note: it is usual to italicize book titles; however, if you are not able to do this, you should
underline them instead.
The APA citation style illustrated below refers to the rules and conventions applied by the
American Psychological Association for documenting sources used by researchers in
their writing. It necessitates using both in-text and a reference list. It is widely used in
psychology, education, business and the social sciences.
The information below is taken from Lipson’s (2011) guide book to citation styles.
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Philadelphia University
Faculty of Arts
Department of English
1st Semester 2015/2016
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Lipson, C. (2011). Cite right: A quick guide to citation styles: MLA, APA, Chicago, the
sciences, professions and more. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 75-84.
Expected Workload:
On average students are expected to spend at least (2) hours of study for each 50- minute
lecture/ tutorial.
Attendance Policy
Absence from lectures and /or tutorials shall not exceed 15% . Students who exceed the
15% limit without a medical or emergency excuse acceptable to and approved by the
Dean of the relevant college /faculty shall not be allowed to take the final examination
and shall receive a mark of zero for the course. If the excuse is approved by the Dean, the
student shall be considered to have withdrawn from the course.
Course Policies:
1. You are allowed up to (5) absences on Mondays/Wednesdays or (7) absences on
Sundays/Tuesdays/Thursdays. If you exceed this number, you will fail the course.
2. Tardiness will not be tolerated. If you come to class after I take attendance, you
are welcome to attend, but you will be considered absent.
3. Plagiarism is a serious academic offense that will result in your failing the course.
4. Learning notes by heart and repeating the information word by word in the exam
is a type of plagiarism.
5. Participation is an essential part of course work. It does not merely mean coming
to class; it involves preparing before hand and playing an active role in class
discussion.
6. Make-up exams will be offered for valid reasons only with the consent of the
Dean.
7. You are encouraged to drop in my office anytime for shortish questions. Make an
appointment for longer discussion.
8. Meeting with your classmate regularly to discuss course material and assignments is
strongly recommended. Much learning occurs when working out problems with other
people . However, each student must turn in his/ her own write-up for each assignment.
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