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Outcomes: Upper intermediate, student’s book (2nd Ed.) . Hugh Dellar and
Andrew Walkley

Article  in  Journal of Second Language Pronunciation · March 2016

DOI: 10.1075/jslp.2.1.06mcg

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 Reviews

Outcomes: Upper intermediate, student’s book (2nd Ed.). Hugh Dellar and
Andrew Walkley, Andover, UK: National Geographic Learning, Cengage
Learning, 2015, 213pp.

Outcomes: Upper intermediate, teacher’s book (2nd Ed.). Mike Sayer,

Hugh Dellar and Andrew Walkley, Andover, UK: National Geographic
Learning, Cengage Learning, 2015, 288 pp.
Reviewed by Alison McGregor (University of Texas at Austin)

Keywords: Outcomes Upper Intermediate, integrated skills textbook,

pronunciation, authentic listening

Outcomes: Upper intermediate (2nd Ed.) is an integrated skills textbook for British
English emphasizing grammar and vocabulary development with strong com-
municative components through various listening activities, authentic conversa-
tion development practices, and pronunciation activities. The publisher claims
the book is quick and easy for English teachers to prepare from and use because,
among other reasons, pronunciation is fully integrated and a listening stream with
activities helps students understand and imitate fast authentic speech. This review
examines the components of integrated pronunciation and fast speech listening.
This textbook, one in a 5-level series, targets upper intermediate learners of
British English. The theoretical underpinnings of the text stem from the Common
European Framework of Reference (CEFR) goals for teaching and learning lan-
guage to enable learners to deal with everyday life in another country and to ex-
change information and ideas. It is for CEFR level B1 (IELTS bands 4–5) students
who want to move up to level B2 (IELTS bands 5–6.5). The student’s book includes
a CD with audio files and video vignettes. Audio scripts are provided in the back
of the student’s book along with writing activities, unit-specific grammar refer-
ences, and information for interactive activities. Answer keys to pronunciation
activities and some supplemental information are provided in the teacher’s book.
Resources from the publisher also include a workbook and students can create an
online account for self- or instructor-led study, which are not part of the resources
reviewed here.
Fifteen of the 16 units in the textbook include pronunciation components,
comprising a total of 26 integrated pronunciation activities with additional

Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 2:1 (2016), 143–147. doi 10.1075/jslp.2.1.06mcg

issn 2215–1931 / e-issn 2215–194X © John Benjamins Publishing Company
144 Reviews

production practice(s) following each. The pronunciation foci include word stress,
phrase and sentence stress, reductions, thought-groups, and intonation patterns
for phrases, questions and tag questions. The pronunciation activities re-use target
language from the respective unit’s grammar, listening, vocabulary, and/or conver-
sation development components. Word stress is addressed in Units 1, 2 and 6, and
tasks include listen and notice, followed by repeat or practice saying sentences. In
Unit 1, the focus is noticing stress in adverbs. In Unit 2, the task is to notice word-
level stress in words from two previous vocabulary exercises in the unit. In Unit
6, students are asked to underline to predict phrasal stress of two-word modifiers,
such as quite near, fairly nice, and pretty good, and then listen to check the answer
of stress placement. Unit 3 focuses on linking with pronouns. Units 4, 8, 9, 10, and
11 include similar task-types that focus work on intonation of phrases, sentences,
yes/no questions, and tag questions. A Unit 9 exercise also includes student-gen-
erated and application tasks where students write out introductions, mark “word
groups” and underline stress followed by practice with a partner. In Unit 10 the
focus is on noticing how the voice goes up for a genuine tag question and down
for a tag question indicating a comment, followed by reading a conversation in
pairs, and then applying the patterns by asking a partner questions. Reductions
in specific instances (e.g. have, been, was, suppose to be) are addressed in Units 5,
7, 12, and 13. For example, an exercise in Unit 12 challenges students to catch the
reductions in the phrase “supposed to be” and then practice using it in pair work.
A focus on sentence stress (prominence) appears in Units 6, 9, and 14. Finally,
Unit 16 targets the pronunciation of numbers and symbols for emails or websites.
The listening stream, “Understanding Fast Speech,” is based on eight video
news/documentary-type National Geographic vignettes related to unit themes.
This novel listening component is distributed in every other unit starting in Unit
2 and highlights thought-groups, connected speech, and rhythm. Each video vi-
gnette is approximately four minutes in length. After listening and discussion ac-
tivities related to the content of the video, the text section ends with fast speech
listening practice, a short clip of the video played at normal speed, slowed-speech,
and then normal speed again; that is, the same clip is repeated three times at two
speeds for a total of about 30–60 seconds with the exception of video clip 3, which
lasts a full minute and 43 seconds. The slowed-speech clips offer reduced speech
rate without altering the authenticity of connected speech and prosodic features.
During the listening task, students are instructed to look at three to seven lines
from the video script with marked chunking (/), primary stress (CAPITALS), and
pauses (//). According to the teacher’s book, understanding fast speech provides
strategies to help students understand real-world language. The authors further
explain that spoken English words are “grouped, run together, and unstressed
syllables almost disappear” (p. 35). The slowed-speech samples are a unique and

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 Reviews 145

valuable tool but how it can be used as a strategy for listening comprehension
or pronunciation improvement is, however, not explicitly addressed in either the
student or teacher book.
Outcomes: Upper intermediate offers the advantages of contextualized and inte-
grated pronunciation components with authentic listening. The pronunciation com-
ponents are contextualized and integrated both in terms of regular incorporation
within unit themes and more importantly through recycling of language targeted in
vocabulary, listening, grammar, and conversations within each unit. Instructors will
appreciate the integration of noticing a variety of speech features across the units
and multi-step tasks in which students listen, notice, mark and/or write their own
sentences, followed by controlled reading practice and/or less controlled produc-
tion of self-generated extemporaneous speech. The authentic listening to fast speech
with fast/slowed/fast-video clips grounds the listening comprehension component
in awareness-raising (Sardegna & McGregor, 2013), acoustic blur (Cauldwell, 2013),
and level-appropriate models for listening practice development.
Derwing, Diepenbroek, and Foote (2012) assert that in terms of L2 pronuncia-
tion research, effective incorporation of pronunciation in a general-skills textbook
should include 1) both suprasegmental and segmental features, 2) variation in
pronunciation task-types, 3) explicit explanations of pronunciation rules and fea-
tures, and 4) the linking of pronunciation to other language content for reinforce-
ment. Based on these criteria, Outcomes: Upper intermediate succeeds in linking
pronunciation to other language components, but fails to include segmental train-
ing, is somewhat limited in task-types, and quite limited in explicit explanation of
rules and features. There is also a mismatch between some intonation foci covered
and unit learning objectives. To this end, the textbook might present some chal-
lenges for students and instructors who lack extensive knowledge and experience
with pronunciation training.
Given the crucial role of word stress for word-level intelligibility and the tra-
jectory of students from CEFR level B1 to B2, explicit information on what a syl-
lable is and how stress is made and a list of word stress rules would be useful
for expanding vocabulary while at the same time promoting understandable pro-
nunciation. In Unit 3, for example, a vocabulary activity focuses on word families
but lacks any explicit connection to word-level stress started in Unit 1, missing
an opportunity for vocabulary/pronunciation integration of word stress rules to
word-level pronunciation practice. Similar to the “Grammar Reference” provided
in the back of the student textbook, which gives explicit unit-specific rules and ad-
ditional practice exercises, a “Pronunciation Reference” in the back of the student
textbook would be a very useful addition. With explicit information about word
stress rules and word-level intelligibility practice targeting accuracy, students and
teachers could recycle these fundamentals throughout the entire book, going one

© 2016. John Benjamins Publishing Company

All rights reserved
146 Reviews

step farther to consistently integrate and scaffold pronunciation with vocabulary

development of each unit.
In regard to the mismatch in intonation foci and learning objectives, the in-
tonation patterns covered in the textbook do not support the complexity of unit
learning objectives including real-world tasks such as disagree politely, make
stories dramatic, express opinions and discuss social issues. To effectively per-
form these unit objectives requires the use of sentence stress, tone choice, and
intonation patterns for posing complex questions, giving opinions, being persua-
sive, and showing emotions, for example. Again, the inclusion of a unit-specific
“Pronunciation Reference” could be used to provide explicit information on pri-
mary sentence stress guidelines, to list the functions of intonation and provide
additional exercises for targeted practice.
This general-skills textbook highlights the need for applied linguistic research-
ers to continue delving into big questions such as what percentage of dealing with
everyday life communication is related to pronunciation. Derwing et al. (2012)
found that in textbooks with integrated pronunciation activities, an average 6%
of the textbook was dedicated to pronunciation. Is this enough? More research is
needed on the role of “bootstrapping” (Weissenborn & Höhle, 2001) and how to
effectively integrate pronunciation with grammar, vocabulary, and listening, in ad-
dition to speaking. Perhaps one of the most fundamental questions in the field still
relates to which pronunciation foci should be learned at which levels. Textbook
authors as well as instructors need this information to have increased understand-
ing of what pronunciation curriculum will support specific learning and perfor-
mance objectives and scaffold skill development for the ultimate outcome of effec-
tive communication in everyday life.
In conclusion, the variety and contemporary nature of content, recycling of
language, engrossing National Geographic video vignettes with slowed authentic
speech, as well as the quantity and organization of activities, do contribute to an
easy-to-use and motivating textbook. Outcomes: Upper intermediate is a solid step
forward in textbook development, especially in terms of contextualized pronun-
ciation activities, the importance of suprasegmentals, and teaching listening as a
stream of speech.

References

Cauldwell, R. (2013). Phonology for listening: Teaching the stream of speech. Birmingham, UK:
SpeechinAction.
Derwing, T. M., Diepenbroek, L. G., & Foote, J. A. (2012). How well do general-skills ESL text-
books address pronunciation? TESL Canada Journal, 30(1), 22–44.

© 2016. John Benjamins Publishing Company

All rights reserved
 Reviews 147

Sardegna, V., & McGregor, A. (2013). Scaffolding students’ self-regulated efforts for effective pro-
nunciation practice. Paper presented at the Pronunciation in Second Language Learning
and Teaching Conference. Ames, IA: Iowa State University.
Weissenborn, J., & Höhle, B. (Eds.). (2001). Approaches to bootstrapping: Phonological, lexical
and neurophysiological aspects of early language acquisition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
doi: 10.1075/lald.23

Author’s address
Alison McGregor
ESL Services
The International Office
P.O. Box A
Austin, Texas 78713-8901
mcalison@utexas.edu

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