Southern Utah University

Course Syllabus

Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Spring Semester 2026

Voice and Diction I (Face-to-Face)

THEA 1113-04

Course: THEA 1113-04
Credits: 3
Term: Spring Semester 2026
Department: TA
CRN: 11409

Course Description

An intensive studio approach to fundamental relaxation and breathing techniques for the speaking voice. Students will learn skills in scoring the text, various techniques for good speech, and the International Phonetic Alphabet by applying these techniques to actual texts for performance and evaluation. (Spring) [Graded (Standard Letter)] Registration Restriction(s): Intensive English Program majors may not enroll

Required Texts

None.
Optional & Recommended Texts:
Skinner, Edith.  Speak with Distinction
Kenyon, John s. & Knott, Thomas A.  A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English
Linklater, Kristin.  Freeing the Natural Voice

Learning Outcomes

  1. Students will demonstrate their command of the International Phonetic Alphabet through the vocal analysis of a dramatic text.
  2. Students will identify, analyze, and create a plan for improvement of their own speech idiosyncrasies.
  3. Students will demonstrate an improved use of dynamics in their vocal presentations.
  4. Students will demonstrate their improved command of enunciation principles.

Course Requirements

Very Speech
  • Purpose: To allow students to engage with emotionally charged material through performance, enhancing their understanding of physicality and vocal resonance.
  • Rationale: By focusing on tension areas, resonation, and operative word choice, students will develop a heightened awareness of how their body and voice work together to convey emotion. Instructor feedback will guide their growth in both physical engagement and vocal expression.
Children’s Story
  • Purpose: To explore the extremities of vocal expression and the power of language to create imagery.
  • Rationale: Performing a rhyming children’s story encourages students to play with rhythm, tone, and inflection, honing their ability to engage an audience's imagination. This assignment emphasizes the joy of language and its evocative potential.
American Tongues Reflection
  • Purpose: To examine the diversity of American English dialects and the societal implications of speech variations.
  • Rationale: By reflecting on the 1988 American Tongues documentary, students will recognize how speech can influence social dynamics and perceptions of identity. This awareness fosters a deeper understanding of their own communication styles and the cultural significance of dialects.
Inflection Speech
  • Purpose: To teach students how to effectively engage an audience through vocal inflection.
  • Rationale: By practicing different types of inflections, students learn to maintain audience interest and convey their message dynamically. This skill is essential for delivering compelling arguments and enhancing overall vocal performance.
Cold Reading
  • Purpose: To develop the ability to make quick, informed choices about performance direction.
  • Rationale: Cold reading exercises challenge students to think on their feet, promoting adaptability and confidence in their interpretative skills. Feedback from peers and the instructor helps refine their decision-making process.
Quizzes
  • Purpose: To reinforce knowledge of phonetic transcription concepts.
  • Rationale: Regular quizzes ensure students stay engaged with essential terminology and concepts, facilitating timely mastery of phonetics, which is foundational for their vocal training.
Warm-up
  • Purpose: To cultivate personal warm-up routines and leadership skills in vocal and physical exercises.
  • Rationale: Leading warm-ups encourages students to take ownership of their vocal health and prepares them to guide others, reinforcing their understanding of effective warm-up techniques.
Transcription
  • Purpose: To master the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) as it relates to Standard American Speech.
  • Rationale: Transcribing a Shakespearean sonnet allows students to apply their phonetic knowledge practically, enhancing their understanding of diction and articulation while developing their analytical skills.
Sonnet Performance
  • Purpose: To synthesize transcription knowledge and vocal skills into a cohesive performance.
  • Rationale: This assignment encourages students to apply their learned pronunciation and inflection techniques, fostering a deeper comprehension of how sound choices contribute to performance effectiveness.
Accent Monologue
  • Purpose: To develop proficiency in a chosen accent through practical application.
  • Rationale: By mastering vowel modulations and accent idiosyncrasies using the IPA, students enhance their vocal versatility, preparing them for diverse roles in performance settings.
 Audio Audition
  • Purpose: To introduce students to the voiceover industry and the technical skills needed for audio auditions.
  • Rationale: Recording and editing an audition text equips students with practical experience in the voiceover process, fostering awareness of industry standards and expectations.
Phonetics Final
  • Purpose: To assess students’ application of IPA and transcription techniques.
  • Rationale: An open-book test emphasizes understanding rather than memorization, encouraging students to demonstrate their ability to apply knowledge in practical scenarios.
Self-Assessment
  • Purpose: To encourage self-reflection and personal goal setting.
  • Rationale: Writing a self-assessment helps students identify their strengths, challenges, and aspirations, fostering a growth mindset and promoting accountability in their learning journey.

Course Outline

2JAN            Wed      7       Introduction; Review Syllabus; Basics of phonetic alphabet

                    Fri         9       Very Speech; Phonetics

                    Mon    12       Very Speech; Phonetics

                    Wed    14       Very Speech; Phonetics

                    Fri       16       Relaxation; Resonation; Very Speech

                    Mon    19       MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY – No Class

                    Wed    21       Children’s Story; Phonetics

                    Fri       23       Children’s Story; Phonetics

                    Mon    26       Children’s Story; Phonetics

                    Wed    28       American Tongues video; American Tongues reflection due

                    Fri       30       Inflections; Choose Inflection Speech

FEB            Mon      2       Breathing; Children’s Story

                    Wed      4       Length; Weak form; Children’s Story

                    Fri         6       Review

                    Mon      9       Phonetics Symbols Quiz

                    Wed    11       Begin student-lead warm-ups; Inflection Speech; Cold Reading

                    Fri       13       Inflection Speech; Speech exercises

                    Mon    16       PRESIDENTS DAY Recess

                    Wed    18       Inflection Speech; Quiz on Length

                    Fri       20       Inflection Speech; Cold Reading

                    Mon    23       Inflection Speech; Speech exercises

                    Wed    25       Practice transcription; Cold Reading

                    Fri       27       Aspiration; Practice transcription

MAR           Mon      2       Practice transcription

                    Wed      4       Choose Sonnets; Cold Reading

                    Fri         6       Exercises; Practice transcription


-       SPRING BREAK -
 

                    Mon    16       Practice transcription

                    Wed    18       Speech exercises

                    Fri       20       Transcription Quiz

                    Mon    23       Sonnet Transcriptions Due; Sonnets

                    Wed    25       Sonnets

                    Fri       27       Sonnets

                    Mon    30       Sonnets

APR            Wed      1       Applying IPA to Accents Accents

                    Fri         3       Accents

                    Mon      6       Accents

                    Wed      8       Accents

                    Fri       10       Audio Auditions

                    Mon    13       Audio Auditions

                    Wed    15       Speech exercises

                    Fri       17       Review for Final

                    

                    Thu     22       11:00-12:50 am  FINAL

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

Making up assignments for illnesses or University travel will be acceptable, but if it is a performance assignment, the student will be responsible for scheduling a time with the instructor for rescheduling that performance.  Late assignments may be marked down. 

Attendance Policy


Attendance is required for all classes unless excused by the instructor or for official university travel. A student is allotted three unexcused absences (for classes meeting two-days per week) or four unexcused absences (for classes meeting three-days per week). Following the allotted unexcused absences for a specific course, each additional unexcused absence will incur a half letter grade deduction from a student’s cumulative grade.

Course Fees

Content for this section will be provided by the instructor.

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.