Teaching Pronunciation

Teaching pronunciation is frequently overlooked when teaching language. While it's a major part of effective communication, it's barely discussed in textbooks, and often assumed as automatically learned. But while people with the same accent easily understand each other, pronunciation problems can create difficulties when communicating across the state or across countries.

The benefits of proper pronunciation go beyond being understood. Proper pronunciation also sends the message of competence and professionalism. Indeed, mispronunciations can detract from the quality of your message. Below are some pointers when teaching pronunciation.

• Back to Basics - Learn the Sounds.

  Proper pronunciation begins with appreciating phonemes. A phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances. They are responsible for the difference between two words similarly spelled, but have different pronunciation.

  The best way to practice phonemes is by grouping words with the same sounds. Examples: "cat, rat, sat, mat", "sky, fly, high, die", "mall, tall, ball, call". Teaching phonemes is a good way to start teaching pronunciation as phonemes focus on distinct units of sound. Exercises should involve identifying the sounds as well as pronouncing them.

• Position the Lips and Tongue.

  Some sounds are easier to produce than others, and this is due to how much effort your mouth has to make producing them. For instance, sounds that are easier to make are sounds dependent only on the shape the lips make while articulating. On the other hand, sounds that require participation of the tongue or the inside of the mouth may be more difficult to produce.

  There are pronunciation diagrams that can teach you exactly where to position your tongue and mouth in order to produce a certain phoneme. For example, sounds like 'r', "l" and 'g' or 't' and 'd' are very similar and pronunciation diagrams may largely help. Diagrams that show the correct positioning and movement of the tongue and mouth are easily available online and in some textbooks, and there are also poster versions for classrooms.

• Roll Off the Vowels.

  There are a lot of words with silent letters in the English language and this is a hindrance when the time comes to learn another language or accent. When teaching pronunciation, this should be addressed.

  A lot of English speakers skip their vowel pronunciations. This is something that is very rarely done in other languages. Notice how most people pronounce comfortable as "cimft'ble", generally as "gen'relly" and vegetable as "veg'table".

  Vowels are skipped or rushed in English while in many other languages, vowels are given the same importance as that of the consonants. For some, they are even enunciated more than consonants.

  If you're to learn another language, begin by dropping the habit of skipping vowels. Roll off the vowels and exercise your tongue. It's a habit you need to quit if you want to lean how to pronounce properly.

• Learn Words and Sentences.

  Teaching pronunciation on the level of phonemes is the easy task. When we talk about words and sentences, it is a whole different level. There are new set of rules. We are no longer talking about sounds, but also about intonation, stress, rhythm and a lot more.

  There is no better way to address this but to learn it word for word, sentence for sentence, as the approach for each language is different. There are cassette tapes and CDs that contains common sentences and words for beginners which could be very useful.

The biggest obstacle in teaching pronunciation, especially to ESL (English as Second Language) students, is that they are typically nervous or lack confidence. As a teacher, you must always keep an encouraging atmosphere. Praise no matter how small each development is. And practice a lot. Always keep in mind that while old habits are difficult to get rid of, good habits are easy to acquire when you have the determination.

More resources

• Some great insights for teaching pronunciation for ESL.
• More tips on pronunciation.