Getting started teaching pronunciation: top tips and resources

Preparation for teaching pronunciation:

• Understand that pronunciation isn’t just about how we make individual sounds (known as phonemes). It also includes rhythm, stress, intonation, chunking (how we group words and where we pause) and connected speech (when words run together). If you don’t already have a basic understanding of these, consider enrolling in the British Council’s new teaching pronunciation course to get to grips with the building blocks.

• Get a grasp on how individual sounds (phonemes) are formed in English. Adrian Underhill has some brilliant videos to help with this (see also this Youtube playlist).

• Familiarise yourself with the International Phonetic Alphabet by using a tool such as this Interactive Phonemic Chart. This is a great tool for breaking down sounds in English to their individual components and representing them with symbols, instead of the alphabet, where one letter can represent many sounds. Don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to learn it all at once, but do use it here and there when focusing on individual sounds with students.

• Do some research on your students’ linguistic backgrounds, using a resource such as ‘Learner English’. This book covers many of the most widely spoken languages, and gives a brief overview of the key linguistic features, including pronunciation and breaks down how their first language could present difficulties when learning English. This information is invaluable as a tool to help you preempt and predict those challenges.

While teaching pronunciation:

• Encourage students to consider their pronunciation goals, and whether they are a) realistic, b) necessary or c) beneficial. Many students state that they want to ‘sound like a native’, but this statement comes loaded with questions: ‘Which kind of native?’ ‘Do native speakers speak more clearly/accurately?’ ‘Is ‘native’ English important in a globalised world?’ Students may not have considered these questions before and doing so may significantly reduce the burden that they have placed upon themselves to attain to heights which are often a hindrance to learning.

• Teach students to distinguish sounds before they can produce them. In one lesson, I was trying to teach my student to produce the ‘l’ and r’ sounds, which were not distinct phonemes in her dialect. After some unsuccessful practice, I realised that she couldn’t actually hear the difference between the two sounds - let alone produce them! It is important to build in time to hear the difference before you move on to having students produce the sounds. You could use a book like Ship or Sheep to have students practise these ‘minimal pairs’ in a controlled way.

• Let pronunciation ‘arise’ naturally in class, as well as having focussed tasks and lessons prepared on the topic. Check out the Hancock McDonald website as well as the BBC Learning English site for some great ideas, activities and resources that can be used in class. If you are planning a focussed lesson on word stress, you could download my free lesson plan and materials here.

• Build in revision, homework and repetition. Pronunciation doesn’t develop overnight - students will need to put in time and effort into learning and producing clear English pronunciation.

Developing clear and effective pronunciation is a key component of becoming a confident speaker of English, so any time that we invest in better equipping ourselves as teachers is time well spent. Have fun learning and teaching what you have learnt!