Steps to Teaching Pronunciation
- Decide between you, whether the learner wants to be corrected during
everyday speech. Also decide on what sounds to work on.
- Teach only one sound at a time.
- Show a diagram of the sound or model how to make the sound using a mirror,
a strip of paper, an elastic band or with your hand feeling your throat. Explain
how the mouth is positioned.
- Model the correct pronunciation again.
- Can they discriminate this sound from other sounds? In other words, can
they hear it apart from other sounds? Write down minimal pairs of words the
learner understands, say one of the words and ask the learner to point to the
correct sound.
- Practise using words the learner knows. Try to use words with the sound to
be learned in various positions in the word. Students may have trouble with
a sound only when it is at the beginning of a word. It is important to try all
positions to see where the trouble spots are. For example, thin, author, with.
- Put the words into a sentence. It is important to practise the words in a
sentence because this is the way we speak. When words are next to each
other, they interact. We refer to this as linking. For example, in the sentence
“Thelma took a bath,” the final k in took is linked to the a so that we hear tooka.
Illustrate linking by writing it as it sounds. For some fun, try sentences in
which many of the words start with the same sound (tongue twisters).
- Transfer the sound into their conversation.
- Encourage your student to practise between sessions.
Adapted from English as a Second Language tutor training manual. (n.d.). Regina, Saskatchewan: Regina Public Library. Used with permission.
Handout 12.9