Are you unsure how to teach pronunciation? Do you find it to be an arduous task? Don’t worry, we will help you improve the communication skills of your students through our precise guide. Source: https://ksa.mytutorsource.com/blog/how-to-teach-pronunciation/

1. How to Teach Pronunciation
Having difficulties teaching pronunciation is an issue all English teachers
have faced at some point. It is no doubt a difficult task. However, we are
here to make your teaching problems go away. This blog will equip you with
excellent tools and activities you can use to make learning pronunciation
more fun.
Teaching pronunciation often leaves many instructors baffl ed, as it is a
laborious task. There’s just so much that the English teachers need to fit in
their daily lesson plan, that teaching appropriate pronunciation often gets
overlooked. However, to enable your students to speak English clearly and
communicate effectively, teaching pronunciation constructively is very
important.
For all the English tutors out there facing innumerable arduous challenges
in teaching pronunciation, we have compiled a com prehensive guide;

2. detailing every aspect of teaching pronunciation you need to be familiar
with.
Basics of Pronunciation
We’ll be going over the frequently faced challenges that arise in teaching
pronunciation and effective ways in which you can tackle eve ry single one
of them. We’ll also be touching base with all core concepts, terminologies,
and fun activities that can help you be a better English tutor and facilitate
your students with the improvement of their pronunciation skills.
Core Concepts
First let’s get acquainted with the basics of teaching pronunciation, i.e. the
most common pronunciation-related terms, what they mean, and how to
incorporate them in your lessons.
Pronunciation-Related Terms:
One of the reasons why tutors find it hard to teach pronunciation is the
confusion and challenges surrounding the technical terminologies of ESL
pronunciation.
Given you are a native speaker and you speak English naturally, as it is your
native language or mother tongue. Therefore, making it more challenging
to teach the rules and basics of pronunciation to someone who is a non -
native speaker, as it is not their first language. Also, the challenges faced
when teaching older children and compared to younger students, can be
quite difficult.

3. Hence, getting familiar with the most widely used terms and buzzwords will
help you teach better.
So here they are:
Consonants
The non-vowel alphabets are called the consonants.
Example: b, m, g, l, k, etc.

4. Consonant Clusters
A pair of consonants representing a specific phoneme.
Example: “sh”, “th”, and “ch” etc
Diphthong
It is a compound vowel character, basically, the specific sound produced
when two vowels are combined or slide into one another.
Example: the “oi” sound in boy or “ea” in feat.
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
So basically the International Phonetic Alphabet is the chart for
standardized representation of speech -specific sounds in written form,
identifying phonemes of a language.
Example: æ, ɪə, and θ
Minimal Pair
A pair of words or phrases that sound the same but differ only in one
phonological element.
Example: “Rot” and “Lot” or “Zeal” and “Seal”.
Phonemes
The perceptually unique units of sound in language differentiating one
word from the other are called phonemes.

5. Example: The alphabet “c” in face, car and hatch has distinct sounds in all
three words.
Phonemic Chart
A chart of symbols identifying different sounds in the language that
specifies which sounds are voiced and which are not in a word is known as
a phonemic chart.
Example:
Phonemic Script
The system of using phonemic symbols from the IPA to transcribe sounds
of commonly confused words or phrases is what we call a phonemic script.
Example: The phonemic script for the word “Clock” is “/kl ɒk/”.
Phonics
“Phonics” are used to teach people how to read/write an alphabetic
language based on the relation between sounds and spellings.
Phonology
The field of studying sounds or phonemes is known as phonology.
Voiced/Voiceless Consonants
The basic difference between the two is how the sounds are produced.
Voiced consonants require sound to be produced with the vocal cords,
whereas voiceless consonants are produced with lips and teeth. If you place

6. your hand on your throat while pronouncing voiced consonants, you can
feel the vibration produced by your vocal cords. However, for voiceless
consonants, you’ll detect no vibration.
Example: B is voiced consonant whereas P is voiceless.
Vowels
The syllabic speech sounds in the alphabets that do not produce any
stricture of the vocal tract is a vowel.
Example: There are six vowels in the English language, “a”, “e”, “i”, “o”, “u”,
and sometimes “y”.
Instruction Tools & Modes:
Teaching pronunciation, as discussed above, can be quite taxing. However,
all you need to do is implement interesting and engaging tools, techniques,
and activities to make learning fun. So it’s no big deal, as all you have to
do is help your students with the production of audible language by
teaching them how to connect letters/letter compounds with sounds.
Tools & Methods:
Let us help you streamline your lesson plans. You can incorporate any of
the approaches below to make your lessons more effective
The Phonemic Chart
The phonemic chart is your best friend as an ESL instructor, so make sure
you have one and keep referring to it regularly. Get your students
familiarized with the chart as it will enable them to pick up commonly

7. confused sounds and words more easily. It will also strengthen their abilit y
to pronounce new words just using the chart.
Tongue Positions & Mouth Movement
Teach them the different tongue positions and mouth movements distinct
for each phoneme, this will greatly improve their pronunciation skills. You
can either show them pictures or demonstrate it yourself. Asking them to
imitate you or the pictures is also a great practice to adopt. The more they
practice, the more they will perfect their pronunciations.

8. Word Stress, Sentence Stress, & Intonation
If you want your students to communicate effectively you need to teach
them stress practice, as English is a stress -timed language. So, try and focus
on teaching them the importance of stressing in the right places. Similarly,
intonation practice should also help them speak fluently and t o be
understood easily by others. And don’t forget to teach them proper
pronunciation of each vowel as well as appropriate syllable stress.

9. Assessment & Feedback
To strengthen taught skills and track progress, assessment and feedback
play an integral role. Following are a few methods you can employ in your
course plan to assess the speaking skills of your students:
Monitoring: Take a walk around the class, check on your students whi le they
are practicing their pronunciation. It will give you an idea of where any of
them is lacking and will allow you to help them fix the shortcomings.

10. Student Presentations: Class participation is a good teaching and
assessment tool. Assign individual or group presentation topics. Presenting
in front of the class gives them the confidence to speak in front of others,
it’s sort of a practice exercise too, and not to forget the rest of the class
also gets to engage and learn.

11. Audio/Video Recording: Get your students to audio/video record their
pronunciations. It will be helpful for them to see themselves speaking,
would act as a practice exercise, and will allow you to assess and grade
them efficiently, with thorough feedback!!

12. Interviews: Select a specific context and set an interview, this can be a great
exercise to help your students get fluent with pronunciation and speaking
skills.

13. Graded Paper Tests: Develop tests and assessment exercises for your
students, as this will enable you to detect their progress in a better way.
Feedback from graded tests can help with improvement.
What Method can you use to teach a student/child to learn &
understand easily? I always tell my students that the most
important thing is to relax when speaking English. Many
times, they are so worried about making mistakes that they
tense up, and their pronunciation suffers as a result. I tell
them to take a deep breath and focus on speaking clearly,
rather than worrying about every little detail. I also
encourage them to practice their pronunciation as much as
possible – by reading out loud, having conversations with
native English speakers, or using pronunciation apps and
online resources. Here are some other tips and techniques
that can help students improve their English pronunciation:
Method no 1: One effective strategy is to break down the
different sounds of English into smaller units and work on
them one at a time. For example, you can start with sounds
that are made using the lips (such as ‘b’, ‘m’, and ‘p’), then
move on to sounds made with the tongue (such as ‘t’, ‘d’ and
‘n’), and finally focus on sounds made at the back of the
mouth, such as ‘g’ and ‘h.’
Method no 2:Another useful approach is to get students to
record themselves speaking and then listen back to identify
any areas that need improvement. This can be done with the
help of a teacher or language learning app, which can provide
feedback and suggest ways to improve.

14. Method no 3:Some students find it helpful to use a mirror
when practicing their pronunciation, as this allows them to
see how their mouth is forming the different sounds. This can
be combined with making videos of yourself speaking, as this
provides a complete picture of how you are producing the
sounds.
Method no 4:It’s also important to be aware of the different
types of sounds that make up English pronunciation, such as
voiced and unvoiced consonants, long and short vowels, and
diphthongs. Understanding how these sounds are produced
can help students to make the necessary adjustments in their
own speech. Feel free to edit & if there’s anything else that I
can help you with, please feel free to contact me.
Angela Milnes The Inspiration Edit
Teaching Beginners How to Pronounce:
As an instructor, you know that it is more challenging to teach something
from scratch. Working with beginners is no doubt more daunting. But we’ll
take you through the various techniques you can use to make your worries
rest easily. Just start with the basics and then keep increasing the difficulty
level bit by bit.
“Grammar chants” are a good starting point, as imitation and repetition are
effective learning methods, and we know very well that practice makes
perfect. Don’t go to phonemic charts or IPA just yet, start with teaching
phonics individually.. Here are a few areas of focus when working with
beginners:
1. Focus on teaching “Syllable Stress”.

15. 2. Teach them the difference between “Voiced and Voiceless
Consonants”.
3. Introduce them to “Silent Letters”, like “k” in a knife.
4. Familiarize them with the various exceptions of the “Silent final E”,
like “live” and “thrive” “hate” and “bathe”
The difference between teaching beginner level and intermediate or
advanced level is just the intensity and difficulty of concepts and
techniques. With intermediate level or advanced level students, you don’t
need to go into the above-mentioned beginner level activities.
Make your Classes More Fun:
As you are teaching speaking and listening skills, you can employ several
fun activities and games to make your lesson fun and interactive. These
activities have a bonus as it is a fun practice, moreover, it helps your
students overcome their shortcomings for maximum improvement.
1. Minimal Pairs Bingo:
Identify minimal pairs that are challenging for your students and prepare a
list. Divide them into pairs, and hand over sheet A to one and sheet B to
the other. Ask your students to dictate their words to one another. The goal
is to complete 12 minimal pairs, whoever gets done first from the pair, will
be the winner. Once they are done, collect their sheets. Use this time to
answer any of the questions or challenges they had during the activity. You
can also have students evaluate their own or each other’s results.

16. 2. Basketball:
Let your students have a chance to take a dunk and score!! Write some
difficult words on pieces of paper. Place a trash can in the middle of the
room, have the children sit around. One by one, they’ll come and pick a
piece of paper. If they can pronounce t he target sound or word correctly,
they get to crumple up the paper and take a shot at the basket, giving them
a sense of achievement. And the students in the audience understand the
pronunciation better too, as well as add new vocabulary to their list.
3. Picture Dictation
Dictation is scary for kids, although it is a great practice. Picture dictation
is a way to spice things up a little and make it more interesting. Dictate a
passage describing various minimal pairs and other words, and the children
have to draw or identify the corresponding pictures. It is a fun listening
activity, which tells how good your students are at listening and identifying
pronunciations.

17. Moreover, Odd One Out, Run and Grab, Total Physical Response, Fruit Salad,
Chinese Whispers, Card Games, and Minimal Pair Math are also interesting
games that can be played in the classroom to perfect pronunciation by
adding new vocabulary and different words to their knowledge. You can
also find some other interesting activities by visiting.
Final thoughts for Teachers:
We know that teaching pronunciation is not an easy task, in fact, it is the
most strenuous part of teaching the English language. But we sincerely
hope this guide will help ease things up as it addresses all your major
concerns thoroughly.
Just know that your efforts will lead to powerful pronunciation progress,
improving their speaking and listening skills, producing intelligible
language, and one day enable these students to communicate effectively
with people all over the world.
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