This lesson can be helpful in ESL/EFL Classroom

1. TEACHING PRONUNCIATION
PHORN Sophannarith
04-01-2025

2. Where and what did you do for the
New year?
Check-in

3. 1. How do you feel about your pronunciation
skills today?
2. What specific sounds or words do you find
most challenging to pronounce?
3. Can you share a recent success you've had
with your pronunciation?

4. 1. THE GOALS OF PRONUNCIATION INSTRUCTION
• A native speaker- target?
• Arguments against a NS target
• Largely unattainable
• Not necessary
• Learner may not seek it

5. 2. PROUNCIAITION AND INTELLIGIBILITY
Because native listeners rely on both the word-
stress patterns in the speech signal, the interaction
between the two is important, so it makes little
sense for the learner to focus just on the
production of sounds or just the production of word
stress patterns. Special attention needs to be given
to the accuracy of segments within strong syllables
as they provide a source of information upon which
native listeners depend.

6. 3. THE PHONOLOGICAL CORE (JENKINS)
• All the consonants are important except for the
initial sounds as in ‘thin’ and ‘this’.
• Consonant clusters are important at the beginning
and in the middle of words. For example the cluster
in the word ‘string’ cannot be simplified to ‘sting’ or
’tring’ and remain intelligible.
• The contrast between long and short vowels is
important. For example the difference between the
vowel sounds in ‘sit’ and ‘seat’.

7. 3. THE PHONOLOGICAL CORE (JENKINS)
• Nuclear (or tonic) stress is also essential. This is the
stress on the most important word (or syllable) in a
group of words. For example, there is a difference
in meaning between ‘My son uses a computer’
which is a neutral statement of fact and ‘My SON
uses a computer’, where there is an added meaning
(such as that another person known to the speaker
and listener does not use a computer).

8. 4. NOT PART OF THE CORE
• “th” sounds
• Vowel quality, that is, the difference between vowel
sounds where length is not involved, for example a
German speaker may pronounce the ‘e’ in the word
‘chess’ more like an ‘a’ as in the word ‘cat’.

9. 4. NOT PART OF THE CORE
• Weak forms such as the vowels in the words ‘to’, ‘of’
and ‘from’, whose vowels are often pronounced as
schwa instead of with their full vowel quality.
• Other features of speech such as assimilation, where
the final sound of a word alters to make it more like the
first sound of the next word, so that, for example, ‘red
paint’ becomes ‘reb paint’
• Pitch movement
• Stress timing

10. 5. FEATURES THAT MIGHT IMPEDE COMMUNICATION
• Mispronounced words that confuse
• Mispronounced words that elicit a negative
reaction

11. 6. THE NATURE OF ENGLISH PRONUCIAITION
Vowels
• 15 vowel sounds in AE
• 20 vowel sounds in BE
• Dipthongs and thripthongs
• New Englishes have different vowel sets

12. 7. TEACHING VOWEL DISTINCTIONS
1. Focus first on the four tense vowels of English (e.g. in
‘beat’, ‘bait’, ‘boot’, and ‘boat’).
2. Give examples of words with tense vowels and
exaggerate the pronunciation of the vowels (e.g. with
words like ‘bee’, ‘leave’ ‘see’).
3. Work on each vowel in isolation.

13. 7. TEACHING VOWEL DISTINCTIONS
4. Do linking exercises in which a tense vowel is followed
by a word beginning with another vowel: “I see it”. “I
play at it”.
5. Have students concentrate on lengthening the vowels.
6. With words of more than one syllable , use words in
which the tense vowel receives major stress: ‘payment’,
‘seaside’, ‘movement’.

14. 8. TEACHING LAX VOWELS
1. Illustrate the lax vowels by showing that the mouth is
relaxed when producing them.
2. Emphasize that lax vowels are short, e.g. by bringing
hands together quickly in a clapping motion.
3. Have students practice words with these vowels: e.g.
‘sit’, ‘lip’, ‘live’, ‘said’, ‘red’, ‘send’, ‘book’, ‘push’, ‘could’.

15. 9. CONSONANTS
Difficulties for L2 learners of English
1. Transfer due to lack of correspondence between L1
and L2.
2. Similar consonant but different articulation
3. Similar consonant but different distribution
4. Consonant clusters
5. Blends and reductions

16. 9. BLENDS AND REDUCTIONS
• Final consonants joined to a following vowel: bothof you stopit fixit
• Final stop consonant unreleased if followed by a different consonant: kee[p] trying
bla[ck] shoes kee[p] trying
• Final consonants linked to beginning vowels: see [y] it my [y]uncle
ho [w] easy
• Words blended in rapid speech: laschee (last year) wouldja (would you)
wanna go (want to go)
• Unstressed words “disappearing” in rapid speech: black n white (black and white)
need te go (need to go) bag ov books (bag of books)
• Syllables disappearing in rapid speech: robri (robbery) intresting (interesting)
commentri (commentary)

17. 10. TEACHING CONSONANTS
1. If learners want to use aspiration with the
consonants /p/, /k/, and /t/ (i.e. so that ‘paper”
does not sound like ‘baber’, or ‘time’ like ‘dime”),
aspiration can be demonstrated by holding a piece of
paper close to the mouth when saying words
beginning with these consonants.

18. 10. TEACHING CONSONANTS
2. They can also learn to produce aspiration by first
practicing words beginning with /h/ and then placing
words beginning with /p/, /k/, or /t/ in front of
these words. For example: hot p(h)pot t(h)aught
c(h)ot

19. 10. TEACHING CONSONANTS
3. To practice voicing the consonants in word like
‘vote’, ‘love’, ‘then’, ‘breathe’, ‘measure’, students
can first feel the voicing involved in making vowels
sounds (e.g. a prolonger /a/ sound) by placing their
fingers lightly on their throats when making the
sound. They should then practice making voiced
consonants in pairs like ‘fan’ –‘van’, ‘sue’- ‘zoo’,
‘leaf’- ‘leave’.

20. 11. TEACHING CONSONANTS
4. Identify students’ problem areas (different groups
have different problems)
5. Find lexical/grammatical contexts with many natural
occurrences of the problem sounds. Identify contexts
for all the positions in which the sounds occur.
6. Draw on these contexts to develop activities for
analysis and listening that will assist students in
understanding and recognizing the target sounds.

21. 11. TEACHING CONSONANTS
7. Using the contexts chosen, develop a progression
of controlled, guided, and communicative tasks
that incorporate the sounds for practice.
8. For each stage of practice (controlled, guided,
communicative) develop two or three activities so
that target sound(s) can be recycled and practiced
again in new contexts.

22. 11. TEACHING CONSONANTS
9. If students have difficulty voicing final consonants /b/,
/d/ and /g/, practice minimal pairs with pairs such as
‘tap’ –‘tab’, ‘back’- ‘bag’ and point out that the vowels
are longer with the voiced final consonants.

23. 11. TEACHING CONSONANTS
10. If students have difficulty with initial consonant
clusters (e.g. as in ‘grow’, ‘strap’, ‘drive’), they can
first practice saying words with clusters but insert a
short vowel between the consonants: e.g. ‘girow’,
‘sitrap’, ‘dirive’, repeating the words with increasing
speed until the inserted vowel disappears.

24. 11. TEACHING CONSONANTS
11. If students have difficult with final consonant
clusters (e.g. as in ‘worked’, ‘build’, ‘texts’) they can
be practiced using two words, gradually eliminating
more and more of the second word: feel down – feel
dow – feel –d field

25. 12. WORD STRESS
1. Primary and secondary stress
2. Most 2 syllables nouns have stress on first syllable
3. Over 60% of 2 syllable verbs have stress on second
syllable
4. Compound nouns have primary stress on 1st
syllable
5. Unstressed vowels often dropped
6. Stress-timed versus syllable timed
The cat is interested in protecting its kittens.
Large cars waste gas.

26. 13. TEACHING WORD STRESS
1. Emphasize the length of stressed vowels. Stressed
syllables are longer than unstressed syllables. Give
lists of words (e.g. days of the month) or sentences
for practice, point out the stressed syllables and have
students practice them, monitoring the length of the
stressed syllables.

27. 13. TEACHING WORD STRESS
2. Present sets of words with the same stress
patterns.
3. Pronounce new vocabulary so students can hear
which syllables are stressed.
4. Use pronunciation spellings to develop students’
awareness of how unstressed vowels are pronounced
(e.g. fizishin for physician)

28. 13. TEACHING WORD STRESS
5. Point out that unstressed vowels have a short,
indistinct sound regardless of spelling.
6. Teach classes of words that have predictable stress
patterns.

29. 14. TEACHING RHYTHM AND INTONATION
1. Use sounds to demonstrate rhythm patterns: e.g.
“The fire destroyed the building” – Da DA Da DA da DA
Da.
2. Point out that content words are normally stressed
and function words are usually unstressed (see chapter
X). Have students identify content and function words in
sentences and practice the sentences with correct stress.

30. 14. TEACHING RHYTHM AND INTONATION
3. Teach student the rhythm and intonation patterns of
communicatively useful language at their level.
4. Teach students to practice linking final consonants to
beginning vowels (e.g.as in ‘fix it’, ‘other animals’).

31. 14. TEACHING RHYTHM AND INTONATION
5. Teach the predictable rhythm patterns of phrases
(e.g. ‘at my school’, ‘in the morning’, ‘need some
apples”, ‘have to go”.)
6. Use short utterances and mini-dialogs to illustrate and
practice different intonation patterns.

32. 15. THE LEARNING OF PRONUNCIATION
Learning pronunciation is incremental:
• new sound patterns do not emerge all at once. For
example a consonant such as the ‘th’
• initially, as in ‘thanks’
• medially, as in ‘author’
• finally, as in ‘bath’
• in initial consonant clusters, as in ‘throat’
• in medial consonant clusters as in ‘athritis’
• in final consonant clusters, as in ‘faiths’

33. 16. THE LEARNING OF PRONUNCIATION
• Learners approach second language pronunciation
differently:
• Learners who are out-going, confident, and willing to take
risks probably have more opportunities to practices their
pronunciation of the second language simply because they
are more often involved in interactions with native
speakers.
• Conversely, learners who are introverted, inhibited, and
unwilling to take risks lack opportunities for practice.

34. 16. THE LEARNING OF PRONUNCIATION
• Awareness is needed of the physical aspects of
pronunciation
• Pronunciation features need to be noticed before they
are learned

35. 16. THE LEARNING OF PRONUNCIATION
Techniques that focus on noticing features of pronunciation
include:
1. Marking a text. Students listen to a text and circle
words containing specific sounds (e.g. final consonants,
as in the example from the English teacher above)

36. 16. THE LEARNING OF PRONUNCIATION
Techniques that focus on noticing features of pronunciation
include:
2. Same or different. Students listen to pairs or sets of
words or sentences which may or may not contain one
different item (e.g. a feature the teacher wants them to
notice). They check off whether the items they hear are
the same or different.

37. 16. THE LEARNING OF PRONUNCIATION
Techniques that focus on noticing features of pronunciation
include:
3. Focussed listening. Students listen to a text, which
contains a number of highlighted words. As they listen
they make the stressed syllable on the highlighted
words.
4. Following a script. When listening to an audio
recording students can read the script and try to identify
examples of features such as blended and linked sounds
for example.

38. 16. THE LEARNING OF PRONUNCIATION
Techniques that focus on noticing features of pronunciation
include:
5. Intonation signals. Students listen to a text and mark
with an arrow, if sentences end with rising or falling
intonation.

39. 17. THE LEARNING OF PRONUNCIATION
• Features of English pronunciation need to be modelled
• Both controlled and communicative practice is needed
• Learners need to learn to monitor their own
pronunciation

40. 18. THE LEARNING OF PRONUNCIATION
Learners should receive feedback on their pronunciation:
Feedback techniques:
1. Repeat the incorrect sound using stress and
intonation to suggest that there is an error. For
example if a learner substitutes ‘f’ for ‘th’ producing
‘wiff’ instead of ‘with’ the teacher could say ‘wiff a
friend’? using stress on the word ‘wiff’ and a rising
questioning intonation.

41. 18. THE LEARNING OF PRONUNCIATION
Learners should receive feedback on their pronunciation:
Feedback techniques:
2. Or the teacher could query the word containing the
incorrect sound, e.g. saying ‘he went what a friend?’
3. The teacher could repeat the student’s error, perhaps
exaggerating the error to draw attention to it, e.g. by
saying ‘wifffff’.

42. 19. THE LEARNING OF PRONUNCIATION
Pronunciation should be linked to other lessons

43. 20. PLANNING FOR PRONUNCIATION TEACHING
1. Find out who your learners are and what they need
2. Find language that is relevant to your learners to use
as practice material
3. Use these samples of authentic language to illustrate
and practice specific pronunciation features

44. 20. PLANNING FOR PRONUNCIATION TEACHING
4. Provide frequent and sustained choral repetition with
body movement (e.g. tapping, clapping, gesturing)
5. Give learners a chance to practice similar language in
less controlled activities
6. Record learners’ speech for feedback and review

45. 21. PLANNING FOR PRONUNCIATION TEACHING
Preparing a diagnostic profile
Developing a pronunciation syllabus

46. 21. LANE’S CORE SYLLABUS
Consonants:
• th sound in think and then
• Contrasts involving the first sounds in pet, bet, fete,
vet, and wet
• Retroflexed /r/: red, drive
• Final consonants and consonant clusters: bed, belt
• Grammatical endings

47. 21. LANE’S CORE SYLLABUS
Vowels
• The vowels in leave-live
• The vowels in net-nat-nut-not
• r-colored vowels in beard, hard and hoard
Word stress
• Vowel length in stressed and unstressed syllables
• Vowel reduction in unstressed syllables
• Stress patterns of classes of words

48. 21. LANE’S CORE SYLLABUS
Rhythm and Intonation
• Highlighting important words with stress and pitch
• Thought groups (grouping words into meaningful
phrases)
• Linking adjacent words
• Intonation to mark utterance boundaries

49. 22. A PRONUNCIATION LESSON
A five stage cycle of activities moving from controlled, to guided
to free practice.
1.Description and analysis (oral and written illustrations
of how the feature is produced and when it occurs within
spoken discourse): videos or animations of the position of
the tongue and mouth can be effective here.

50. 22. A PRONUNCIATION LESSON
A five stage cycle of activities moving from controlled, to guided
to free practice.
2. Listening discrimination (focused listening practice with
feedback on learners’ ability to correctly discriminate the
feature)

51. 22. A PRONUNCIATION LESSON
A five stage cycle of activities moving from controlled, to guided
to free practice.
3. Controlled practice (oral reading of minimal-pair
sentences, short dialogues, etc., with special attention paid
to the highlighted feature in order to raise learner
consciousness)
4. Guided practice (structured communication exercises,
such as information gap activities or cued dialogues, that
enable the learner to monitor for the specified feature)

52. 22. A PRONUNCIATION LESSON
A five stage cycle of activities moving from controlled, to guided
to free practice.
5. Communicative practice (less structured, fluency-
building activities (e.g., role play, problem solving) that
require the learner to attend to both form and content of
utterances.

53. RECOMMENDED READING
TIPS FOR TEACHING PRONUNCIATION
Linda Lane
Pearson/Longman 2010

54. THANK YOU
PHORN Sophannarith