Teaching English Pronunciation in the Classroom

Many EFL teachers find that English pronunciation is one of the most difficult areas to teach for a variety of reasons. One justification may be that the teacher, if non-native, does not feel confident with his or her own pronunciation skills; therefore, teaching it is not emphasized in the classroom.

Some students may not feel that pronunciation is relevant to their learning because their life goals do not revolve around verbally communicating in English. If they do not plan on leaving the country, or to work at the international level, then they may not be motivated to work on pronunciation skills.

Another reason why EFL teachers do not emphasized pronunciation in the classroom is because it is not always a prime importance on exams; therefore time is not spent on this component in the classroom. Why teach something that students will not be tested on? The real question is, ‘Why not teach students the main components needed to be understood in English, especially when it is the main reason for communication breakdowns?

I believe that as a global community, and as technology and communication strategies continue to grow, being able to verbally communicate with others all around the world will be a prime importance to our success as a global nation. I can understand that many students do not enjoy learning the English language and feel bittersweet doing so. It will help them succeed in the world, but it also, to an extent, robs them of their own language and culture.

The Pronunciation of an individual solidifies how well the person will be able to communicate their thoughts and feelings to others. Not every word needs to be pronounced like a native speaker in order to be understood, but some sounds that are distinctly difficult for certain language groups should be addressed and worked on if they are causing communication breakdowns.

For example, a change in a consonant sound will hinder communication more so than a change in a vowel sound. If you take a speaker of an Asian language, such as Japanese or Korean, you will see that they may have a hard time hearing and producing the difference between /v/ and /b/. A Japanese person may ask for a banilla milkshake at an ice cream shop and receive a banana milkshake instead of a vanilla shake. This is a misconception that could be avoided if addressed in the classroom.

On the other hand, a change in vowel sound or length often does not inhibit communication because it is obvious to the listener what is meant from the surrounding consonant sounds. For example, if a speaker elongates a vowel by replacing /i/ with /I/, as in these for this , the listener can still understand what he is saying in context. If a speaker says, “These is why I want to return home”, it is evident to the listener what he means because of the listeners intuitive knowledge of that part of speech.

If you are a non-native teacher who does not teach pronunciation in your class because you feel that your own pronunciation skills are lacking, then there are many alternatives around this issue. There are a variety of books and CDs available to teach all of the skills that are necessarily to understand and produce English fluently. Pronunciation also includes intonation, rhythm, stress, tones, vowel length, consonant clusters, and a variety of other factors that are crucial to the use and memorization of words. If students hear the stress in a word they are more likely to remember it, and therefore use it in conversation.

When developing lesson plans, time is crucial and we often do not fit in a section specifically for pronunciation. This is why pronunciation should be addressed when new vocabulary and grammar is being taught. For example, the past tense, ed ending, is pronounced three different ways in English: /d/, /t/, and /ɪd/ (/d/ e.g. laid, /t/ e.g. walked, and /Id/ e.g. debated). When teaching the future tense, such as going to , you could integrate a pronunciation point by mentioning that going /gəʊɪŋ/ is more often pronounced by native speakers as goin’ /gəʊɪn/. Teaching certain points such as these will be dependant on what your target aims for the class are. Is sounding like a native English speaker the target in which your students strive to achieve, or is it a frame of reference, where students refer to the sounds, but do not strive to sound exactly like them?

Check out the list of books and CDs I suggested on this page. They will be a tremendous help for teaching pronunciation in your classroom. I referred to Pronunciation practice activities by Martin Hewings for many of the ideas discussed in this article.