maybe because we don't know how to teach it? in books there are plenty of activities and ideas to teach grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing and to do oral activities, but not many ideas  on how to teach pronunciation. Do you agree?

carmen gloria

 I totally agree! it could also be related to the fact that when we teach to communicate we focus on that, knowing that no matter how perfect a person's pronunciation can be if he/she know grammatical structures in context and some vocabulary he/she'll be able to communicate in other language.

 I totally agree! it could also be related to the fact that when we teach to communicate we focus on that, knowing that no matter how perfect a person's pronunciation can be if he/she knows grammatical structures in context and some vocabulary he/she'll be able to communicate in other language.

Dear Carmen,

Hi,

I agree with you. Pronunciation is probably the most neglected aspect of English language teaching because confidence is often lacking in foreign teachers to teach it methodically, and English teachers sometimes also lack the training and
confidence to tackle this area.

Best regards ,

Amir

Hi Carmen,

no, I don't think we should wait until our students get to a higher level in order to teach them how to pronounce.
People learn how to pronounce while they are learning the other aspects of the language.
In my opinion pronunciation is something that can only be learnt by imitating.
I might be wrong, but I never concentrate too much in teaching how to pronounce the words in English, as it just comes as a whole with the rest.
Imitating is the best method to learn pronunciation.
And I think it is the only one that really works.
I try to teach to imitate from the very first lesson.

What do you think?

Silvia (Moderator of Testing, Evaluation and Assessment)

Dear Silvia,

Thank you very much for your comment.

We'd better mention that sometimes we have to teach some rules. Imagine students want to check the pronunciation of a word in a dictionary. What happens if they are not familiar with IPA.  Once the students are familiar with this alphabet, they should be able to accurately pronounce any word in the dictionary. This is something we must start at early stages.

Or all multi-syllable words in English have one or more parts that are stressed. But which part should it be? There are some basic rules of word stress in English.

Amir

Dear Amir and all,

yes, that's a good point. I know what you mean..the thing is that what you suggest is really hard to apply to certain types of classes. I mean, in order to have students who are able to understand the IPA, you need time to teach it to them (time is a big issue as well).

And if you're working with children, how can you do it?

When teaching adults in classes of life long learning, I find they all have different backgrounds and a different education and it would be too difficult to talk about the IPA for 99% of them.

Of course, I explain some pronunciation rules, but I try to make it as simple as possible, leaving more space and time for imitation.

In case they are at home and don't know how to pronounce something, I suggest to look the words up in some on line dictionaries, that give them the possibility to listen to the words' BE and AE pronunciation.

I usually do some work on word stresses - that is more simple to explain and understand - I use little balls and small balls I draw on the whiteboard, then I make my students listen to some words and match the balls with the syllables (of course big balls are for stressed syllables).

I'd love to know if any of you have effective ways of teaching pronunciation and I'm looking forward for your suggestions!!

In case you wish to discuss the topic of assessing pronunciation, you're more than welcome to do it in the forum Testing, Evaluation and Assessment", where you will find a thread on this topic!

Best,

Silvia

(Moderator of Testing, Evaluation and Assessment)

Dear Silvia,

Thanks for your nice and useful comments.

I agree with you. I don't mean to teach the students phonetics and phonology.  We must try to teach pronunciation as simple as possible.

Just as with other areas of the language, teachers must decide when to include pronunciation work into their lessons. Different teachers have different ideas on the subject but the following are the most common:

• Whole lesson - Some teachers like to devote whole lessons to pronunciation, working on a variety of issues relevant to their students' needs.
• Lesson slots - Some teachers prefer to slot a certain amount of particular pronunciation work into each lesson.
• As and when required - Other teachers deal with pronunciation issues as they comeup in the classroom.

There is no right or wrong way. Each teacher has to decide what is best for their particular circumstances.

The teaching of individual sounds can be good fun for the teacher and the students.

Peer dictation: Students reading and speaking words or sentences for a partner to write down is very useful, and is an effective way for students to analyze pronunciation problems for themselves. Of course the partner shouldn't be able to see the original text!

Thanks,

Amir(Moderator)

Hi Silvia:

     Regarding your comment, "in my opinion pronunciation is something that can only be learnt by imitating ... it just comes as a whole with the rest. Imitating is the best method to learn pronunciation. And I think it is the only one that really works,"  what information are you relying upon for your opinion?  Are you relying upon research results published in a peer-reviewed journal? I assume that you are referring to adult learners and not children, right?

Dan Jenkins (Foreign Expert, English Department, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, China)

Dear Dan,

no, I'm not relying on any results published in a peer-reviewd journal. It is my opinion, as I said. No, I am not only referring to adult learners. I'm referring to children as well.

Do you have a different opinion?

Best,

Silvia. 

Hello Taliakum,  last year I used the phonemic chart with my elementary students. Istarted by showing those sounds which are very different from  Spanish. To my surprise they enjoyed it and found it very useful.