pronunciation, in a most 

inclusive sense, the form in which the elementary

symbols of language, the segmental phonemes or speech sounds, appear and
are arranged in patterns of pitch, loudness, and duration. In the simplest
model of the communication process in language—encoding, message,
decoding—pronunciation is an activity, shaping the output of the encoding
stage, and a state, the external appearance of the message and input to the
decoding stage. It is what the speaker does and what the hearer perceives and,
so far as evaluation is called for, judges. It is so basic to language that it has to
be considered in any general discussion of the topic.

The importance of teaching pronunciation

Indeed, we should teach pronunciation because words can have different meanings
depending on how you say them. For example, there is a big difference between a pear
and a bear, two sounds that are not easy for Spaniards! A teacher’s first goal for their
students is to achieve basic communication. However, that can fail if their accent is so
bad that no one can understand them. In addition, teaching pronunciation is necessary
since it’s embarrassing to ask someone to repeat themselves three times and still not
understand them.

You can easily plan out your resources and activities which would help your students to
improve their communication skills.  One of the best ways would be to encourage them
to converse in English. You need to introduce the complete idea that while they are
doing their homework by reading aloud all the words.

Here are some techniques which would help you to teach English pronunciation to the
beginners and help them build a strong pronunciation foundation.

1. Initially Listen & Repeat

You might think that this is one of the common methods of teaching pronunciation in
English. You will need to first pronounce the word yourself and then ask your students
to repeat it in a similar way. If in case, you are working with a long word that has
multiple syllables then you can always start with the final word. Working backward will
help children to pronounce the word easily.

2. Isolation Of The Words

If you are about to teach some difficult words, then you need to pronounce the word
repeatedly. This will help to engrain the sound pattern into the minds of the kids. This
technique is helpful when you have a number of students who might be struggling with
specific sound delineation.
3. Using Minimal Pairs
It can be considered as one of a great way to keep the focus on the pronunciation of the
words (or just one sound). Most of the time students are not very familiar with linguistics
– a minimal pair is a pair of words that differ only in one specific sound. For instance,
you can check the words ‘rat’ and ‘rate’. They can be considered as minimal pairs. It is
because there is only one vowel sound which makes the pronunciation of the words
different. It will also help students to expand their vocabulary.
Read More: List of Minimal Pairs for Speech Therapy
4. Every Student Must Record The Sound And
Replay
Sometimes students feel that they are pronouncing the words correctly. But only a
listener can understand whether it is correct or not. But we have a solution here.
Students can easily record the words by actually saying it. Then you might have this
empirical data to playback and listen to it carefully. You can encourage students to
listen to what they are actually saying. Sometimes listening to the native speakers can
also serve the purpose. With this technique, the students would have a more objective
understanding of the words and proper pronunciation.

5. Make Use Of Phonetics

If students are struggling to pronounce the entire word, then you can always make use
of phonetic symbols which help to produce sound. In addition to that, you can make use
of phonetics to introduce new vocabulary. You can read our blog (Englishbix phonetic
sounds) to help students understand the sound produce by vowels.

6. Application Of Fun Tongue Twisters

We already know that tongue twisters are very popular among kids. They can be useful
in consonant pronunciation and considered as a valuable resource. These twisters
would pose a test to check the pronunciation abilities of a child. The tongue twisters
have a fun element that would help you to make your class interactive.

7. Using Language Specific Sounds

Sometimes the native people pronounce the words in a completely different way or
pattern. These are called as the language-specific pronunciation patterns. These will
help students to know how some words can have different pronunciation in different
regions of the country. For example, there is a good amount of difference
between words spoken in British English and American English.
8. Always Speak Slow and Try To Exaggerate
The Sound
Sometimes students feel that speaking fast English will make them look professional.
But actual trick is to speak slowly. If you are speaking fast then it will tend to slur your
speech and it might reinforce some bad habits. You can also exaggerate the sound
while pronunciation. It is a good exercise and will help you in improving your
pronunciation.

9. Observe The Movements Of Words While

Pronunciation
While you are learning a foreign language, you are using your speech organ in a very
different way. All the organs of the mouth like lips, tongue, throat would be utilized to
make the appropriate sound while the pronunciation of the words. 

10. Listening To Podcasts
In the learning process, you can listen to the podcasts that are completely focused on
teaching better pronunciation. You can find various podcasts through online platforms.
Sometimes you can get hold of some good videos as well.

11. Practice By Speaking Tongue Twisters

It won’t be surprising to say that tongue twisters are some of the time-tested methods of
improving pronunciation. These phrases are very difficult to pronounce and are made
up of words that sound similar. 

12. Never Look For the English sounding

equivalents in your native language
People nowadays learn the pronunciation of English in their own way which might not
be the correct method. Hence its consequences will be that you end up making the
wrong pronunciation of the words. In most language textbooks, you would look up for
pronunciation and the sounds of various words are also explained through some audio.

This method might feel a bit convenient while you are learning some alphabets but it
won’t be very helpful in developing good pronunciation in learning words in English.

In this way, all the letters will be in accordance with some phonological which would be
from the other language and it will come with all of its peculiarities. For instance, there is
a difference between how a Russian learns to pronounce ‘T’ and how it will be done by
an American.

13. Learn To Expand Your Inventory

With this method, the students or adults whosoever are learning the pronunciation will
always make it challenging to bring out distinct sounds and it will be perceived as the
native language of every person. For instance, you could see how the Spanish bring out
the pronunciation of ‘B’ and ‘V’ and how an American will do the same.

So the students who have different dialects face a certain level of the problem coming
up with the correct pronunciation of the words. They will hear the right words but bring
using it in the conversation is making it difficult o sound correct. You need to study the
acoustic properties of each word or some pair of words.

14. Use Technology Software – Learn In A

Simple Way:
The advantage of using the software is that you could usually use some form of text,
audio or visual advertisement that would aim to make your learning process. With
different brands, you can you what are our strengths and weakness.

It can be done when you work on practice worksheets and various exercises. It will also
be done by giving out tests and knowing the score, and will give you a generalized idea
of all the things – words, sentences, and also grammar.

15. Leave Your Fear and Keep Working

You can sit at home in your comfort zone and then think that you would conquer the
world of English then it is not gonna happen. You need to go out by overcoming your
fear of speaking in English in front of others.  When you meet new people, you could
know the pronunciation of various words.

It will also help you to learn some new words and how people from different dialects
make different pronunciation.

16. Finally — More And More Practice

If you feel that you are not giving enough time to your work or your practice. Then make
a schedule and try to work the amount you have fixed for it.
Let us now look at some key points which you need to consider while learning word
pronunciation. Following are some important word pronunciation tips for different types
of English Learners:

Basic Level English Learners

 Work On Syllable Stress: Every student learning word pronunciation must have
a basic understanding of the multi-syllabic words and that they require proper
syllable stress. 
 Learning Voiced & Voiceless Consonants: Students need to know the
difference between the voiced and voiceless consonants. While pronunciation.
Students touch the throat to notice the difference of word pronunciation such as
‘z’ and ‘s’; ‘f’ and ‘v’. 
 Using Silent Letter: Every student must be able to point out different examples
of the words which become silent in certain words. For instance, the letter ‘b’
becomes silent in ‘comb’ and ‘ed’ becomes silent in the past tense of the regular
verbs.
 Use Of Silent ‘Final E’: Students must be aware of the letter ‘e’ which is used in
words and makes the vowel sound long. 

Intermediate English Learners

1. Making Use Of Minimal Pairs: It will help students to understand the difference in
the pronunciation between the words that appear to be similar. 
2. Word Stress Pattern: With this students can improve the pronunciation by focusing
on various short sentences and standard word stress patterns.
3. Introducing Stress And Intonation: This will help students to pay attention to the
music of English through the use of stress and intonation. 
Advance English Learners
1. Working With New Things and Understand The Refining Of Stress And
Intonation: In this case, students need to stress on changing word meaning by putting
stress upon them. 
2. Pronunciation In Formal And Informal Situations: You can help children to
introduce ideas by making changes to the pronunciations in formal and informal
situations. 
These were the three different levels of learning English word pronunciation. Students
can easily go through these important points and keep learning. 

Keep learning new ways of mastering English with EnglishBix!

Quick Links
1. Tough English Words to Pronounce
2. Tongue Twister Alliterations