Literacy Council of Montgomery County, MD
Presentation 11
Rev. 3-26-2015
Pronunciation
[50 minutes]
Materials
 Tissue
 Slip strip (optional)
 Handout #10 – Addressing Pronunciation Problems
 Handout #11– English Speech Sounds
 Handout #12 – Tips, Tricks and Methods in Pronunciation
Suggested Teaching Methods
 Lecture
 Question and Answer
Essential Presentation Elements
Trainees typically are very anxious about their ability to address pronunciation
problems. Reassure them that:
1. Pronunciation, while important, is not too difficult for them to understand or teach.
2. The goal of pronunciation is understandability, not perfection.
3. Every tutor is a pronunciation “expert” – although we are not consciously aware
of what our bodies are doing when we speak, we can discover most of what we
need to know simply by paying attention to what we do automatically.
Explain that this information is also useful to BL students because they need to
understand the relationship between sounds and letters to read and spell. Some speak
foreign dialects of English or American dialects where sounds are quite different from
what they will read.
Four Teaching Techniques
Same/Different (for speech and reading)
When students confuse two sounds, you have to figure out whether they can hear the
difference between them.

Step 1 (for level 1 ESL students only):
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Literacy Council of Montgomery County, MD
Presentation 11
Rev. 3-26-2015
o If your students do not know their meaning, you will have to teach the
words “same” and “different.”
 Do this as you would teach a drill.
 Show two books and say “same.”
 Show two pencils and say “same.”
 Show one pencils and one book and say “different.”
o Test understanding by holding up two objects and asking “are they the
same?” or “are they different?” Students should answer either “same” or
“different.”

Step 2 (this will be Step 1 for students who already know the words “same” and
“different”):
o Test the two sounds in question by saying them (for example, /b/ and /v/)
and asking the student, “are they the same?”
o Repeat several times.

Step 3:
o Print the two letters in question.
o As you say each sound, have students point to the correct letter. Repeat
several times.
This technique serves as both a diagnostic tool and a teaching tool. For speech, redo
this at intervals to see how students have progressed. Follow up with practice.
There is a feedback effect.
comprehension.
Better pronunciation usually brings better listening
Minimal Pairs (for speech and reading)
Minimal pairs are pairs of words that are pronounced identically except for two sounds
that are being confused. These sounds, which appear in the same place in the two
words, can be at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end. This technique is the best
method for learning to pronounce individual sounds properly.
Start with sounds at the beginning of words where the contrast is easiest to hear.
For example, if the sounds in question are /b/ and /v/:
b
v
bet
vet
[Note to trainers: write these lists on the board]
bat
vat
big
vig
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Literacy Council of Montgomery County, MD
Presentation 11
Rev. 3-26-2015
Then move on to minimal pairs for the middle and end of words, because some
problems occur only there.
The minimal pairs technique helps students pronounce a sound correctly. It also helps
students differentiate the two sounds being practiced. As students learn to pronounce
the sounds, their ability to recognize and hear them improves.
For speech:
 Create a grid of two rows, each with the target sounds in the same position
(beginning, middle, or end).
 Use nonsense words – the point is to focus on distinct sounds.
 Say each word, one at a time, in the first column and have the student repeat
each one. This reinforces the sound /b/ and creates a new muscular habit.
 Say each word, one at a time, in the second column and have students repeat
each one. This reinforces the sound /v/ and creates a new muscular habit.
 Finally, say the two words in the top row, one at a time. Have students repeat.
This differentiates /b/ and /v/.
For reading:
 The grid is the same, but students see it.
 For reading, nonsense words are better because they ensure that students are
reading the sounds, not just recognizing a familiar word.
 First, students read down one column; then they read down the second column;
finally, they read across the rows.
Modeling (for speech only)
When we converse with or read to our students, we speak naturally so they will mimic
intonation and inflection. When we model pronunciation, we exaggerate to show what
the mouth is doing.


With sounds, almost everything is happening inside, so we need to give all clues
possible.
Your willingness to look ridiculous relaxes students and allows them to look silly
and make mistakes.
“Successive Approximation” (for speech only)
This technique addresses two issues:
 It brings together sounds that students know individually in order to use those
sounds together
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Literacy Council of Montgomery County, MD

Presentation 11
Rev. 3-26-2015
It separates sounds that students can use only in combination in order to use
those sounds individually.
If students can’t make a blend or pronounce two sounds together, say each sound
separately again and again, each time closer and closer until they are together. This
technique is like saying “choo-choo” and imitating a train coming nearer. For example,
students can pronounce /s/ and /t/, but not /st/.
Sometimes students master the sounds at the beginning of a word but cannot blend the
same sounds when they occur at the end. For example, if students cannot pronounce
/th/ at the end of “bath,” but they can pronounce it at the beginning of words such as
“thing” and “think,” have them say “ba – thing” more and more quickly until the two
words run together. Then cut the word off right at the end by dropping “-ing.”
Do the opposite if students can pronounce a sound in combination, but not separately.
For example, Spanish-speaking students often pronounce an initial /s/ (as in “stamp”) as
/es/ (“estamp”). Have students pronounce the word slowly, holding the proper mouth
position for each sound. Then have them slowly separate the sounds until they can
pronounce each sound as a separate entity.
A similar technique is with non-clusters of similar sounds. For example, if students can
say /oo/ but not /w/, have them say the /oo/ as they close their mouths to create friction
(/w/ is the consonantal form of /oo/). Then have them say it faster and faster until they
achieve /w/ without going through /oo/.
Basic Differences in Speech Sounds
Vowels
Vowels are differentiated by where the tongue is placed (back/front, high/low) and how
the mouth opens.
 The differences in tongue placement and mouth opening are very slight.
 Ask trainees to notice what they are doing with their mouths as they say: beat,
bit, bet, bat, bate, box, book, beau, boo

Optional information:
o ESL students have great difficulty with short vowel sounds.
o BL students who are new English speakers may have problems with short
vowels.
o BL students may have serious problems reading vowels if they speak
another dialect.
 U.S. Southern and Black English vowels do not fit into the general
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Literacy Council of Montgomery County, MD
Presentation 11
Rev. 3-26-2015
English pattern (example – short “I” in Tennessee is a triphthong
and sounds nothing like other short vowels, so can hinder reading
greatly).
 Other dialects are missing sounds (example – pronouncing the first
sound of “which” as /w/ instead of /hw/. Thus, “which” and “witch”
sound exactly the same.
o Drilling with same/different and minimal pairs can be very valuable.
Consonants
Voiced/Not
 A voiced consonant comes from the vibration of your vocal cords (examples: /v/;
/th/ as in that)
 An unvoiced consonant comes from the tightening of your diaphragm, so your
vocal cords won’t vibrate (examples: /f/; /th/ as in thanks)
 Demonstrate the difference
o Hold a tissue in front of your mouth and say /v/; the tissue will remain still
o now say /f/; the tissue will flutter
o an unvoiced consonant releases a puff of air
o Have trainees place one hand on their throats
o as they say /v/ they will feel their vocal cords vibrate
o a voiced consonant vibrates
Stops
A stopped sound is one in which
 air is stopped and followed by an “explosion” (at the beginning of a word) or
 the sound is bitten off (at the end of a word)
 Examples: p, t, k, b, d, g)
Continuants
A continuant sound occurs when there is friction and can be prolonged indefinitely
(examples: s, f, m)
Difference between L and R
 They are part of the same sound in many Asian languages
 L is created by air flowing around side of tongue.
 For L, the tongue tip touches the ridge behind the teeth; for R, it is low to midmouth, not touching
 R is pronounced like a vowel in English. Like all vowels and no other consonant,
the tongue does not touch anywhere; its back is bunched toward the back of the
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Literacy Council of Montgomery County, MD
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mouth and the tip is tense.
Beyond Sounds
Intonation – refers to the rise and fall in pitch when one is speaking. This is one of the
most important things students should master. English speakers use intonation to
indicate sentence structure. As a result, poor articulation and good intonation are easier
to understand than good articulation coupled with poor intonation.
The three main intonation patterns in English (see Handout #10, page 2) are:
 Declarative sentences go down at the end.
 “Are/is” and “Do/does” questions go up at the end.
 Exclamations have short, silent spaces around the most important word which is
further stressed. The same intonation applies to clauses, further helping
comprehension.
A good teaching aid for intonation is the book, Green Eggs and Ham, for its repeated
contrasting of question and answer in clause and sentence. “Would you, could you, in a
boat? I would not, could not, in a boat.”
Syllable emphasis – To help students understand which syllable is stressed, use a pen
or your hand to tap out the syllables. Examples: content v. content; thirty v. thirteen.
This is especially useful for reading and spelling. In English multiple-syllable words, the
position of the stressed syllable moves around (unlike many other languages in which
the stressed syllable is always positioned in the same place).
Word emphasis – To help students learn how to properly stress words in a sentence,
have them read or recite simple sentences. Tap out the words that are stressed.
How to Help Your Student
In addition to the techniques just discussed, consider:





Mirrors – Sit side-by-side with your student so that you face a mirror that reflects
both of you. The student can see whether she properly mimics the shape of your
mouth
Memory keys – (b-b-b-b-) (like chart words)
Diagrams of mouth shape
Regular, short practice (no more than 5 minutes), preferably at the beginning of
the session. The mind and muscles get tired.
Handouts provide additional suggestions
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