Pronunciation teaching tips

Drilling – Repeated practice of a word is called ‘drilling’. It can be done with words and longer structures.

Choral drills are the most basic way to drill. The teacher says a word or structure, then the students repeat that word or structure. Teachers can also call on individual students. In substitution drills, the teacher sets up the drill and then changes one word every time. Students repeat the drill with the new substitute word each time.

Back-chaining is a great drill type for longer words or sentences. In back chaining, the teacher starts at the end, then gradually builds up the full word or sentence. For example, the word ‘strategically’ could be drilled ‘-ly… -cally… -ically… -tegically… strategically’. Similarly, the sentence ‘I love the phonemic chart’ could be drilled ‘chart… phonemic chart… the phonemic chart… love the phonemic chart… I love the phonemic chart’.

Drills should be kept energetic and light-hearted because they can be boring or even confronting for some students who are shy. One way to be more engaging while drilling is to vary the volume and pitch of the voice during drilling. A final tip is to count word syllables on each finger so students can see the number of sounds they are drilling.  

Minimal pairs – Working on minimal pairs (words with only one different phoneme) is a great way to reinforce differences between sounds. For example, the words car, tar and bar.

Mirrors – Using mirrors is always a great idea so students can see their mouth position while they try sounds. Alternatively, students can video themselves to see their mouth position and listen to their pronunciation.

Pronunciation games – There are many resources available that include pronunciation games. These are a great way for students to engage with pronunciation in a fun way and reinforce sounds they are learning.

Recording – Students can easily record themselves on a phone or other device and listen to see how their pronunciation is progressing. They can be surprisingly good at critiquing their own pronunciation.

Speaking activities – These can include discussions, conversation clubs, debates, and presentations.