Reflective Online Teaching: Five Tips to Improve in a Pronunciation Class

Five Tips to Improve in a Pronunciation Class:

Tips for Students

As a pronunciation instructor at the university level, my Pronunciation I students got to ask me how they could improve their performance and speed up their learning. After some thought on this matter, I gave, and explained to, them five basic tips to help non-native speakers to achieve a “better” pronunciation and become “top” performers in class.

u> Practice in front of a mirror. Most pronunciation manuals have pictures that either illustrate or actually show the proper movement of the articulators (mouth, tongue, etc.). By practicing in front of a mirror, the student can double check if his/her mouth is in the right position to utter a given sound. S/he can be critical of him/herself during the exercise and self-assess how the sound being practiced is actually performed. And if possible, a peer can provide extra feedback to maximize this articulatory exercise.

N A good site to help students practice articulation exercises is The Sounds of American English by the University of Iowa.

v> Get acquainted with the symbols. It is quite common to have students asking you why they need to learn phonetic symbols. Their importance relies on the fact that the symbols can help them realize that either their pronunciation is not completely accurate or that they are using/substituting the correct sound in the target language. It is also important that students realize that understanding phonetic symbols will help them read dictionary transcriptions and understand how any word is pronounced. The phonemic transcription is the most authentic representation of sounds produced by native speakers we can have.

N A great site with IPA transcriptions and audio is Dictionary.Com. Students enter a word, and they get a definition and the pronunciation of the word.

w> Drill to make sounds mechanical. Drilling is a conscious pronunciation exercise in which we practice a given sound several times. We listen and repeat words containing the focus sound to force our brains to internalize it. The focus sound is part of a list of words, and some advanced students work with contrastive words to practice two different sounds. Drilling can be much effective if students record themselves to later listen to it critically to improve their sound production.

N A sample site that can help students work on drilling is ShiporSheep.Com. The sites contain ample practice with contrastive sounds.

x> Shadow the speaker. This is a simple technique which includes attentive listening when interacting in or listening to English. The student is simply meant to listen to the speaker and repeat the words s/he says. For instance, the student can start shadowing speakers in class by attentively paying attention to his/her instructors. Another way this can be done is with podcasts and their corresponding scripts. With this second alternative, the student can play the recording as many times as needed and can try to read along with the speaker. A third way of shadowing speakers is by watching TV (movies) with subtitles in English and pay attention to how speakers pronounce the words. All of these alternatives are quite good to improve student’s pronunciation skills.

N A popular site that I always recommend for my student is the one for VOA News, and their section for learning English. The student will find great podcasts and their scripts.

y> Expose your ears to English “input.” As a language learner myself, I still remember one of the best pieces of advice I was given by my professors at the university, “expose your ears to English.” The consequences are simple: the more exposure, the better for your ears. In other words, the student’s brain needs to be bombarded –as much as possible- with English to have it recognize and produce more accurately. The student must keep in mind that reading, listening, speaking, and writing in English will help him/her consolidate their learning. By learning more and more vocabulary, the chance for understanding more and pronouncing better increases exponentially. Encourage students to get a conversation partner to have him test his pronunciation, vocabulary, understanding, etc. The more you get to practice, the better for your ears, and brain, of course.

N A nice site to have students work on vocabulary is Learning Chocolate. There might be other platforms, but this one in particular provides the vocabulary and its pronunciation by illustrating each word with a picture.

ETo fully develop and comprehend this teaching issue, it’s advisable to research and expand these areas:

1	Phonetics for language learners
2	Phonetics vs. phonology
3	Useful sites for pronunciation learners
4	Reasons to have a conversation partners
5	Drilling for pronunciation