Teaching PronunciationPronunciation involves far more than individual sounds. Word stress, sentence stress, intonation, and word linking all influence the sound of spoken English. English pronunciation involves too many complexities for learners to strive for a complete elimination of accent, but improving pronunciation will:boost self-esteem, facilitate communication, and possibly lead to a better job or a least more respect in the workplace. A students first language often interferes with English pronunciation. !ometimes the students will be able to identify specific problem sounds and sometimes they wont. Another challenge resulting from differences in the first language is the inability to hear certain English sounds that the native language does not contain. "or problems such as these, listening is crucial because students cant produce a sound they cant hear. Descriptions of the sound and mouth position can help students increase their awareness of subtle sound differences.#ere are some ideas for focusing on specific pronunciation features.oicing$oiced sounds will make the throat vibrate. "or example, !g! is a voiced sound while !k! is not, even though the mouth is in the same position for both sounds. #ave your students touch their throats while pronouncing voiced and voiceless sounds. %hey should feel vibration with the voiced sounds only. "spirationAspiration refers to a puff of air when a sound is produced. &any languages have far fewer aspirated sounds than English, and students may have trouble hearing the aspiration. %he English !p!, !t!, !k!, and !ch! are some of the more commonly aspirated sounds.%o illustrate aspiration:have your students hold up a piece of facial tissue a few inches away from their mouths and push it with a puff of air while pronouncing a word containing the target sound. #outh Position'raw simple diagrams of tongue and lip positions. &ake sure all students can clearly see your mouth while you model sounds. #ave students use a mirror to see their mouth, lips, and tongue while they imitate you. $ntonation(ord or sentence intonation can be mimicked with a ka)oo *mouth organ+, or alternatively by humming. %his will take the students attention off of the meaning of a word or sentence and help them focus on the intonation. %inking(e pronounce phrases and even whole sentences as one smooth sound instead of a series of separate words. (ill Amy go away, is rendered (illaymeegowaway. %o help learners link words, try starting at the end of a sentence and have them repeat a phrase, adding more of the sentence as they can master it. "or example, gowaway, then aymeegowaway, and finally (illaymeegowaway without any pauses between words. owel %ength,ou can demonstrate varying vowel lengths within a word by stretching rubber bands on the longer vowels and letting them contract on shorter ones. %hen let the students try it. "or example, the word fifteen would have the rubber band stretched for the ee vowel, but the word fifty would not have the band stretched because both of its vowels are spoken -uickly. &yllables#ave students count syllables in a word. .llustrate syllable stress by clapping softly and loudly."or example, the word 'beautiful' would be loud-soft-soft( Practice with short lists of words with the same syllabic stress pattern *beautiful, telephone, "lorida+ and then see if your learners can list other words with that pattern.&pecific &ounds #inimal pairs, or words such as bit/bat that differ by only one sound, are useful for helping students distinguish similar sounds.Tongue twisters are useful for practicing specific target sounds.Techni)uesExercise should be simple, accessible, fun and combine reception and production. !ome students do feel embarassed to pull ridiculuous faces when practising vowel sounds but this soon passes and students en0oy the pronunciation work. (here possible, exercises should be communicative.E*erciseAfter having taught or exposed the students to long and short vowels through listening and oral work, the teacher can check recognition, retention and ability to discriminate in the following way. %his could also be used simply for teaching. &tage +,%he teacher writes a variety of words containing the target sounds *long and short vowels+ on the board. %he following is 0ust one possible set. P12% P.% PA% PE2% PE% P1% P3%% P3% PA2% PEA% 45 6 78 9 :;