- Make sure students hear the word in the context of whole
sentences, not only by itself. Give them chances to get
used to hearing reduced forms and linked pronunciations.
Hearing words in their “natural habitat” will also help
give students a deeper understanding of their meaning
and use. - Review the pronunciation of new words often when you
come across them in reading, listening, or other
activities. Don’t assume that hearing a new word once is
enough to give students a clear memory of how it sounds.
On a chart or a corner of the whiteboard or blackboard,
keep a list of words whose pronunciation the class has
been practicing and review them often. The more often
students hear and say the pronunciation, the more likely
they’ll be to remember and produce it accurately.
When teaching reading: When we think of practicing
pronunciation during a reading lesson, the !rst method that
comes to mind is undoubtedly reading aloud. It seems like a
natural combination—students read a passage aloud, paying
attention to how they pronounce words. Many teachers do
“round robin reading” or “popcorn reading” in which
the teacher calls on students, in seating order or at random,
to take turns reading aloud from the textbook. Although this
is a common classroom activity, it’s often not e"ective for
improving either reading skill or pronunciation. (Wilson
2010, Redpath 2011) Reading aloud requires students to
think about many things simultaneously—decoding written
symbols, pronouncing words, and understanding the meaning
of the text. This is too much for learners to process all at
once. In addition, if only one person is reading, we wonder
what the rest of the class is doing. Too often they’re
daydreaming or looking ahead to see what they’ll have to
read when their turn comes.If you want to use reading aloud for pronunciation practice,
here are some suggestions to make it more successful:- Be sure the students understand the vocabulary and
meaning of the passage before they have to read it aloud.
Reading a passage “cold” is not e"ective pronunciation
practice. - Make sure the di#culty level of the reading is well
within the students’ reach. To make practice meaningful,
students should read familiar material that they don’t
have to struggle with. - Keep the reading short—two or three sentences at most.
It’s better to read a short passage several times than a
long passage just once. (Redpath 2011)
Here are other ways to practice pronunciation during a
reading lesson:
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