can only say words in isolation but not in real speaking, their
skill is not very useful. Many learners can say a sound
perfectly in one word at a time, but they forget it entirely in
conversation. This is why we use communicative activities for
pronunciation practice—to help learners get ready to use
sounds in real conversation.
Here are some examples of communicative activities that can
be used to practice sounds if we “lace” them with words
containing those sounds:
Role plays and simulations: Give students a situation and
a list of suggested vocabulary words containing the sounds
you want to practice. Ask them to create and practice a
conversation to !t the situation. The activity can be based on
a handout with authentic or teacher-created materials, such
as a menu (for a conversation between a waiter and
customer), a web page showing items for sale (for a
conversation discussing which things to buy), advertisements
for movies, plays, or concerts (to discuss which one to go to),
or many other possibilities. If many of the names and words
on the handout contain the sound you’re practicing, students
will have to produce those during their role play.
Lists, ranking, and problem solving: Give students a
task involving listing (“If you were stranded alone on an
island, what ten items would you want to take?”), evaluating
and choosing (Read descriptions of three job applicants and
decide who should be hired), or ranking (Look at a list of 10
hobbies and arrange them in order of students’ preference).Writing stories: Give students a list of words containing
particular sounds and ask them to write sentences or a story
using some of them. It’s best if you give a context or purpose
for the story; writing random sentences without context is
less meaningful. Students can then practice reading their
story and share it with others in the class.Dialogs and drama: Have students create dialogs or short
skits using words with the chosen sound. Encourage them to
say the lines with feeling as they practice with a partner.
Then it’s only a short step to using drama—short skits or
impromptu role plays—that encourage students to use what
they’ve been practicing.Teaching with authentic materials
We can !nd plenty of materials for practicing pronunciation
in textbooks. However, we can also use authentic
materials as a basis for interesting and e"ective
pronunciation practice. Authentic materials are things that
were created for real-life purposes, not especially for
teaching, such as newspapers, magazines, TV or radio79