good to get to know your students’ feelings about these
before you get in too deep. With any of these activities,
however, be sure to present them con!dently and explain
how they will help your students improve their
pronunciation. Most adults accept having fun for the sake of
learning, but if they don’t see the purpose of an activity, they
may feel that their time is being wasted.
What is the learners’ skill level?
Learners of all levels, from beginning to advanced, need
continued pronunciation practice. Sometimes teachers are
hesitant to teach pronunciation to beginning students for fear
that it will make them feel overwhelmed and discouraged.
However, beginning learners may be the ones who need
pronunciation teaching the most. If we can get beginners
started on the path toward clear, understandable
pronunciation and help them see that it’s important, they’ll
be more likely to develop good pronunciation as they
continue to learn. If we can prevent or at least limit the
fossilization of bad pronunciation habits, our students will
have an easier time being understood later.
On the other hand, more advanced learners need
pronunciation review and remediation too. Some students
with good $uency and a very strong knowledge of grammar
and vocabulary still have serious pronunciation problems that
interfere with intelligibility. It’s important to keep practicing
in appropriate ways that match these students’ abilities,
interests, and goals.Students’ skill level will also a"ect the choices we make when
writing or !nding language for practice materials. The words
and grammar used in minimal pairs, sentences, dialogs, and
activities must !t what the students have learned. Having
students repeat words and sentences that they don’t yet
understand is just an empty tongue exercise; it won’t seem
like real language. Students need to learn to use the words
and phrases they’re practicing in real communication, but if
they’re too far beyond their understanding, this is impossible.What language(s) do the learners speak?
A learner’s native language has a strong in$uence on how
he/she will learn pronunciation in a new language. (See
Chapter 1.) We can often predict the problems students will
have, particularly with individual sounds, if we know what
their !rst language is. It’s helpful to understand the sound
system of your student’s language or languages so you can
predict what aspects of English pronunciation are likely to
give them trouble. Summaries of “trouble sounds” for
speakers of some languages can be found in several books,
including Swan & Smith 2001, Avery & Ehrlich 1992, Lane
2010, and Kenworthy 1987.
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