In ELT, it could be argued that the teaching of pronunciation should be a systematic presentation of the actual sounds and sound patterns of spoken English. In order to fit it into already crammed syllabi and lesson plans, it should be lexically based, using the most frequent words of English and integrated with the rest of the syllabus as a practical language-building skill, just like vocabulary and grammar. Teachers who wish to run courses with a complete pronunciation component may have to plan and implement it as a syllabus strand that supplements the materials that they already use, since many materials do not address pronunciation issues. Presented here is a set of activities that can be used for such purposes. A planned sequence of activities with instructions and reproducible sample materials are included to help teachers get started.
One way to generate a set of pronunciation points to teach on a course is to do a comparison and contrast of English with the L1 of the learners. For example, English /l/ and /r/ consonant sounds are considered pronunciation problems for many EFL learners from East Asia. Another approach is to consider the features of spoken English that are ‘marked’: that is, rather unique to English and demonstrably difficult for learners of various backgrounds to master on their own. For example, modern English’s sound system, despite the Latinate spelling system, is still very much a Germanic one, with a very large set of vowels and variable stress-based rhythm that interacts with it. The large vowel set and variable stress are often issues for EFL learners of various L1 backgrounds. Moreover, the sort of issues that stand out with one particular L1 group often actually overlap with the problematic marked features of English.
This article focuses on the English consonants /l/ and /r/ because many learners of many different backgrounds are affected, and the distinction between the two sets of sounds in English goes to the heart of a number of other pronunciation-related issues.
This activity is largely diagnostic and helps establish the need for pronunciation training among students, so they should not use their dictionaries. Students can work individually, in pairs or in small groups. The students name objects found in the classroom (with assistance from the teacher if students do not know the names in English) and write the English words for the objects on four distinct spaces on the blackboard: words containing /l/, words containing /r/, words containing both /l/ and /r/, and words containing neither /l/ nor /r/). For example:
The teacher can give the English names for things when students do not know them. The teacher may also have to correct the spellings and the location of the words on the blackboard. After enough objects have been named and their names written on the board in the correct places, say the words together out loud. For objects students had difficulty naming, the teacher can also point to or hold up the object.
Teach the English /l/ in isolation (not in contrast with English /r/). While it is conventional wisdom to teach that there are basically two variations of the English /l/, the reality of the spoken language and its lexicon is that there really are at least six types of /l/ sounds falling under the category of /l/. That is:
There is actually a seventh type, the –rl cluster in girl, whirl, world. However, this can be covered when English /l/ and /r/ are contrasted later. For an example as to how to present and practise the /l/ sounds, see Resources Online – the reproducible Worksheet A Words with /l/. Say the words out loud with the students. Then have them match the photos with their names, all of which happen to be /l/ words.
Figure 1: Worksheet A – Words with /l/
Teach the English /r/ in isolation (not in contrast with English /l/). In parallel to the variety of /l/ sounds, English also has quite analogous positional variants of /r/. Just as with /l/, the actual spoken language and the lexicon reveal that there really are at least six types of /r/ sounds falling under the category of /r/. That is:
One complication is that many accents of English are non-rhotic (e.g. most of England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa). That is, these accents do not say the /r/ sounds in the last two types (assimilated post-vocalic /r/ and unstressed syllabic /r/). However, most of these accents will then pronounce an initial /r/ at the onset of the following syllable or word if those would normally start with a vowel sound. Another way of understanding non-rhotic accents is that the post-vocalic /r/ sounds have been completely assimilated towards the preceding vowel sounds, and these vowel sounds glide towards a neutral position in the mouth instead of to an /r/ articulation.
In contrast, rhotic accents are quite prominent in most North American accents of English, southwest England, north Wales, Scotland and Ireland. For an example as to how to present and practise the /r/ sounds, see the reproducible Worksheet B Words with /r/ in Resources Online. Follow the same procedures as with Worksheet A.
Figure 2:. Worksheet B – Words with /r/
Next present and practise minimal pairs that juxtapose the various types of English /l/ sounds with the parallel /r/ ones. For an example, see Resources Online for Worksheet C. Say the Difference.
Figure 3: Worksheet C – Say the difference
After so much practice with the articulation of the /l/ and /r/ sounds, the final task is to train how to hear the differences. Despite all the variations within both the set of English /l/ sounds and of English /r/ sounds in terms of their articulations, there seems to be something about them that makes them categorically distinct in listening perception. So this task has been designed to see if the learners can hear the difference when the sounds are used in a meaningful utterance. For examples, see Resources Online for Worksheet D Hear the difference.
Figure 4: Worksheet D – Hear the difference
This article has attempted to show that pronunciation in ELT should be systematic, lexically based using the most frequent words of English whenever possible, and treated as a practical language-building skill analogous to vocabulary and grammar. Doing so, however, may require that teachers plan and implement it on their own as a supplement to the existing syllabi and materials. For example, how to train the problem sounds of English /l/ and /r/ has been presented here as a series of related activities. Example worksheets have been provided in Resources Online on page 4 to help teachers get started. Other areas of pronunciation can be similarly explored with such materials, including English /l/ versus English /n/, and the English trio of nasal consonants, especially after a vowel, such as in the words run, rum and rung. There is also the large and complex set of English vowels, including those in seat versus sit versus set; cat versus cot versus cut; and cot versus caught versus coat.
Admittedly, for the initial presentation, not all will so easily contextualise as English /l/ and /r/ did with the lexical set of classroom English and the names of objects in the classroom. Instead, they can be highlighted as important distinctions in short, realistic dialogues or listening passages. For example, see Worksheet E Dialogue in Resources Online. It could be used initially to establish a need to make clear distinctions between two sounds (in this case, in agreement with the other examples of this article, English /l/ and /r/). If not used at the beginning of an instructional sequence, it could be used as extra practice at the end. Learners first do the dialogue as a cloze listening while reading task and then practise it in pairs, taking turns at both speaker A and B.
Figure 5: Worksheet E – Dialogue
Charles Jannuzi has been teaching since 1987 and teaching English in Japan since 1989. He has taught EFL at all age levels but from 1992 mostly at the tertiary level. He has written over 60 articles on various topics in ELT. His main professional interest for the past 10 years has been materials development, including for online teaching and learning.
Charles Jannuzi, School of Global and Regional Studies, University of Fukui, Japan.