Patricia Pashby, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA

Many ESL instructors lack confidence when it comes to teaching pronunciation and thus don’t take advantage of opportunities for addressing their students’ intelligibility needs in a systematic and comprehensive way. An oral skills or integrated skills course can be strengthened by a solid pronunciation component; often, however, pronunciation points are introduced haphazardly and with overreliance on intuitive-imitative techniques (Celce-Murcia et al., 2010). This certainly described me. I struggled in a phonology course in graduate school (I could not “hear” stress) and later as an ESL teacher provided little, if any, rigorous pronunciation instruction.

All of this changed the term I was assigned a low-intermediate oral skills course with required textbooks. These included Phrase by Phrase: Pronunciation and Listening in English by Marsha Chan (1987). I panicked when I realized this book focused on the prosodic features I’d struggled (and failed) to “get” as a student. Luckily, the pressure of having to teach this material—along with the book’s clear presentations and exercises–resulted in my finally understanding how pronunciation could be explicitly taught. It also sparked a love for exploring and teaching English phonology that increases every year.

I strongly believe teachers can learn much from a well-written student textbook. There is no doubt any of the popular pronunciation texts available can serve this purpose well. However, the two books I will highlight in this article are those my students in a language teaching MA program have been particularly drawn to in recent years when tasked with analyzing texts in the Teaching English Pronunciation course. These preservice teachers evaluate a selection of pronunciation texts, old and new, using a set of criteria based on key content in Celce-Murcia et al. (2010):

1. Does the text focus more on segmental or suprasegmental features?
2. Which five phases of the communicative framework (description and analysis, listening discrimination, controlled practice, guided practice, communicative practice) are covered?
3. What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of this text?

Their responses to these questions are overwhelmingly positive for two texts: Focus on Pronunciation 3 (Lane, 2012) and Well Said (Grant, 2016). Not surprisingly, both texts have been extremely popular for years, the former now in its third edition and the latter in its fourth. Following, I provide a brief overview of each text, organized around the first two preceding questions. Please note that although these texts are designed for high-intermediate/advanced proficiency levels, each is part of a series which offers an almost identical volume (written by the same author) at a lower proficiency level.

1. Does the Text Focus More on Segmental or Suprasegmental Features?

Pronunciation instruction usually addresses both segmentals (vowel and consonant sounds) and prosodic elements, sometimes referred to as suprasegmentals (stress, rhythm, intonation, etc.). Which aspects are taught will depend on the needs of students; however, a textbook which provides ample materials for both segmental and suprasegmental features will assure instructors they have “all bases covered.”

Both Focus on Pronunciation 3 and Well Said cover an impressive number of pronunciation features, balanced between segmentals and suprasegmentals. Interestingly, the overall organization and sequencing of these elements vary distinctly between the two books.

Focus on Pronunciation is composed of 10 units on vowels (one overview unit of all vowels followed by units on various pairs or groups of related vowels), 16 units on consonants (one overview unit followed by units featuring groups of similar consonants), and 23 units on suprasegmental features.These include five units on syllables and word stress, 12 units on rhythm, and six on intonation. Though easily accessible, this organization requires the teacher to make decisions about which units to cover and in what order. It would be highly unusual (and not recommended) to teach this book from beginning to end. One could imagine teaching the overview unit on vowels, the overview unit on consonants, and then, based on student needs, selecting a few more units from these segmental sections for classroom practice and/or assigning specific units for independent practice. The suprasegmental units could be taught in the order presented or selected according to need.

Well Said is organized quite differently. The first chapter offers multiple tools for diagnosing a student’s pronunciation. Chapter 2 introduces “sounds and syllables.” Chapter 3 covers voiced and voiceless consonants and Chapter 4 grammatical endings. Next come two chapters on word stress, a chapter on sentence rhythm, three chapters on thought groups and intonation, and two chapters on connected speech (linking and consonant clusters). At the end of the book are five chapters on vowels (one overview and four on commonly taught pairs) and six chapters on consonants (one overview and five on commonly taught pairs). One could imagine teaching all of these chapters in sequence. In fact, a particular strength of the book is the recycling of features throughout. That said, it is also possible to teach selected chapters out of order as needed.

2. Which Five Phases of the Communicative Framework Are Covered?

In Teaching Pronunciation: A Course Book and Reference Guide, Celce-Murcia et al. (2010) introduce a five-phase approach to applying a communicative approach to pronunciation instruction:

1. description and analysis,
2. listening discrimination,
3. controlled practice,
4. guided practice, and
5. communicative practice.

Pronunciation texts that lack any of these phases will require content/activity development by the teacher. Although confident teachers may enjoy such a challenge, those in the process of developing pronunciation skills will benefit from using texts containing materials for all five phases. Both Focus on Pronunciation 3 and Well Said include all five for every pronunciation topic introduced.

Focus on Pronunciation 3 begins each unit with excellent descriptions and analysis featuring detailed examples and diagrams. This is followed by a series of listening discrimination and “listen and repeat” exercises, which contain an interesting variety of vocabulary. At the end of each unit are opportunities for students to engage in a guided practice activity and/or discussion with a partner. Each unit also includes suggested recording activities for homework (one controlled, one communicative). Topics for the pair and recording activities are varied and engaging. The design of this text lends itself for use in both classroom instruction and independent study.

Well Said provides clear description of each pronunciation lesson featuring accessible language samples, explanations, and helpful figures and drawings. These are followed by listening discrimination exercises. Opportunities for controlled practice are present in each unit but could be easily increased by having students produce the language in the listening activities. A variety of guided and communicative activities are also included in each unit: Pairs share information with one another and/or individuals prepare longer presentations on a variety of engaging topics. Each unit also has a suggested recording assignment. Many of the exercises are flexible enough to be used either in the classroom or for follow-up homework. The progression and variety of activities within each unit make this book an excellent classroom choice. Students are also impressed with the colorful, appealing visuals throughout this fourth edition.

Extras

Audio to accompany listening exercises in a pronunciation text is useful for student independent practice as well as for teachers who are uncomfortable using their own pronunciation as a model for exercises. Classroom audio CDs are available for Focus on Pronunciation 3. The fourth edition of Well Said has an online companion site (accessible by code) with classroom audio, additional activities, and a teacher’s manual.

Additional Resources for Pronunciation Teaching

In addition to adopting a good pronunciation textbook for a course, I also encourage exploring the many books and websites available for developing and polishing pronunciation teaching skills. A current favorite is Yoshida’s (2016) Beyond Repeat After Me, whichprovides clear introductions to key features of English pronunciation along with creative ideas for teaching tools and activities. Also excellent is the Color Vowel Chart and the accompanying materials and training opportunities. These present not only a clever and effective approach to teaching the English vowel system but also some essential elements of prosody.

My hope is that through using one or more of the materials described in this article, those who currently feel uneasy about teaching pronunciation will find courage to introduce regular and robust pronunciation instruction into their courses. And from that experience a confidence, perhaps even a passion, will take hold, bringing much success and satisfaction to teacher and students.

References

Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D., Goodwin, J., & Griner, B. (2010). Teaching pronunciation: A course book and reference guide (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Chan, M. (1987). Phrase by phrase: Pronunciation and listening in American English. Prentice Hall.

Grant, L. (2016). Well said: Pronunciation for clear communication. Cengage.

Lane, L. (2012). Focus on pronunciation 3. Pearson.

Yoshida, M. (2016). Beyond repeat after me: Teaching pronunciation to English learners. TESOL Press.