Pronunciation - Insights from a Speech Pathologist

Pronunciation is about sound. Pronunciation is also about movement. Sounds are made by moving speech muscles, and each speech sound has its own complex pattern of movement. Consider the “sh” sound: lips are round, sides of the tongue are ‘holding on’ to the sides of the top teeth, the tongue creates a central space for airflow, voice is turned ‘off’, and the jaw is almost closed. These movements are perfectly coordinated in sequence, timing, distance, and muscle strength. Teaching pronunciation means teaching this new movement pattern. Begin by helping your student hear, feel and see the sound using mirrors, pictures and lots of hearing practice if necessary. Once they ‘get it’, start practice.

Much like the repetitive, drill-like practice necessary for learning to play a new song on the piano, our speech muscles need repetitive, drill-like practice to make a new movement pattern, or speech sound. Really, we are talking about facilitating muscle memory rather that practicing language skills. Here are some basic principles that will get results:
 

• Drill, drill, drill. When practicing the target sound in isolation, practice in sets of 5 or 10. Saying a new sound 50-100 times per class is not unreasonable.
• Make it frequent. Practice for 10 minutes at a time at least twice a day.
• Go step-by-step. Begin with the target sound in isolation, then progress to words, short phrases, sentences, and structured conversation. This process helps students lean how to integrate the sound into their everyday lives.
• Practice only when your student can make the target sound correctly. Practicing a distorted sound only reinforces the incorrect movement pattern. 
• Make it fun. For example, a variation of “I Spy” (“I’m thinking of something that is…”) has students repeating the “th” sound multiple times in a single class.
• Integrate with language practice. For example, scripts for ordering in a restaurant can be easily adapted to contain multiple repetitions of the same target sound.

Our thanks to Adrienne Nobbe, M.H.Sc., Reg. CASPLO,  for contributing her insights into teaching pronunciation. You can contact Adrienne at AdrienneSLP@live.ca.