It is common for some English Learners to pronounce words so different from their generally accepted pronunciation that they will be misunderstood when they speak.
The issue can be greater than just speaking because English learners may write words based on their incorrect pronunciation. If they are students, this causes them to miss test questions because they write "rock" instead of "lock" or they write "lead" instead of "read". I have personally confirmed this phenomena with students during tutoring sessions.
This following link will present you with a well designed pronunciation guide that shows how English speakers should form the mouth, and provides a large list of words for each English sound. http://esl-online.net/probook1view.pdf
Read through the guide yourself and get familiar with it. Then come up with a plan on how to use it. I sit down with students, and based on how they have spoken, spot check various words throughout the guide.
You can get a feel for what the English learner needs in a relatively short period of time. The question of how long it takes to correct a pronunciation problem varies with the learner. Feel free to post a comment on your experiences.
(If for some reason the guide gets moved, search for it via Google or your favorite search engine.)
Thanks to Dr. Richard R. Lane, Phd (Lane Press) for making this guide freely available. Please read page 2 of the guide for copyright and address information.
Reflections on Bblep09
15 years ago
