The best ways to help your students correct their pronunciation mistakes and why those mistakes are useful for you.
Everyone makes mistakes. They're impossible to avoid when trying to learn a second language.
Sound crazy?
Maybe. But it's important to find a way for your students to learn to recognize their own mistakes. If students are able to do this, they are aware of the correct way in which a word is pronounced, and with practice will become more accurate in their speech.
How can you facilitate self-correction? The first thing to do is to simply point out that an error has been made, without identifying what that error is.
For example, consider this hypothetical dialogue between a student and tutor:
At no point did the tutor specifically point out the error, nor did the tutor tell the student that the student had done something wrong. The tutor simply asked how the sentence could be made better then had the student practice recognizing the differences in sounds between two similar words.
This technique works especially well in groups since students may have an easier time hearing others' mistakes than their own, but it can easily be adapted for one-on-one tutoring sessions as well.
Having students self-correct their own mistakes (or others' mistakes, if working in groups) forces them to be responsible for thinking about linguistic accuracy instead of leaving it entirely to the tutor. Fault-finding is not the goal, teaching is. You can use this technique to train your students to distinguish pronunciation errors on their own and hear those subtle differences in similar sounding words.
And these exercises can be beneficial for you as well. As a tutor, you can use the mistakes you hear repeatedly to create a follow-up lesson on grammar or pronunciation that delves deeper into a concept your student is having trouble grasping.
Remember to introduce this exercise over time. Even though it's a fairly non-confrontational way to tackle difficult English pronunciation, students may get discouraged if they feel like they are being constantly corrected. Incorporating this exercise little by little when you happen to hear a pronunciation mistake will help your student get used to doing this more regularly both with you and on their own.
Cheers,
Catherine
ENGLISH AT LARGE
Literacy and Learning for Life
Join the conversation
Your students will undoubtedly make countless pronunciation errors that are difficult for them to hear themselves. But just because your ear is more sensitive to their mispronunciations, should you immediately point out every mistake you hear?
In fact, as a tutor you should be the last person to correct your students' mistakes.
Maybe. But it's important to find a way for your students to learn to recognize their own mistakes. If students are able to do this, they are aware of the correct way in which a word is pronounced, and with practice will become more accurate in their speech.
How can you facilitate self-correction? The first thing to do is to simply point out that an error has been made, without identifying what that error is.
For example, consider this hypothetical dialogue between a student and tutor:
Student: They "leave" in the country.
Tutor: How can we improve the pronunciation in this sentence?
Student: The live in the country.
Tutor: Good! In the city...
Student: They live in the city.
Tutor: What am I saying, #1 or #2? #1 is "leave," #2 is "live". Leave.
Student: Number one.
Tutor: Right! Live.
Student: Number two.
This technique works especially well in groups since students may have an easier time hearing others' mistakes than their own, but it can easily be adapted for one-on-one tutoring sessions as well.
Having students self-correct their own mistakes (or others' mistakes, if working in groups) forces them to be responsible for thinking about linguistic accuracy instead of leaving it entirely to the tutor. Fault-finding is not the goal, teaching is. You can use this technique to train your students to distinguish pronunciation errors on their own and hear those subtle differences in similar sounding words.
And these exercises can be beneficial for you as well. As a tutor, you can use the mistakes you hear repeatedly to create a follow-up lesson on grammar or pronunciation that delves deeper into a concept your student is having trouble grasping.
Remember to introduce this exercise over time. Even though it's a fairly non-confrontational way to tackle difficult English pronunciation, students may get discouraged if they feel like they are being constantly corrected. Incorporating this exercise little by little when you happen to hear a pronunciation mistake will help your student get used to doing this more regularly both with you and on their own.
Cheers,
Catherine
Catherine Sigmond
Project Assistant, English at Large
MA Candidate, Tufts University, Department of Education
ENGLISH AT LARGE
Literacy and Learning for Life
Join the conversation
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