How do you assess and give feedback on ESL pronunciation in a fan-n-pick activity?

I like to tell my students that understanding English pronunciation can make their life as English speakers a lot easier. Many grammar rules (and exceptions) rely on pronunciation needs. Understanding the basis of the phonems and how and when each sound is produced is quite important to better picture what a native perspective is like.

Pronunciation is rooted in your native language, affecting tongue placement, lip movement, and jaw tension. It's totally normal to feel awkward or silly ??. A common issue is replacing the 'V' sound since it might be rare in your language. Think of the 'V' sound like a phone on silent ?? that vibrates when you get a text or call. That vibration is just like the English 'V' sound!

When it comes to running an activity on pronunciation, I always start by explaining the difference between accent and pronunciation to my students. Many confuse the two, thinking that having an accent is as bad as pronouncing words incorrectly. In reality, it's okay to have an accent. We are all unique, and our accents add a certain flare, unless the accent is so strong that it prevents us from being understood. What the students really need to worry about is mispronouncing words, using incorrect stress, or delivering sentences with incorrect intonation, rather than worrying about their accent.

These are great ideas. I would suggest choosing just a few and introducing them carefully so that students don’t become confused. Use the same few techniques over several lessons , especially the ones students find fun or easy. Add new techniques into the mix gradually. Another suggestion: don’t force individual students to produce target language if they aren’t ready.

In a setting where certain members of the group dominate, dividing class into pairs or threesomes for peer-assessment proves helpful.

I particularly like the last one. Where pronunciation difficulties already exist, it can take time and regular practice to correct them.

I love having my students change groups at least three times during any activity. The first is to allow them to share all their prior knowledge and build their confidence, the second is to repeat with another group and trying new words. The third time, 100 percent of the time you see confident students who are able to share but also take risks.

Here are some examples for the types of cards you could have in a Fan and Pick on pronunciation are: ? IPA reading; ? minimal pairs; ? annotate for speech units/stress/intonation; ? change the stress, timing and or intonation to change the meaning; ? dictation; ? listen and spot the difference between two similar sounding sentences ? say/ask for xxx in a yyy situation (e.g. Say 'Good Morning' when arriving in staffroom vs on stage) (This is such a specific prompt by the Linkedin ai. Why Fan & Pick? The above suggestions could be presented through any number of activities!)

You can also leverage AI to assess and give feedback on pronunciation. For example, Elsa app would work for this task. However, I’d still monitor it for errors and inaccuracies and use the extended package that offers the most app features.

Consider that pronunciation is first rooted in the native language of the speaker and that language can deal with different tongue placement, lip movement, and even the tightening of the jaw. Tell the students involved that it is all right to feel awkward or silly. A common issue I have noticed for some students is the sound maybe by the letter 'V' might be replaced with another as it may be uncommon in their native tongue. Associate the sound with a modern device, like a phone on silent that is receiving a text or call; the device will vibrate and generate a sound similar to 'V' in English.