Sounds of OUGH

I was recently asked if I knew of any rules that govern the differing pronunciations of ough. This letter combination can prove to be very tricky. First of all, it may be helpful to consider the combination gh.

GH can do three things:

1) When gh comes at the beginning of a word, it has the sound /g/ (e.g., ghost).
2) When gh comes at the end of a word, it sometimes has the sound /f/ (e.g., laugh).
3) When the vowel i comes before gh, the i is long, and the gh is silent (e.g., high; night). This is the case for most gh words.

But what about the ough combination? 

Teaching Students How to Self-Monitor to Improve Pronunciation

Developing the skill of self-monitoring plays an important role in English Language Learners’ abilities to improve their pronunciation. As students practice a particular pronunciation skill, you can choose applicable questions or prompts to teach your students to self-monitor. With consistent, guided, and explicit instruction and practice, students will learn to self-monitor on their own.

There are three different approaches to asking self-monitoring questions or prompts. Each approach can
be used alternately or simultaneously on any particular occasion that self-monitoring instruction is being
given. A description of each approach is as follows:

     1) Self-monitoring prompts based on one’s pronunciation of sounds already learned.
     2) Self-monitoring prompts based on one’s realization of sounds not learned.
     3) Self-monitoring prompts based on phonetic self-awareness: noticing gaps between what one wants
         to say and what one can say.

Examples of prompts for each category are provided below. Choose any combination of the questions/
prompts, or create your own to fit the unique needs of your students. The format in which you provide
guided self-monitoring instruction is up to you. You can ask the questions in a teacher-fronted manner, or
you can create a worksheet with a list of questions for the students to respond to, either in a check-box
format or in an open-ended format, depending on your students’ needs and abilities.

I. Self-monitoring prompts based on one’s pronunciation of sounds already learned:
On the syllable or word level, did I say the following sounds/words correctly? (Circle “Yes” or “No.”)

     Vowel                        Yes   No
     Consonant                  Yes   No
     Blend                          Yes    No
     Voiced sound              Yes    No
     Voiceless sound          Yes    No
     Plural sound                Yes    No
     Suffix                          Yes    No
     Sound of y                  Yes    No
     Sound of -le                Yes   No
     Murmur diphthong       Yes    No
     Digraph                       Yes    No
     Digraph blend              Yes    No
     Special Vowel Sound  Yes    No
     Sight Word                  Yes    No

On the Journey to Read

As I've mentioned in a previous post, I have the privilege of working with a gentleman in his sixties who has never learned how to read. As you can imagine, his illiteracy has affected his ability to find and keep a job, which has become quite a discouraging problem for him. There aren't a lot of jobs out there that don't require at least a minimal level of reading ability. And when you can't read AT ALL, which is this gentleman's case, your ability to compete for jobs that are available is definitely compromised.

Yesterday I worked with this gentleman for two hours on just five letters of the alphabet. I admit that I thought we would get through more content than we did. But that is where he's at right now, and he's comfortable with that. He was soaking it in. We practiced the names and sounds of the letters, practiced the concept of the slide, and began to sound out three-letter words. We would exchange high-fives to celebrate his successes, and we discussed vocabulary meaning and real-life application with each word as we went along. He is definitely motivated to learn, and he's already talking about what he will be able to do in another couple months after getting some more reading skills down. But I recognize that consistency and self-motivation will be a key to his success. He's committed himself to review and practice on his own at home (he offered to do that before I even had a chance to make that suggestion), and he will continue to do some independent work on the Reading Horizons software program to supplement our one-on-one instruction time.

As I think about the beginning of his journey to learn how to read--something he has never been able to do up to this point in his life--I think about some things I need to keep in mind as I continue to work with him that hopefully could be relevant to you in your particular educational and life-learning contexts. I'm sure you have your own list of ideas, as well, so feel free to share them.

Adult Education and Family Literacy Week 2011: Teaching Struggling Readers

This week, once again, commemorates Adult Education and Family Literacy Week. A year ago, I wrote a blog post sharing a few ideas about how to get involved in literacy efforts to commemorate this event.  As a recap, some of my ideas included the following:

• Check out volunteer tutoring opportunities in your local community. 
• Learn how to teach someone to read. A helpful, free resource is found at http://www.phonicstraining.com/.
• Join a book club or an online book-sharing group, such as goodreads, which allows you to see what your friends have read, keep track of what you've read and what you'd like to read, and get ideas for additional books to read.
• Read a little more for pleasure. We often take the fact that we can read for granted.
• Write in a diary or journal.
• Consider how your ability to read and write affects your life. Consider the privilege it is to be literate. I've documented some of my thoughts in the previous blog posts "Lessons Learned from Life" and "The Value of Literacy."

(For additional ideas about ways to promote literacy, visit my blog post "Adult Education and Family Literacy Week 2010".)

Reviewing these lists of ways to get involved in literacy efforts again, one year after I wrote this blog post, I am prompted to recall my personal efforts to promote literacy. Something I recently engaged in (as recently as today, in fact) includes teaching someone how to read.

ESL Teaching Tip: Syllable Division in Multi-Syllable Words

In a previous blog post, I shared the five phonetic skills--strategies for determining if a vowel is long or short in a single-syllable word. What about multi-syllabic words? Where do you split the syllable in multi-syllabic words? Here are two simple decoding skills that you can use to teach students where to break syllables. Then apply the five phonetic skills to determine if the vowel is long or short in each syllable. Using the two decoding skills and five phonetic skills in combination can help students with proper pronunciation of multi-syllabic words.

Decoding Skill 1: Look for how many consonants immediately follow a vowel. If there is one consonant following the vowel, that consonant will go on to the next syllable. (Note that blends, digraphs, etc. will stay together and move together within syllables.)

     mo-tel     pro-duce

Decoding Skill 2: If there are two consonants immediately following the vowel, divide between the two consonants. The first consonant will stay in the first syllable, and the second consonant will move on to the next syllable.

     cam-pus     sub-ject

Then apply the five phonetic skills to determine if a vowel is long or short on the syllable level: 

ESL Pronunciation Tip: Recognizing and Pronouncing Voiced and Voiceless Sounds

The last two teaching tips I posted referred to recognizing voiced and voiceless sounds to predict ending sounds (plurals and the suffix -ed). If your student needs help learning to recognize voiced and voiceless sounds, you may find the following lesson helpful.

Recognize Voiced and Voiceless Sounds

Why:
• Knowing if a sound is voiced or voiceless will help you pronounce certain sounds better, such as plurals, possessive s, and -ed endings.

How:
• Put your fingers on your throat. Say these vowel sounds: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/. Do you feel your throat vibrate when you say these sounds? That is voicing. All vowels are voiced.
• Put your fingers on your throat. Say these consonant sounds: /p/, /f/, /t/, /s/. You do not feel your throat vibrate when you say these sounds. These consonants are voiceless.
• Put your fingers on your throat. Say these consonant sounds: /b/, /v/, /d/, /z/. You feel your throat vibrate when you say these sounds. These consonants are voiced.
• Put your fingers on your throat. Say these consonant sounds: /p/, /b/, /f/, /v/, /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/. Compare the voiceless sounds and voiced sounds.

Apply:
• Below is the alphabet. Say each sound. Which sounds are voiceless? Which sounds are voiced? Write the sounds that are voiceless in the left column. Write the sounds that are voiced in the right column.

          a     b     c     d      e     f     g      h     i     j     k     l     m
          n     o     p     q     r      s     t    u      v      w      x     y      z

                                  Voiceless                                            Voiced 



 

Evaluate:
• Can you hear the difference between voiced and voiceless sounds? Which ones are difficult for you to distinguish between?


For additional ESL teaching tips:

Click here to read about the pronunciation of -ed.

Click here to read about pronouncing plurals.

Click here to read about rising and falling intonation in questions.

Click here to read about syllable stress and the schwa.
Click here to read about adding the suffixes -ing, -ed, -er, and -est.
Click here to read about teaching common suffixes. 
Click here to read about teaching common prefixes. 
Click here to read about decoding multi-syllabic words. 
Click here to read about spelling words that end in S, F, and Z.
Click here to read about other sounds for c and g.

Online ELL Pronunciation Tool

I was just made aware of a new link that was recently made available that offers a free ELL pronunciation resource. It shows an animated flash video of how to pronounce the sounds of English. It also shows a video of the front view of a human mouth pronouncing each sound. Students can record themselves saying the sound, and then compare their pronunciation to the native English speaker's. The link also includes an animation of correct letter formation for the alphabet letters. It's a great resource to use for focused practice of the segmentals (sounds) of English. This tool is especially helpful for English Language Learners. The pronunciation tool is available here on software format, or in mobile app form here. It's a great pronunciation resource that benefits both students and teachers.

ESOL Teacher Resources - Minimal Pairs for ESOL Students' Pronunciation (Part 3)

In Part 1 of this series of posts on Minimal Pairs, I shared minimal pairs exercises that practice consonant sounds in English. In Part 2 of this series, I shared minimal pairs exercises that practice vowel sounds in English. In this post, Part 3, I will share more minimal pairs exercises that can be used to practice murmur diphthongs and special vowel sounds.

Contrast the following sounds:

long and short vowels with r-controlled vowels	/ar/ with /er/	/or/ with /er/	/oo/ (as in “look”) with /oo/ (as in “zoo”)	Special vowel sounds
had hard lad lard bid bird fist first fen fern pet pert am arm ham harm con corn sot sort hut hurt cussed cursed cub curb luck lurk gill girl gem germ cave carve stoke stork	far fur shark shirk star stir hard heard barn burn heart hurt cart Kurt dart dirt farm firm park perk	for fur store stir born burn short shirt form firm warm worm torn turn bored bird court Kurt pork perk	full fool pull pool skull school look Luke soot suit wood wooed could cooed hood who’d should shooed	crone crown sit sight fool foul crowed crowd calf cough boot bout hack hawk frock frog stack stalk hat halt suck sulk nuke nook wooed would  soul soil tack talk laughed loft

Note: Information adapted from the Decoding Strategies for Literacy Development manual published by Reading Horizons.

ESOL Teacher Resources - Minimal Pairs for ESOL Students' Pronunciation (Part 2)

In a previous post, I shared examples of minimal pairs that can be used to help students practice consonant sounds in English. In this post, I am sharing minimal pairs that can be used to practice vowel sounds in English. (See also Part 3 for minimal pairs practice with murmur diphthongs and special vowels sounds.) 

                           Contrast the Following Sounds:

/ă/ and /ĕ/	/ŭ/ and /ŏ/	/ĕ/ and /ā/	/ĭ/ and /ĕ/
bag beg tan ten fan fen pat pet bat bet sat set ham hem rad red pan pen mat met and end man men sad said gas guess had head	hut hot sup sop gut got nut not mud mod sub sob rub rob cup cop cub cob cut cot dug dog hug hog jug job pup pop bus boss miss mess bucks box duck dock bum bomb but bought putt pot	bet bait gel jail let late pen pain pest paste sent saint shed shade test taste west waist wet wait fell fail let late get gate sell sale tell tale fed fade wed wade less lace shell shale chess chase	bit bet him hem lid led pig peg sit set tint tent will well miss mess lift left gym gem spill spell knit net chick check did dead bid bed big beg hid head pit pet
/ē/ and /ĭ/	/ŏ/ and /ar/
teen tin heap hip heel hill peel pill eel ill deep dip green grin greet grit sleep slip meet mitt sheen shin sheep ship cheap chip sleeper slipper wheat whit deeper dipper	jaw jar dock dark lock lark mock mark pock park shock shark box barks hawk hark knock nark laws Lars hot heart cot cart clock Clark

Note: Information adapted from the Decoding Strategies for Literacy Development manual published by Reading Horizons.

ESOL Teacher Resources - Minimal Pairs for ESOL Students' Pronunciation (Part 1)

Minimal pairs are two words that are similar in sound but have one phonemic difference between them. Minimal Pairs exercises are used to help students practice and improve their pronunciation of distinct sounds in English. Because some English phonemes are difficult to hear and pronounce, minimal pairs exercises can be used to provide extra practice with particularly difficult phonemes. This practice is helpful for ESOL students because they are able to concentrate their pronunciation efforts on areas of difficulty.

There are different ways that minimal pairs exercises may be used. Teachers may choose to review minimal pairs with their students as a whole class. Other teachers may choose to have their students work with a partner and “quiz” each other by having one student read one of the words in the minimal pair and having the partner point to the word that he/she hears pronounced. Caution should be taken, however, to ensure that students are not required to decode words that are beyond their skill level. Therefore, it may be best to use Minimal Pairs exercises initially in a teacher-guided format where you, the teacher, read the words on the list aloud and your students listen for the differences. You can also use these lists as a guide to create Minimal Pairs exercises that contain words your students can decode.

If you would like to use the Minimal Pairs exercises as a vocabulary development exercise simultaneously, you can create pictures that represent the words in each Minimal Pair to teach or reinforce the meaning of vocabulary while practicing the pronunciation of the words. Students can also put words in meaningful context sentences.

Following are a few example lists of minimal pairs. (See also Part 2 for minimal pairs practice with vowel sounds in English, and Part 3 for minimal pairs practice with murmur diphthongs and special vowel sounds.)

Contrast the following sounds:

/b/ and /d/	/b/ and /p/	/p/ and /f/	/t/ and /d/	/l/ and /r/	/g/ and /k/	/y/ and/j/
bad dad bean dean bark dark bib bid beep deep bunk- dunk big dig bump- dump cub cud robe road rib rid brag drag sob sod brain- drain web wed bribe bride bait date stub stud bay day buck duck	rib rip mob mop gab gap lab lap big pig bet pet sub sup but putt	pan fan past fast pat fat paint- faint pig fig gulp gulf beep beef cheap- chief leap leaf cop cough pace face copy coffee pact fact pale fail pile file	bat bad ate aid fat fad fate fade hat had set said pat pad knot nod pot pod hurt- heard ten den heart- hard tip dip tent dent coat code	lock rock liver- river lake rake light- right fly fry blue brew glass- grass flea free flute fruit long- wrong	got cot clog clock grab crab tugged- tucked glad clad ghost coast bag back gripped- crypt bug buck grew crew lag lack haggle hackle peg peck rig rick tug tuck	yam jam yard- jarred yet jet use juice year jeer yacht jot yoke joke yak Jack yes Jess yell gel

/sh/ and/ch/	/s/ and /sh/	/b/ and /v/	/r/ and /w/	/v/ and /w/	/v/ and /f/	/s/ and /th/
bash batch she’s cheese hash hatch hush hutch lash latch mash- match marsh- march mush much	mass mash crust- crushed sake shake fist fished same- shame rust rushed save shave sack shack seat sheet cell shell sip ship sock shock plus plush said shed self shelf sigh shy sell shell	base- vase bend- vend bent- vent best vest boat vote bail veil bow vow berry- very	ray way crest- quest rent- went raise- ways rate wait rich- witch rave- wave rail wail raid- wade rage- wage rest west raced- waist	vet wet vow wow vest west viper- wiper vent went vary- wary vend- wend vine wine Vic wick verse- worse	vat fat have- half vast fast view few vest fest veil fail save safe vine fine veal feel leave- leaf strive- strife lived lift	mass- math tense- tenth moss moth force forth pass path sigh thigh seam- theme gross- growth sin thin mouse- mouth face faith saw thaw sank thank worse- worth sink think some- thumb sick thick

Note: Information adapted from the Decoding Strategies for Literacy Development manual published by Reading Horizons.

Decoding Strategies for ESL Students: Is the Vowel Long or Short?

How do you know if a vowel in English is long or short? Here are five simple decoding strategies for ESL students. Although these reading strategies apply to only one-syllable words, these strategies can be applied on the syllable-level in multi-syllabic words. (See my blog post on decoding multi-syllabic words here.)

1) If there is one consonant after the vowel, the vowel will be short. (Examples: an, pet, big, hot, cup)

2) If two consonants follow the vowel, the vowel will be short. (Examples: ant, rent, mist, cost, crust)

3) If the vowel stands alone, the vowel is long. (Examples: me, hi, go)

4) If an E is at the end of the word and it is preceded by another vowel, the E at the end of the word is silent and the first vowel is long. Silent E makes the first vowel long. (Examples: name, Pete, fine, home, cute or dune)

5) If two vowels are adjacent (next to each other), the second vowel is silent, making the first vowel long. (Examples: main, dream, lied, road, fruit)

NOTE: It is important to clarify that the terms "long" vowel and "short" vowel do not indicte the length of the vowel, but rather the sound of the vowel. In linguistic contexts, the terms "long" and "short" are referred to as "tense" and "lax" vowels, respectively. Clarify this point to your ESOL students as you deem necessary.

Ideas are taken from the Reading Horizons methodology and are used with permission.

For more spelling tips, visit the Online ESL Workshop at ReadingHorizons.com.

For a free resource that shows how to produce vowel sounds, visit my post entitled "Free Online Pronunciation Tool".

Potential Pronunciation Problems for ESOL Students (Part 2)

In my last post, I shared potential pronunciation problems for students learning to acquire the sounds of the English alphabet. But what about the other sounds of the English language? This post attempts to serve as "Part 2" to the last post to explain potential pronunciation problems for the remaining of the 42 sounds of the English language.

MURMUR DIPHTHONGS

/ar/ (as in star)

Because this sound does not exist in most languages, this sound may be difficult to produce. Remind students to curl the tip of their tongue after making the short o sound.

/or/ (as in storm)

Because this sound does not exist in most languages, this sound may be difficult to produce. Remind students to curl the tip of their tongue after making the long o sound.

/er/ (as in her, first, and turn)

Because this sound does not exist in most languages, this sound may be difficult to produce. When /er/ is at the end of a word, students often substitute short o or short u for /er/ (i.e under--undah, sooner--soonah).

DIGRAPHS

/ch/ (as in chair)

The sound /ch/ is a combination of the sounds t and sh. Sometimes students confuse the sound /ch/ with /sh/ (i.e. chair--share; which--wish). When producing the /ch/ sound, the tongue should be in the same place as when making the /t/ sound.

/sh/ (as in share)

Sometimes the /sh/ sound is confused with the sounds /ch/ and /s/ (i.e. shoe--chew; she--see). It might be helpful to round the lips when producing the /sh/ sound.

/wh/

The sound /wh/ is a sound that the English language is losing. Often times the /wh/ sound is produced the same as /w/ (i.e. whine--wine).

/th/, voiced (as in the)

The sound /th/ does not exist in most languages. Because of its unfamiliar sound, students may substitute the /th/ (voiced) sound with more familiar sounds, such as /d/, /z/, or /j/ (i.e. they--day; then--zen; those--Joe’s). Students should concentrate on putting their tongue between their teeth and keeping the air stream continuous. Also, they should vibrate their vocal cords, or /th/ (voiced) will sound like /th/ (voiceless).

/th/, voiceless (as in think)

The sound /th/ does not exist in most languages. Because of its unfamiliar sound, students may substitute the /th/ (voiceless) sound with more familiar sounds, such as /s/, /sh/, /f/, or /t/ (i.e. thank--sank; thin--shin; Ruth--roof; path--pat). Students should concentrate on putting their tongue between their teeth and keeping the air stream continuous.

SPECIAL VOWEL SOUNDS

/au/ and /aw/ (as in Paul, saw)

Confusing English spelling patterns and the pronunciation of different dialects may cause difficulty in correctly producing this sound.

/ou/ and /ow/ (as in out, how)

The sounds /ou/ and /ow/ are a combination of two vowel sounds. Students may produce the sound of short o if they forget to glide from a wide-open mouth position to a closed one (i.e. pound--pond).

/oi/ and /oy/ (as in oil, boy)

The sounds /oi/ and /oy/ are a combination of two vowel sounds. This sound is relatively easy for students to pronounce.

/oo/ (as in too)

Students may confuse the sound of /

/oo/ (as in look)

Students may confuse the sound of /oo/ for the more familiar sound of long u (i.e. full--fool).

EXTRA SOUNDS

/ng/ (as in sing)

This is an unfamiliar sound to many non-native English speakers. For this reason, it may be difficult to pronounce at the end of words. Also, some students may substitute the /ng/ sound with the more familiar /n/ sound (i.e. sang--sane). Remind students to raise the back of the tongue, NOT the tip, to accurately pronounce the sound /ng/.

/zh/ (as in vision)

Sometimes the /zh/ sound is confused with the sounds /sh/ and /j/ (i.e. vision--vishion; lesion--legion). If the vocal cords are not vibrating, the sound will be /sh/ instead of /zh/.

Information adapted from Decoding Strategies for Literacy Development published by Reading Horizons.

Some information adapted from: Dale, P. and Poms, L. (1999). English Pronunciation for International Students. Prentice Hall Regents: USA.

English Language Lessons: ESOL Students' Pronunciation Problems of the English Alphabet

Many non-native English speakers experience great difficulty in mastering the sounds of the English language. What are potential pronunciation problems that ESOL students face when acquiring the sounds of the English alphabet? (See also Part 2 of this post here.)

/a/ (as in at)

The short a sound may be difficult to hear and pronounce since it does not exist in some languages.

/a/ (as in ate)

Students may confuse the sound of long a with the sound of /e/ as in Ed (i.e. late--let; paper--pepper).

/b/

When /b/ is the last sound of a word, students sometimes forget to vibrate their vocal cords, causing the voiced /b/ to sound like the voiceless /p/ (i.e. cub--cup).

/c/ (as in cat)

It may need to be explained to students that when the sound /k/ is the beginning sound of a word, it is said with strong aspiration and a puff of air.

/d/

When /d/ is the last sound in a word, some students forget to vibrate their vocal cords, causing the /d/ to sound like the voiceless /t/ (i.e. bad--bat).

/e/ (as in Ed)

It may be difficult for some students to hear and pronounce the difference between the sounds of short e and short a (i.e. met--mat).

/e/ (as in eat)

Confusing English spellings cause pronunciation problems. Also, students may substitute the long e sound with the short i sound (i.e. eat--it).

/f/

Some students may keep their lips apart and instead produce a sound like /h/ (i.e. fat--hat). Or, students may completely close their lips and produce the sound /p/ (i.e. cuff--cup).

/g/

When /g/ is the last sound of a word, some students forget to vibrate their vocal cords, causing the /g/ to sound like the voiceless /k/ sound (i.e. rag--rack).

/h/

Some students may substitute /h/ with /f/ or /sh/ before the vowels u and i

(i.e. hit--fit; hut--shut).

/i/ (as in it)

The sound /i/ may be difficult to hear and pronounce since it does not exist in some languages. The more familiar sound of long e is often substituted (i.e. hit--heat).

/i/ (as in my)

The long i sound is generally easy for students to produce; however, irregular spelling patterns may confuse students about how to correctly pronounce words containing this sound.

/j/

Difficulty differentiating between the sound /j/ and other similar sounds might result in substituting /j/ with /y/, /zh/, /sh/, or /ch/ (i.e. jello--yellow; pledger--pleasure; gin--shin; badge--batch). Also, English spelling patterns can be confusing.

/k/

It may need to be explained to students that when /k/ is the beginning sound of a word, it is said with strong aspiration and a puff of air.

/l/

The sounds /l/ and /r/ do not exist in many languages. Oftentimes these two sounds are confused (i.e. flight--fright; late--rate).

/m/

Pronouncing /m/ at the beginning and in the middle of words may not be difficult, but pronouncing /m/ at the end of words is sometimes difficult and substituted with /n/ or /ng/ sounds (i.e. some--sun; swim--swing).

/n/

Pronouncing /n/ at the end of words can be difficult because of the similarities between the sounds /n/, /m/, and /ng/. Sometimes /n/ is substituted with /m/ or /ng/ sounds (i.e. sun--some; ran--rang).

/o/ (as in odd)

Confusing English spelling patterns cause substitutions of the sound /o/ for more familiar vowels, such as long o (i.e. not--note, cot--coat).

/o/ (as in boat) and /ow/ (as in show)

Students may confuse the sound of long o with other similar English sounds, such as short u and short o (i.e. coat--cut; note--not).

/p/

It may be helpful to explain to students that p is much more explosive in English than it is in other languages. At the beginning of English words, /p/ should be produced with a puff of air or it could sound like /b/ (i.e. pat--bat)

/q/

Q must stand with the vowel u in order to make a sound. The sound of qu is /kw/. Initially, teach only the name of the letter. Students should be informed that the consonant q has only a name—no sound—when it stands alone.

/r/

The sound /r/ does not exist in some languages. In many languages, the r is a blend of the English sounds /r/ and /l/ and is produced by rapidly touching the tip of the tongue to the roof of the mouth. Some students attempt to say the English /r/ by touching the roof of the mouth with the tongue. As a result, the /r/ sounds like /l/ (i.e. read--lead). Joining r with a vowel helps produce correct pronunciation.

/s/

The sound /s/ is a common sound and is generally easy for students to produce; however, some speakers tend to say /sh/ instead of /s/ before e and i (i.e. see--she; sip--ship). It is helpful for some students to place the tip of the tongue behind the lower teeth when learning how to produce this sound.

/t/

The sound /t/ is a common sound and is generally easy for students to produce; however, some speakers tend to substitute /t/ with /ts/ before long u and /ch/ before long e and short i (i.e. two--tsu; tear--cheer; tin--chin).

/u/ (as in up)

A short u has the same sound as a schwa. Because this sound does not exist in some languages, it may be difficult to hear and pronounce. Also, irregular spelling patterns may confuse students, causing them to substitute /u/ for sounds that are more familiar, such as short o and long o (i.e. color--collar; come--comb).

/u/ (as in suit) and /oo/ (as in too)

Students may confuse the sound of /u/ as in suit with the sound of /oo/ as in look.

/u/ (as in unit)

Students may confuse the two sounds of u: /u/ as in union and /u/ as in suit.

/v/

Sometimes students substitute b for v (i.e. bet--vet). Also, when /v/ is the last sound in a word, some students forget to vibrate their vocal cords, causing the /v/ to sound like the voiceless /f/ (i.e. save--safe; leave--leaf).

/w/

Sometimes w and v are confused (i.e. went--vent; we’ll--veal). The lower lip should not touch the upper teeth. Also, sometimes students omit the w before double o vowels (i.e. wool--ool; wood--ood).

/x/ (as in fox)

The sound /x/ is a combination of the sounds /k/ and /s/. Students need to quickly roll from the sound /k/ to the sound /s/ to produce this sound accurately.

/y/ (as in yes)

The sound of y as a consonant only occurs at the beginning of a word or syllable. This sound may be difficult to pronounce. Students may substitute the sound /y/ with the sound /j/, or they may omit it entirely (i.e. yet--jet; year--ear). If helpful, have students put the tip of their tongue against the back of the lower front teeth, but emphasize that the tongue should NOT touch the roof of the mouth.

/z/

The sound /z/ is not a common sound. Many students pronounce the letter z as a /s/ or /j/ sound (i.e. zoo--Sue; zest--jest). Irregular English spelling patterns also cause confusion. Remind students that /z/ is a voiced sound.

Information adapted from Decoding Strategies for Literacy Development published by HEC Reading Horizons.

Some information adapted from: Dale, P. and Poms, L. (1999). English Pronunciation for International Students. Prentice Hall Regents: USA.