"Is using tongue twisters for pronunciation an effective strategy?"
Can they be effectively used to help ESL and EFL students improve their pronunciation? Many native English speakers are not very good with tongue twisters; and I've never been much of a fan of them in general. I was never taught the strategy of using tongue twisters for teaching pronunciation (or at least I don't remember it) during my TESOL training course or other ESOL courses. But then one day...
New Teaching Strategy
One of my ESL students, an exceptional young man who is deaf, told me that a prior English tutor had used tongue twisters during their lessons to help him improve his English pronunciation. This student felt that using tongue twisters for pronunciation was an effective strategy for him. We incorporated them into our lessons together and I found them to be very effective in improving his consonant and vowel sounds.
As with any teaching strategy, some work for some students and not for others. I started using tongue twisters for pronunciation improvement for some other students. So far, I have found them to be effective for all of my students! I'm not saying that this will work for everyone, but it is one more teaching tool that I can add to my repertoire.
Tongue Twister Example
Take a look at this popular tongue twister.
Betty Botter's Better Batter
Betty Botter had some butter,
"But," she said, "this butter's bitter.
If I bake this bitter butter,
It would make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter,
That would make my batter better."
So she bought a bit of butter –
Better than her bitter butter –
And she baked it in her batter;
And the batter was not bitter.
So 'twas better Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better butter.
This famous tongue twister is loaded with potential teaching opportunities. Not only is the obvious "b" sound used here (which can be used to emphasize the minimal pairs b/p), but tons of vowels sounds are used, as well.
So if you're looking for new (and fun) ways to teach ESOL students pronunciation, consider using popular tongue twisters.
I've written about how I use tongue twisters for pronunciation lessons below.
How to Use Tongue Twisters for Pronunciation
I have private students that I meet one-on-one. I usually send them the text of the tongue twister before our class together. This gives them an opportunity to read it over and become familiar with the text.
During class, I have the student read the tongue twister once or twice aloud. I don't make any corrections at this time. I only note problem areas on my copy of the text. I then point out anything that is particularly off or possibly a new term. In "Betty Botter," most students are not familiar with the contraction " 'twas."
We then spend time line by line with me reading the line and the student repeating the line. We might do one or two lines at a time. It depends on how well the student is pronouncing everything. (It's usually amusing—and probably encouraging—when I mess up on the tongue twister.)
This approach can be modified into a lesson plan for the ESL classroom.
Useful as an ESL Assessment Tool
Not only do I find using tongue twisters for pronunciation useful for speaking lessons, but I also find it useful as an assessment tool.
I may have chosen a specific tongue twister to work on a particular sound (like "b" in the above example) and found out that we need to do a lot more work on vowel sounds. I can then incorporate these new assessment findings into future lessons.
by Ann Baker and Sharon Goldstein, to work on particular sounds.
