A Quick Way to Improve /r/ and /l/
Pronunciation
Tim Greer
This is a simple method for providing a large group of EFL learners with short, intensive
pronunciation practice.
Introduction
Many students have trouble pronouncing certain English sounds that don’t exist in their
first language, the /r/ and /l/ difference being one of the most well-known examples. Yet in
a speaking class of 30 or more students, it is difficult for the teacher to correct all the
mistakes all the time. While correcting pronunciation in every instance is probably counter-
productive to communication, here’s one quick way to show the class that you are
concerned with accurate pronunciation.
One Point Pronunciation Practice
Step 1
While the students are performing some communicative task in pairs or groups, pay
attention to their speech production and note any words they are particularly
mispronouncing in their conversation. For instance, in one of my classes recently, the
students were discussing various types of music and many of them were saying “lock”
instead of “rock” and “lap” instead of “rap”. Let’s use the first of these as an example.
Step 2
After the pairwork activity has finished, tell the class that you are going to take a minute to
focus on pronunciation. Write the two words “lock” and “rock” on the board, one under the
other.
• lock
• rock
Step 3
Pronounce each of them several times clearly, pointing up as you say “lock” and down as
you say “rock”. At this stage the group will probably be listening carefully, but many of
them will be unable to detect any great difference in the two sounds. Make sure they
understand the difference in the meaning as well. In this case, I touched the lock on the
door for “lock” and played a few chords on my air guitar for “rock”, so that everyone knew

teacher spends to much time trying to correct pronunciation, some learners will start to lose
confidence in their speaking ability. Instead focus intensively on it for these sixty seconds
and then focus on communication for the rest of the class. One minute of conversation each
week will be enough to remind most students of how to produce the target sounds and they
will begin to monitor their own speech during pairwork and group conversations.
Of course the same process can be followed for practicing other difficult sounds such as
/th/ and /s/ with minimal pairs like
• mouth
• mouse
or /v/ and /b/ with
• travel
• trouble
The important point is to base your target sound on the students’ needs by choosing one
that they have just been (mis)using in meaningful communication. The class will quickly
get used to this pattern of pronunciation practice and will appreciate that you are correcting
(but not over-correcting) their English. Pronunciation drills take on an atmosphere of play
rather than work and the quick break away from the textbook can act as a motivator for
those whose attention is lagging.
Extension
If you come across a word that can be mispronounced in more than one way, first introduce
the vowel sounds using the method above and then later introduce another similar word to
show the vowel sounds. For example, in one class after we were talking about Japanese
food, I used
• raw
• law
to focus on the /l/ and /r/ sounds. After the class had mastered these, I wrote “low” on the
board next to “law” and followed the same process for the difference in vowel sounds,
pointing left and right rather up and down. After this we practiced
• raw
• row