By Ana P. Biazon Rocha and Jennie Reed

At PronSIG’s online conference, ‘Beyond Intelligibility: Expanding Our Approach to Pronunciation Instruction’, on 25 Oct 2025, Jennie Reed and I delivered a presentation entitled ‘Empowering learners through pronunciation: from clarity to confidence and connection’. In line with the conference theme (for three key takeaways from PronSIG’s online conference plenaries, please check this previous blog post), we aimed to clarify the distinction between intelligibility and comprehensibility and explore what other factors, beyond these, matter when teaching pronunciation. We focused on helping teachers experiment more with prosody in their lessons to support students’ communicative confidence, as well as on ways to reduce fear of mistakes and help learners connect more authentically with others. In this post, Jennie and I will summarise the key points of our presentation, emphasising practical tips, strategies and ideas that you can use or adapt for your own teaching context and students’ needs.

A. Distinguishing intelligibility and comprehensibility

Despite the importance of focusing on intelligibility and comprehensibility as the main goals of pronunciation instruction as opposed to sounding like a native speaker (the Intelligibility Principle vs. the Nativeness Principle, Levis, 2018), it is equally important to ensure that we clearly understand the difference between these concepts. In a previous blog post, we discussed what intelligibility and comprehensibility mean, but let’s now turn to concrete examples which may make it easier to connect the dots.

Consider the following exchange, adapted from Hahn & Watts (2011, p. 17), between a Hausa-speaking woman (Speaker 1) speaking English to an L1 English-speaking man (Speaker 2):

Speaker 1: (smiling) You want to snuff me?
Speaker 2: (shocked) I… I beg your pardon?!
Speaker 1: (pointing to his camera) You snuff me!
Speaker 2: Oh! You mean snap you… a photo! Of course!

This is a clear example of a breakdown in intelligibility. Speaker 2 could not understand the message that Speaker 1 was trying to convey.

Now imagine the following situation: you play a two-minute video or audio recording of someone speaking English (for example, a celebrity interview, a train station announcement or the introduction to a lecture) and ask your students to rate how easy or difficult it is to understand the speaker, from 1 (impossible to understand) to 5 (understand easily).

This is a clear example of comprehensibility. It relates to the effort required on the part of the listener, in this case, your students, to understand (or not) the speaker’s message.

This distinction matters because the use of intelligibility as a possible buzzword in ELT may give teachers (and learners) the impression that it is the only essential aspect of pronunciation teaching and learning, when, in fact, intelligibility and comprehensibility are both fundamental and deeply interwoven.

B. Other relevant factors

While for some learners, a focus just on intelligibility and comprehensibility may be enough to help them meet their goals, for others, the following additional factors will also be crucial to help them achieve clarity and fluency. Take a moment to reflect on some of these factors and consider how they, and others in your own teaching context, shape the way you approach pronunciation instruction:

  • Individual differences in learner performance: Do all speakers of a given L1 experience the same difficulties and challenges with L2 pronunciation?
  • Learner confidence: How can negative experiences and a lack of confidence affect the development of learners’ pronunciation?
  • Teacher confidence: How might limited knowledge, training or confidence influence teachers’ experiences of teaching pronunciation?
  • Fluency: Does being fluent in an L2 automatically mean being easy to understand?
  • International communication: What roles do clarity, pace, word choice, culture, humour, and listening skills play in successful international communication?

Taken together, these factors indicate that pronunciation teaching is not just about sounds or scores, but about people, perceptions and the complex realities of communication.

C. Promoting learner confidence

Pronunciation activities have enormous potential to build our learners’ confidence, not only in how they speak, but in how they see themselves as communicators. Below are three interconnected ways pronunciation teaching can help build that confidence: 

1. Reducing shame: Many learners may have experienced correction, ridicule, or failure, all of which can lead to embarrassment or anxiety, perhaps limiting their willingness to speak.  One of the most powerful things we can do as teachers, is to normalise mistakes and frame them as a natural and valuable part of learning. When we encourage learners to try, modelling our own learning processes and showing how we reflect on what does not work, we help develop resilience, rather than fear.

2. Encouraging experimentation: Play and exploration also play a key role in increasing confidence.  Invite learners to begin to experiment with their voices, without the pressure of ‘getting it right’, encouraging them to exaggerate rhythm, stress and melody.  This sense of play helps learners move away from self-monitoring every sound and towards finding their own voice in English.

3. Creating safe learning environments: Confidence grows most easily in environments where learners feel seen and supported, where they trust that they will not be judged for trying and where they sense that their teacher believes in their ability to improve. This idea aligns closely to Carol Dweck’s work (2010, 2012) on growth mindset, reminding us that confidence and competence develop together through effort, encouragement and reflection.

There are several practical ways to bring these principals into the classroom:

  • One approach is to have open discussions around beliefs about pronunciation, using prompts such as ‘Being understood is more important than sounding perfect’ or ‘Some accents are judged unfairly, even when they’re easy to understand’. These conversations encourage learners to reflect on their own assumptions, while also reinforcing the idea that everyone has an accent and that communication, not perfection, is the goal.
  • Another option is a confidence journal, which could be a weekly task, where learners write briefly about a moment when they felt confident using English – either in or outside of the classroom. It could be something small, such as ordering a coffee and being understood, or asking a question in a meeting.  These reflections help our learners notice progress and reframe their experiences positively. Similarly, a shared ‘pronunciation wins’ board, either physically in your classroom, or as a shared online document, can make progress visible and collective. This also reminds learners that confidence builds over time and through shared experiences.

Together, these practices move the focus away from ‘getting pronunciation right’ to recognising communication success, which reinforces confidence, motivation and connection.

D. Clarity and connection

In English, how we say something often matters just as much as the words we choose to use.  Our words carry the message, but it is our rhythm, intonation, gestures and facial expressions that show the feeling and intention behind it. Using a wider range of intonation can help you sound more engaged and expressive, which often makes your speech more interesting and easier to follow (Celce-Murcia et al., 2010).  When our voices rise and fall naturally we show curiosity, enthusiasm, empathy – all the things that make communication engaging and human.  

In contrast, a monotone voice can unintentionally come across as bored or disinterested, even when the speaker is highly motivated to communicate.  Helping learners play with their pitch, rhythm and energy is therefore not about sounding ‘more English’, it is about building connection with their listeners. This is where pronunciation work goes beyond intelligibility.  We are not just helping learners be clear, we are supporting them in becoming confident, authentic communicators.

Below are a few strategies which can help both teachers and learners approach pronunciation in a more empowering way:

  • Communication over perfection: perfection does not exist, therefore it is neither a realistic nor a necessary goal.  When our learners prioritise communication, they become more willing to open up, take risks and grow.
  • Enjoyment: when activities are enjoyable, learners are more likely to practise, and increased practice naturally leads to more progress.
  • Repetition: revisiting sounds, rhythms and phrases in meaningful ways helps build muscle memory and confidence.
  • Experimentation: trying new activities and reflecting on what works, encourages growth for both teachers and learners.
  • Asking for help: supportive communities, conferences and colleagues play a vital role in developing teacher confidence.
  • Reflection: taking time to reflect on lessons helps make progress visible and guides future choices.

Ultimately, pronunciation, and learning, is a journey, rather than a destination. It is not about sounding perfect, but about developing clarity, confidence and connection, and about helping our learners feel at home in their own voices.

For more discussions, ideas and tips on pronunciation teaching, please check previous posts here. Don’t forget to leave your comments below and follow PronSIG on social media. 

References

Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. and Goodwin, J. (2010). Teaching Pronunciation: A Course Book and Reference Guide. Cambridge University Press.

Dweck, C. (2012). Mindset: How You Can Fulfil Your Potential. Robinson.

Dweck, C. (2010, June). The Effect of Praise on Mindsets. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTXrV0_3UjY . Accessed on 08 Oct 2025.

Hahn, L. & Watts, P. (2011). (Un)Intelligibility Tales. In. J. Levis & K. LeVelle (Eds.). Proceedings of the 2nd Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference, Sept. 2010. (pp. 17-29), Ames, IA: Iowa State University.

Levis, J. (2018). Intellibility, Oral Communication, and the Teaching of Pronunciation. Cambridge University Press.