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Our vignettes assume that teachers perform some type of pronunciation diagnostic or needs analysis for their students. There are many ways to do such a diagnosis, depending on the teacher and students (for more, see Morley, 1991). For those unaccustomed to diagnosing pronunciation systematically, we offer a simple approach that can be used even with students who have limited English. The diagnostic process has three steps: recording, listening, and evaluating. It is not necessary to notice every detail. A general picture of important pronunciation needs emerges from the process of diagnosis.

1 Record each student’s speech for 30 seconds or more. Alternatively, have groups of students work together doing some type of speaking or pronunciation task. This can allow more efficient diagnosis. A voice recording is sufficient, but a video recording will enable evaluation of physical movements during speech. For more advanced learners, this might result in 2–3 minutes; for low-level learners, try for at least 30 seconds. Recording can come from an interview or a monolog such as “my favorite holiday celebration.” (We do not encourage the use of reading aloud for literacy-level learners. Navigating the spelling-sound interface will lead to many errors that do not show up in free speech.)

2 Listen to each recording, then name and evaluate the most prominent errors.

3 Evaluate the main errors that are true for each student and for the class overall. A possible rubric is provided below.

Pronunciation Features	Holistic Scale				Errors Noticed (possible examples)
Vowel sounds	1	2	3	4	5	“hit” sounds like heat “man” and “men” similar
	Few errors		Many errors
Consonant sounds	1	2	3	4	5	Initial consonants are mostly clear. Often deletes final consonants
	Few errors		Many errors
Voice Quality Settings	1	2	3	4	5	Minimal lip and jaw movement
	Few errors		Many errors
Thought groups	1	2	3	4	5	Phrases are usually very short or very long
	Logical phrases	Phrases too short or long
Word stress	1	2	3	4	5	Longer words have no clear stress
	Correct stress		Unclear emphasis
Intonation	1	2	3	4	5	Pitch sounds monotone. Not easy to know where sentences end.
	Pitch rises & falls	Pitch flat or confusing
Overall Fluency	1	2	3	4	5	A lot of silent pauses
	Speaks smoothly		Speaks haltingly