A Communicative Framework for Teaching Pronunciation

Celce-Murcia (1996) present a framework for the sequences of activities with pronunciation instruction.

Stage 1: Description and Analysis
The teacher presents a feature and the rules of occurrence either inductively or deductively.

Stage 2: Listening Discrimination
Contextualized minimal pair discrimination exercises. The speaker pronounces either a or b, and the listener has to respond with the appropriate rejoinder. e.g.:
a) He wants to buy my boat.
b) He wants to buy my vote.
Responses:
Will you sell it?
That's against the law!

Stage 3: Controlled Practice
In these activities the learner's attention should be almost completely on form. Any kind of coral reading can work if the learner's attention is clearly focused on the target feature. Poems, rhymes, dialogues, dramatic monologues can be used.

Stage 4: Guided Practice
In guided practice the learner's attention is no longer entirelly on form. The learner now begins to focus on meaning, grammar and communication intent as well as pronunciation. Teachers need to develop a continuum of bridging activities, which shift attention gradually to a new cognitive task while the learner attempts to maintain control of the pronunciation target. (e.g.: memory games)

Stage 5: Communicative Practice
At this stage, activities strike a balance between form and meaning. e.g. debates, role plays, interviews, etc. Even in this stage the learner's attention should still be focused on the pronunciation of the target feature.