Learning technologies for EFL

Like to know the rules?  Some learners benefit from understanding the system that underlies the language they are learning.  This resource combines audio, video and flash animation to demonstrate the pronunciation of particular sounds of English.

 

Select one of the different types of Consonant (stops [p-t-k, b-d-g], fricatives [f-v, th-th, s-z, sh-ge], affricates [ch-dg], nasals [m-n-ng], liquids [l, r], or glides [w, y]) or Vowel (monophthongs [a, i, u etc], or - more likely for English - diphthongs [ai, ei, ou, au]).

 

You can learn the symbols if you like, but it's perhaps more useful to try to spot patterns and perhaps notice words or sounds you tend to mispronounce.  Like many learning activities, best used little and often, rather than in a long session which is likely to prove confusing.