Patrick Hayeck
Executive Communication Coaching
Book a Consultation

Why Pronunciation Teaching in ELICOS Needs a Structural Shift — and How the ‘Speak English with Emotions’ Series Helps

If you speak with any ESL teacher long enough, a familiar pattern emerges:
they know pronunciation matters, they want to teach it more confidently, yet they rarely feel equipped to do so.

After seventeen years working in ELICOS as a pronunciation and fluency specialist — training hundreds of teachers in Australia and abroad, and developing several ASQA-accredited courses — I’ve observed the same reality at nearly every institution I’ve served:

Teachers often teach pronunciation without a framework, without integration, and without impact.

The Confidence Gap

Most teachers I’ve mentored readily admit they are not entirely comfortable teaching pronunciation beyond the basics. Minimal pairs, isolated phonemes, the occasional IPA lesson — these are the most common approaches.

However, these components alone don’t move the needle on communicative competence. They are fragments, not method.

The suprasegmental system — rhythm, intonation, pitch, tone, sentence stress, connected speech — is where clarity, fluency, listening comprehension, and discourse-level intelligibility are forged. Yet this is the area most educators feel least prepared to teach.

It’s rarely because of disinterest.
It’s usually because:

In reality, pronunciation deeply underpins both vocabulary retention and grammatical mastery.

Pronunciation as the Engine of Language Acquisition

When pronunciation training is delivered systematically and meaningfully, it does far more than polish accent or boost confidence.

It improves working memory.

Students trained in fluency can recall longer utterances, carry more linguistic material in real time, and manipulate structures more efficiently. When students internalise larger rhythmic “chunks” of language, new vocabulary settles faster and grammatical patterns strengthen.

Pronunciation, at its best, is not about sounding “native.”
It is about building the neuro-muscular, rhythmic, lexical, and cognitive architecture that allows learners to speak with:

It is the pathway through which students unlock fluency — not an accessory to be added after grammar.

The ELICOS Challenge: Plateau at B1

Many learners arrive at CEFR B1 feeling successful — until their progress suddenly stalls.

They can write clearly, pass tests, and handle structured communication, but their spoken output remains monotone, hesitant, and overly careful.

For some, this plateau becomes the point of disengagement.
Teachers feel it. Students feel it.

The missing link is often a lack of structured, integrated pronunciation training that does two essential things:

  1. activates emotional expression, tone, and communicative intent in spoken English, and
  2. embeds pronunciation work inside meaningful language practice — not as disconnected drills.

Why I Created the Speak English with Emotions Series

After years of building government-accredited pronunciation and fluency curricula in the ELICOS space, I designed the Speak English with Emotions series to give teachers a method — not just exercises — for integrating pronunciation directly into speaking, listening, and lexical development.

Across five workbooks —
Anger, Surprise, Happiness & Sadness, Disgust, and Fear —
students learn to speak expressively while expanding vocabulary, improving speech rhythm, and training their ear to hear English as connected, tonal language.

The activities are written so pronunciation is not isolated.
Students practise pronunciation inside meaningful communication:

And for teachers, every activity comes with clear teaching notes, scaffolding guidance, answer keys, quizzes, and in the final book, a two-part summative assessment with rubric.

The aim is simple:

Equip teachers to teach pronunciation with clarity and confidence — even if they’ve never been trained in it before.

A Structural, Not Cosmetic, Change

Pronunciation isn’t a “bonus skill.”
It is the organising principle of speech.

Without it, vocabulary cannot be retained efficiently.
Grammar cannot be processed and produced in fluent form.
Confidence never fully stabilises.

And most critically:
students lose motivation when they don’t hear themselves improving.

In nearly two decades of teaching and teacher-training, I’ve watched pronunciation training transform learner engagement, participation, and achievement more than any other pedagogical focus.

When students begin sounding expressive, rhythmic, and emotionally present in English, they speak more, listen more, take more risks, and progress faster.

They finally feel themselves becoming speakers — not just learners.

For Australian ELICOS Colleges

The Australian ELICOS sector has long been defined by academic rigour, communicative outcomes, and commitment to student success. As our sector continues to face regulatory shifts, competition, and performance pressures, strengthening classroom delivery remains our most valuable differentiator.

Equipping teachers with accessible, structured, high-impact pronunciation resources is a direct investment in learner outcomes, student satisfaction, progression rates, and institutional reputation.

I believe this series contributes to that mission.

Interested in Applying the Approach?

The full digital series is available through my website and on Teachers Pay Teachers.

If your college — or your teaching team — would like to explore pronunciation and fluency integration at curriculum level, I’m always open to supporting implementation and providing training insights.

Pronunciation shouldn’t be intimidating for teachers, nor optional for learners.
When taught meaningfully, it becomes the most transformative element of the classroom.

Let’s help students speak English the way English is truly spoken — with rhythm, clarity, emotion, intent, and fluency.

Teach Pronunciation Confidently with the Speak English with Emotions 5-part Workbook Series