Teaching English Pronunciation: How to Teach the IPA Chart

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an invaluable tool for teaching English pronunciation and listening, but many teachers struggle with how to teach the IPA chart. We’ll answer the question, “What is the IPA in ESL and EFL?” and offer some simple strategies and tips that help teachers use the IPA chart effectively in their classrooms.

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What is the IPA chart in English language teaching?

It is a speech sound transcription

The IPA chart is a system for transcribing speech sounds. This means that it provides a way to take what people speak in a language and transcribe or write the sounds they produce.

In the IPA, one symbol equals one sound. Written English has letter combinations that represent sounds, such as “th” or “ou”, but the IPA does not use such combination symbols. Instead, each symbol represents a single sound, or what linguists call a phoneme. This system really helps students understand ESL pronunciation and phonics in a clear and direct manner.

It is non-language specific

Linguists designed the IPA to be non-language-specific. They wanted it to be international and to represent sounds from any and every language. Therefore, many symbols on the IPA chart have no function in standard English because English doesn’t use those sounds. Every language uses only a set of symbols in the IPA, never all of them.

For example, French doesn’t have a “th” sound; however, it does have a “u” sound, which falls somewhere between the English “u” and “ew”, and this sound doesn’t exist in English. The IPA has a symbol for both sounds, and it even has two symbols for the different “th” sounds – yes, there are two!

It can be used for English language teaching

The IPA is particularly useful for teaching English because English spelling doesn’t always make sense. The letters do not always match the sounds they supposedly make. English’s writing system is less than reliable for sounding out words, from words like “know” with silent letters to words like “colonel” that English adopted from other languages. The phonemes do not match the letters. When teachers teach the IPA to ESL students, the chart shows exactly what speakers say without the distractions of silent letters or combination vowels.

In a BridgeUniverse Expert Series webinar that discussed using the IPA chart when teaching English pronunciation, Michael Berman, Chief Education Officer of Pro Lingua Learning and Professor of ESL at Montgomery College, noted, “We need a way of describing what we are saying… The IPA helps ground us and make sure we’re talking apples to apples.”

At this stage, the goal is not to turn your classroom into a linguistics seminar and frighten everyone. You want students to see that English pronunciation has a system, even when English spelling behaves as if it doesn’t. Once learners understand that the IPA gives them a clearer picture of spoken language, the chart starts to feel less intimidating and much more useful.

An important note before teaching the IPA for ESL/EFL: The symbols you use will change depending on whether you are teaching American English, British English, etc. You may be teaching English as a global language, in which case, choose whichever pronunciation is closer to the English you personally use in class. Be sure to point this out to your students.

How do you teach the IPA phonetic chart?

Essentially, teachers can most easily teach the IPA for English pronunciation by using it to distinguish between phonemes. Even if students aren’t totally familiar with the chart, you can write the symbol for a particular sound on the board or use it in an activity. Let’s take a look at some ways to do this.

Incorporate the IPA into daily lessons

To familiarize students with the IPA, you need to expose them repeatedly to the symbols. A great way to introduce a few symbols initially is to start with the -ed endings: /t/, /id/, and /d/. Give students a list of words with -ed endings like worked, helped, wanted, wandered, etc. Ask them to say the words aloud in small groups or pairs and decide which IPA symbol corresponds to each word. Go over the answers as a whole class to see if students were able to correctly distinguish the three different sounds that the -ed ending can make.

Over time, you can build on students’ knowledge of which symbols represent which phonemes. Teachers can help students internalize the information and feel less overwhelmed by introducing the IPA chart for ESL students in bite-sized chunks rather than as one gigantic chart upfront.

Use a phonetic chart or pronunciation app

Another great way to teach the IPA chart to language learners is to use online tools for teaching English pronunciation. Apps like ELSA Speak and Sensay use AI-powered speech recognition to analyze students’ pronunciation and offer feedback. Whether you assign students activities through a pronunciation app as homework or let them use these tools in class, the tools offer a fun way to study pronunciation a little each day.

Many of these pronunciation apps also include a digital version of the phonetic chart. Students can use this chart as a tool for phonetic transcription activities. It can also help them get familiar with each of the sounds or check any symbols they aren’t sure about. Consider letting students keep their phones on hand during class so they can refer back to their charts throughout the lesson.

Teach pronunciation, not symbols

It’s important not to make the class’s main objective learning the IPA chart. Instead, teachers should use the IPA chart as a tool for better pronunciation and listening.

In the BridgeUniverse Expert Series webinar referenced earlier, Berman further remarked, “We want our students to speak in clear, understandable English… not necessarily remember a bunch of symbols.”

Keeping the ultimate learning objective, which is correct English pronunciation, in mind will help guide your lesson plans and activities. It will also remind students why they are using the IPA chart and how this powerful tool can help them communicate effectively in the real world.

In practice, teaching the IPA works best when you treat it as part of your regular pronunciation routine rather than a giant lesson about symbols. Small, repeated exposure works best. When students meet the symbols in context, use them in meaningful tasks, and connect them to real speaking and listening goals, they begin to understand what the chart is actually for.

To learn more strategies for teaching pronunciation and using the IPA chart, check out Bridge’s Micro-credential course in Teaching English Pronunciation. The infographic below is from the course and offers tips on handling error correction in pronunciation.

How can I use the IPA chart to improve my students’ pronunciation?

Use the IPA chart to tackle tricky vowels or other problematic sounds

The IPA chart’s symbols allow teachers to isolate a problem sound for a student and show the student what they are saying versus what the word should sound like.

This approach is especially helpful with English vowels, which often make the schwa sound when they are unstressed. For example, with the IPA, you can show the student a word like “photograph” and point out that the second “o” is unstressed and therefore sounds like “uh” or /ə/. You can compare this to the word “photographer,” which switches the stress from the first to the second syllable.

Diphthongs, which are sounds formed by combining two vowels, can also sometimes present problems for language learners. Incorporating transcription activities that use the IPA chart can help students pronounce these trickier phonemes.

Check out why you should teach your students a variety of accents and dialects.

Combine the IPA chart with games and fun activities

Does the idea of teaching the IPA to ESL students make you think of a dull class that entails memorizing a bunch of symbols? It shouldn’t. As with all English topics, you need to make the lesson engaging and fun if you want students to take an interest in it.

In the BridgeUniverse Expert Series webinar on utilizing the IPA chart, Berman suggested using games when teaching the IPA phonetic chart. His go-to activity is Seven Strikes, where students compete in teams to phonetically transcribe a word that they hear. The teacher should write the number of blanks needed for the transcription on the board. Groups can raise their hands after a minute to check whether their transcription is correct, but if it’s wrong, they gain a strike. The first group to seven strikes loses. The game is particularly great for going over vocabulary you’ve already taught in class.

Listen to Berman explain how to play Seven Strikes in the following video:

Another easy game is Superphonic Bingo, where the teacher calls out a word, and the students match it with a word written in phonetic script on their Bingo card.

A third fun activity is having students transcribe a short poem. Dr. Seuss’ poems work particularly well for this because they repeat the same sounds quite often. Keep in mind, however, that this activity requires your students to already be familiar with the IPA.

Utilize the IPA chart to point out sounds that don’t occur in your student’s native language (L1)

Having deeper knowledge of a student’s first language can help teachers understand their accents and pronunciation issues. For example, a student whose first language is German may have trouble hearing the difference between the “th” sounds in “thick” [θɪk] and “these” [ðiːz]. This happens because these sounds don’t exist in German. French students, on the other hand, tend to confuse the short “i” sound, as in “it” [ɪt], with the long “e” sound, as in “eat” [iːt]. This happens because the short “i” sound [ɪ] doesn’t occur in French.

With IPA in ESL, you can visually show students how they pronounce certain sounds versus how they should be pronounced. Using the IPA symbols to introduce sounds that might be new to your students, meaning sounds that don’t exist in their L1, can be invaluable for helping them understand how to pronounce important phonemes.

Any teacher can use the IPA chart to help students differentiate between phonemes and master English sounds. When teachers use this powerful tool correctly, it can have a lasting impact on boosting students’ pronunciation skills. This last piece of advice comes from Berman: “If you engage your students, they will learn.”

Used well, the IPA helps teachers make pronunciation more visible, more precise, and far less mysterious for students who are trying to make sense of English sounds. It gives you a way to slow things down, notice patterns, and address problems without relying solely on spelling. Whether you are working on vowels, stress and intonation, unfamiliar sounds, or listening, the chart can support clearer teaching and more confident speaking over time.

The IPA chart is not about making students memorize symbols; it is about giving them a clearer path to hearing, noticing, and producing English more accurately. When teachers use the IPA with purpose, they turn pronunciation from something vague and frustrating into something students can actually see, practice, and improve. In the long run, that kind of clarity matters. It builds confidence, sharpens listening, and helps learners speak with greater control in real communication.

Need to get your students speaking clearly and confidently? Prepare yourself by taking a Micro-credential course in Teaching English Pronunciation.