Phonemic chart for English teachers

About the phonemic chart

The phonemic chart is a useful tool to help your learners become more familiar with the phonemes or sounds of English. It consists of:

• 12 vowel sounds (7 short vowels and 5 long vowels)
• 6 diphthongs (combinations of two vowel sounds)
• 24 consonants (voiced and unvoiced)

Download the phonemic chart

Download the chart and display it in your class so that your learners can refer to it.

Download the phonemic chart

Download the phonemic symbols

Support your pronunciation activities with our A4-size downloadable pronunciation posters – one for each of the 44 phonemic symbols.

Download the phonemic symbol posters

These phonemes are part of the phonemic script that is used to describe the sounds of many languages. They have been established by the International Phonetic Association (IPA).  

Using the phonemic chart in the classroom

You can use the phonemic chart whenever you are doing some pronunciation practice in your classes. It is an excellent resource for working on new sounds that may not exist in your learners’ L1 or highlighting the difference between similar sounds.   

You don’t have to present the chart all at once. A 'little and often’ approach is often the most beneficial when working on pronunciation. By introducing the symbols and sounds gradually, you can help learners both see and hear how English sounds work, while also drawing their attention to the physical processes involved in producing them.    

Try out some of these TeachingEnglish ideas and activities for practising pronunciation:  

• C-consonant; V-vowel
• Introducing the phonemic alphabet
• Phonetic dominoes
• Pronunciation of past simple verbs
• Pronunciation whispers
• Recycling and revising vocabulary
• Remembering the phonemic symbols
• Same sound, different sound
• Shadow reading
• Sound and spelling correspondence
• Teaching the schwa
• Telephone number pronunciation
• Vocabulary phonemic revision
• What’s the pronunciation?
   

Using the phonemic chart autonomously 

If learners become familiar with the phonemic chart and the sounds of English, they can also work autonomously on pronunciation. Encourage learners to use phonemic script to record the pronunciation of new words they meet. Point out that dictionary definitions also include phonemic script that can help them resolve doubts over pronunciation. 

You can also set homework related to pronunciation. For example, ask learners to write five new words from the class in phonemic script for homework, to be used to test their classmates.  

Similarly, if you want to focus on a sound that is problematic for your learners, ask them to find five words with that sound and write them in phonemic script. With a little training, your learners could prepare their own 'minimal pairs’, for example with the sounds /i/ and /i:/. Depending on their level, they might come up with something like this: 

They can use these to test their classmates’ ability to discriminate between these sounds, as well as their own pronunciation, in the next class. They simply show the two lists of words to a partner and say one of the words. The partner responds 'left’ or 'right’. For example, in the list above, if student A says 'seat’, student B will (hopefully) respond 'right’.