The third “principle” that I keep in mind, when I’m teaching pronunciation, is that speaking is unconscious and physical, so our solutions must address those two conditions. Analyzing what we’re doing and not doing (principle #1) is great, it feeds the mind, but doesn’t necessarily make a change in our sound. Causing disequilibrium helps because it makes us pay close attention to the new information (principle #2), but in the end, the solution will have to address the unconscious nature of articulation—we can’t think about what we want to say, as well as how to say it, simultaneously. When I work with adults to change their sound, I use a set of large muscle movements that help the tongue to move in a new way… “unconsciously”. It’s as if the tongue now has a “workout buddy” and the companionship of this larger movement makes the tongue and articulators move in harmony, in the new ways necessary to make the new sound. It’s hard to explain, but, like all really effective things, sooooo simple once it’s understood and practiced.
