How to develop good diction: exercises and advice from a speech therapist. How to develop diction and clarity of speech: learning to control your voice perfectly

By nature, only a few have clear, correct pronunciation. IN childhood Almost every second child faces a speech problem, but it is much easier to solve. An adult thinking about how to improve diction is faced with his own habit of speaking incorrectly. This makes it more difficult to work on yourself, and correcting your speech takes longer. "EasyUseful" offers you 5 steps to improve your speech quality. If you decide to work on your speech, you should fight the urge to put it off until later: only frequent practice will give results.

Step 1: train the organs of articulation

These exercises were developed by speech therapists and are aimed at correcting children's pronunciation deficiencies. But they act no worse on adults. The organs of articulation include lips, teeth, jaws, palate, alveoli, and tongue. Repetition of exercises: for children – 5 times, for adults – 25-30 times.

• open our mouth as wide as possible, straining the muscles of the face and neck, hold it and close it on the count of “5”;
• fold your closed lips into a tube, stretch them forward, hold for 5-10 seconds;
• game of “snake”: quickly show and hide your tongue, smiling;
• show your tongue, “pull” it through closed teeth back and forth, massaging it;
• alternately inflate your cheeks and tap them with your fingertips, massaging;
• “explore” the mouth with the tongue: move the tip along the palate, cheeks, teeth;
• swing: open your mouth wide, smiling, on the count of “one” - lower your tongue to the lower jaw, “two” - lift it to the upper teeth;
• hold your tongue protruding on your lower jaw motionless and relaxed for at least 5-10 seconds.

For an adult, this training is not as difficult as for a child. If the baby is tired and does not want to do required quantity repetitions, you can continue after a couple of hours. You cannot force them to study: this will only aggravate the situation, and the child will simply close himself off from you.

Step 2: advanced articulation training

All classes are performed at home and are suitable for adults and children. If your child already knows how to read or recite poetry, you can adapt all the activities for him.
Reading aloud to improve speech clarity is great, but for better practice of sounds, it is recommended to use a regular stopper. We bite it with our teeth (no need to force it, just hold it) and read the book out loud, sing our favorite song, repeat after the audiobook announcer. The lips should be tense. It is enough to practice 10-20 minutes a day.

We read a poem or book out loud, trying to clearly pronounce all sounds and perform physical exercise. Running, squats, swinging legs and arms are suitable. It is important that your breathing begins to falter. Then it will become harder to pronounce familiar words, and additional effort will be required. You can't imagine better gymnastics.

This exercise is only for adults, as it is not recommended for children to lick small objects. You need simple, smooth, clean stones. These can be bought or found in the river and boiled.
We put a few stones in our mouths to make it difficult to speak, and we begin to read and talk to ourselves. This activity is great for improving your pronunciation clarity.

Pronunciation of strange nonsense gives excellent result. “BDTTTRZ, VVGGRRRRHS, MRTTSEPN” - it is important to pronounce the middle of these words well and not swallow the ending.

This exercise allows you to quickly improve your diction. For a child, we can also advise you to put clean mother’s beads on a thread around your neck, take the lower end of them into your mouth and move the beads with your tongue, first in one direction, then in the other. Many parents make special beads for this exercise, stringing beads of different textures and sizes.

If a child speaks very poorly for his age, do not rush to take him to a neurologist. Visit your dentist to examine your mouth and measure the frenulum under your tongue and lips.

Step 3: speech therapy massage

Massage will increase blood flow in the speech organs, improve diction and clarity of speech. By working every centimeter of the tongue, we increase blood flow and force even the weakest parts of the muscle to work. Massage can be done for adults, the main thing is to know how to do it correctly.

• For young children, massage is important with communication, an interesting fairy tale to prevent rejection from occurring;
• maintain a smooth transition from massaging the face and neck to working with the tongue;
• the movements are soft, gentle: alternately stroking and tapping with your fingertips to create vibration;
• You can use a spoon or toothbrush to massage your tongue;
• With your thumbs we make circular movements on both sides of the tongue, draw figure eights;
• A handkerchief or napkin is placed under the tongue to prevent dripping saliva.

Step 4: tongue twisters

A lot has been written about speech exercises using tongue twisters. It’s a pity that many stubbornly ignore this simple training of the speech apparatus. Even a few repetitions a day will help improve articulation. By adding an exercise with pebbles in the mouth or a cork, you can double the effect of the tongue twister.
The main rule for choosing a text for a lesson is to focus on the sounds with which the child has problems. To improve your lessons, you can come up with your own tongue twisters.

Step 5: Watch your breathing

To find out how things are going with improving speech, it will be very useful to record the story on video or audio. Sometimes it seems to us that we speak purely, but others do not think so. To correct speech errors, it is important to learn to breathe fully. It happens that words and letters get confused because a person is used to speaking while swallowing half the words. Train yourself to maintain even breathing while speaking.

How quickly we speak determines how others understand our speech. With children, this problem is solved by the example of adults. If everyone in the family speaks correctly and measuredly, then the child will have the right example before his eyes.

Don't neglect the opportunity to improve your speech and the speech of your children. The ability to clearly, clearly, and understandably express one’s thoughts is useful in everyone. life situations. I wish you success!

During a conversation, do you often swallow your words, speak slurredly, quietly, and others cannot understand your speech? Then it's time for you to start working on improving your diction. No matter how interesting and important your message is, it will be useless if your words are difficult to understand. How can you improve your diction and make your speech clear and understandable?

Diction: what is this?

Diction is general concept, which means distinctness and quality of pronunciation, level of clarity. Diction in relation to spelling is comparable to handwriting in relation to spelling. Just as a written letter is not perceived, so slurred speech is regarded by listeners as foreign words. Some people with impaired diction even become the subject of ridicule and sarcastic remarks. All organs of the speech apparatus participate in word formation, some are responsible for the timbre of the voice, others for articulation, pitch, tempo or sonority. But all of them together are responsible for a person’s diction.

Diction requires:

Knowledge of sound production and word formation.
Correct use of the speech organs.

Why is speech slurred?

Some people are so good at speaking that it seems like they are natural speakers. Why do others speak so vaguely and incomprehensibly?

Do not hurry.

Stay balanced. You shouldn’t speak too slowly either; speak at an even pace, as if you’re not in a hurry. Over time, you will increase your pronunciation speed. Especially watch the pace during. The desire to quickly finish your speech contributes to poor diction. Take pauses, this will even attract the attention of listeners and color your speech.

Breathe correctly.

When pronouncing words, we don’t even think about what is happening in our speech apparatus. The beauty of speech is based on automation and consolidation of the production of sounds. Pay attention to singers and actors, they carefully monitor their breathing. There are even special exercises dedicated to proper breathing. To improve your speech clarity, learn to breathe from your diaphragm. To do this, place one hand on your stomach, the other on your chest. When you inhale, the hand on your stomach rises, the other remains motionless. Exhale, change hands. At first you will have to control your breathing, then it will become a habit.

Learn the rules for setting and forming sounds.

To speak correctly, you need to understand how speech sounds are formed. Knowing the participation and role of the organs of articulation in sound production, you will understand what you should focus on and what your shortcomings are. Think about what you plan to say, such pauses will help you concentrate and take the necessary breath for further clarity of speech.

Practice.

The best way to learn to speak beautifully and clearly is to regularly speak in front of an audience. At first it will be difficult for you to control your speech, you will constantly be disturbed by strong excitement and emotions. However, over time, you will get used to such performances and will even be able to vary your voice to provide psychological influence on the people listening to you. Analyze your speech and practice constantly. A performance won't be impressive if you don't prepare enough for it.

Learn tongue twisters and repeat complex words periodically.

Tongue Twisters - great way learn to express thoughts clearly and clearly even in complex and confusing words. Most of the actors warm up vocal cords and the articulatory apparatus before the performance in tongue twisters. Start saying them slowly until you memorize them, then practice saying them faster. However, it is important to say tongue twisters and difficult words correctly, so do not increase your pace if you make mistakes.

If a certain word is particularly difficult for you, be sure to pronounce it at home in front of the mirror several times. Do this until correct pronunciation compound word You won’t reach the point of automaticity.

Don't forget about intonation.

Even if you speak clearly, but monotonously, your listeners will not take your words seriously; they will constantly be distracted and think not about what you say, but how you say it. Your intonation will show what you want to emphasize and what to convey to your listeners. Speak confidently, firmly, so as not to create the impression that you doubt your words.

Train your facial muscles.

The clarity of speech directly depends on the work of the jaw muscles. To train them, do a regular set of exercises. Stretch your muscles, open your mouth wide, and make chewing movements. These exercises will help you relax and in normal speech not clench your teeth, but speak relaxedly and with your mouth wide open.

Exercises to develop diction

Speak with a cork in your teeth. When there is something in the speech apparatus that prevents you from pronouncing words as before, the jaw will begin to strain and work harder.
Carry out the usual articulatory gymnastics. Active exercises with the tongue, mouth, teeth and the entire jaw will help in the development and independent improvement of diction.
Read prose or poetry to music without words. This will allow you to speak smoothly, melodiously and without unnecessary hesitation.
Memorize not just tongue twisters, but entire poems with complex and confusing expressions.
Pronounce complex combinations: lrya-chra-lru-bru-pre and other syllables that are difficult to say. Using them and pronouncing them regularly will give you excellent preparation.

The ability to correctly articulate words and phrases, to pronounce text clearly, clearly, with order, is called diction. Some people constantly wonder how to improve their diction and speech. This is especially true for representatives of creative professions (actors, vocalists, presenters).

Correct articulation is especially important for singers: they not only pronounce the text, but also sing it, which is much more difficult. Exercises on diction in singing are done constantly: both as a separate lesson and as a chant.

When is diction and speech training necessary?

Just because people understand you doesn't mean you don't need speech exercises. It’s not easy to hear yourself from the outside. This may require the authoritative opinion of an expert or teacher. If you don’t have it, you can record your speech on audio media and listen to it. Also good way– compare yourself with the announcers of the central channels: their articulation of the sounds of Russian speech is most often competent.

You need to think about how to develop diction and speech technique, especially in cases where there is obvious burring or disturbances in the pronunciation of individual sounds.

There are qualities of good speech, they can also be developed: brevity, clarity of formulation, literacy, adherence to literary norms, logic and others.

Easy exercises to improve diction are designed to develop the correct pronunciation of individual sounds and their combinations, and more complex exercises are designed to connect elements into one whole.

Exercises for developing diction in adults

Parents know how to improve their children’s pronunciation: this is myogymnastics for the tongue and lips. But it’s hard to imagine an adult who spreads his tongue with a spatula. And the musculoskeletal system in older people has developed and is not as pliable as in children.

Exercises for clear diction for adults are completely different. Teachers use:

• pronouncing individual consonants with clear articulation;
• pronouncing tongue twisters;
• breathing exercises in combination with body gymnastics;
• special articulation exercises.

It is important to establish regularity in your classes and set realistic goals for yourself.

Exercises:

1. Pronounce these combinations of sounds by “exploding” the last voiceless consonant: pi-bee-pee-bee-pipp, bee-be-bo-bee-bipp, ga-go-gu-gy-geek and the like.
2. Read any tongue twister out loud without using vowels. Krl Klr krl krll – agree, it sounds funny. By the way, did you find out what this phrase is?
3. Pinch your nose and start reading the text out loud in one breath. Inhale only where it is meant to be done.
4. Perform any physical exercises in parallel with reciting poetry. In addition to the health benefits, you will feel where you stop controlling your breathing.

• slowly inhale through wide nostrils, exhale measuredly through the nose (rhythmically close and release your nostrils);
• inhale with an inclination (usually the opposite happens), exhale to the sounds “g-mm-mm” or “hmm-mm”, straightening up.

Start performing developmental exercises from a few seconds, gradually increasing to 1-3 minutes. The principle of gradual complication and increasing tempo applies to all classes.

How long will it take to develop diction?

If you notice a few minor errors while listening to the voice recording, then working on your diction and pronunciation may only take a day or two. If you need to pay attention to more extensive points, then you can leave it to persistent studies for a couple of months. It is important to understand that singers may need such exercises constantly, in the form of chanting before a performance, to bring the articulatory apparatus into combat readiness.

How to correct diction for an adult? The answer is simple: practice regularly and persistently.

What will help, besides exercise?

Exercises to develop diction – important stage work, but you can achieve the desired result easier: read books, newspapers, magazines out loud, pronouncing the words clearly and without swallowing the endings. In this case, working on clear speech will become a pleasant pastime.

Doing diction exercises

To develop an expressive voice, teachers often use similar breathing exercises, as well as for the development of correct articulation. It is important to correctly follow the teacher’s recommendations, since incorrectly performed movements will be remembered by the muscles. It will be difficult to retrain them. The teacher will also suggest interesting exercises for developing speech and diction techniques.

How to improve your speech diction quickly

The teachers of the Artvokal center know how to deliver correct speech and diction, whether for performances in the speech genre (reports, public speaking) or vocals.

Before training your diction at home, it is better to get advice from a competent teacher, a voice training specialist, or sign up for our diction courses in Moscow.

Video exercises from "Artvokal"

In this video you will see how to independently develop correct diction during classes with a specialist teacher. Video lessons can only help you, but do not replace the teacher's hearing.