There can be very few English teachers who have never encountered minimal pairs. They are pairs of words like ship and sheep, which are identical except for one sound – in this instance, the vowel. They have long been standard fare in pronunciation materials because they neatly demonstrate meaningful differences in the target language. In fact, minimal pairs have even been used as the title of published books, such as Ship or Sheep? (Baker, 1977). But are minimal pairs really of value in pronunciation teaching – or are they a waste of time? Let’s take . . .
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