How to Pronounce the Long O Sound

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Long /o/ – ( IPA: oʊ)/Spelled Pronunciation (ow)
Follow these easy steps in producing the long /o/ sound.
  1. Shape your mouth or lips into a circular shape, the O position.
  2. Make the /w/ sound by pushing your jaw up slowly, making the circle in your mouth smaller, like when you blow with your lips.
  3. Remember, the long /o/ sound has two vowels, /o/ and /w/.
  4. Make sure that you start with the o sound and end with the w sound.
Note: Sometimes, the easiest way to do it is to tell the student to repeat after you such as this one: Repeat after me /ow/, with a /w/ sound at the end, again, /ow/.
However, if the student can’t really get it at once, then the above-mentioned steps will help you.
Let’s practice the long /o/ sound more.
  1. go
  2. no
  3. home
  4. so
  5. both
  6. boat
  7. coat
  8. show
  9. throw
  10. most
  11. hope
  12. low
  13. snow
  14. though
  15. soap
Let’s practice the long /o/ sound in the following sentences:
  1. Let’s go home.
  2. The soap is so soft.
  3. Don’t show the coat.
  4. I hope it won’t snow.
  5. Both boats are covered with snow.
This post is for my fellow ESL/EFL teachers who teach Asian students particularly those who teach Korean students. The long/o/ sound is one of the sounds that Korean students find difficult to pronounce. I just observed how my mouth moves in producing the sound.
I know there is a more proper and technical way to do it, however, based on experience; it will be hard for students to follow. If you wish to know how it should be when you go technical about it, then follow the two simple steps provided by Egle (2011) in the book Pronunciation Pages: Sounds of American Englishwhich has the long o illustration:
Part 1: The body of the tongue is pushed back and in a low-to- mid mouth position and the bottom teeth can be felt along the sides of the tongue.
Part 2: The sound moves into a w sound by raising the jaw slightly while closing the lips into a small circle.The body of the tongue moves upward until the tongue is near the back of the hard palate (p.18 ).
The only problem with using the aforementioned explanation is you have to explain technical terms to your students, such as hard palate. You may try using it though when you are dealing with advanced level students.
If you have other useful techniques, you may share it here. Thank you for reading!
Reference:
Egle, M. J. (2011).Pronunciation Pages: Sounds of American English. (2nd ed.). USA: Seattle Learning Academy Publication.

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