How to Clarify Meaning, Form and Pronunciation Step by Step

Whether you're preparing for a CELTA, currently in the middle of one, or teaching your first few classes after qualifying, one of the main things you'll want to know how to do is clarify meaning, form and pronunciation. On CELTA, this can feel high stakes. You plan carefully. You rehearse your boardwork. Then, in the lesson, you realise that your students haven't understood something and you are suddenly unsure whether you have really clarified anything at all. This guide walks through MFP step by step, from the perspective of a CELTA tutor.

What Do We Mean by MFP and MFPA?

MFP stands for Meaning, Form and Pronunciation. Many trainers also add A for Appropriacy, giving us MFPA.

In practice, we often talk about MFP because appropriacy is usually embedded within meaning and it can be addressed more briefly in many lessons.

However, appropriacy still matters. If you teach “Give me a pen” without discussing when that is polite or impolite, learners may leave with language that is grammatically correct but socially risky.

Appropriacy asks questions such as:

• Is this formal or informal?

• Is it common in spoken or written English?

• Would it sound rude in some contexts?

• Is it suitable for this relationship?

It is rarely a long stage in the lesson, but it should not be ignored.

Step 1: Start with Context

Before meaning, there is context. A model sentence without context is just a sentence on a board. A model sentence inside a situation becomes meaningful.

Compare a teacher who says "I have been working here for three years." with a teacher who shows a short video of an office worker who is talking to a new colleague on her first day at work. She says, “I have been working here for three years.” Now you have something to work with!

A good context:

• Feels realistic.

• Is simple and clear.

• Can be reused when checking understanding.

• Connects to learners’ lives where possible.

Let's say you're teaching vocabulary such as “stingy”, you might build a simple context like this: "Tom earns a lot of money. He never buys birthday presents. He never pays when he goes out. His friends say he is stingy." The context gives you a story. That story then carries through into your checking questions.

Step 2: Clarifying Meaning

Meaning is not just explaining. It includes checking if students have understood.

For grammar, meaning could relate to a concept like time, intention, probability, or attitude.

Example: present perfect continuous

Model sentence: I have been revising for my CELTA all weekend!

After setting context, you might check:

• Have I finished revising?

• Did I start revising in the past?

• Did I spend a long time or a short time revising?

• Can we see the result of my revising now, for example, tired eyes and lots of coffee cups?

For vocabulary, meaning can also be conceptual.

Example: “exhausted”

Context: After teaching four online lessons and marking essays until midnight, Sam says, “I’m exhausted.”

Checking questions:

• Is Sam a little tired or very tired?

• Does he have lots of energy?

When clarifying meaning:

• Use simple language.

• Avoid giving a dictionary definition.

• Check understanding with focused questions.

• Refer back to your original context.

Step 3: Clarifying Form

With grammar, form could include:

• The structure.

• The order of words.

• Any auxiliary verbs.

• Contractions or negatives.

Using the earlier example:

I have been revising for my CELTA all weekend.

You might show:

Subject + have/has + been + verb-ing

You can highlight:

• “have” changes to “has” with he, she, it.

• The main verb takes -ing.

• Contractions “I’ve", "you've", "she's" etc.

Boardwork matters here. Clear spacing and colour can help learners see patterns.

With a single item of vocabulary, form is different. You may need to show:

• Part of speech. Is “stingy” an adjective?

• Typical patterns. “Stingy with money.”

• Word family. “Stinginess” exists, but is less common.

• Countable or uncountable. “Advice” has no plural form.

If teaching “advice”, you might clarify:

• It is uncountable.

• We say “some advice” or “a piece of advice”.

• We do not say “an advice”.

So form for vocabulary is less about structure and more about how a word or phrase behaves in a sentence.

Step 4: Clarifying Pronunciation

Pronunciation is not just saying the word and asking learners to repeat.

For grammar, this might include:

• Weak forms and contractions. “I’ve been” not “I HAVE BEEN with long vowel sounds.

• Sentence stress. The main stress may fall on “revising” or “weekend”.

For vocabulary, you may focus on:

• Word stress. ex-HAUST-ed, not EX-haust-ed.

• Silent letters and problem sounds

You do not need to give a phonology lecture when doing this. A simple board mark showing stress, and brief drilling, is often enough

MFP or MPF?

You may have been told to follow the order MFP. That is common, and often logical. Learners understand what something means before analysing its structure.

However, MPF can soametimes be useful. With some vocabulary, it can help to establish the sound before writing anything on the board so that learners are not repeatedly practising the wrong pronunciation while you are dealing with form. With some grammar, it can also be useful when the pronunciation of the target phrase is likely to cause problems in speaking, for example weak forms or linking, and you want learners to start producing the chunk smoothly before you zoom in on how it is built.

Starting with meaning is always best. It reduces the risk of learners focusing on form or sounds before they know what they are trying to say and so it's logical and easy for students to follow and use. So keep meaning first, but pronunciation and form can be switched around.

Bringing It All Together in Practice

Let us look at two brief comparisons.

Grammar Example: Past Continuous

Context: At 10 pm last night, Anna was watching a horror film. Her phone rang.

Model sentence: I was watching a horror film when you called.

Meaning checks:

• Did the phone call happen before the film started?

• Was the film finished when the phone rang?

Form:

Subject + was/were + verb-ing

Pronunciation:

• Weak form of “was”.

• Stress on “watching”.

Vocabulary Example: “Embarrassed”

Context: James waved at a stranger in the street because he thought it was his friend, but it was a stranger. He says, “I feel embarrassed.”

Meaning checks:

• Does James feel happy or uncomfortable?

• Does he feel good about the situation?

Form:

• Adjective.

• We say “embarrassed about something”.

Pronunciation:

• Stress on the second syllable.

• Final -ed pronounced as /t/.

Why Context Should Carry Through

Context is not decoration. It is the backbone of meaning. If Maria has worked somewhere for three years, refer back to Maria when checking meaning. If Tom is stingy, keep using Tom in your examples. This consistency helps learners:

• Build a mental picture.

• Link meaning and form more securely.

• Remember the language more easily.

It also makes your lesson feel coherent rather than fragmented.

Common Pitfalls on CELTA

From a tutor’s perspective, recurring issues include:

• Giving a long explanation instead of using questions to elicit from the students and to check understanding.

• Using checking questions that repeat the target language.

• Writing messy boardwork that hides the form.

• Dropping the context after the model sentence.

• Ignoring appropriacy.

A strong MFP stage is clear, economical and connected to the rest of the lesson.

Final Thoughts

Clarifying meaning, form and pronunciation is not about impressing a tutor with terminology. It is about making language clear, usable and memorable for learners.

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