Journal of Second Language Pronunciation - Volume 5, Issue 1, 2019

Abstract

This paper examines some of the factors that make for a good teaching-oriented paper, in which research and practice are most clearly connected. Such papers have clear research questions, explicit and systematic approaches to teaching and learning for experimental and control groups, improvement measured by pre and posttests, and well-developed teaching implications. Various papers from different journals are used to illustrate the characteristics of successful teaching-oriented papers.

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of pronunciation instruction for 36 tertiary learners of Korean in terms of accentedness, comprehensibility, and phonological error rates while accounting for proficiency (2nd-semester beginners, 4th-semester intermediates), first language background (English, Chinese), and task effects. Participants completed beginner-appropriate picture description and read-aloud tasks at pretest and posttest. Over eight weeks, a treatment group received eight hours of instruction targeting segmental and syllable-structure features. Ten Korean NSs judged learner accentedness and comprehensibility, and learner productions were analyzed for phonological errors. Beginners’ accentedness, comprehensibility, and error rates improved regardless of receiving instruction. For intermediates, the control group showed no development in comprehensibility or accentedness, while the treatment group trended toward increased comprehensibility. Intermediate students showed minimal improvements in phonological error rates. L1 had a negligible impact on accentedness and comprehensibility, but Chinese-speaking students committed more syllable-structure errors. Associations between phonological errors and comprehensibility/accentedness varied by outcome task and L1.

Abstract

The current study set out to investigate the effects of oral corrective feedback (OCF) and examine the impact of correction timing on lexical stress and sentence intonation accuracy in a Persian context. The data was collected from a sample of upper-intermediate EFL students (N = 61). Immediate teacher-explicit OCF, delayed teacher-explicit OCF, and a control group were randomly assigned to three classes. A list of 50 new words, contextualized in 50 statements/questions, were utilized to measure any possible gains. Analysis of post-test results confirmed that the teacher immediate OCF (n = 20) and teacher delayed OCF (n = 20) classes outperformed the control group (n = 21). Post-hoc analysis revealed that the treatment groups were not significantly different in lexical stress accuracy gains. In contrast, the immediate group had significantly higher gains than the delayed one in sentence intonation accuracy.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to test the usability of ultrasound as a visual feedback tool in L2 pronunciation training. Six Japanese-speaking learners, aged 28–33 years, participating in a course in French phonetics for L2 learners, took part in the study. Four of them received three individual 45-minute lessons of ultrasound pronunciation training. The other two participants did not. Articulatory and acoustic data of French isolated /y/ and /u/ and Japanese [ɯ] were recorded before and after the ultrasound training, as well as two months later for the learners receiving the training. The analysis of the articulatory data revealed that three speakers with ultrasound feedback improved in the production of the French vowels, the contrast between them, as well as the contrast between the two French vowels and the Japanese [ɯ], suggesting that ultrasound may be a useful tool in second language pronunciation learning.

Abstract

In pronunciation learning, there is a need for resources and tools that help students monitor their speech or provide feedback on errors. While researchers have seen ASR-based technologies as potential tools, little attention has been paid to dictation programs, which have been criticized for low levels of recognition, but offer advantages such as accessibility and flexibility. This study examines two groups of learners in a pronunciation workshop: CONV, which had fully face-to-face instruction, and HYBRID, which had half of the instruction face-to-face and half using the computer, practicing production using a dictation program, Windows Speech Recognition. Results show that both groups improved from pre- to post-test and that there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups. Results indicate that dictation programs may be useful as a complement to face-to-face pronunciation teaching, especially if in-class time for pronunciation teaching is limited.

Abstract

This qualitative and quantitative study applies conversation analytic methodology to the examination of mutual intelligibility, and then quantifies the segmental repairs and segmental adjustments that were required to maintain intelligibility in English as a Lingua Franca interactions among students at a Japanese university. In the qualitative portion, sequential analysis was used to ascertain the segmental repairs that were utilized to maintain mutual intelligibility and to identify the pronunciations that interactants oriented to as unintelligible and intelligible, which can then be compared to determine the segmental adjustments that changed an unintelligible pronunciation into an intelligible one. In the quantitative portion, the segmental repairs and the segmental adjustments were quantified in order to assess which kinds of segmental repairs and segmental adjustments are most frequent. This study concludes that reactive repair is the most frequent segmental repair, and modification is the most frequent segmental adjustment.

Abstract

Nonnative (L2) English learners are often assumed to exhibit greater speech production variability than native (L1) speakers; however, support for this assumption is primarily limited to secondary observations rather than having been the specific focus of empirical investigations. The present study examined intra-speaker variability associated with L2 English learners’ tense and lax vowel productions to determine whether they showed comparable or greater intra-speaker variability than native English speakers. First and second formants of three tense/lax vowel pairs were measured, and Coefficient of Variation was calculated for 10 native speakers of American English and 30 nonnative speakers. The L2 speakers’ vowel formants were found to be native-like approximately half of the time. Whether their formants were native-like or not, however, they seldom showed greater intra-speaker variability than the L1 speakers.

This article reviews Teaching the pronunciation of English: Focus on whole courses