Journal of Second Language Pronunciation - Volume 5, Issue 2, 2019

Abstract

This editorial looks at L2 pronunciation dissertations from 2017 and 2018 to see what topics were of interest in research, to examine trends, and to suggest ideas for the future. The largest group of dissertations reflect interest in instruction and instructional interventions. These interventions look at a wide variety of features, types of instruction (e.g., implicit vs. explicit), different L1-L2 combinations, and the importance of materials in teacher training. The next most common topic was perception, followed by prosody (including stress, intonation, tone and fluency) and acquisition. English and Spanish were the most frequently studied L2s, indicating a need for L2 pronunciation in less commonly researched languages.

Abstract

This study investigated the production and perception of Vietnamese tones by Korean second language (L2) learners [n = 11], comparing their performance in an Imitation task to that in Identification and Read-Aloud tasks. The results showed that the Imitation task was generally easier for Korean speakers than the Identification and Read-Aloud tasks, suggesting that imitation was performed without some of the skills required by the other two tasks. The result on tonal F0 range and speakers’ tonal range showed that the Korean leaners have significantly narrower tonal F0 range than control Vietnamese speakers [n = 11]. The results of error pattern analysis and tonal transcription in this study also suggested the effects of phonetic realizations of lexical tones in Vietnamese that are in interaction with language transfer from Korean phonology.

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of a 16-week course on the development of second language French pronunciation. The course targeted segmental and suprasegmental features and fluency development, and was administered entirely online. Pre- and post-test tasks (i.e., picture narration, reading-aloud, and conversation simulation) were used to analyze learners’ pronunciation development in terms of segmental errors, connected speech (use of liaisons and enchaînements), and fluency (including pauses and mean length of run). Participants’ accentedness, comprehensibility, and fluency were also judged by five native listeners. Findings revealed a significant decrease in segmental errors and unfilled pause frequency in all the tasks, and improvement in fluency in the reading and conversation tasks. Results also showed a positive trend but no significant improvement in the use of liaisons and enchaînements. There was, however, no significant improvement in the measures of listeners’ ratings. The results are discussed in light of previous research on pronunciation instruction.

Abstract

This paper investigates the occurrence of misunderstandings in ELF (English as a Lingua Franca) interactions caused by vowel pronunciation in Brunei English. The study is based on ten audio recordings, each consisting of conversations between two participants: a Bruneian (L2 speaker) and a non-Bruneian speaker. Out of a total of 152 tokens (occurrences) of misunderstandings identified, 36 of them (23.7%) are found to involve vowel pronunciation. Data analysis includes examining vowel length, the vowels of face, goat, price, mouth, monosyllabic triphthongs, trap, vowel reduction, spelling pronunciation and American pronunciation in causing misunderstandings. The findings indicate that misunderstandings may be caused by a change in vowel length and quality in 28 tokens. The study concludes that vowel pronunciation in Brunei English conversational speech, particularly in the lack of vowel length distinction and absence of diphthongs in closed syllables may occasionally lead to a loss of intelligibility in ELF settings.

Abstract

Scholars advocate for more classroom attention to be paid to spoken grammar which deviates from commonly taught rules of writing. However, these recommendations have not considered potential barriers that learners may encounter when using spoken grammar with L1 speakers. We investigate one such challenge: the effect of learners’ accents and degree of accentedness on how their use of these forms is subjectively perceived by L1 speakers. Ten non-expert raters rated the grammatical acceptability of four frequent spoken grammar forms, read out by 15 speakers (10 L1 Tagalog, 5 L1 English) rated as having heavy, moderate, or no accents. A one-way ANOVA revealed a significant effect of accent on grammaticality scores. Post-hoc tests showed a strong correlation between accent and perceived grammaticality, with more accented speakers scoring significantly lower on grammaticality. The discussion considers implications for spoken grammar teaching, and future research on the relationship between accent and perceived grammaticality.

Abstract

Researchers have increasingly turned to Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) to crowdsource speech data, predominantly in English. Although AMT and similar platforms are well positioned to enhance the state of the art in L2 research, it is unclear if crowdsourced L2 speech ratings are reliable, particularly in languages other than English. The present study describes the development and deployment of an AMT task to crowdsource comprehensibility, fluency, and accentedness ratings for L2 Spanish speech samples. Fifty-four AMT workers who were native Spanish speakers from 11 countries participated in the ratings. Intraclass correlation coefficients were used to estimate group-level interrater reliability, and Rasch analyses were undertaken to examine individual differences in rater severity and fit. Excellent reliability was observed for the comprehensibility and fluency ratings, but indices were slightly lower for accentedness, leading to recommendations to improve the task for future data collection.

This article reviews English Phonetics and Pronunciation Practice

This article reviews Discourse Intonation: A Discourse-Pragmatic Approach to Teaching the Pronunciation of English

This article reviews Learning English: Pronunciation