Journal of Second Language Pronunciation - Online First

This paper aims to investigate how productive oral vocabulary development can be promoted by focusing on word stress patterns. The Rhythmic Fight Club (RFC) pronunciation technique has been used in numerous ESL/EFL classrooms, but its effect on the L2 vocabulary development of learners has yet to be investigated. The present study focused on adult ESL learners and tested a four-stage learning cycle aimed at developing productive oral vocabulary. This paper focuses on findings related to one aspect of that learning cycle which used the RFC to draw learner attention to word stress patterns in order to control productive output. Findings reveal that repetition of target words whilst making a gesture helped to enhance the learners’ productive output accordingly. The paper concludes that kinaesthetic/tactile classroom teaching techniques such as the RFC can help learners to develop productive oral vocabulary by reconceptualising their perception of English speech rhythm.

This review critiques Červinková Poesová and Klára Uličná’s e-book Becoming a Pronunciation teacher. It offers an overview and critical interpretation of the content, together with a display of its convenience as a practical handbook for EFL/ESL teachers and researchers of second language pronunciation instruction. The review will evaluate the authors’ approach as well as its effectiveness as a useful tool to enhance pronunciation teaching in EFL/ESL classrooms.

It has been suggested that learners can use their phonological knowledge receptively in other linguistic domains, for instance to support lexical acquisition, a process referred to as “phonological bootstrapping” ( Christophe et al., 1997 ). However, research on productive phonological processes in early foreign language acquisition has been rare. The present study addresses this gap and shows that phonology functions as a deliberate productive resource to compensate for lexical limitations in early foreign language acquisition. 184 4th grade students learning English at German primary schools were asked to tell a picture story in English. Findings show that the majority of learners use a strategy we name “productive phonological bootstrapping” to fill lexical gaps by adapting German items to the English sound system. Similar phonological phenomena as in other language contact domains occur in a combination with manipulations based on differences between German and English, suggesting an interplay of universal and language-specific processes.

Visual feedback, in which learners visually analyze acoustic speech characteristics, has been shown to significantly improve pronunciation, but extant research has varied widely with respect to the target feature, length of the intervention, and type of intervention. This study presents a comparative analysis of three methods of visual feedback for L2 segmental pronunciation instruction. These methods, all focused on training voice onset time for English-speaking learners of Spanish, differed in duration of instruction (i.e., short and long) and the nature of each intervention (i.e., phonemes presented simultaneously or sequentially). Results show that while all forms of visual feedback significantly improve L2 Spanish pronunciation, evidenced by a reduction in voice onset time, the greatest improvement was found following both longer treatments and a sequential approach. Theoretical and pedagogical implications are discussed.

This study explored the potential impact of pronunciation instruction on L2 listening comprehension. Seventy-two intermediate Vietnamese EFL university learners formed two groups. The pronunciation group (n = 35) received seven weekly 45-minute pronunciation instruction sessions targeting segmental and suprasegmental features of English. The control group (n = 37) did not receive any pronunciation instruction. Weekly reflections, an exit questionnaire and focus group interviews were used to investigate learners’ perceptions of the impact of the pronunciation instruction. Results showed that the two groups’ immediate listening post-test scores did not differ significantly after the first two sessions on syllables and consonants/vowels. However, the pronunciation group outperformed the control group after three further pronunciation sessions on word stress, thought groups and sentence focus, but these differences disappeared on subsequent immediate and delayed post-tests. Self-report data indicated learners’ positive perceptions of the helpfulness of the pronunciation instruction and how the gained pronunciation knowledge helped improve their listening comprehension.