Measurement for accentedness, pause frequency/duration and nuclear stress placement in the EFL classroom

Abstract

This study reports on an experimental research carried out with 50 Spanish-L1 trainees, divided into 2 groups: A & B. Both groups were presented with a traditional-teacher centered approach based on controlled exercises (repetition, imitation), but group B added a communicative component in which students completed a battery of sequenced tasks with a focus on phonological form. Both groups recorded a speaking test before & after instruction which was used to measure and compare degrees of accentedness, frequency & duration of pauses and nuclear stress placement. Ten English-native-speaker-raters judged the recordings to determine the speakers’ degree of perceived accentedness. Two specialists, using inter-marker reliability, segmented the transcriptions of recordings and identified nuclear stress placement. Another two specialists identified empty pauses. Multivariate analysis was used to measure results. Overall, group B (learners exposed to the communicative component) obtained better results in all 3 parameters than the other group. Finally, some pedagogical implications for the teaching of L2 pronunciation in ELT contexts will be discussed.

Enseñanza y evaluación de la pronunciación en L2: Un estudio interlingüístico entre oyentes brasileños y hablantes argentinos.

“…Estos datos también se corroboran en otros estudios (p. ej., Derwing y Rossiter, 2003;Field, 2005;Hahn, 2004;Luchini, 2017).…”

Production of Vowels and Nuclear Accents by Chilean Learners of English as a Foreign Language

“…In the case of prosody, it is said to be the first element acquired in our L1, while the hardest one to acquire or learn in our L2. Finch & Ortiz Lira (1982) recommend that students get a feel for rhythm from the very early stages of learning, as instruction focused on awareness seems to be crucial to achieve high proficiency (Luchini, 2017). As Erickson (2013) puts it, teachers need to help students "to be perceptually sensitive to prosodic (including rhythmic) characteristics of the target language, and then to practice this repeatedly" (p. 156).…”