Impact of self‐reflection and awareness‐raising on novice French learners’ pronunciation

Abstract

Developing intelligible pronunciation is an important goal for language learners. Although it can be fostered through explicit instruction in communicative‐based courses, instructors need practical solutions to address their learners’ pronunciation individually. This one‐semester quasi‐experimental mixed methods study of 60 Generation Z novice French learners examined whether and how self‐reflection could be an effective learning strategy and an efficient complement in supporting the development of intelligible production of two phonological aspects (/y/‐/u/ and mandatory liaisons). Results of pre/post production tests for a treatment group (explicit instruction with self‐reflections) and a comparison group (explicit instruction only) were compared and responses to guided, open‐ended self‐reflections framed by the Awareness Continuum theory served to document students’ learning process. Self‐reflection resulted in significant production gains, particularly for learners who applied their attention and (multi‐)linguistic background to raise their phonological awareness.

Exploring the Pronunciation Awareness Continuum through Self-Reflection in the L2 French Learning Process

“…Furthermore, research has shown that pronunciation instruction leads to improved intelligibility by drawing learners' attention to specific pronunciation challenges that may impede their intelligibility (Derwing 2018;Levis 2018;Meritan and Mroz 2019).…”

“…This study thus focused on the explicit instruction of segmental and suprasegmental features hypothesized to impact intelligibility in French: the /y/-/u/ contrastive pair and liaisons, in a classroom setting. It is proposed here that using metacognitive strategies such as self-reflection may help draw learners' attention beyond specific phonological characteristics and raise phonological awareness (Meritan and Mroz 2019;Inceoglu 2021).…”

“…Lennon (1989) established that introspective techniques, such as guided reports via prompts, could lead to L2 learners being more aware of their progress, performance, and state of competence. More recently, researchers have recommended using metalinguistic activities such as self-reflection assessments to allow reflection on language and as a particularly effective learning tool that probes deeper levels of reflection and noticing (Meritan and Mroz 2019;Inceoglu 2021;Moyer 2017;Wrembel 2015). Furthermore, according to Leow (2015), even if learners are exposed to the same input in the language classroom, they may differ in the way that they perform.…”

“…Additionally, research on the impact of phonological awareness on the L2 learning process is nascent. Only few studies have investigated awareness through self-reflection, though not longitudinally (Inceoglu 2021;Meritan and Mroz 2019). The current study will quantitatively and qualitatively, as well as longitudinally, explore the role of self-reflection on L2 French learners' pronunciation, their phonological awareness, their learning process, and their learning outcomes (Derwing 2018;Inceoglu 2021;.…”

Results of Experimental Teaching Self-Reflection while Speaking

“…Another aspect, which is highly relevant nowadays, is the search for methodologies that would aim at raising efficiency of studying for will-be ESL teachers. One of them could be promoting self-reflection while studying a second language (Meritan & Mroz, 2019). This will allow university graduates to become independent, responsible individuals capable of critical thinking and at the same time reflective practitioners and skillful professionals (Asyari, Muhdhar & Susilo, 2016).…”