Pronunciation Training Facilitates the Learning and Retention of L2 Grammatical Structures

Abstract

The present study investigated the impact of pronunciation training on the learning and retention of second language (L2) grammatical structures. By drawing on the phonological saliency of stress placement in German separable‐ and inseparable‐prefix verbs, the study explored whether enhancing explicit instruction through pronunciation training can boost learners’ accuracy with the target grammatical form. Learners’ command of separable‐ and inseparable‐prefix verbs was tested prior to and after a grammar lesson using a listening task in which participants identified whether target verbs contained a separable or inseparable prefix and a written production task in which participants described pictures using separable‐ and inseparable‐prefix verbs. Results revealed significant and sustained improvement on both the listening and written production task among the grammar + pronunciation group, which suggests that pronunciation training can facilitate the learning and retention of L2 grammatical structures over and above explicit instruction.

The Effectiveness of Video‐Based Shadowing and Tracking Pronunciation Exercises for Foreign Language Learners

“…These hypotheses are consistent with other frameworks that have been proposed for organizing pronunciation instruction (Darcy, Ewert, & Lidster, ; Derwing et al, 1998; Trofimovich & Gatbonton, ; Yates, 2017). Although they all promote slightly different approaches, they seem to agree on three critical components: (1) the need to provide learners with a description and analysis of distinguishing pronunciation characteristics of the L2 (Yates, 2017); (2) helping learners to notice those features in contextualized speech (Eckstein, ; Yates, 2017); and (3) engaging learners in a series of controlled, guided, and communicative practice activities with feedback (Celce‐Murcia et al, ; Eckstein, ; Martin & Jackson, ).…”

The pronunciation teaching practices of university‐level graduate teaching assistants of French and Spanish introductory language courses

“…To overcome the obstacle of a perceived lack of time for incorporating pronunciation, Darcy, Ewert, and Lidster () and Darcy () advocated for the inclusion of pronunciation from the outset and called for its consistent integration. Martin and Jackson () demonstrated that mini pronunciation lessons could be purposely integrated within a curriculum using short homework modules on word stress in a second‐semester German course at the point when the grammatical focus was on separable prefix verbs. Using apps that incorporate automatic speech recognition (ASR) (e.g., Foote & McDonough, ; Mroz, ) also offers a potentially fruitful approach: Although Mroz investigated the use of ASR with more advanced learners, her data provided a compelling case for the use of ASR to simultaneously provide individualized feedback and a focus on intelligibility while increasing learner autonomy.…”

“…It is generally understood that improved pronunciation plays an important role in learner progress toward higher levels of proficiency . In addition to studies providing evidence of the effectiveness of pronunciation instruction for improving the comprehensibility of English as a second language (ESL) learners (e.g., Derwing, Munro, & Wiebe, ; Gordon & Darcy, ), recent empirical work has also demonstrated that teaching aspects of prosody can benefit the learning of a grammatical structure (Martin & Jackson, ). Pronunciation has also been linked to understanding connected speech, recognizing and processing language when reading, and spelling accurately when writing (for an overview, see Darcy, ).…”

Pronunciation recognition of English phonemes /\textipa{@}/, /æ/, /\textipa{A}:/ and /\textipa{2}/ using Formants and Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients

“…Unquestionably, the main goal in pronunciation teaching is to improve the ability of a language learner to use their vocal tract to produce sounds that are recognized as native sounds by native speakers of that language. Although this remains a challenge, particularly in the early stages of learning a language (Mirzaei, Gowhary, Azizifar, & Esmaeili, 2015), it also provides a means by which students can improve the learning and retention of grammatical structures (Martin & Jackson, 2016). Also, since different languages have different sound systems, it is normal for language learners to struggle learning them.…”