English Pronunciation Instruction

Description

English Pronunciation Instruction: Research-based insights presents recent research on L2 English pronunciation including pedagogical implications and applications, and seeks to bridge the gulf between pronunciation research and teaching practice. The volume’s 15 chapters cover a range of aspects that are central to pronunciation teaching, including the teaching of different segmental and suprasegmental features, teachers’ and learners’ views and practices, types and sources of learners’ errors, feedback and assessment, tools and strategies for pronunciation instruction, reactions towards accented speech, as well as the connection between research and teaching. Chapters offer a fully developed section on pedagogical implications with insightful suggestions for classroom instruction. This format and the variety of topics will be informative for researchers, language teachers, and students interested in English pronunciation, as it explores the diverse challenges learners of different L1 backgrounds face, and also provides research-informed techniques and recommendations on how to cope with them. English Pronunciation Instruction Editorial page Title page Copyright page Table of contents List of tables List of figures Acknowledgements Contributors Chapter 1. Advancing towards research-informed pronunciation pedagogy Introduction In search of the intersection between research and practice Structure of the volume Intended readership References Part I. Linking research and practice Chapter 2. Connecting the dots between pronunciation research and practice Background Ongoing concerns about pedagogical implications Why researchers and teachers have trouble communicating Other differences between teachers and researchers Where research can inform teaching What teachers would find helpful What researchers would find helpful Conclusion References Chapter 3. When a psycholinguist enters the multilingual classroom: Bridging the gap between psycholinguistics and pronunciation teaching Introduction The multilingual classroom Differences between L2 and L3 learners in pronunciation acquisition Psycholinguistic accounts of L3/Ln pronunciation acquisition Teaching L3/Ln pronunciation: Extensions and challenges Pedagogical recommendations for L3/Ln pronunciation Calls for action Calls for teachers Calls for researchers Conclusion References Part II. Surveying beliefs, attitudes and classroom practices Chapter 4. Teaching English pronunciation in Croatian elementary schools: Views and practices Introduction Teaching pronunciation The research study Aim and research questions Participants Instrument Procedure Results and analysis Attitudes to pronunciation Teacher training Textbook materials Teaching practices and addressing pronunciation difficulties Discussion of results and key findings Pedagogical implications Conclusion Acknowledgements References Appendix A. Questionnaire about the pronunciation and teaching practices of Croatian and English: Teacher’s questionnaire Appendix B. Questionnaire about the pronunciation and teaching practices of croatian and English: Learner’s questionnaire Chapter 5. Cause for optimism: Non-native pre-service teacher’s attitudes towards and beliefs about accent Introduction and theoretical framework Attitudes towards English accents in the local educational contex Self-report perspective on accentedness Research aims Research methodology Data collection Participants Results and analyses General view on English teachers Current experience with university lecturers Imagined teacher identity Correlational analysis Discussion Pedagogical implications Conclusion References Appendix A. Accent attitudes questionnaire Appendix B. Prompts for an awareness-raising activity Chapter 6. Summative and formative pronunciation assessment in Polish secondary schools: The students’ perspective Introduction Summative and formative assessment Pronunciation assessment in the FL classroom Method Research questions Participants Instrument Data-gathering and analysis procedures Results: Presentation and discussion Quantitative data: Frequency of SA and FA of pronunciation Quantitative data: Task types used for SA/FA and pronunciation aspects assessed by SA/FA Qualitative data Pedagogical implications Conclusion References Appendix. Questionnaire for students – assessment in secondary school Thank you for joining the study! Chapter 7. Pronunciation learning strategies: A task-based perspective Introduction Previous research on pronunciation learning strategies The current study Research questions Participants Stimulus materials Instruments Procedure Results and analysis Task 1 results: Vowel identification Task 2 results: IPA-to-orthography Task 3 results: Vowel matching Task 4 results: Minimal pair matching and providing vowel symbols Task 5 results: Identifying letters representing vowels and diphthongs Task 6 results: Identifying schwa in a simple text Discussion and key findings Pedagogical implications Conclusion References Part III. Using corpora to inform instruction Chapter 8. The intonation contour of non-finality revisited: Implications for EFL teaching Introduction Theoretical framework and previous research The functions of intonation contours Rising contours and speaking styles Hypothesis and possible pedagogical implications Corpus and method Corpus Method Results and discussion Tonal distribution in the corpus Results per speaker Pedagogical implications The visualisation of prosody The map task as a support for authentic oral production Conclusion References Appendix. Four texts of the EUROM1 corpus recorded for the ANGLISH corpus Chapter 9. Rationale and design of a study of foreign accented academic English Introduction Context European EMI: Speakers and listeners Complex learning, cognitive load, and accentedness Prosody and comprehensibility Language transfer and its impact IP-CAFES project Research questions and hypotheses Collecting the corpus recordings Selecting and creating the stimuli Creating and administering the perception tests Using qualitative and quantitative data Pedagogical implications Course content and format Speaker training Listener training Conclusion References Appendix A. Read-aloud text Appendix B. IP-CAFES Listener questionnaire Chapter 10. Corrective feedback and unintelligibility: Do they work in tandem during tandem interactions? Introduction Background Methodology The SITAF tandem corpus Identifying corrective feedback instances Identifying miscommunication instances Results and analysis Corrective feedback instances Miscommunication instances Discussion Pedagogical implications Conclusion References Appendix. Post-recording questionnaires Part IV. Investigating learners’ output Chapter 11. Acquisition of English onset consonant clusters by L1 Chinese speakers Introduction The present study The acquisition of English syllable structure by L1 Chinese speakers Research questions Research methodology Stimulus materials Participants Procedure Data analysis and results Discussion of results and key findings Pedagogical implications Phase 1. Familiarisation with initial consonant clusters Phase 2. Contrasting and discrimination of initial consonant clusters Phase 3. Follow-up practice Conclusions References Appendix 1. Stimuli Chapter 12. Vowel reduction in English grammatical words by Macedonian EFL learners Introduction Previous research studies on vowel reduction The current study Research questions Research methodology Participants Stimuli Procedure Data analysis Frequency of weak form use Weak form use across proficiency levels Weak forms use across word categories Weak forms use across trained and untrained groups Frequency of weak forms use across strong vowels Discussion Pedagogical implications Conclusion Acknowledgements References Appendix A. Stimulus materials and tasks for data collection Appendix B. Handout for raters to select the pronunciation variant they hear Appendix C. Strong and weak forms of grammatical words used as target words Part V. Exploring tools and techniques Chapter 13. Integrating prosodic features in a children’s English course Introduction Prosodic features of English and Czech Young learners and language teaching Research objectives and hypotheses Method Participants English lessons Example of a typical lesson Materials and recording Analyses Results and discussion General discussion Limitations Pedagogical implications Conclusion Funding References Appendix. Recording texts Chapter 14. Differential effects of lexical and non-lexical high-variability phonetic training on the production of L2 vowels Introduction Conditions in HVPT Methods Participants Materials Phonetic training Testing Procedures Data analysis Results Generalisation effects Training group effects Discussion Pedagogical implications Conclusion References Appendix A. Stimuli Appendix B. Parameter estimates Chapter 15. Mobile apps for pronunciation training: Exploring learner engagement and retention Introduction Computer-Assisted Pronunciation Training (CAPT) Computer vs. mobile Mobile (pronunciation) apps and affordances Mobile-Assisted Pronunciation Training (MAPT) Mobile app engagement and retention The present study Method Course description Participants Instruments Procedure Data analysis RQ1: Importance of MAPT for learners RQ2: App engagement and retention by learners Discussion Pedagogical implications Limitations Conclusion References Apps Index