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.

Table of contents :
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