Attempts to Improve English L2 Pronunciation: The Variable Effects of Different Types of Instruction

Abstract

This study compared the pronunciation of targeted vocabulary items in spontaneous speech by 23 adult Chinese L1 learners of L2 English grouped into four different conditions reflecting current pedagogical practices: (a) traditional drilling activities, (b) self‐study with tape recordings, (c) interactive activities, and (d) a no‐intervention control condition. One hundred and twenty native‐speaking listeners judged whether there was improvement or deterioration in pronunciation before and at two separate times subsequent to each of the four conditions. Because none of the results appeared to overwhelmingly favor one teaching technique, we included a discussion of the range of patterns of change brought about by the four input types. We also present arguments for a more serious consideration of the complex effects potentially involved when setting out to modify a learner's L2 pronunciation.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 118 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.