Measurements for Accentedness, Pause and Nuclear Stress Placement in the EFL Context

Abstract:

This study reports on an experimental research conducted with 50 Spanish-L1 college students, divided into 2 groups (A and B). They were presented with a teacher-centered approach based on controlled exercises, but group B received an awareness-building component in which students completed a sequence of tasks with a focus on phonological form. Both groups recorded a speaking test before and after instruction which was used to measure and compare degrees of accentedness, frequency and duration of pauses and nuclear stress placement. Different groups of raters listened and judged the speech samples. Multivariate analysis showed that group B obtained better results in all 3 parameters than the other group. Finally, some pedagogical implications for the teaching of L2 pronunciation in ELT contexts will be discussed.

Keywords:
pronunciation instruction; accentedness; pauses; nuclear stress; awareness-rising