Taiwan EFL Learners’ Pronunciation Strategies in Two Learning Contexts NA2C0003 傅學琳

Motivation Learners’ strategic awareness in pronunciation may facilitate their acquisition of comprehensible pronunciation, and thus decrease the opportunities of being in placed unequally in L2 societies because of their strong accents.

Purpose The study investigate the learners’ pronunciation strategies of two learning contexts, CBPT (computer-assisted) and CAPT (classroom-based)

Literature Review A. Foci of Pronunciation Teaching Scarcella & Oxford (1994) Learners’ awareness plays a role in pronunciation learning. Learners’ no or few responsibility in pronunciation improvement has now been replaced by their self-monitoring, awareness, and strategies.

B. Learners’ Strategic Awareness in Pronunciation Learning Derwing & Rossiter (2002) When learners are misunderstood in communication, the top five common strategies are paraphrase, self-repetition, writing/spelling, volume adjustment, speaking clearly Literature Review

C. Computer-assisted Pronunciation Training (CAPT) Pennington(1999) CAPT provides immediate feedback, its analysis is also repeatable, so as to increase its reliability. There learners may reach automaticity of pronunciation after practice. Literature Review

1.Is there any significant correlation between learners’ pronunciation activities employed in CAPT and CBPT? 2.Are there any significant differences in learners’ strategies between learning contexts of CAPT and CBPT? Research Questions

3.Are there any significant differences in strategy use between learners studying in either context and learners studying in both contexts? Research Questions

Method - Participant 120 college students who attended pronunciation training classes and who used the computer-assisted pronunciation training program at one university in Taiwan. Based on participants’ English grades and their percentile rank, only students before 25% were chosen.

Method - Participant CAPT (n=30) : computer-based learn pronunciation two hours a week CBPT (n=30) : classroom-based attending classes two hours a week Both-A (n=30) : CAPT+CBPT only collect responses in CAPT class Both-B (n=30) : CAPT+CBPT only collect responses in CBPT class

Method - Instrument CAPT Different English learning software can be used freely in the labs by students. CBPT Students are taught by professors for two semesters, two hours a week. In the classroom, teacher would follow teaching materials and textbook.

Method - Instrument Pronunciation Strategies Survey A questionnaire of 5-point Likert scales, containing eight most commonly used pronunciation strategies found in Osburne’s (2003) study. List of Pronunciation Learning Activities To analyze how often certain pronunciation activities appear in different contexts.

依變項與自變項來源 自變項 : two learning contexts CAPT: computer-assisted pronunciation training CBPT: classroom-based pronunciation training 依變項 :learning activities learners’ strategies

Data Analysis – pronunciation activity Pronunciation ActivityComputer-basedClassroom-based Picture/video33.3%66.7% Teacher’s demonstration50.5%49.5% Imitation45.7%54.3% Minimal-pair drills17.9%82.1% Intonation, stress, or rhythm practice40.8%59.2% Activities based on different levels37.9%62.1% Activities based on different topics44.3%55.7% One on one interaction41.1%58.9% Pronunciation strategies by teacher32.7%67.3%

Data Analysis – pronunciation activity Pronunciation Activity Computer- based Classroom- based Total Picture/video 6.9%9.1%8.2% Teacher’s demonstration 19.9%12.9%15.7% Imitation 15.5%12.2%13.5% Minimal-pair drills 4.3%13.1%9.6% Intonation, stress, or rhythm practice 14.4%13.8%14.1% Activities based on different levels 7.9%8.6%8.3% Activities based on different topics 14.1%11.7%12.6% One on one interaction 10.8%10.3%10.5% Pronunciation strategies by teacher 6.1%8.4%7.5%

Data Analysis – pronunciation activity ValuedfAsymp. Sig (2-sided) Chi-Square * Likelihood Ratio Linear by linear association Number of valid cases The distribution of pronunciation activities between two learning contexts are different. 2.Learning context and pronunciation activities are related.

Data Analysis – learners’ strategy 1.No significant difference was found between the two learning contexts. 2.Significant differences between CAPT and Both-A, and between CBPT and Both-B GroupMeanSD CAPT (n=30) CABT (n=30) Both-A (n=30) Both-B (n=30) Total (n=120)

Discussion A. Comparison of Learning Activities between CAPT and CBPT More learning activities are used in CBPT than in CAPT. It may be easier for learners to notice different activities in the classroom with the help of teachers.

Discussion B. Learners’ Strategy Use between CAPT and CBPT There is no significant difference. In both learning contexts, they showed similar performance in strategy use and the learners relied on memory and imitation very much, but rarely noticed different qualities of sounds.

Discussion C. Learners’ strategy Use in both CAPT and CBPT Significant differences were observed when learners had learned pronunciation in both contexts. Students are more aware of specific needs for each learning context, and have opportunities to compare their learning strategies.

Conclusion Learning in both contexts simultaneously, learners’ use of pronunciation strategies increase obviously, it may effectively raise learners’ awareness of opportunities to practice for the final autonomous stage.

Limitations Participants are English high achievers, and thus may have some effects on the results. Sample size is limited for the reason of availability.

Investigate learners’ strategic knowledge more deeply through face-to-face interviews. Larger sample size. Mix levels of participants. Different pronunciation training programs can be analyzed. Future Study

Contributions The finding of this study help researchers to have clearer picture of parallel between language learning strategy and second language development. The finding also helps teachers explore strategies that are appropriate for their students according to their proficiency.

專題的相關性 導讀論文我的專題 自變項 Computer-assisted Classroom-based Computer-assisted Classroom-based 依變項 Learners’ strategy Pronunciation activities Phonemic awareness spelling 教學內容 pronunciation 樣本 120 top 25% College students 120 mixed level Elementary school students