Presentation

Acquisition of L2 Phonology in Advanced Learners: Does Instruction Make a Difference?

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Abstract

Research in second language phonology suggests that direct pronunciation instruction may improve students’ pronunciation (Derwing, Munro & Wiebe, 1997; 1998; Lord, 2005). For example, Lord’s (2005) study of the instructional effects of a Spanish phonetics course on advanced Spanish learners’ acquisition of phonology showed that learners improved in their pronunciation over the course of a semester, but one of the study’s limitations was that there was no control group. Therefore, it is unclear whether improvement was related to the phonetics course, or merely a result of being enrolled in any advanced Spanish course. This study presents a preliminary analysis of one feature, Spanish stress, based on a replication of Lord’s (2005) study, but includes a control group enrolled in advanced Spanish courses (n = 17), as well as the experimental group enrolled in a Spanish phonetics course (n = 11). All participants were enrolled in third and fourth year Spanish courses; they completed an initial recording during the first four weeks of the semester, and a final recording during the last four weeks of the semester. Results indicate that the students who most need pronunciation instruction are not enrolled in phonetics classes.

How to Cite:

Saalfeld, A., (2010) “Acquisition of L2 Phonology in Advanced Learners: Does Instruction Make a Difference?”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings 2(1).