Posters

More, Better, Earlier: Developing Targeted Linguistics Strategies for Spanish Pronunciation

Authors: Jordan Sandoval (Western Washington University) , Kirsten Drickey (Western Washington University) , Nancy Brill (Western Washington University) , Brahm vanWoerden (Western Washington University)

Abstract

Intermediate-levelSpanishlanguageclassesfocusprimarilyondevelopingvocabulary,coregrammaticalconcepts,andawarenessofculturalpatterns.Consequently,instructorsfocusonsyntacticandmorphologicalaspectsofthetargetlanguagewhileneglectingexplicitphonologicalinstructionorrelegatingthistoupper-divisioncourses,wherestudentsarrivewithfossilizedL1-influencedproductionpatternsthathindertheirabilitytoeffectivelycommunicatewithnativespeakers.Webelievethatthesedeficitsarepreventablewithearlierintervention,andhavethuscreatedcurricularcomponentsthatgiveintermediate-levelSpanishstudentsexplicitphonologicaltrainingearlierintheirstudyofthelanguage.Wehavepilotedthesemodulesinintermediate-levelSpanishclassesatamedium-sizedpublicinstitutioninthePacificNorthwestandreportimprovementsinstudents’understandingofEnglishtransferfeaturesaswellasincreasedconfidenceassessingtheirownproductionsandusingSpanishoutsidetheclassroom.

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How to Cite: Sandoval, J. , Drickey, K. , Brill, N. & vanWoerden, B. (2019) “More, Better, Earlier: Developing Targeted Linguistics Strategies for Spanish Pronunciation”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings. 11(1).