SHADOWING WITH THE ENHANCED SCRIPT FOR LEARNING CONSONANT-VOWEL LINKING: A CASE STUDY OF VIETNAMESE LEARNERS

The role of connected speech as part of pronunciation is seen as important for second language acquisition, yet there are intractable difficulties in acquiring it, especially consonant-vowel linking. As a result, the purpose of the study is to explore the effects of shadowing with the enhanced script on consonant-vowel linking by reporting some cases which were further observed by the researcher throughout the research time. The main instrument administered to collect qualitative data was a semi-structured interview in order to gain more insights into the participants’ attitudes about shadowing with the enhanced script. The observation was used to supplement the data. All of the research procedures were conducted online due to the complexities of Covid. The results highlight the importance of shadowing with the enhanced script, which is useful for the learning of pronunciation skills, especially consonant-vowel learning; besides, it points out some problems and solutions to deal with shadowing.  Article visualizations

The effectiveness of linking instruction on NNS speech perception and production

Despite the prevalence of connected speech processes in spoken English and their importance for communication, there has been relatively little research on them in the field of second language learning. This study investigated the effectiveness of using two methods for teaching linking to NNSs of English. Audio-visual (AV) feedback, integrating both audio and electronic visual feedback, and audio-only (AO) feedback were employed in the development of online materials to help improve learners\u27 perception and production of consonant-to-vowel linking such as \u27give in\u27 and vowel-to-vowel linking such as \u27see it\u27. The long-term effectiveness of the instructional materials was also examined to see whether learners were able to retain improvement beyond the training period. In addition, the study explored whether improvement can transfer to novel contexts. The influence of high frequency and low frequency words on linking production was also investigated. Finally, students\u27 perceptions of the use of AV and AO feedback were reported to guide future implementation of the materials. Forty-five learners of English participated in the study with 15 students in each of the two experimental groups and the control group. A pretest, posttest and delayed posttest design was implemented to answer the research questions of the study. Students\u27 dictation of old and new sentences and their audio recordings of two read texts were analyzed. Qualitative data consisted of students\u27 answers to a post-training questionnaire. Findings indicate that both types of training were effective in improving learners\u27 perception and production of linking immediately and one month after training. Learners were also able to transfer the gained improvement to novel contexts. In addition, it was found that students\u27 improvement of linking high frequency words was significantly greater than that of low frequency words, which were more difficult to link. The use of audio-visual training with waveforms resulted in better improvement in linking perception and production as well as more positive learner feedback than the audio-only training. The findings of the study hold a number of pedagogical implications for language teachers, material developers, and those interested in researching connected speech and the use of technology for language learning

Attention Control and The Effects of Online Training in Improving Connected Speech Perception by Learners of English As A Second Language

One of the aspects of L2 English phonology which poses a challenge for L2 learners is learning how to decode the language, especially as spoken by native speakers. This difficulty may be due to the way the native speakers speak by ‘draw[ing] [the sounds] together’ (Clarey & Dixson, 1963), which results in realization of consonants and vowels differently than when uttered in isolation. This process is referred to as connected speech (e.g., pronouncing ‘want to’ as [wɑnə], and ‘going to’ as [ɡʌnə]). The challenge in teaching and learning these forms is that they lack perceptual saliency, requiring extra attentional resources for learners to be able to recognize these forms in spoken language. Therefore, a better understanding of the role of attention in learning these forms is needed. While some studies find a relationship between attention control as a cognitive ability and L2 phonological processing (Darcy, Mora & Daidone, 2014; Safronova & Mora, 2012a), other studies have failed to confirm the existence of such a relationship (Darcy, Park & Yang, 2015). More importantly, to date, no study has examined attention control as it relates to L2 phonological gains, especially in learning a phonological aspect of L2 English other than individual segments as the target linguistic item. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the effects of training in improving the connected speech perception of L2 learners as well as the relationship between attention control and learners’ improvement in connected speech perception. To do this, English as a Second Language learners, who were assigned to an experimental (n = 33) or a control group (n = 25), took a two-option forced-choice, pre- and post-test. The experimental group received online training on word-boundary palatalization as a connected speech phenomenon for three weeks while the control group did not. Word-boundary palatalization occurs in the transformation of [toʊld ju]~ [toʊldʒʊ] ‘told you’ or [want ju]~[wantʃʊ] ‘want you’. To measure attention control, all students were given a Speech-Based Attention Switching Task (Darcy, Mora & Daidone, 2014; Darcy & Mora, in press; Mora and Darcy, in press) and an Attention Network Test (ANT) (Fan, McCandliss, Sommer, Raz & Posner, 2002). The findings reveal that learners both in the control and experimental groups improved their scores on the post-test; however, the improvement in the scores of the experimental group was significantly higher than those of the control group (p =.007). Furthermore, correlation analyses showed a significant negative correlation between the post-test scores and attention control, and the gain scores and attention control as measured by the Speech-Based Attention Control Task (p =.002 and p =.008, respectively) and the conflict effect of the Attention Network Test (p =.004 and p =.032, respectively). Additionally, overlapping results between the two attention control tasks were also found as revealed by the significant correlation between the shift-cost and conflict effect measures (p =.009). Overall, the results indicated that L2 learners benefit from online training in improving performance scores on a perception test of word-boundary palatalization, which is promising for further studies of connected speech teaching and learning. The findings also reveal a significant relationship between learners’ attention control and phonological learning, which shows the crucial role attention control plays in learning connected speech