Exploring How YouGlish Supports Learning English Word Stress: A Perception Study

Abstract

AbstractWrong lexical stress placement affects listeners’ ability to recognize words, especially when the misplacement leads to vowel quality change. Yet, despite its importance for intelligibility, EFL teachers rarely devote class time to teaching word stress. Based on suggestions for an intelligibility-based approach, this study investigated the effectiveness of using YouGlish (www.youglish.com) to support students’ out-of-class perception practice of lexical stress. Participants were 12 Polish EFL learners (16–18 years old) taking a language course at a school in Poland. To facilitate students’ learning of long academic words, the teacher assigned worksheets for homework. The worksheets explained two main orthographic rules that guide the stress of English polysyllabic words, and offered some practice applying the rules. Students were instructed to practice lexical stress using the worksheets and listening to the words pronounced in YouGlish out of class for four weeks. Data were gathered from pre- and post-tests assessing students’ ability to predict and perceive the stress of 20 English polysyllabic words, a background questionnaire, and pronunciation trackers eliciting students’ opinions on the practice materials and experience. Students’ self-reported practices explained differences in students’ improvement with regards to predicting and perceiving word stress in polysyllabic words. Pedagogical implications of the findings are discussed.KeywordsEnglish word stressOrthographic rulesPolysyllabic wordsInstructional technologyAutonomous learningEFL learners