Abstract
Unlike L1 acquisition, which is based on automatic acquisition, L2 adult learners’ acquisition of English phonology is based on mental reflection and processing of information. There is a limited investigation of L2 phonology research exploring the contribution of the cognitive/theoretical part of pronunciation training. The study reports on the use of online collaborative reflection for improving students’ use of English segmental and suprasegmental features of L2 speech. Ninety participants at the tertiary level at Tabuk university in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia were divided into two groups which used an online instruction. The only difference between the instruction of the experimental group and the control group is that the experimental group spent part of the time of instruction on collaborative reflection, while the control group spent this time on routine activities without using collaborative reflection (but all other activities were the same). The results showed that the online collaborative reflection improved the pronunciation of the experimental group. The learners learned the pronunciation of the major segmentals (e.g., vowels, consonants, diphthongs), minor segmentals (e.g., the way of articulation), and the suprasegmental features (e.g., intonation, stress). The results also showed that students perceived the online collaborative reflection as a helpful means in improving their use of L2 English phonology features. The findings have important implications and contribute to our theoretical knowledge of second language acquisition and L2 phonetics instruction research.
Highlights
One of the important aspects of English speaking for ESL learners is pronunciation as it impacts on communication
With regard to the study results, it is found that allowing L2 learners to reflect collaboratively on their pronunciation had an effect on improving their use of the English segmental and suprasegmental features
The results from data analysis indicate that the use of online collaborative reflection could significantly improve L2 learners’ use of segmental and suprasegmental features and positive attitude towards the use of online collaborative reflection
Summary
One of the important aspects of English speaking for ESL learners is pronunciation as it impacts on communication. Much L2 research was conducted on measuring the impact of immersion of L2 learners in a target-language-speaking environment (e.g., Munro & Derwing, 2008; Mora & Valls-Ferrer, 2012; Towell, Hawkins, & Bazergui, 1996) and others measured vocabulary size in relation to the improvement of L2 speech (Adolphs & Schmitt, 2003, van Zeeland & Schmitt, 2012; Bundgaard-Nielsen et al, 2011). L2 learners need to comprehend how to produce the correct sounds as, according (Granena & Long, 2013), the acquisition of phonology is relatively difficult compared to the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar. While L1 learners correlate the acquisition of L1 phonology to their existing L1 knowledge, L2 learners need to first correlate the acquisition of L2 phonology to their existing L1 knowledge, find similarities in their knowledge systems, and build upon their existing L1 knowledge
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