Tasks in Explicit L2 Pronunciation Instruction: FonF vs. FonFS in Improving Phonemic Accuracy and Comprehensibility

Farhad Tabandeh,Hossein Barati,Ahmad Moinzadeh

doi:10.17576/3l-2018-2401-09

Farhad Tabandeh, Hossein Barati + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.17576/3l-2018-2401-09

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Abstract

The effects of focusing second/foreign language (L2) learners’ attentions on phonological forms while communicating in meaningful discourse has recently attracted attention in L2 pronunciation research. One such treatment is focus-on-form (FonF) instruction wherein L2 learners practice and notice pronunciation features in communicative tasks rather than in decontextualized exercises and drills (i.e., focus-on-forms [FonFS]). Given this, the current study investigated the differential effects of FonF and FonFS instructions on improving Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ pronunciation of the most problematic English consonants. After identifying the problematic English consonants (i.e., /θ/, /ð/, /w/, /ŋ/) via remedial and expert judgment approaches, 45 pre-intermediate learners embarked on an 8-hour course. The experimental group received FonF, the comparison group received FonFS, and the control group had a free conversation class minus any feedback on the target consonants. Learners’ pronunciations were measured in terms of phonemic accuracy and comprehensibility in controlled and spontaneous tasks. The results of immediate and delayed post-test for phonemic accuracy revealed that whereas both FonF and FonFS were equally effective in controlled tasks, only FonF instruction proved effective up to the delayed post-test in spontaneous tasks; no such improvements, however, were observed for the control group. Results also showed that improvements in phonemic accuracy led to overall comprehensibility enhancements in EFL learners’ speech. The article concludes with some pedagogical implications of the findings. Keywords: Comprehensibility; FonF; FonFS; L2 pronunciation; phonemic accuracy

Highlights

One of the side effects of adopting communicative approaches in second/foreign language (L2) instruction is the limited attention to pronunciation based on the assumption that the focus of L2 pedagogy needs to be on the meaning and function rather than on the form (Derwing & Munro 2005)
Most of the recent research on L2 pronunciation instruction has focused on explicit instruction of problematic L2 pronunciation features (e.g., Dlaska & Krekeler 2013, Kissling 2013, Gooch, Saito & Lyster 2016, Saito 2011a, Wipple et al 2015)
The first objective of the study was to investigate the differential effects of FonF and FonFS on improving Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ phonemic accuracy (i.e., /θ/, /ð/, /w/, /ŋ/) in controlled and spontaneous tasks

Summary

Introduction

One of the side effects of adopting communicative approaches in second/foreign language (L2) instruction is the limited attention to pronunciation based on the assumption that the focus of L2 pedagogy needs to be on the meaning and function rather than on the form (Derwing & Munro 2005). One of the methodological approaches that heavily relies on explicit instruction is the focuson-forms (FonFS) in which L2 learners produce and practice learned features in a series of decontextualized and controlled exercises and drills (Ellis 2016, Nassaji 2016). According to Ellis (2016), this type of structuralist-behaviourist instruction is opposed to the focus-on-form (FonF) instruction in which L2 learners practice and notice target features in communicative meaning-oriented activities (e.g., tasks)

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