Teaching English Phonetics with a Learner Response System

Abstract

Learner Response Systems (or clickers) have existed for over four decades (Judson & Sawada, 2002); however, only recently have they received careful consideration as tools to promote learning, particularly in large classrooms (Caldwell, 2007). Surprisingly, clickers are rarely used in the L2 classroom and, more surprisingly, the topic has not received careful attention from the L2 research community (Cardoso, 2011, 2013). This paper reports the results of an experimental study following a pretest–posttest design which aimed to examine (1) the effectiveness of teaching L2 English phonetics with clickers, and (2) the perceptions of Polish students towards the use of clickers in phonetics teaching. Fifty-six English majors studying at the University of Wroclaw (Poland) participated in the study. While one group was taught the rules governing English lexical stress and differences between RP and GA with the use of clickers (Clicker Group), the other was presented the same content through PowerPoint (No-Clicker Group). The quantitative analysis of the data showed that in two cases (competence and recognition of RP/GA accents) the differences in progress made by the two groups were statistically significant. Moreover, the Clicker Group outperformed the No-Clicker Group in all but one of the tests included in the study. Regarding the learners’ perception of the use of clickers in phonetics classes, the qualitative data (obtained via written open questions, questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and class observations) revealed that learners perceive the technology as beneficial, as it provides an anxiety-free, interesting, exciting learning experience. Notably, it encourages involvement and active participation in the class, thus leading to better retention of the material. Despite the observed weaknesses (e.g., lack of personalized feedback), most participants stated that they would like clickers to be used systematically in their phonetics and other classes.