The English Intonation of Native Speakers and Indonesian Learners: a Coniparative Study

Abstract

Comparative studies of the English intonation of native speakers and learners are needed to help inform teachers on what they should teach about English intonation and how they can best teach it. This study compares intonation in parallel recordings of English speech produced by British and Indonesian subjects. Included in the main findings are that the Indonesian subjects produced shorter tone units, more level tones, and selected falling tones in contexts where native speakers selected rising tones. Implications for teaching intonation and suggestions for further research are presented.