Prosody Teaching Research Articles

Developing Interpreter Trainees’ Speech Comprehensibility: Does Nativeness of the Instructor Matter?

This study examines the effect of native vs. non-native prosody instruction on developing interpreter trainees’ speech comprehensibility in English as a foreign language (EFL) using a pretest-posttest-delayed posttest design. Twenty-three groups of 28 interpreter trainees at a University in Iran (six different branches) took part in the study, all groups receiving the same amount of instruction (9 hours over 3 weeks). Three control groups listened to/viewed authentic audio recordings and movies in English, discussed their contents, and completed a variety of speaking tasks but received no specific prosody instruction. Twenty experimental groups spent part of the instruction time on theoretical explanation of, and practical exercises with, English prosody by thirteen nonnative instructors, and seven native instructors. Three experts evaluated the comprehensibility of the trainees in elicited speech samples collected during the pretest, immediate posttest and delayed posttest, and subsequently presented in random order. The findings revealed that the experimental groups gained between 1 and 2 points on the 0 to 10 comprehensibility scale, and lost little in the delayed posttest; however, hardly any changes were observed in the control groups. We conclude that native and non-native English instructors’ prosody teaching were equally effective in enhancing EFL students’ speech comprehensibility.

Teaching prosody in research studies

Abstract This special issue looks at the decisions behind prosody teaching in recently published L2 pronunciation studies. The teaching of prosody can include a variety of topics (e.g., lexical stress, intonation, prominence, rhythm, etc.) and approaches to teaching, but the justifications for the decisions about what to emphasize often are not extensively explained in published articles. It is the intention of this issue to provide descriptions of a variety of studies, some face-to-face and some using technology, in the hope that future studies focused on prosody will provide more complete accounts of their own decisions. Each of the articles in this issue address decisions to teach prosody, the teaching approach of the study, materials used, and an evaluation of the decisions made.

Teaching contrastive stress to lower-proficiency learners

Abstract This article looks at the decisions behind teaching contrastive stress in a 2018 article by the author. The teaching of prosody can include areas like lexical stress, intonation, prominence, rhythm, etc., either in aggregate or by focusing on a specific feature, such as contrastive stress, the focus of this paper. Contrastive stress is often taught using written texts that require learners to understand the content of the texts as well as to identify the pronunciation issues in reading those texts aloud. The decisions made for this study were driven by the target learner population, low-intermediate learners of English, who were very much less likely to be able to carry out both of these tasks. As a result, the study was built around the use of pictures that could be used to compare and contrast without reading.

The pedagogy for teaching suprasegmental features

Abstract Suprasegmental (prosody) deficiencies seriously affect English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ comprehensibility and intelligibility. Among suprasegmental features, the most problematic for Iranian learners is rhythm, due to fundamental differences between English and Farsi language timing patterns. To improve learners’ pronunciation, computer-assisted pronunciation training (CAPT) is commonly applied to provide a private, individualized learning environment with unlimited input and visual, instant, and precise feedback. In our previous study, a specific kind of CAPT application, (MyET™) was used to enhance suprasegmental features of five Iranian EFL learners. The results showed that CAPT helped them improve their pronunciation skills. They also had positive attitudes toward taking this approach. In this short paper, we describe how prosody teaching actually occurred in the classroom, how we used the material, and how we reported the results. Suggestions and recommendations for further research are also presented.

Developing L2 prosodic competence online: Implications of the emergency remote teaching

This paper addresses the issue of transferring L2 prosody teaching to online settings due to the lockdown. The reasons are provided to account for the vulnerable status of pronunciation teaching and related risks. We report the results of the research project carried out in Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology with forty Russianspeaking engineering students. In this study a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods was used. The study first provided a critique of preexisting computer-based pronunciation training (CAPT) options ensuring learning continuity. These options were then analyzed against global educational policies related to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on this understanding, a methodological framework was designed to bridge the gap between prosody teaching goals and digital tools. At the next stage, experimental teaching was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of this framework. Once data from the interviews, rating scales and participant observation were collected, a descriptive analysis of the results was given. The findings showed that the suggested training had an important effect on L2 prosody acquisition by engineering students

효과적인 일본어 발음 교육 방법 연구 - 프레이징을 적용한 운율 지도를 중심으로

효과적인 일본어 발음 교육 방법 연구 - 프레이징을 적용한 운율 지도를 중심으로

Prosody transfer failure despite cross-language similarities

Abstract This study investigates how English and Mandarin speakers (1) use pitch resets and pauses to signal discourse boundaries, and (2) use pitch, duration, and intensity to indicate contrastive stress in their L1s. This study also explores how Mandarin-speaking English learners use prosodic features in L1 Mandarin and L2 English. Linear mixed-effects models showed that Mandarin and English share similarities in the forms and functions of prosody. However, Mandarin-speaking English learners did not transfer prosody usage to L2 English despite these similarities. These findings suggest that L2 prosody learning is not a typological transfer between two static language systems. Rather, it involves the interaction between two complex and dynamic prosody systems, each with its own mapping between prosodic forms and functions. Prosody teaching, therefore, should take into account the dynamic nature of prosody and compare L1 and L2 prosody in forms, meanings, and functions.

Cross-Platform Mobile CALL Environment for Pronunciation Teaching and Learning

Mobile technologies promote computer-assisted language learning (CALL) while mobile applications, being learner-oriented by design, provide a powerful founding to build individual self-paced environments for language study. Mobile CALL (MALL) tools are able to offer new educational contexts and fix, at least, partially, the problems of previous generations of CALL software. Nonetheless, mobile technologies alone are not able to respond to CALL challenges without cooperation and interaction with language theory and pedagogy. To facilitate and formalize this interaction several criteria sets for CALL software has been worked out in recent years. That is why an approach based on using mobile devices is a natural way to transfer the learning process from teaching-centered classroom to a process, which is oriented to individual learners and groups of learners with better emphasis on supporting individual learning styles, user collaboration and different teaching strategies. Pronunciation teaching technology in one of areas, where the automated speech processing algorithms and corresponding software meet the problems of practical phonology. Computer-assisted prosody teaching (CAPT), a sub-domain of CALL, is a relatively new topic of interest for computer scientists and software developers. Present-day advancement of mobile CAPT tools is supported by evolutionary processes in the theory of language learning and teaching. This paper explores language–technology relations using a case of StudyIntonation – a cross-platform multi-functional mobile CAPT tool based on a digital processing core for speech processing, visualization and estimation developed by the authors. We particularly address the problems of developing CAPT evaluation frameworks. To define the problematic points of the project and understand the directions for future work, we discuss an approach to formalized evaluation using a set of CAPT-specific criteria drawing attention to such evaluation factors as general descriptive information, instructional purposes, functionality, usability, and presentation.

Prosody Instruction for Interpreter Trainees: Does Methodology Make a Difference? An Experimental Study

Abstract This study investigates the effect of explicit vs. implicit prosody teaching on the quality of consecutive interpretation by Farsi–English interpreter trainees. Three groups of student interpreters were formed. All were native speakers of Farsi who studied English translation and interpreting at the BA level at the University of Applied Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Participants were assigned to groups at random, but with equal division between genders (6 female and 6 male students in each group). No significant differences in English language skills (TOEFL scores) could be established between the groups. Participants took a pretest of consecutive interpreting before starting the program. The control group listened to authentic audio tracks and did exercises in consecutive interpreting. The first experimental group received explicit instruction of English prosody and did exercises based on the theoretical explanation which was provided by their Iranian instructor. The second experimental group received implicit instruction of English prosody through the use of recasts. The total instruction time was the same for all the groups, i.e. 10 hours. Students then took a posttest in consecutive interpretation. The results showed that explicit teaching of prosody had a significantly positive effect on the overall quality of interpreting from Farsi into English compared with that of implicit prosody instruction. These results have pedagogical implications for curriculum designers, interpreter training programs, material producers and all who are involved in language study and pedagogy.

The relative contribution of computer assisted prosody training vs. instructor based prosody teaching in developing speaking skills by interpreter trainees: An experimental study

The present study investigates the relative contribution of computer assisted prosody training (CAPT) vs. instructor based prosody teaching (IBPT) on developing speaking skills by interpreter trainees. Three groups of student interpreters were formed. All were native speakers of Farsi who studied English translation and interpreting at the BA level at the University of Applied Sciences in Tehran, Iran. Participants were assigned to groups at random. No significant differences in speaking skills could be established between the groups prior to the experiment. The control group listened to authentic audio tracks in English and discussed their contents, watched authentic English movies and did exercises based on these tasks for developing speaking skills. The first experimental group spent part of the time on theoretical explanation of, and practical exercises with, English prosody by an instructor. The second experimental group instead spent part of the time on English prosody instruction and practice through the Accent Master software for Farsi speakers (Bo & Bo 2005). The total instruction time was the same for all three groups, i.e. 12 h. Students then took a posttest in speaking skills. The results showed that the second experimental group (CAPT) performed better than the other groups in developing speaking skills. These results have pedagogical implications for curriculum designers, interpreter training programs, and all who are involved in language study and pedagogy.

Computer based speech prosody teaching system

Children who are born with a profound hearing loss have no or only distorted acoustic speech target to imitate and compare their own production with. Computer based visual feedback, visual presentation of speech on screen has shown to be an effective supplement of incomplete or distorted auditory feedback in the case of children with grave hearing-impairment. In this paper, we introduce a novel prosody teaching system where intensity (accent), intonation and rhythm are presented visually for the students (in both separate and combined display mode) as visual feedback and automatic assessment scores are given jointly and separately for the goodness of intonation and rhythm. Evaluation of the automatic assessment was done with cooperation of experts in the field of treatment of hard of hearing children. The results showed that the automatic assessment scores correspond to the subjective evaluations given by the teachers. The evaluation of the whole system was done in a school for hard of hearing children, by comparing the development of a group of students using our prosody teaching system with the development of a control group. The speaking ability of students were compared by a subjective listening experiment after a 3 months teaching course. The students who used the computer based prosody teaching software could produce nicer prosody than the students in the control group.

DEVELOPING LISTENING COMPREHENSION SKILLS BY INTERPRETER TRAINEES THROUGH PROSODY TEACHING: DOES METHODOLOGY MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

This study investigates the effect of explicit vs. implicit prosody teaching on developing listening comprehension skills by Farsi-English interpreter trainees. Three groups of student interpreters were formed. All were native speakers of Farsi who studied English translation and interpreting at the BA level at the University of Applied Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Participants were assigned to groups at random, but with equal division between genders (6 female and 6 male students in each group). No significant differences in English language skills (TOEFL scores) could be established between the groups. Participants took a pretest of listening comprehension skills before starting the program. The control group listened to authentic audio tracks and did exercises in listening comprehension skills. The first experimental group received implicit instruction of English prosody through the use of recasts. The second experimental group received explicit instruction of English prosody and did exercises based on the theoretical explanation which was provided by their Iranian instructor. The total instruction time was the same for all the groups, i.e. 10 hours. Students then took a posttest in listening comprehension skills. The results showed that explicit teaching of prosody had a significantly positive effect on developing listening comprehension skills. These results have pedagogical implications for interpreter training programs, EFL curriculum and all who are involved in language study and pedagogy.

The effect of prosody awareness training on the performance of consecutive interpretation by Farsi-English interpreter trainees: an experimental study

This study investigates the effect of prosody awareness training on the performance of Farsi-English interpreter trainees. Two groups of student interpreters were formed. All were native speakers of Farsi who studied English translation and interpreting at the BA level at the State University of Arak, Iran. Participants were assigned to groups at random, but with equal division between genders (8 female and 8 male students in each group). At the beginning of the program, all the participants took a pretest of general English proficiency. No significant differences in English language skills (TOEFL scores) could be established between the groups. Three expert raters assessed quality measures of interpreting performance in both a pretest and a post-test. All rating scales that pertain to prosodic aspects in the trainees’ interpreting performance, proved susceptible to the explicit teaching of prosody. The results of the study showed that explicit teaching of prosody statistically did have a positive effect on the overall interpreting performance by Farsi-English interpreter trainees. The pedagogical implications of the present study would pertain to interpreting programs all over the world. Course developers should take these results into considerations and include contrastive prosody in the textbooks for interpreting programs.

The effect of prosody teaching on developing word recognition skills for interpreter trainees: An experimental study

The present study investigates the effect of the explicit teaching of prosodic features on developing word recognition skills with interpreter trainees. Two groups of student interpreters were composed. All were native speakers of Farsi who studied English translation and interpreting at the BA level at the State University of Arak, Iran. Participants were categorized into two groups at random, but with equal division between genders (9 female and 9 male students in each group). No significant differences in English language skills (TOEFL scores) could be established between the groups. Participants took a pretest of word recognition skill before starting the program. The control group received exercises in listening comprehension, while the experimental group spent part of the time on theoretical explanation and practical exercises developing conscious knowledge of prosodic features of English, such as word stress. The total instruction time was the same for both groups, i.e. 8 hours. Students then took a posttest of word recognition skills. The results show that prosodic feature awareness training did yield a statistically significant improvement of word recognition skills. The result has pedagogical implications for researchers in the field of second language teaching, instructors, curriculum designers, conductors of interpreting programs for training future interpreters, material producers and all who are involved in language study and pedagogy.

Prosodic Cues in Relative Clauses Disambiguation: Bilinguals vs. L2 Learners

Abstract This study investigates the preferences for attachment of a relative clause (RC) to a complex noun phrase (NP) of the type: NP1 of NP2, in Spanish-English bilinguals and advanced learners of Spanish. Spanish speakers show a moderate preference for attaching the RC to the first NP, while speakers of English prefer the second NP. Subjects were presented this construction in written (Experiment 1) and oral (Experiment 2) forms. Results show no group had a preference for either attachment in silent reading, Low Attachment was preferred with a pause after NP1 by learners, and High Attachment was preferred in the absence of any pause by bilinguals and learners. However, the learner group behaved distinctively in Experiment 2 in two ways: their reaction times were shorter, and their choice for the kind of RC attachment was more sensitive to the absence of a pause being more likely to choose Low Attachment, as English monolinguals. These results suggest that advanced learners are influenced by their L1 more heavily in oral comprehension than in reading, while bilinguals take longer for processing prosodic cues. Reasons for a slower bilingual processing are posited. Lastly, implications for prosody teaching are drawn from these results.

Corpus-Based Semantic Prosody Teaching, Necessary to be Incorporated into Translation Courses

Corpus-Based Semantic Prosody Teaching, Necessary to be Incorporated into Translation Courses

'People Have Forgotten How to Hear the Music': The Teaching of Poetry and Prosody

This essay aims to initiate a debate on the teaching of prosody in British higher education. It presents data and discursive comments from a survey conducted in 2007 that achieved a response rate of over 75 per cent from 112 institutions. These reveal a widely shared belief among higher education teachers that knowledge of prosody is important, and an equally widely shared perception that most students enter higher education without it. They also suggest, however, that most institutions do too little to help students acquire the metrical understanding and skills that they need, with the result that many remain functionally illiterate as readers of verse. Taking into account some of the factors that militate against the teaching and learning of prosody, the essay argues that understanding of versification is necessary for a proper understanding of poetry, and that it should therefore become a formal requirement of higher education curricula nationally.

Sound and Sense: The Teaching of Prosody

Sound and Sense: The Teaching of Prosody

Sound and Sense: The Teaching of Prosody

Sound and Sense: The Teaching of Prosody