Pronunciation Assessment
Pronunciation Assessment
Authors
Susan Spezzini
Leslie Barratt
Diane Carter
Framing the Issue
In the discipline of L2 (second and foreign language) teaching, pronunciation is frequently the aspect of language instruction for which teachers receive the least training.
Consequently, pronunciation is often overlooked or inadequately represented in L2 classrooms.
The lack of pronunciation instruction results in the absence of effective pronunciation assessment, or at the very least, it hampers productive evaluation.
Common Misconceptions and Justifications for Ignoring Pronunciation
Time Constraints: The curriculum does not allocate time for teaching or assessing pronunciation.
Perceived Boredom: Teaching pronunciation is considered tedious and unengaging.
Teacher's Proficiency: It is believed that non-native speakers cannot effectively teach or assess pronunciation.
Cultural Sensitivity: Correction of L2 pronunciation may offend speakers from varied sociocultural backgrounds.
Identity Compromise: Expecting L2 speakers to modify their foreign accent could threaten their identity.
Adult Learning Limitations: Adults may be incapable of improving their L2 pronunciation, rendering efforts pointless.
Child Development Assumptions: Young learners are thought to naturally acquire native-like pronunciation without assistance.
Historical Context of Pronunciation Teaching
Traditional methods aimed at eradicating foreign accents aimed for non-native speakers to achieve a native-speaker level.
Modern approaches focus on making L2 speakers more intelligible to others rather than achieving native-like pronunciation.
Many L2 speakers, including adults, often seek constructive feedback to enhance their pronunciation. - Adults may feel self-conscious due to previous communication failures in critical situations. - Children may face punitive consequences at school for perceived pronunciation errors (Spezzini, 2010).
Importance of Pronunciation
Pronunciation is closely linked to levels of oral communication, ranging from casual greetings to academic teaching (Morley, 1994).
Effective communication in an L2 requires teachers to possess skills in teaching pronunciation and conducting assessments: - Formative Assessment: Measures ongoing progress. - Summative Assessment: Evaluates performance at a given time frame. - Guides L2 speakers in self-assessment techniques.
Early Approaches to Pronunciation Assessment
Previously, L2 speakers read passages with all phonemes of the target language, leading to challenges in comprehension due to contrived texts.
Sight-reading capabilities unduly influenced pronunciation evaluations, which conflated reading with speaking skills.
Accented and non-native speech patterns were examined from a contrastive perspective, focusing on segmental phonetic difficulties.
The benchmarks used were typically based on the pronunciation norms of prestigious dialects.
Evolving Theories in Assessment
Importance of assessing both segmental (individual sounds) and suprasegmental (stress, intonation, rhythm) aspects of pronunciation.
The rise of World Englishes shifted focus from native-like pronunciation to intelligibility in communication with both native and non-native speakers.
Studies since the 1980s on intelligibility assess how listener perceptions of L2 pronunciation influence communicative effectiveness (Levis & LeVelle, 2013).
Findings from Intelligibility Studies
Suprasegmental Features: Tend to dominate evaluations of L2 pronunciation intelligibility, as seen in various studies. - Listeners give more importance to stress patterns than individual sound articulation (Benrabah, 1997). - A global perspective of learner speech can facilitate spontaneous speech development (Derwing, Munro, & Wiebe, 1998).
Nuclear Stress: Critical for clarity in communication, emphasizing key aspects of thought groups.
Non-native prosodic patterns can create extra processing challenges for listeners, which may impede comprehension, making prosodic errors more detrimental to intelligibility than phonetic errors (Munro & Derwing, 1999).
Relationships of Speech Production and Perception
Learners can only articulate what they can perceive; they often filter sounds through their L1 (first language) experiences.
Essential for learners to recognize the significance of different sounds and intonation patterns to improve L2 proficiency.
Intelligibility research emphasizes prioritization of suprasegmentals while also acknowledging the need to cover segmental features critical for communication, such as grammatical suffixes and vowel distinctions that can lead to misunderstandings (Spezzini, 2010).
Pedagogical Implications
Pronunciation must be integrated into all language instruction and assessment frameworks.
Begin pronunciation assessments with a diagnosis of students’ oral outputs focusing on segmental and suprasegmental features. - Assessments can vary based on context or level (e.g., formal oral proficiency tests vs. informal class activities).
Recording learners during storytelling or reading passages allows for comprehensive evaluation of their pronunciation skills (Grant, 1993).
Assessments may be approached analytically (linguistic features) or holistically (using intelligibility indices or accent checklists) depending on instructor preferences and time constraints.
Post-Diagnostic Practices
After initial assessments, focus on mispronounced features to inform syllabi and progress tracking.
Essential to provide reassurance to learners that struggles are common and overcome through guided practice.
Encourage self-assessment; learners identify problem features, setting individual pronunciation goals tailored to their needs (Grant, 1993, pp. 13-14).
Classroom Application Examples
Utilize digital resources to visualize intonation and pronunciation contours for better learner feedback and self-assessment (Celce-Murcia et al., 2010, pp. 493-7).
Integrate pronunciation feedback in various subjects, such as improving word stress in math classes.
Develop immediate feedback mechanisms using established signals for specific phonetic issues to promote quick corrections.
Summative Assessments
Administer summative assessments at the end of instructional periods to evaluate learner progress relative to diagnostic evaluations.
Aim for continuous improvement, helping learners foster higher aspirations for their pronunciation abilities.
Highlight the necessity for teacher-training programs to offer adequate training in L2 pronunciation instruction and assessment, promoting meaningful evaluation practices.
Suggested Readings
Gilbert, J. B. (2008). Teaching pronunciation: Using the prosody pyramid. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Jenkins, J. (2000). The phonology of English as an international language. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
References
Benrabah, M. (1997). Word stress: A source of unintelligibility in English. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 35(3), 157–65.
Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., & Goodwin, J. M. (2010). Teaching pronunciation: A course book and reference guide (2nd ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Derwing, T. M., Munro, M. J., & Wiebe, G. (1998). Evidence in favor of a broad framework for pronunciation instruction. Language Learning, 48, 393–410.
Grant, L. (1993). Well said: Advanced English pronunciation. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle.
Levis, J., & LeVelle, K. (2013). Pronunciation and assessment. In J. Levis & K. LeVelle (Eds.), Proceedings of the 4th Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference, August 2012 (pp. i–xii). Ames, IA: Iowa State University.
Morley, J. (1994). Pronunciation pedagogy and theory: New views, new directions. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
Munro, M. J., & Derwing, T. M. (1999). Foreign accent, comprehensibility, and intelligibility in the perception of native and foreign-accented speech. Language and Speech, 38, 289–306.
Spezzini, S. (2010). Children were punished: Not for what they said but for what their teachers heard. Childhood Education, 86(3), 130–1.