Proceedings of the - British Association for Applied Linguistics

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The Impact of Applied Linguistics: Proceedings of the 44th Annual Meeting of BAAL University of the West of England Discussion The pilot data show clear cross-linguistic differences between German, Korean and Spanish learners, reflecting rhythmic characteristics of their native languages. In terms of consonantal material in the speech stream, the German learners were – as expected – closest to the English target but their Varco-C is still not quite high enough. Having a stress-timed language background, German learners naturally have more consonant clusters in their speech already and are familiar with vowel reduction, even though this happens to a lesser extent in German. The amount of vocalic material increases in German learners from B1 to B2 level. However, while the initial development is in the direction of native British English values, their speech is more vocalic than that of L1 English speakers at B2. A possible explanation is that B2 German learners of English over-generalise newly acquired rules. When learners understand that accented syllables, for instance, have a longer duration and thus a higher percentage of vocalic material, they might exaggerate accentual lengthening, or they might apply it in syllables which would normally be reduced. Korean and Spanish learners, who have mostly CV structures in their native language, have a relatively low number of consonants in their speech as reflected by a low Varco-C value. This shows that in consonant clusters they still delete some consonants or insert vowels to break a succession of consonants. While Korean learners do not show any difference between B1 and B2, Spanish learners show a progression towards native-like values. The same holds true for vocalic material. With a rather high percentage of vowels still at B1, the Spanish learners significantly reduce the vocalic proportion at B2 level, even slightly below the native English values. From this data we can conclude that our Spanish speakers are moving away from full transfer of prosodic properties, and that they are starting to master L2 properties such as complex syllable structures with clusters of consonants, and vowel reduction. Conclusion This pilot study shows that rhythm can be objectively measured to analyse L2 speech from learners’ with typologically different L1 backgrounds. In language learning we are concerned with both intelligibility and accuracy and should note when, how and why each is required for learners. These results can help us understand what learners of a specific L1 can do (in a 20
Identifying criterial aspects of pronunciation in L2 English across CEFR levels: Implications for language learning Fiona Barker, Brechtje Post, Elaine Schmidt and Mike McCarthy specific context and with specific constraints) which in turn can inform L2 teaching. At the same time, the results can help us to identify what structures learners still struggle with, i.e. which structures a teacher might chose to teach explicitly and which ones learners should be encouraged to notice and work on independently. References Paul Boersma & David Weenink (2010). Praat: Doing Phonetics by Computer. Available at: http://www.praat.org Council of Europe (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK. Rebecca Dauer (1983). Stress-timing and syllable-timing reanalyzed. In Journal of Phonetics, 11 (1), pp51-62. Tracey Derwing & Murray Munro (2005). Second Language Accent and Pronunciation teaching. In TESOL Quarterly, 39 (3), pp. 379-397. Jette Hansen Edwards & Mary Zampini (2008). Phonology and Second Language Acquisition. John Benjamins: Amsterdam, Netherlands. Elinor Payne, Brechtje Post, Pilar Prieto, Maria del Mar Vanrell & Lluïsa Astruc (2012). Measuring child rhythm. In Language and Speech, 55, pp203-229. Pilar Prieto, Maria del Mar Vanrell, Lluïsa Astruc, Elinor Payne & Brechtje Post (2012). Phonotactic and phrasal properties of speech rhythm. Evidence from Catalan, English, and Spanish. In Speech Communication, 54 (6), pp681-702. Laurence White & Sven Mattys (2007). Calibrating rhythm: First language and second language studies. In Journal of Phonetics, 35, pp501-522. 21
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Proceedings of the - British Association for Applied Linguistics

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