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Part of
English Pronunciation Instruction: Research-based insights
Edited by Anastazija Kirkova-Naskova, Alice Henderson and Jonás Fouz-González
[AILA Applied Linguistics Series 19] 2021
► pp. 305–326

Chapter 13
Integrating prosodic features in a children’s English course

| Charles University , Prague
| Charles University , Prague

The chapter reports on an experiment which focused on the integration of prosody into an English course for young children. Two groups of Czech primary school children (aged 6–7, n = 12 in each group) were analysed, one of which received prosody-focused training and the other followed the regular curriculum. The prosodic training targeted pitch range, melodic suppression of unstressed syllables, and linking. We analysed the children’s rendition of short chants after four and eight months of instruction. Participants in the experimental group had a wider pitch range and did not realise the typical Czech rise between the stressed and post-stressed syllable. Linking was partially present in both groups. The chapter is concluded with the discussion of pedagogical implications.

Keywords: prosody, intonation, rhythm, pronunciation training, second language teaching, children
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • Prosodic features of English and Czech
    • Young learners and language teaching
    • Research objectives and hypotheses
  • Method
    • Participants
    • English lessons
    • Example of a typical lesson
    • Materials and recording
    • Analyses
  • Results and discussion
  • General discussion
    • Limitations
  • Pedagogical implications
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 13 October 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.19.13von
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