This article investigates learners’ perceptions on pronunciation learning in study-abroad contexts from a qualitative perspective. While previous research focused mainly on quantitative measurements of pronunciation gains with mixed results, this study takes a more learner-centered approach and examines the impact of socio-psychological factors on learning foreign pronunciation, which appears to be a highly individual and at times conflict-prone process with which sojourners are confronted. The study draws on the cases of five Canadian students who studied abroad at German universities for one or two semesters. The data collection involved a learning history questionnaire; semi-structured interviews pre-, mid-, and post-sojourn; and bi-weekly e-journals. The data was analyzed and interpreted within the framework of narrative analysis. The results show how sojourners’ beliefs about the importance of pronunciation, community participation, identity-related challenges, and obstacles to pronunciation learning influence and help explain individually different learning behaviors and results.
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Cited by 5 other publications
Hansen Edwards, Jette G.
2024. Social Factors and L2 Phonetics and Phonology,
2023. Pre-service teachers’ beliefs about second language pronunciation teaching, their experience, and speech assessments. Language Teaching Research 27:1 ► pp. 115 ff.
Hansen Edwards, Jette, Ka Long Roy Chan, Toni Lam & Qian Wang
2021. Social Factors and the Teaching of Pronunciation: What the Research Tells Us. RELC Journal 52:1 ► pp. 35 ff.
Isabelli-García, Christina, Jennifer Bown, John L. Plews & Dan P. Dewey
2018. Language learning and study abroad. Language Teaching 51:4 ► pp. 439 ff.
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