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Article published In:
Journal of Second Language Pronunciation
Vol. 7:1 (2021) ► pp.62–88

Is giving better than receiving?

The effects of peer and teacher feedback on L2 pronunciation skills

ORCID logo | U.S. Naval Academy
| Yale University

This study investigated the effects of teacher and peer corrective feedback on pronunciation development, with a special focus on whether providing or receiving peer feedback on pronunciation is more beneficial for L2 production skills. Participants included 96 L2 learners of German. They were assigned to one of three experimental groups or a control group. After general pronunciation training on a segmental and a suprasegmental feature, the teacher group received feedback from a teacher, the provider group gave feedback to peers, and the receiver group listened to feedback from peers. The control group received neither pronunciation training nor feedback. Results from native speaker comprehensibility ratings of learners’ productions indicated that while all groups outperformed the control group, both the teacher and the provider group improved more than the receiver group. In addition, the provider group had a slight edge over the teacher group. Theoretical and pedagogical implications of these findings are discussed.

Keywords: pronunciation instruction, L2 speech production, peer corrective feedback, teacher feedback, peer review
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Pronunciation in L2 classrooms
    • 2.2Peer corrective feedback and metacognitive instruction
  • 3.The present study
  • 4.Methods
    • 4.1Participants
    • 4.2Pronunciation targets
    • 4.3Instructional materials and procedure
    • 4.4Pre- and post-assessment
    • 4.5Scoring
    • 4.6Data analysis
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Segmental condition: <z>
      • 5.1.1Words
      • 5.1.2Sentences
    • 5.2Suprasegmental condition: Cognates
      • 5.2.1Words
      • 5.2.2Sentences
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 8 January 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jslp.20001.mar
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