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Article published In:
Journal of Second Language Pronunciation
Vol. 8:1 (2022) ► pp.116–143

The longitudinal impact of self-reflection and integrated pronunciation instruction on L2 French learners’ production of /y/ and /u/

ORCID logo | Bentley University

Although pronunciation can be fostered through explicit instruction, instructors need practical strategies to support their learners’ pronunciation (Darcy, 2018; Derwing, 2018; Derwing & Munro, 2015; Levis, 2018). Additionally, “researching longitudinal development of L2 learners [pronunciation] is essential to understanding influences in their success” (Derwing & Munro, 2013, p.163). This three-semester-long experimental quantitative study on 72 French learners examined whether self-reflection (open-ended questionnaires) as a learning strategy could complement integrated explicit pronunciation instruction and support the development of intelligible production of the two contrastive vowels /y/ and /u/. Results on pre/post read-aloud tests surrounding pronunciation lessons were compared between a treatment (instruction + self-reflection), a comparison (instruction only) and a control group (neither instruction, nor self-reflection), and within each group to determine if there was significant growth over time. Findings revealed that self-reflection combined with explicit instruction led to better learning outcomes and production gains when compared to oral natural input.

Keywords: self-reflection, L2 French, pronunciation, intelligibility, longitudinal research
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Pronunciation teaching and learning
    • 2.2Self-reflection and intelligibility
    • 2.3/y/ and /u/ for intelligibility
    • 2.4Longitudinal research
  • 3.Methods
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Instructional setting and recruitment
    • 3.3Materials and data collection procedure
      • 3.3.1Read-aloud tasks
      • 3.3.2Self-reflection questionnaires
    • 3.4Data analysis
      • 3.4.1Research question 1 – data analysis
      • 3.4.2Research question 2 – data analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Production outcomes
    • 4.2Production growth
      • 4.2.1Production growth on /y/
      • 4.2.2Production growth on /u/
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Production learning outcomes
    • 5.2Production growth
      • 5.2.1Within each semester
      • 5.2.2Longitudinal production growth
    • 5.3Limitations and future research
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 24 February 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jslp.21022.mer
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