John M. Levis

Zawadzki, Zoë and John M. Levis 2024 Measuring language use for pronunciation research Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 10:1, pp. 1–9 | Introduction

This editorial provides an overview of how language use has been measured in second language acquisition (SLA) research and how it can be implemented in studies on pronunciation. The use of surveys and questionnaires, self-reports, and other methods is discussed along with the limitations of… read more

Levis, John M. 2023 The effectiveness of pronunciation instruction: Unanswered questions Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 9:2, pp. 161–166 | Editorial

This editorial argues that, despite strong evidence that pronunciation teaching leads to improvement, the field needs to question whether teaching techniques and pedagogical approaches to pronunciation teaching are all similarly effective. read more

Levis, John M. 2023 Teaching prosody in research studies: How researchers make decisions about pedagogy in research studies Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 9:3, pp. 285–288 | Editorial

This special issue looks at the decisions behind prosody teaching in recently published L2 pronunciation studies. The teaching of prosody can include a variety of topics (e.g., lexical stress, intonation, prominence, rhythm, etc.) and approaches to teaching, but the justifications for the… read more

Levis, John M. 2023 Teaching contrastive stress to lower-proficiency learners Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 9:3, pp. 302–311 | Article

This article looks at the decisions behind teaching contrastive stress in a 2018 article by the author. The teaching of prosody can include areas like lexical stress, intonation, prominence, rhythm, etc., either in aggregate or by focusing on a specific feature, such as contrastive stress, the… read more

Levis, John M. and Zoë Zawadzki 2023 Recent dissertations on L2 pronunciation Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 9:1, pp. 1–19 | Editorial

This editorial summarizes 40 recent dissertations (2018–2023) on L2 pronunciation topics. Although it was nearly impossible to pigeonhole dissertations into single sub-categories (e.g., pronunciation training studies often also address questions of intelligibility), we have organized them into… read more

Levis, John M. 2022 Foreword. Evolution of L2 pronunciation research and teaching: 25 years of intelligibility, comprehensibility, and accentedness The Evolution of Pronunciation Teaching and Research: 25 years of intelligibility, comprehensibility, and accentedness, Levis, John M., Tracey M. Derwing and Murray J. Munro (eds.), pp. 1–5 | Foreword

Levis, John M. 2022 Revisiting the Intelligibility and Nativeness Principles The Evolution of Pronunciation Teaching and Research: 25 years of intelligibility, comprehensibility, and accentedness, Levis, John M., Tracey M. Derwing and Murray J. Munro (eds.), pp. 33–50 | Chapter

Levis (2005) named two conflicting approaches to pronunciation teaching, the Nativeness Principle and the Intelligibility Principle. This paper revisits those two principles to argue for the superiority of the Intelligibility Principle in regard to where pronunciation fits within the wider field… read more

Levis, John M. 2022 Review of Munro (2020): Applying Phonetics: Speech Science in Everyday Life Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 8:1, pp. 149–154 | Review

Levis, John M. 2022 JSLP’s Editorial Advisory Board Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 8:1, pp. 1–12 | Editorial

The backbone of any successful journal is its Editorial Advisory Board. In this editorial, we introduce the members of JSLP’s Advisory Board and talk about their areas of expertise. Our advisory board includes many current and former editors, which creates an unusual strength for the journal. read more

Levis, John M. and Zoë Zawadzki 2022 New directions in pronunciation research: Previous research as primary data Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 8:3, pp. 319–327 | Editorial

L2 pronunciation research has recently seen an increasing amount of documentary research approaches, which use previous research or other documentation of the field as the primary data to synthesize and quantify the findings of previous research on specific topics, such as the effects of… read more

Levis, John M. 2021 L2 pronunciation research and teaching: The importance of many languages Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 7:2, pp. 141–153 | Editorial

Research on L2 pronunciation needs to occur in a much wider range of languages in order to ensure that findings are not just applicable to dominant languages. This paper argues that research on a wider variety of languages will be valuable for understanding different contexts of… read more

Levis, John M. 2021 Native and nonnative authors in L2 pronunciation Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 7:3, pp. 307–314 | Editorial

Achieving nativeness in L2 pronunciation is not critical, nor is it critical for writing about L2 pronunciation. Using the experience of an L2 writer whose paper was rejected because of nonnative written features, this paper argues that it is past time for editors and reviewers to reject… read more

Levis, John M. 2021 Chapter 2. Connecting the dots between pronunciation research and practice English Pronunciation Instruction: Research-based insights, Kirkova-Naskova, Anastazija, Alice Henderson and Jonás Fouz-González (eds.), pp. 17–37 | Chapter

The (non)interaction of research and practice is a common issue in language teaching circles. The disconnect is perhaps nowhere more evident than in teaching and researching L2 pronunciation, where teachers lack an understanding of key concerns that drive pronunciation research and are often… read more

Levis, John M. and Shannon McCrocklin 2021 The pragmatic force of second language accent in education Pragmatics of Accents, Planchenault, Gaëlle and Livia Poljak (eds.), pp. 117–140 | Chapter

Second language (L2) accents are defined by pronunciation features differing from a particular standard, but listeners perceive more than sound differences when evaluating accents. L2 accents are indexical to a speaker’s perceived place in an L2 community and convey pragmatic information about a… read more

Levis, John M. and Sinem Sonsaat Hegelheimer 2021 COVID silver linings: Accessible and affordable professional development Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 7:1, pp. 1–9 | Introduction

The global pandemic caused a storm of cancellations of professional conferences and professional travel, but the storm has also had technological silver linings in opportunities for professional development including greater numbers of webinars, virtual conferences, and new uses of… read more

Levis, John M. 2020 Revisiting the Intelligibility and Nativeness Principles 25 years of Intelligibility, Comprehensibility and Accentedness, Levis, John M., Tracey M. Derwing and Murray J. Munro (eds.), pp. 310–328 | Article

Levis (2005) named two conflicting approaches to pronunciation teaching, the Nativeness Principle and the Intelligibility Principle. This paper revisits those two principles to argue for the superiority of the Intelligibility Principle in regard to where pronunciation fits within the wider field… read more

Levis, John M. 2020 Changes in L2 pronunciation: 25 years of intelligibility, comprehensibility, and accentedness 25 years of Intelligibility, Comprehensibility and Accentedness, Levis, John M., Tracey M. Derwing and Murray J. Munro (eds.), pp. 277–282 | Introduction

This special issue revisits an extraordinarily influential paper for L2 pronunciation research and teaching (Munro & Derwing, 1995) by looking again at the original paper with new eyes and new analyses. The special issue also includes invited papers addressing current approaches based on the… read more

Levis, John M. 2020 L2 pronunciation networking and conferences Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 6:2, pp. 133–147 | Editorial

Professional conferences are a critical part of a growing and thriving field. L2 pronunciation has a growing number of dedicated conferences, and other long-standing conferences that are related to L2 pronunciation have seen greater participation from L2 pronunciation researchers as the field… read more

Levis, John M. and Sinem Sonsaat-Hegelheimer 2020 Publication venues for L2 pronunciation research Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 6:1, pp. 1–11 | Editorial

A recurring question for researchers in any field concerns the best place to submit their research. This is also true of L2 pronunciation research. In this paper, we look at journals that have repeatedly published pronunciation research over the past decade. Publication venues include specialist… read more

Levis, John M. 2019 Pronunciation research in recent dissertations Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 5:2, pp. 181–194 | Editorial

This editorial looks at L2 pronunciation dissertations from 2017 and 2018 to see what topics were of interest in research, to examine trends, and to suggest ideas for the future. The largest group of dissertations reflect interest in instruction and instructional interventions. These… read more

Levis, John M. 2019 Authors, reviewers and JSLP Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 5:3, pp. 339–346 | Editorial

Levis, John M. 2019 Teaching-oriented research Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 5:1, pp. 1–12 | Introduction

This paper examines some of the factors that make for a good teaching-oriented paper, in which research and practice are most clearly connected. Such papers have clear research questions, explicit and systematic approaches to teaching and learning for experimental and control groups, improvement… read more

Levis, John M. 2018 Plenary talk: Technology and the intelligibility-based classroom, given at the Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching conference, August 2016, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 4:2, pp. 260–278 | Article

Second language pronunciation is undergoing dramatic changes in research visibility, in the intelligibility-centered goals that drive the field, and in the ways that technology is being deployed to address new needs. This plenary delineates problems that face the field as it has grown. I suggest… read more

Levis, John M. 2018 Precision and imprecision in second language pronunciation Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 4:1, pp. 1–10 | Editorial

Any discipline requires precision in critical issues while tolerating and perhaps even welcoming imprecision in other respects. This editorial discusses areas in second language pronunciation research in which precision is required (the use of terminology such as intelligibility and… read more

Levis, John M. 2018 Technology and second language pronunciation Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 4:2, pp. 173–181 | Editorial

This issue addresses the intersection of technology and pronunciation, discussing past, current and future uses of technology, the use of technology for researching L2 pronunciation, for training instructors, and for teaching learners. Technology is put forth as an essential and interconnected… read more

O’Brien, Mary Grantham, Tracey M. Derwing, Catia Cucchiarini, Debra M. Hardison, Hansjörg Mixdorff, Ron I. Thomson, Helmer Strik, John M. Levis, Murray J. Munro, Jennifer A. Foote and Greta Muller Levis 2018 Directions for the future of technology in pronunciation research and teaching Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 4:2, pp. 182–207 | Article

This paper reports on the role of technology in state-of-the-art pronunciation research and instruction, and makes concrete suggestions for future developments. The point of departure for this contribution is that the goal of second language (L2) pronunciation research and teaching should be… read more

Levis, John M. 2017 The Journal of Second Language Pronunciation – Evaluation and directions Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 3:2, pp. 157–164 | Editorial

This editorial responds to a review of JSLP published in the Journal of the International Phonetic Association and uses that review to explore directions for the future. read more