The Effectiveness of Implicit and Explicit Instruction on German L2 Learners’ Pronunciation

Previous research has investigated the effectiveness of implicit and explicit instructional methods on second language (L2) learners’ grammatical accuracy. However, there is a scarcity of studies focused on the effects of the two teaching methods on L2 learners’ pronunciation. To fill this gap, the present thesis examines the effects of implicit and explicit instruction on the pronunciation of beginner learners of German. One group of learners was taught pronunciation explicitly (i.e., using phonetic rules), another group—implicitly (i.e., without phonetic rules), and a third group received no pronunciation instruction. A pretest-posttest design was used to measure learners’ improvement in accent and comprehensibility. No significant difference in progress was found across the three groups. The findings suggest that learner variables might be better predictors of improvement than the type of instruction. Moreover, not all pronunciation features were equally relevant for L2 learners’ comprehensibility. The results have implications for L2 pronunciation teaching.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Germanic, Slavic and East Asian Studies

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Graduate Studies

Year dc:date.issued

2017

Author dc:creator

• Peltekov, Petar

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• O'Brien, Mary

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Cai, Wei
• George, Angela

• Education
• Education--Adult and Continuing
• Education--Bilingual and Multicultural
• Education--Higher
• Language
• Language--Modern
• Literature--Modern
• Literature--English
• Literature--Germanic

Statement dc:rights

• University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/28073

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ucalgary.scholaris.ca:11023/4061