A case study on implicit and explicit online pronunciation tutoring to Chinese international graduate students

Pronunciation matters for the success of second language learners, and yet it does not receive enough attention in the language classroom (O’Brien, 2004; Sturm, 2013; Wei, 2006). Especially for the students who received their secondary and undergraduate education in China, where the negative washback from exam-driven English teaching styles is still prominent. This study compared the progress of two Chinese graduate students in a Midwestern university, one received one-on-one implicit instruction and another explicit instruction online. The measurements of progress in this case study include segmental perception and production, fluency, and intelligibility rate in both controlled and spontaneous speech. Both participants received eight weekly tutoring sessions in a semester, with one hour per session. All participants took a pre-test and a post-test the weeks before and after the instructions. The tests aimed to get and examine vowels /ʊ/, /u/, /i:/, /ɪ/, /æ/, /ɛ/ and consonants /v/, /w/, /s/, /z/, also temporal variables including words per minute (WPM) and filled-pause ratio (FPR). The results found that the explicit participant showed a slight improvement of their segmental perception and production of some back vowels and the labiodental consonant, as well as fluency and intelligibility rate, especially in spontaneous speech. But both instructed participants reported an elevated confidence in spoken English after the treatment.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Teaching of English Sec Lang

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Chen, Xinlei

Contributors dc:contributor

• Franks, Suzanne Carla
• Pierce, Lisa Renee

• Pronunciation, SLA, Explicit teaching, Implicit teaching

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2021 Xinlei Chen

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/113002

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/113002