ERIC Number: EJ1459341
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024-Sep
Pages: 33
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0272-2631
EISSN: EISSN-1470-1545
Is L2 Pronunciation Affected by Increased Task Complexity in Pronunciation-Unfocused Speaking Tasks?
Studies in Second Language Acquisition, v46 n4 p1117-1149 2024
This study examines the effects of task complexity on second language (L2) pronunciation accuracy and global pronunciation measures in pronunciation-unfocused tasks and assesses the relationship between acoustic and listener-based pronunciation measures. Eighty-two Catalan/Spanish learners of English performed simple and complex versions of a problem-solving monologic speaking task, for which the oral stops /p, t, k/ and vowel contrasts /[close front unrounded vowel]/-/[near-close near-front unrounded vowel]/ and /ae/-/[lambda]/ were embedded in the lexical items used to perform the task. Pronunciation accuracy was gauged through acoustic measurements of laryngeal timing (voice onset time), vowel contrastiveness and nativelikeness (Mahalanobis distances), and native speakers' ratings of comprehensibility and accentedness. Results revealed detrimental effects of increased task complexity on the productions of oral stops and speech comprehensibility and accentedness; however, no consistent task complexity effects were found on vowel accuracy. The analysis also revealed an association between segmental accuracy and global dimensions of L2 speech.
Descriptors: Second Language Learning, Pronunciation, Spanish, English (Second Language), Vowels, Acoustics, Mutual Intelligibility, Dialects, Suprasegmentals, Accuracy
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A