Smoothie or Fruit Salad? Learners’ Descriptions of Accents as Windows to Concept Formation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1515/rela-2015-0009Keywords:
-Abstract
This paper explores the linguistically naive descriptions which one set of EFL learners provided when identifying and describing accents. First and second-year English majors at a French university were asked to do two tasks. First, they listened to two extracts to determine whether the speaker’s accent sounded more British or American, and to explain which features helped them to decide. Later they answered two questions: a) What do you do when you want to sound more like an American? and b) more like a British person? The analysis of their answers highlights learners’ underlying representations of accents as well as concept formation in relation to English pronunciation. I argue that this cognitive aspect of L2 learning should be addressed explicitly in instruction.
References
Bloch, B., & Trager, G. (1942). Outline of Linguistic Analysis. Baltimore: Linguistic Society of America.
Google Scholar
Boughton, Z. (2006). When perception isn’t reality: Accent identification and perceptual dialectology in French. Journal of French Language Studies 16(3), 277-304. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0959269506002535.
Google Scholar
Bruner, J., Goodnow, J. J., & Austin, G. A. (1967). A Study of Thinking. New York: Science Editions.
Google Scholar
Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., Goodwin, J. M., & Griner, B. (2010). Teaching Pronunciation (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar
Couper, G. (2011). What makes pronunciation teaching work? Testing for the effect of two variables: socially constructed metalanguage and critical listening. Language Awareness 20(3), 159-182.
Google Scholar
Couper, G. (2006). The short and long-term effects of pronunciation instruction. Prospect 21(1), 46-66.
Google Scholar
DeKeyser, R. M., & Juffs, A. (2005). Cogntive considerations in L2 learning. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning (pp. 437-454). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Google Scholar
Dörnyei, Z. (2009). The Psychology of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Google Scholar
Ellis, N. C. (2006). Selective attention and transfer phenomena in L2 acquisition: Contingency, cue competition, salience, interference, overshadowing, blocking, and perceptual learning. Applied Linguistics 27(2), 164-194. DOI: 10.1093/applin/aml015.
Google Scholar
Fraser, H. (2011). Speaking of speech: Developing metalanguage for effective communication about pronunciation between English language teachers and learners. In A. Henderson (Ed.), Proceedings of the International Conference on English Pronunciation: Issues & Practices (pp. 119-138). Université de Savoie, June 2009, Chambéry, France. Available at http://helenfraser.com.au/hf/wp-content/uploads/HFEPIP.pdf.
Google Scholar
Fraser, H. (2006). Phonological concepts and concept formation: Metatheory, theory and application. International Journal of English Studies, Monograph on Cognitive Phonology 6(2), 55-75.
Google Scholar
Frost, D. (2011). Stress and cues to relative prominence in English and French: A perceptual study. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 41(1), 67-84. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0025100310000253.
Google Scholar
Henderson, A., & Jarosz, A. (2014). Desperately seeking a communicative approach: English pronunciation in a sample of French and Polish secondary school textbooks. Research in Language 12(3), 261-277. DOI: 10.2478/rela-2014-0015.
Google Scholar
Honikman, B. (1964). Articulatory settings. In D. Abercrombie et al. (Eds.), In Honour of Daniel Jones (pp. 73-84). London: Longman.
Google Scholar
Huckvale, M. (2009). RTPitch (computer program). Available at: http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/resource/sfs/rtpitch/.
Google Scholar
Hume, E., & Johnson, K. (2001). A model for the interplay of speech perception and phonology. In E. Hume & K. Johnson (Eds.), The Role of Speech Perception in Phonology (pp 3-26). New York: Academic Press.
Google Scholar
Kirkova-Naskova, A., Tergujeff, E., Frost, D., Henderson, A., Kautzsch, A., Levey, D., Waniek-Klimczak, E. (2013). Teachers’ views on their professional training and assessment practices: Selected results from the English Pronunciation Teaching in Europe survey. In J. Levis & K. LeVelle (Eds.), Proceedings of the 4th Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference (pp. 29-42). Aug. 2012. Ames, IA: Iowa State University.
Google Scholar
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Google Scholar
Leather, J. (1999). Second language speech research: An introduction. In J. Leather (Ed.), Phonological Issues in Language Learning (pp 1-56). Oxford: Blackwell.
Google Scholar
Lee, J., Jang, J., & Plonsky, L. (2015). The effectiveness of second language pronunciation instruction: A meta-analysis. Applied Linguistics 36(3), 345-366. DOI: 10.1093/applin/amu040.
Google Scholar
Lehiste, I. (1976). Suprasegmental Features of Speech. In N. Lass (Ed.), Contemporary Issues in Experimental Phonetics: Perspectives in neurolinguistics and psycholinguistics (pp. 225-242). New York: Academic Press.
Google Scholar
Preston, D. (2011). Methods in (applied) folk linguistics: Getting into the minds of the folk. AILA Review 24(3), 15-39. DOI: 10.1075/aila.24.02pre.
Google Scholar
Preston, D. (1999). Introduction. Handbook of Perceptual Dialectology. In D. Preston (Ed.), (pp xxiii-xl ). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Google Scholar
Rasier, L., & Hiligsmann, P. (2007). Prosodic transfer from L1 to L2. Theoretical and methodological issues. Nouveaux cahiers de linguistique française (28), 41-66.
Google Scholar
Saussure, F. (1916/2013). Course in General Linguistics. P. Meisel & H. Saussy (Eds.), (W. Baskin, Trans.) (1959). Columbia University Press: New York.
Google Scholar
Strange, W. (Ed.). (1995). Speech perception and linguistic experience: Issues in crossangauge research. Baltimore: York Press.
Google Scholar
Szpyra-Kozlowska, J. (2014). Pronunciation in EFL Instruction: A Research-Based Approach. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Google Scholar
Thomson, R., & Derwing, T. (2014). The effectiveness of L2 pronunciation instruction: A narrative review. Applied Linguistics 2014, 1-20. DOI:10.1093/applin/amu076.
Google Scholar
Walter, C. (2001). French speakers. In M. Swan & B. Smith, Learner English: A Teacher’s Guide to Interference and Other Problems (2nd ed), (pp. 52-56). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar
Wells, J. C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Harlow, Essex: Pearson-Longman.
Google Scholar
Wells, J. C. (1982). Accents of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar
Wikipedia, (2015). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_learning_environment. Accessed April 27, 2015.
Google Scholar
Wilton, A., & Stegu, M. (2011). Bringing the ‘folk’ into applied linguistics. AILA Review 24(3), 1-14. DOI: 10.1075/aila.24.01wil.
Google Scholar
Wrembel, M. (2011). Cross-modal Reinforcements in Phonetics Teaching and Learning: An Overview of Innovative Trends in Pronunciation Pedagogy. In W. S. Lee & E. Zee (Eds.), Proceedings of the 17th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (pp 104-107). 17-21 August 2011. Hong Kong. CD-ROM. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong.
Google Scholar
Wrembel, M. (2005). Metacompetence-oriented model of phonological acquisition: implications for the teaching and learning of second language pronunciation. In Proceedings of the Phonetics Teaching and Learning Conference PTLC2005 (pp 1-4) (CD edition). London: UCL.
Google Scholar
Young, R., & Messum, P. (2011). How We Learn and How We Should Be Taught. London: Duo Flumina.
Google Scholar
