Voice and Mirroring in SLA: Top-Down Pedagogy for L2 Pronunciation Instruction

LaScotte, Darren K.; Meyers, Colleen; Tarone, Elaine

doi:10.1177/0033688220953910

Cited by 9 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Comparing speech sample to an ideal reference is acknowledged to be a more consistent basis for scoring instead of general statistical values such as mean, standard deviation or probability density distribution of learner's speech records [25,26,30]. Immediate actionable feedback is paramount [7,31,32]. Learner analysis of feedback can significantly improve pronunciation and has been used on various pronunciation features (e.g., segmentals [33,34]; suprasegmentals [26,35]; vowels [36]).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Speech Processing for Language Learning: A Practical Approach to Computer-Assisted Pronunciation Teaching

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article contributes to the discourse on how contemporary computer and information technology may help in improving foreign language learning not only by supporting better and more flexible workflow and digitizing study materials but also through creating completely new use cases made possible by technological improvements in signal processing algorithms. We discuss an approach and propose a holistic solution to teaching the phonological phenomena which are crucial for correct pronunciation, such as the phonemes; the energy and duration of syllables and pauses, which construct the phrasal rhythm; and the tone movement within an utterance, i.e., the phrasal intonation. The working prototype of StudyIntonation Computer-Assisted Pronunciation Training (CAPT) system is a tool for mobile devices, which offers a set of tasks based on a “listen and repeat” approach and gives the audio-visual feedback in real time. The present work summarizes the efforts taken to enrich the current version of this CAPT tool with two new functions: the phonetic transcription and rhythmic patterns of model and learner speech. Both are designed on a base of a third-party automatic speech recognition (ASR) library Kaldi, which was incorporated inside StudyIntonation signal processing software core. We also examine the scope of automatic speech recognition applicability within the CAPT system workflow and evaluate the Levenstein distance between the transcription made by human experts and that obtained automatically in our code. We developed an algorithm of rhythm reconstruction using acoustic and language ASR models. It is also shown that even having sufficiently correct production of phonemes, the learners do not produce a correct phrasal rhythm and intonation, and therefore, the joint training of sounds, rhythm and intonation within a single learning environment is beneficial. To mitigate the recording imperfections voice activity detection (VAD) is applied to all the speech records processed. The try-outs showed that StudyIntonation can create transcriptions and process rhythmic patterns, but some specific problems with connected speech transcription were detected. The learners feedback in the sense of pronunciation assessment was also updated and a conventional mechanism based on dynamic time warping (DTW) was combined with cross-recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA) approach, which resulted in a better discriminating ability. The CRQA metrics combined with those of DTW were shown to add to the accuracy of learner performance estimation. The major implications for computer-assisted English pronunciation teaching are discussed.

show abstract

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Those arguing against native-speaker models note that intelligibility should be paramount. In recent years, the prevailing approach holds that intelligibility is more important than replicating native-speaker models [4][5][6][7]. Rightly or wrongly the goal of many learners of English is to emulate native-speaker models of pronunciation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Speech Processing for Language Learning: A Practical Approach to Computer-Assisted Pronunciation Teaching

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Hardison, 2018b; Pennington, 1989, 2019, forthcoming; Sueyoshi and Hardison, 2005). Two approaches to pronunciation that incorporate co-speech gestures are the ‘Dramatic Imitative Approach Using Video Clips’, which Celce-Murcia et al (2010: 489–490) describe in their Appendix 21, and the ‘Mirroring Project’ technique described by Tarone and Meyers (2018) and LaScotte et al (2021). In the former, students view an authentic video clip first without sound and second with sound to observe, analyze, and notate the prosody and the facial expressions and gestures on a transcript, and to consider how these affect meaning.…”

Section: Pedagogical Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Students then practice and later perform the original discourse and also a similar role play in pairs, videotaping their performance in both for post-task self-evaluation and teacher evaluation of their pronunciation. In the Mirroring Project, whose rationale and steps are described in this issue (LaScotte et al, 2021), the L2 learner selects an L1 or L2 speaker as model and then analyzes a video segment of the person’s speech, focusing on prosodic features and the accompanying gestures in detail, as a way to learn to imitate them as closely as possible. In the best case, the learner is able to ‘channel’ the model speaker’s voice and gestures very closely, with carry-over to free speech.…”

Section: Pedagogical Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multimodal Second-Language Communication: Research Findings and Pedagogical Implications

Hardison

Pennington

2020

RELC Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article reviews research findings involving visual input in speech processing in the form of facial cues and co-speech gestures for second-language (L2) learners, and provides pedagogical implications for the teaching of listening and speaking. It traces the foundations of auditory–visual speech research and explores the role of a speaker’s facial cues in L2 perception training and gestural cues in listening comprehension. There is a strong role for pedagogy to maximize the salience of multimodal cues for L2 learners. Visible articulatory gestures that precede the acoustic signal and the preparation phase of a hand gesture that precedes the acoustic onset of a word provide a priming effect on perceivers’ attention to signal upcoming information and facilitate processing, and visible gestures that co-occur with speech aid ongoing processing and comprehension. L2 learners benefit from an awareness of these visual cues and exposure to input.

show abstract

“…Specifically, they argued that a learner's empathy with speakers of an L2 enables them to merge their language ego boundaries with those of their interlocutors, resulting in convergence to those speakers' pronunciation patterns. Subsequent "variationist" research on adults' L2 phonology (Beebe, 1977(Beebe, , 1980(Beebe, , 1981Dickerson, 1975;Flege, 1987) established that L2 speakers systematically shift features of their pronunciation in relation to social contextual variables such as task and interlocutor (for detail on this line of research, see LaScotte et al, 2022).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Channeling Voices to Improve L2 English Intelligibility

LaScotte

Tarone

2022

The Modern Language Journal

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In commercial materials for the teaching of second language (L2) pronunciation, common bottom‐up approaches segment phonology into a series of discrete and decontextualized linguistic components with rules that students are encouraged to internalize. Such approaches seem out of step with recent second language acquisition (SLA) theory and research that emphasize the central influence of social context, interlocutor, empathy, and nonverbal elements on the meaningful use of L2 forms. Research showing that these factors profoundly influence the pronunciation of an L2 in social discourse suggests a more top‐down, holistic pedagogy to better harness the agentive energy of motivated and goal‐oriented L2 learners. Drawing on findings in interlanguage phonology and Bakhtinian sociocultural theory, this article documents ways that 7 adult L2 learners in an intensive English program improved their English intelligibility, while some of them also improved their delivery, as they all mirrored and subsequently channeled the voices of model speakers in rehearsed oral presentations over the course of a short 7‐week pedagogical treatment. The findings of this study support the view that the construct of voice and the influence of social contextual factors in SLA are critical in shaping interlanguage phonology and raise a number of important pedagogical implications for addressing learning outcomes in L2 pronunciation.

show abstract

Voice and Mirroring in SLA: Top-Down Pedagogy for L2 Pronunciation Instruction

Cited by 9 publications

References 29 publications

Speech Processing for Language Learning: A Practical Approach to Computer-Assisted Pronunciation Teaching

Speech Processing for Language Learning: A Practical Approach to Computer-Assisted Pronunciation Teaching

Multimodal Second-Language Communication: Research Findings and Pedagogical Implications

Channeling Voices to Improve L2 English Intelligibility

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About