The Effectiveness of Using Written Feedback to Improve Adult ESL Learners’ Spontaneous Pronunciation of English Suprasegmentals

This report describes a systematic procedure designed to give students pronunciation feedback on suprasegmental features of English in spontaneous production (rather than students’ pronunciation during a read-aloud task). The procedure was developed to find out if written feedback (given frequently enough) could impact students’ spontaneous production of suprasegmentals. Pronunciation feedback was given to the treatment group by marking transcripts of spontaneous speech with written symbols. Both the treatment group and the control group received form-focused pronunciation instruction. After 14 weeks, there was no significant difference between the groups, but there was a statistically significant improvement in students’ comprehensibility overall (regardless of the feedback condition). Students were also surveyed to determine if either group perceived a greater benefit from the pronunciation instruction or if either group perceived a greater improvement in pronunciation. Surveys revealed a meaningful correlation between the group that received the treatment and the group that found the pronunciation instruction to be beneficial.

Thesis Author: Chirstin Stephens

Year Completed: 2016

Thesis Chair: Lynn E. Henrichsen

LING/TESOL MA: TESOL