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Article published In:
Journal of Second Language Pronunciation
Vol. 7:1 (2021) ► pp.89–115

Maximizing the effect of visual feedback for pronunciation instruction

A comparative analysis of three approaches

ORCID logo | Purdue University
| Davidson College

Visual feedback, in which learners visually analyze acoustic speech characteristics, has been shown to significantly improve pronunciation, but extant research has varied widely with respect to the target feature, length of the intervention, and type of intervention. This study presents a comparative analysis of three methods of visual feedback for L2 segmental pronunciation instruction. These methods, all focused on training voice onset time for English-speaking learners of Spanish, differed in duration of instruction (i.e., short and long) and the nature of each intervention (i.e., phonemes presented simultaneously or sequentially). Results show that while all forms of visual feedback significantly improve L2 Spanish pronunciation, evidenced by a reduction in voice onset time, the greatest improvement was found following both longer treatments and a sequential approach. Theoretical and pedagogical implications are discussed.

Keywords: visual feedback, voice onset time, Spanish, classroom, technology, English, pronunciation
Article outline
  • 1.Literature review
    • 1.1Trends in pronunciation instruction
    • 1.2Visual feedback in pronunciation instruction and learning
    • 1.3Voice onset time in English and Spanish
    • 1.4Research questions
  • 2.Methodology
    • 2.1Method 1: Short visual feedback
      • 2.1.1Participants
      • 2.1.2Stimuli
      • 2.1.3Procedure
    • 2.2Method 2: Long simultaneous visual feedback
      • 2.2.1Participants
      • 2.2.2Stimuli
      • 2.2.3Procedure
    • 2.3Method 3: Long sequential visual feedback
      • 2.3.1Participants
      • 2.3.2Stimuli
      • 2.3.3Procedure
    • 2.4Summary of key methodological differences
    • 2.5Data analysis
      • 2.5.1Words in novel utterances
      • 2.5.2Words in isolation
      • 2.5.3Voice onset time
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Words in utterances
    • 3.2Words in isolation
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 1 October 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jslp.20005.ols
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