Repeat After me

Abstract

It has often been argued that the teaching of L2 articulatory settings (AS) will improve learners' L2 pronunciation. However, although many impressionistic accounts have been written on the subject, only few empirical studies have been conducted to test these assumptions. This article reports on a study set out to test the effectiveness of teaching AS differences to Dutch secondary school pupils in order to improve their pronunciation of English. Four AS lessons were given to a group of secondary school pupils, while a control group received standard pronunciation lessons concentrating on segmental differences. The pupils were recorded while doing a picture description task both before and after instruction. Native speaker judges then assessed their English pronunciation proficiency. Although no significant differences were found between pre and post instruction pronunciation proficiency in both groups as a whole, there were a number of pupils in both groups that did improve their pronunciation. These results might be explained by Dynamic Systems Theory.