The efficacy of a reading aloud task in the teaching of pronunciation

Abstract

Empirical studies have shown that explicit instruction leads to the improvement of perception (e.g. Strange and Dittman 1984; Jamieson and Morosan 1986; Cenoz and García Lecumberri 1999) and oral production (e.g. Couper 2003; Derwing and Munro 2005; Smith and Beckman 2005). Nonetheless, it is necessary to test different types of activities intended for the explicit teaching of pronunciation. This action-research study aims to test the efficacy of a reading aloud task with a noticing and an awareness component in the teaching of pronunciation, and to gauge learners’ beliefs regarding the use of this learning tool. Twenty first-year students of the BA in English Studies at the University of the Basque Country participated in the investigation. Ten written texts were selected by the instructors in order to practice reading aloud for ten weeks. Students went through two phases when doing this task in class: noticing and awareness. They were tested on articulation of sounds, stress placement and intonation through two different texts at two different times. Students were also administered a questionnaire to analyze their opinions regarding the usefulness of this learning task. The assessment of the recordings revealed that learners obtained better means in the case of the second text analyzed. Similarly, the analysis of the responses given to the questionnaire indicated that students considered the reading aloud task a good instrument to improve their pronunciation in English.