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Devise A Pronunciation Experiment

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Arekkusu
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 Message 25 of 49
04 April 2013 at 2:39pm | IP Logged 
Bao wrote:
As previous studies have shown that in adults, a strong non-native identity is linked to a strong accent, I would love to see an experiment where you first record accent and measure cultural identity, then divide them into three groups with matched participants.
All groups receive the same pronunciation training over the course of several weeks, but one is additionally primed to perceive the foreign language as a threat to their identity, one is primed to perceive it as an enrichment to their identity, and the third only receives the pronunciation training.
The questions would be: As a whole, which group fares better?
Which group has the individuals with the biggest improvement?
From which baseline do individuals improve to which degree?
Do some individuals actually regress in their ability?
Which group has the biggest gap?

Good idea. A strong non-native identity -- or refusal to integrate into the new culture -- can definitely be a barrier.
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Arekkusu
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 Message 26 of 49
04 April 2013 at 2:43pm | IP Logged 
druckfehler wrote:
I've observed that my Korean accent is far better than my English accent, even though I've spent more time learning and speaking English. I'd like to know whether a lot of classroom instruction with other non-native students (and possibly even non-native teachers) can be detrimental for one's accent in the target language. It's one of the striking differences between English and Korean for me that almost all interaction in Korean is done with native speakers.

If being in a classroom with non-natives is detrimental, it's probably mostly because it limits contact with natives, even outside class. I've met many students who take part in an English-language programme and the result is that the quasi-totality of their friends are also students from the class and they only rarely interact with native speakers.
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Bao
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 Message 27 of 49
04 April 2013 at 6:30pm | IP Logged 
Arekkusu wrote:
Good idea. A strong non-native identity -- or refusal to integrate into the new culture -- can definitely be a barrier.

Yes. What I want to know is at which ability level it has its stongest effect, how strong it is after all, and if it's possible to counteract the effect by changing students' attitudes, or if the non-native identity is so strong that it's more or less resistent to such influences. I do believe that kind of data would be very helpful in understanding whether other approaches at impoving pronunciation are effective/ineffective because of a flaw in the approach, or because they are aimed at students that can not use them with their currect attitude towards the foreign language.
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Arekkusu
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 Message 28 of 49
04 April 2013 at 6:38pm | IP Logged 
Bao wrote:
Arekkusu wrote:
Good idea. A strong non-native identity -- or refusal to integrate into the new culture -- can definitely be a barrier.

Yes. What I want to know is at which ability level it has its stongest effect, how strong it is after all, and if it's possible to counteract the effect by changing students' attitudes, or if the non-native identity is so strong that it's more or less resistent to such influences. I do believe that kind of data would be very helpful in understanding whether other approaches at impoving pronunciation are effective/ineffective because of a flaw in the approach, or because they are aimed at students that can not use them with their currect attitude towards the foreign language.

I would start with the premise that changing a student's attitude would be extremely difficult. Once they have understood that their reluctance to the culture (or identity) has a detrimental effect on their pronunciation, it's up to them to revisit the issue and consider whether they want to change their attitude or not.

I once taught a class where one student had a strong reaction against the culture. Unfortunately, he needed to pass the course to keep his job and after several months, I had to fail him. You'd've thought keeping your job would be a strong enough reason to rethink your priorities, but apparently not.

Edited by Arekkusu on 04 April 2013 at 6:44pm
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Bao
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 Message 29 of 49
04 April 2013 at 9:23pm | IP Logged 
Arekkusu wrote:
I would start with the premise that changing a student's attitude would be extremely difficult.

Actually, that might not be the case, because simply changing the attitude towards the language at the point of practising pronunciation may have an impact on the way the student perceives their foreign language skills in relation to their own identity. And doing that might be surprisingly easy.
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Arekkusu
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 Message 30 of 49
04 April 2013 at 9:32pm | IP Logged 
Bao wrote:
Arekkusu wrote:
I would start with the premise that changing a student's attitude would be extremely difficult.

Actually, that might not be the case, because simply changing the attitude towards the language at the point of practising pronunciation may have an impact on the way the student perceives their foreign language skills in relation to their own identity. And doing that might be surprisingly easy.

And how would you do that?
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Bao
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 Message 31 of 49
04 April 2013 at 10:31pm | IP Logged 
Priming?
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okjhum
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 Message 32 of 49
05 April 2013 at 1:22pm | IP Logged 
I would dare to say that the most important factor is intense, deliberate practice, but you do need a good coach/teacher who can guide you to practice correctly and encourage you, so you do want to keep deliberately practicing! :) There is good evidence for this in the literature, e.g. my favourite article above all articles: Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T. & Tesch-Römer, C. 1993.The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychol Rev 100 (3):363-406.
Abstract: "The theoretical framework presented in this article explains expert performance as the end result of individuals' prolonged efforts to improve performance while negotiating motivational and external constraints. In most domains of expertise, individuals begin in their childhood a regimen of effortful activities (deliberate practice) designed to optimize improvement. Individual differences, even among elite performers, are closely related to assessed amounts of deliberate practice. Many characteristics once believed to reflect innate talent are actually the result of intense practice extended for a minimum of 10 years. Analysis of expert performance provides unique evidence on the potential and limits of extreme environmental adaptation and learning."

Maybe I'll provide, in a separate post, an English translation of (some of) my annotations that I wrote for this extraordinary reference.
/Olle Kjellin


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