Phonological awareness and L2 pronunciation

Phonological awareness and the accuracy of pronouncing a foreign language have been shown to be strongly related: the higher one’s degree of sensitivity to L2 phonology, the more native-like one’s pronunciation is (Kivistö-de Souza, 2015). We still do not know whether the relationship is unidirectional (increases in phonological awareness cause increases in pronunciation accuracy) or bidirectional (increases in phonological awareness cause increases in pronunciation accuracy and improved pronunciation increases phonological awareness). However, the fact that the two are related bears several important implications for language learners.

The role of phonological awareness in a foreign language classroom

We know that phonological awareness is not a static ability and it can be increased through noticing. A large pool of research in the field of language awareness has examined how noticing of linguistic features can be increased in classrooms and in individual language learners (e.g., Alanen, 1995; Leeman, Arteagoitia, Fridman, & Doughty, 1995; Rosa & Leow, 2004; Rosa & O’Neill, 1999; White & Ranta, 2002). Less research exists on the noticing of phonology. Noticing of L2 phonology is a complex matter (more in here), and aiding language learners to notice L2 phonological features should be extremely beneficial.

The employment of consciousness-raising activities1 about a given pronunciation feature has been shown to improve the pronunciation of the feature (Alves & Magro, 2011; Couper, 2011; Ramírez Verdugo, 2006; Saito, 2013, 2015). Likewise, L2 pronunciation as a whole has been shown to benefit from consciousness-raising activities (Kennedy, Blanchet, & Trofimovich, 2014; Wrembel, 2005).

Taken together the before-mentioned results on the employment of consciousness-raising and Kivistö-de Souza’s (2015) finding on positive relationship between L2 phonological awareness and L2 pronunciation accuracy, we should take L2 phonological awareness into account in the foreign language classrooms. Phonological awareness can be one way to increase effective (comprehensible and fluent) communication in a foreign language. To conclude, here are some general suggestions for increasing L2 phonological awareness:

- Teachers should familiarize themselves with the phonology of the L2. Frequently phonology is not taught in the foreign language classroom because the teachers are not as familiar with this topic as with grammar, for example, and feel insecure about teaching it

- Teachers should incorporate the use of consciousness-raising activities into their lesson plans and employ them on a regular basis. Some suggestions can be found in Wrembel (2006) and Zimmer, Silveira and Alves (2009).

- Teachers should encourage learners to increase their phonological awareness autonomously outside the classroom:

- Pay attention to how things are said, not just on what is being said

- Listen carefully to native speakers from different regions – try to find similarities and dissimilarities in their speech

- Record and listen to yourself speaking in the foreign language: in which aspects does your pronunciation sound target-like? In which aspects does it sound different? How does it sound different?

- Finally, the teacher should take into account the students’ individual needs and characteristics: the needs for the pronunciation of a future hotel receptionist are not the same as for a future language teacher. It should also be emphasized that a native-speaker is not the only model for an accurate pronunciation: aiming for a native-like pronunciation is an unrealistic goal for most of the language learners and the aim should be instead in obtaining a fluent and effective communication in which communicative breakdowns are none-existent or rare.

1tasks aimed at raising awareness about a given target by explicitly or implicitly bringing the target into the learner’s attention in a meaningful context.

Adapted from Kivistö-de Souza (2015)

Alanen, R. (1995). Input enhancement and rule presentation in second language acquisition. In R. Schmidt (Ed.), Attention and awareness in foreign language learning and teaching. Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center Technical Report No. 9 (pp. 259-302). Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.

Alves, U. K., Magro, V. (2011). Raising awareness of L2 phonology: Explicit instruction and the acquisition of aspirated /p/ by Brazilian Portuguese speakers. Letras de Hoje, 46, 71-80.

Couper, G. (2011). What makes pronunciation teaching work? Testing for the effect of two variables: socially constructed metalanguage and critical listening. Language Awareness, 20, 159-182.

Kennedy, S., Blanchet, J., Trofimovich, P. (2014). Learner pronunciation, awareness, and instruction in French as a second language. Foreign Language Annals, 47, 79-96.

Kivistö-de Souza, H. (2015). Phonological awareness and pronunciation in a second language (unpublished doctoral dissertation). Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.

Leeman, J., Arteagoitia, I., Fridman, B., Doughty, C. (1995). Integrating attention to form with meaning: Focus on form in content-based Spanish instruction. In R. Schmidt (Ed.), Attention and awareness in foreign language learning and teaching. Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center Technical Report No. 9 (pp. 217-258). Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.

Ramírez Verdugo, D. (2006). A study of intonation awareness and learning in non-native speakers of English. Language Awareness, 15, 141-159.

Rosa, E., Leow, R. (2004). Awareness, different learning conditions, and second language development. Applied Psycholinguistics, 25, 269-292.

Rosa, E., O’Neill, M. (1999). Explicitness, intake, and the issue of awareness. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 21, 511-556.

Saito, K. (2013). Reexamining effects of form-focused instruction on L2 pronunciation development: The role of explicit phonetic information. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 35, 1-29.

Saito, K. (2015). Communicative focus on second language phonetic form: Teaching Japanese learners to perceive and produce English /ɹ/ without explicit instruction. Applied Psycholinguistics, 36, 377-409.

White, J., Ranta, L. (2002). Examining the interface between metalinguistic task performance and oral production in a second language. Language Awareness, 11, 259-290.

Wrembel, M. (2005). Phonological Metacompetence in the Acquisition of Second Language Phonetics (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation). Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan.

Wrembel, M. (2006). Consciousness in pronunciation teaching and learning. In IATEFL Poland Newsletter, Post-Conference Edition, 26 (pp. 11-20). Warszawa: IATEFL.

Zimmer, M., Silveira, R., Alves, U. K. (2009). Pronunciation instruction for Brazilians: Bringing theory and practice together. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.

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