Learning English intonation through exposure to resynthesized self-produced stimuli

EFL learners are prone to having problems in pronunciation, while their problems in intonation are more salient. The Chinese EFL pronunciation classroom has long been criticized for teacher-centered, “one-size-fits-all” teaching, which is inefficient and ineffective for solving individual student’s...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Li, Zhongmin, Lian, Andrew-Peter, Butsakorn Yodkamlue
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2020
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15263/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15263/1/35992-120299-1-PB.pdf
_version_ 1848813755532574720
author Li, Zhongmin
Lian, Andrew-Peter
Butsakorn Yodkamlue,
author_facet Li, Zhongmin
Lian, Andrew-Peter
Butsakorn Yodkamlue,
author_sort Li, Zhongmin
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description EFL learners are prone to having problems in pronunciation, while their problems in intonation are more salient. The Chinese EFL pronunciation classroom has long been criticized for teacher-centered, “one-size-fits-all” teaching, which is inefficient and ineffective for solving individual student’s specific pronunciation problems. This study conducted an experiment to examine the effectiveness of exposure to resynthesized self-produced stimuli for intonation learning. The participants were 66 first year English majors studying at a university in China. The treatment was a form of English intonation training wherein the students in the experimental group used their resynthesized self-produced stimuli (their own voices) as the pronunciation model for learning while the control group used a model produced by a native speaker. After the training, the results of the intonation production test showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group in eight intonation patterns. The students’ problems in intonation support Mennen’s (2007) claim that intonation learning involves a first stage of acquiring the phonological representations of intonation patterns and a second stage of acquiring the phonetic realizations of those patterns. The results of this study revealed that exposure to resynthesized self-produced stimuli for intonation learning was as effective as the native speaker model for helping the students form the phonological representations of intonation patterns, while it was more effective than the native speaker model for facilitating the students to produce more accurate phonetic realizations of those patterns.
first_indexed 2025-11-15T00:23:14Z
format Article
id oai:generic.eprints.org:15263
institution Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-15T00:23:14Z
publishDate 2020
publisher Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling oai:generic.eprints.org:152632020-09-25T08:26:08Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15263/ Learning English intonation through exposure to resynthesized self-produced stimuli Li, Zhongmin Lian, Andrew-Peter Butsakorn Yodkamlue, EFL learners are prone to having problems in pronunciation, while their problems in intonation are more salient. The Chinese EFL pronunciation classroom has long been criticized for teacher-centered, “one-size-fits-all” teaching, which is inefficient and ineffective for solving individual student’s specific pronunciation problems. This study conducted an experiment to examine the effectiveness of exposure to resynthesized self-produced stimuli for intonation learning. The participants were 66 first year English majors studying at a university in China. The treatment was a form of English intonation training wherein the students in the experimental group used their resynthesized self-produced stimuli (their own voices) as the pronunciation model for learning while the control group used a model produced by a native speaker. After the training, the results of the intonation production test showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group in eight intonation patterns. The students’ problems in intonation support Mennen’s (2007) claim that intonation learning involves a first stage of acquiring the phonological representations of intonation patterns and a second stage of acquiring the phonetic realizations of those patterns. The results of this study revealed that exposure to resynthesized self-produced stimuli for intonation learning was as effective as the native speaker model for helping the students form the phonological representations of intonation patterns, while it was more effective than the native speaker model for facilitating the students to produce more accurate phonetic realizations of those patterns. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2020-02 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15263/1/35992-120299-1-PB.pdf Li, Zhongmin and Lian, Andrew-Peter and Butsakorn Yodkamlue, (2020) Learning English intonation through exposure to resynthesized self-produced stimuli. GEMA ; Online Journal of Language Studies, 20 (1). pp. 54-76. ISSN 1675-8021 http://ejournal.ukm.my/gema/issue/view/1246
spellingShingle Li, Zhongmin
Lian, Andrew-Peter
Butsakorn Yodkamlue,
Learning English intonation through exposure to resynthesized self-produced stimuli
title Learning English intonation through exposure to resynthesized self-produced stimuli
title_full Learning English intonation through exposure to resynthesized self-produced stimuli
title_fullStr Learning English intonation through exposure to resynthesized self-produced stimuli
title_full_unstemmed Learning English intonation through exposure to resynthesized self-produced stimuli
title_short Learning English intonation through exposure to resynthesized self-produced stimuli
title_sort learning english intonation through exposure to resynthesized self-produced stimuli
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15263/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15263/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15263/1/35992-120299-1-PB.pdf