phonology and SLA

[Stephan H Hornberger]

I invite you to visit Other Languages classes at DVFS (Paoli, PA --
"Main Line"), where you will find that phonological concerns are the
center of several of the Other Languages instructional classes. In fact,
I could offer the experiences of my own Spanish classes, where my
methodology for general language instruction highlights phonology above
other concerns, including communicative competence, grammar-translation,
etc. etc.
혼버거 에스테반
Head, Other Languages Department
DVFS
19 E. Central Avenue
Paoli, PA 19301
(610) 640 - 4150 anexo 2290.
===================
sicola at dolphin.upenn.edu wrote:

>Hello everyone,
>
>I am currently at the proposal stage of dissertation work, and I could use some
>insight on ways to approach an issue.
>
>Quick background: There has been a good amount of research in classroom second
>language learning (SLL) that looks at the cognitive and affective benefits of
>cooperative learning activities and strategies via pair or groupwork. However,
>these studies all seem to focus on grammar and/or general communication
>proficiency.  They never discuss L2 pronunciation.  In general, there is very
>little research on L2 pronunciation. The general feeling seems to be that if
>accented speakers work together they will merely learn each other's accent or
>reinforce their own. However, since the studies did not have any phonological
>instructional focus, this is not surprising. Is it to say, though, that if
>segmental/suprasegmental features were the focus of the study, that the result
>would be the same?  Is it possible that guided pronunciation
>activities/tasks/lessons incorporating peer NNS-NNS interaction could yield
>improvement?
>
>In building a case, here are some of the things I need to consider:
>
>1.  Why there has been so little work on pronunciation. Plenty of literature on:
>* group/pair work, cooperative learning , keeping in mind that the research is
>pretty much process, not outcomes oriented
>
>* interlanguage phonology -- which features are more likely to respond to
>the strategies that have been identified in cooperative learning
>
>* tasks and activities -- which ones are best carried out through
>cooperative groups and lead to the strategies that activate learning processes
>
>2. One approach could be to list all the benefits of group work and findings on
> areas of language in which learners have been shown to help each other and then
>apply them to features of pronunciation. For example, if learners are given open
>questions rather than confirmation checks, they are more likely to revise their
>previous utterances-- could that be an opportunity for phonological
>modification? Same thing with wait time. The problem is that these strategies
>are not exclusive to group work -- teacher led activities could also activate
>them, and some  activities lend themselves to these strategies more than
>others (e.e.g, tasks, vs. lessons). So then the issue is whether group
>work is more likely to generate open questions, wait time, and be more
>compatible with task oriented interaction.
>
>3. Another approach would be to focus more on the pronunciation than the group
>work, and come at it by asking how learners can be helped with pronunciation,
>then draw from different areas, e.g., to devise and compare a set of treatments.
>
>4. Or focus more on the group work, asking which features learners would be more
>likely to address in their work with each other. In that case, I could ask
>learners to work on different activities designed to focus on specific lx
>features and compare the processes, strategies and outcomes.
>
>All of these involve pronunciation and cooperative learning, but they go at them
>in different ways.
>
>SOOOOOOOO...
>
>Any thoughts from here? Suggestions about strength of approaches? Other things I
>should think about? Suggestions for studies I should read?  I've done a pretty
>extensive amount of research on the values of (real) cooperative learning, and
>the affective and cognitive benefits alike seem like they should be applicable
>in teaching L2 pronunciation.
>
>Thanks for the sounding board,
>
>Laura Sicola
>University of Pennsylvania
>
>
>