Pronunciation learning through captioned videos: gains in l2 speech perception and production
- Autores: Natalia Karolina Wisniewska
- Directores de la Tesis: Joan Carles Mora Bonilla (dir. tes.)
- Lectura: En la Universitat de Barcelona ( España ) en 2021
- Idioma: español
- Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Roger Gilabert Guerrero (presid.), Lucrecia Rallo Fabra (secret.), Danijela Trenkic (voc.)
- Programa de doctorado: Programa de Doctorado en Estudios Lingüísticos, Literarios y Culturales por la Universidad de Barcelona
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- Resumen
This doctoral dissertation examines the benefits of extended exposure to multimodal input through captioned videos for second language pronunciation development. It investigates the effects of TV viewing on both L2 speech processing and perceptual and productive accuracy in learners’ L2 phonology. It also analyses learners' eye-movements while watching captioned videos in order to relate the amount of on-screen text processing to pronunciation gains. Ninety Spanish/Catalan adult learners of English (EFL) were tested on speech processing skills (segmentation, speed of lexical access, and sentence processing) and phonological accuracy in perception (ABX discrimination) and production (accentedness ratings) before and after an 8-week treatment consisting of regular exposure to audiovisual materials. Participants were randomly assigned to four experimental conditions involving two viewing modes (captioned or uncaptioned) and two task focus conditions (focus on phonetic form or focus on meaning). The results revealed that exposure to authentic audiovisual materials in English can benefit the L2 pronunciation of post-intermediate/advanced EFL learners irrespective of viewing mode. Whereas previous studies had found larger benefits for captioned than uncaptioned viewing for speech processing and segmentation after short (e.g. single-session) exposures, the relatively long exposure treatment administered in the current study and inclusion of a form or a meaning-focused condition might have washed away potential advantages of one viewing mode over another. Viewing treatment benefits on L2 speech processing were larger on tasks assessing sentence-level than word- or segment-level gains. No significant benefits were found for phonological accuracy in perception. In production, the results revealed an interplay between viewing mode and task focus, indicating that a focus on phonetic form improved pronunciation only in the absence of captions, whereas captioned viewing led to pronunciation gains as long as there was no focus on phonetic form. Cognitive overload might explain why no benefits were obtained when attention was directed to pronunciation in a captioned viewing mode. Although large individual differences characterized L2 learners' caption reading behaviour, which was influenced by material-related as well as learner-related factors, the results indicated a relationship between amount of subtitle processing and foreign accent reduction. Viewing mode moderated foreign accent reduction, as incidental learning of pronunciation occurred only through exposure to captioned viewing without a focus on pronunciation, whereas in the absence of captions gains were driven by an intentional focus on pronunciation. Taken as a whole, this dissertation suggests that enriching the limited L2 input learners are exposed to in foreign language settings through the viewing of authentic audiovisual materials in target language may enhance L2 pronunciation development.
