SPEECH VISUALIZATION TECHNOLOGY AND TEENAGE EFL LEARNERS. The Effects on English Prosody of Praat Use in a Venetian High School

Abstract

Due to its rather undefined nature, prosody may be considered a particularly challenging aspect of second language (L2) pronunciation. In this regard, speech analysis software Praat has proved to be a very helpful tool for L2 learners, who seem to benefit from visualization of waveforms and pitch contours in the enhancement of English suprasegmental features and especially of intonation. So far, most research has focused on the effects of Praat audio-visual feedback at the university level, essentially neglecting upper secondary educational contexts. To fill this gap, this study presents one possible pedagogical implementation of the software within two second year classes of a Venetian high school (Italy). Building upon an exploratory sequential mixed method design, evidence from preliminary classroom observation and interviews with teachers determine the structure of the visual feedback paradigm (VFP) used in the successive pronunciation activity with Praat, at the end of which a satisfaction questionnaire is administered. Results are promising for three reasons: 1) the preliminary phase reveals students’ increased interest towards English pronunciation issues; 2) the 12 subjects recording the target questions before and after Praat training show to have benefitted from audio-visual feedback of English models as their intonation contours result being substantially more native like; 3) questionnaire data exhibit an overall favourable response from the subject participants to the use of Praat in the scope of pronunciation instruction.

Keywords: L2 pronunciation, audio-visual feedback, Praat, teenage learners