Presentation

Detecting L2 Speech Deviations by a Communicative Experiment Procedure: Cantonese Speakers’ Realizations of English /R/

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Abstract

One purpose of connecting L2 speech research and L2 teaching and learning is to help students learn to communicate more effectively in spontaneous speech. However, experiments with L1 and L2 speech production have long used carefully controlled reading procedures. Such procedures may not predict performance in real-time communication. In order to compare reading and self-generated speech, two experiments examined how native English speakers’ ratings of native-likeness for Hong Kong English speakers were affected by experimental procedure. Participants were 8 advanced Cantonese speakers of English pronouncing real r- or -r- words. In experiment 1, participants read the stimuli carefully in a carrier sentence; in experiment 2, participants were told to make up a story out of the same stimuli used in experiment 1. Results showed that in experiment 2, more errors and types of errors were noticed by native English speakers. Results imply that gearing the procedure to a more functionally-loaded one will more fairly evaluate actual speech performance.

How to Cite:

Lan, Y., (2013) “Detecting L2 Speech Deviations by a Communicative Experiment Procedure: Cantonese Speakers’ Realizations of English /R/”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings 5(1).