Presentation

Flipping the Phonetics Classroom: A Practical Guide

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Abstract

Although multiple studies (Derwing, Munro, & Wiebe, 1997; 1998; Go_nzalez-Bueno, 1997; Hahn, 2004; Kissling, 2013; Lord, 2005; 2008; Miller, 2012; Sturm, 2013a; 2013b) investigating classroom acquisition of second language (L2) phonology have indicated that learners can improve their pronunciation with instruction and/or practice, Saalfeld’s (2011) study revealed no improvement in pronunciation for learners enrolled in a Spanish phonetics course for Spanish stress placement, and subsequent unpublished data analysis revealed that learners did not improve in any category after a semester of instruction. A key finding of Saalfeld (2011) was that students enrolled in the phonetics course exhibited statistically significantly better pronunciation than students in the control group at the outset of the study, indicating that students who would have benefitted most from a phonetics course elected not to take it. Nevertheless, in most phonetic categories, there remained substantial room for improvement by students enrolled in the phonetics course, which raised the following questions: Why did students not make significant gains in their pronunciation? What changes could be made to the course to promote improvement of pronunciation?

How to Cite:

Saalfeld, A., (2013) “Flipping the Phonetics Classroom: A Practical Guide”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings 5(1).