Learner Pronunciation, Awareness, and Instruction in French as a Second Language

Abstract: This study examined the speech of 30 adult learners of French as a second language (L2) in a 15-week listening/speaking course, investigating the relationship between learners' pronunciation development and their pronunciation awareness, mea- sured through learners' conceptions of learning. The course targeted segmental and suprasegmental aspects, including connected speech processes (enchainement, liaison), intonation, and fluency. Learners wrote weekly journals eliciting measures of pronunciation awareness and completed read-aloud and picture description tasks at the course's beginning and end. Speech was analyzed through seven measures, including fluency and segmental and suprasegmental accuracy. Results showed significant improvements in learners' segmental production, enchainement, and some aspects of intonation and fluency. Several variables were associated with pronunciation awareness measures. Results are discussed in light of L2 pronunciation development and instruction-awareness links.Key words: connected speech processes, French as a second language, instruction, language awareness, pronunciationIntroductionA recent review of research on the effects of second language (L2) pronunciation instruction reported a noticeable increase in published research between 1990 and 2012 (Saito, 2012). Although pronunciation can no longer be characterized as suffering from "the 'Cinderella syndrome'-kept be- hind doors and out of sight" (Celce-Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 1996, p. 323), many questions remain, especially for learners of languages other than English. Two of these questions concern how the development of learners' L2 pronunciation is linked to pro- nunciation instruction specifically and to learners' awareness of pronunciation pat- terns in general. In the study reported here, L2 pronunciation refers to learners' performance on perception or production tests targeting individual segments, such as vowels and consonants, as well as supra- segmentals, such as linking, stress, rhythm, and intonation. In turn, pronunciation awareness, which is discussed in detail below, denotes learners' conceptions of how pronunciation is acquired and how pronunciation patterns help speakers con- vey intended meanings in the L2.Many textbooks for French as an L2 target phonology and pronunciation, yet very little is actually known about the devel- opment of French pronunciation in in- structed learners, so instructors and learners rely on intuition, course materials, and past experience to guide their teaching and learning activities. In addition, previous research on French language awareness has focused primarily on phonological aware- ness for young readers (e.g., Fleuret & Montesinos-Gelet, 2011) or on the relation- ship between pedagogical activities and learners' awareness of grammatical and lexi- cal forms (e.g., Erlam, 2003). The current study, therefore, investigated the pronunci- ation development of adult learners of French as an L2 at the beginning and end of a one-semester listening and speaking course and particularly explored learners' conceptions of French pronunciation both as a linguistic system and as a learning chal- lenge. The overall goal was to contribute to the knowledge base about how L2 French learners' pronunciation development is linked to pronunciation instruction and learners' pronunciation awareness.Literature ReviewResearch on the teaching of pronunciation in L2 settings has largely focused on two areas: exploring the effectiveness of different instructional approaches, and identifying the role that language awareness plays in learning pronunciation. An example from the first area is a method-comparison study by Derwing, Munro, and Wiebe (1998). These researchers investigated the effective- ness of instruction targeting suprasegmen- tals and general speaking habits for a group of English as an L2 learners, with the instruction targeting fluency phenome- na, intonation, rhythm, and word stress. …