Web-based intonation training helps improve ESL and EFL Chinese students' oral speech

Abstract

This paper examines whether a web-based training on English discourse intonation leads to better spontaneous speech quality for Mandarin Chinese speakers who reside in the U.S. and in China. The four-week fully online training consisted of meta-instruction videos as well as listening and speaking activities, including instant visual pitch contour feedback and individualized evaluation. The students gave a one-minute spontaneous speech on a given topic at the beginning and the end of the study via videoconferencing. Four native English speakers judged the students' speech comprehensibility, fluidity, accent, confidence and attractiveness, in addition to their intonation performance. Two-way ANCOVA test results show that the experimental group made statistically significant improvement in their speech comprehensibility and speaking confidence. In contrast, the control group did not show improvement. The participants' residence in the U.S. or in China did not affect the training effects. There was not an interaction between the participants' residence and the training. The web-based training, visualization and CMC technology provided an effective scaffolding experience and benefited both EFL and ESL students equally. This study also explores Chinese students' challenges with specific intonation features based on both the raters' judgments and the learners' self-evaluations. The results suggest they have more difficulties with thought groups and prominence than with tone choices. While the trainees gave high ratings to all the activities, they preferred individualized evaluation from the researcher to self-created visual feedback using Praat. The findings have implications for Chinese L1-specific intonation instruction and developing web-based computer assisted pronunciation training systems.

Keywords:

• Computer assisted pronunciation training
• discourse intonation
• feedback
• L2 environment
• oral presentation
• web-based training

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by Shanghai Jiao Tong University 'Double First Class' Grant; Shanghai Pujiang Program (2020PJC069).

Notes on contributors

Yan Jiang

Yan Jiang is Lecturer in School of Foreign Languages at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. She received her Ph. D. from Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research interests include computer assisted language learning and educational technology. She has conducted studies on using visualizations of pitch for teaching Mandarin tones and English intonation, and teachers' TPACK and beliefs in online teaching.

Dorothy Chun

Dorothy M. Chun is Professor Emerita of Applied Linguistics and Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research areas include L2 phonology and intonation, L2 reading and vocabulary acquisition, computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and telecollaboration for intercultural learning. She has conducted studies on cognitive processes in learning with multimedia, on using visualizations of pitch for teaching intonation, and on discourse analyses of online intercultural exchanges. In addition to authoring courseware for language and culture acquisition, including apps for Chinese tone pronunciation, she has been the editor in chief of the online journal Language Learning & Technology since 2000 and is the founding director of the Ph.D. Emphasis in Applied Linguistics at UCSB.