Using internet resources in the development of English pronunciation: the case of the past tense -ed ending

Abstract

The paper presents the results of a quasi-experimental study which was conducted with a view to determining the effect of an intervention in the form of the application of teacher-designed Internet-based resources (i.e., websites, podcasts, movie clips) that students could use autonomously on the development of pronunciation of the English regular past tense -ed ending. The sample consisted of 45 Polish secondary school learners. Participants were divided into three groups, two treatment and one control. The intervention spanned two weeks. The lessons in treatment group 1 were conducted by means of online resources and those in treatment group 2 were carried out in a traditional way (i.e., without autonomous recourse to computer-assisted pronunciation teaching). The students in the control group did not receive any instruction related to the pronunciation feature in question over that time. The data were gathered by means of perception and production tests administered before (pretest) and after (immediate and delayed posttests) the treatment, and subjected to quantitative analysis. The results, supported by the participants’ evaluation of the two types of pedagogic intervention, indicate that although the effects of the experimental treatments proved to be comparable, the use of online resources produced more durable gains and was more favorably evaluated by learners. This provides a rationale for using computer technology as a tool for enhancing traditional teaching of English pronunciation in secondary school.

Keywords:

• Internet resources
• past tense -ed ending
• pronunciation instruction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mariusz Kruk

Mariusz Kruk, Ph.D., studied Russian philology (Tadeusz Kotarbiński Higher Pedagogical School in Zielona Góra, Poland) and English philology (Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz, Poland). His main areas of interest include individual difference variables (esp. boredom, motivation, anxiety) and the application of new technologies in foreign language learning and teaching. He is the author of the monograph Investigating Dynamic Relationships among Individual Difference Variables in Learning English as a Foreign Language in a Virtual World (2021, Springer). He co-authored Boredom in the Foreign Language Classroom: A Micro-Perspective with Mirosław Pawlak and Joanna Zawodniak (2020, Springer) and co-edited New Technological Applications for Foreign and Second Language Learning and Teaching with Mark Peterson (2020, IGI Global).

Mirosław Pawlak

Mirosław Pawlak is Professor of English at Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz, Poland and State University of Applied Sciences, Konin, Poland. His research interests include classroom interaction, form-focused instruction, corrective feedback, learner autonomy, language learning strategies, motivation, willingness to communicate, boredom, pronunciation teaching, and study abroad.