Cover not available

Article published In: Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 8:2 (2019) ► pp.291–309

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF

Effects of prosody awareness training on the intelligibility of Iranian interpreter trainees in English

 | Free University Amsterdam | University of Nahavand
 | University of Pannonia | Leiden University
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 1 October 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/dujal.17023.yen
Abstract
The present study investigates the effect of prosodic feature awareness training on the intelligibility of speech produced by Iranian interpreter trainees. Two groups of student interpreters were formed. All were native speakers of Farsi who studied English translation and interpreting at the BA level. Participants took a pretest of speaking skills before starting the program so that their speech intelligibility level was rated. The control group listened to authentic audio tracks in English and discussed their contents, watched authentic English movies, discussed issues in the movies in pairs in the classroom. The experimental group spent part of the time on theoretical explanation of, and practical exercises with, English prosody. Students then took a posttest in speaking skills so that the effect of treat-​ment on the intelligibility of their speech could be assessed. The results show that the prosody awareness training significantly improved the students’ speech intelligibility.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Methodology
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Procedure
  • 3.Results
  • 4.Conclusion and discussion
  • Note
  • References
References (58)
References
Abercrombie, D. (1956). Problems and principles in language study. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ahrens, B. (2004). Prosodie beim Simultandolmetschen. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Anderson-Hsieh, J., Johnson, R., & Koehler, K. (1992). The relationship between native speakers’ judgements of nonnative pronunciation and deviance in segmentals, prosody, and syllable structure, Language Learning, 421, 529–555. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bent, T., & Bradlow, A. R. (2003). The interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1141, 1600–1610. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Burns, A. (2003). Clearly speaking: Pronunciation in action for teachers. Sydney: National Center for English Language Teaching and Research, Macquarie University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., & Goodwin, J. M. (1996). Teaching pronunciation: A reference for teachers of English to speakers of other languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Champagne-Muzar, C., Schneiderman, E. I., & Bourdages, J. S. (1993). Second language accent: The role of the pedagogical environment. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 31(2), 143–160.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crystal, D. (2003). A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2004). The past, present, and future of World English. In A. Gardt, & B. Hüppauf (Eds.), Globalization and the future of German (pp. 27–46). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cutler, A. (2012). Native listening: Language experience and the recognition of spoken words. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cutler, A., & McQueen, J. (2014). How prosody is both mandatory and optional. In J. Caspers, Y. Chen, W. F. L. Heeren, J. Pacilly, N. O. Schiller, & E. van Zanten (Eds.), Above and beyond the segments. Experimental linguistics and phonetics (pp. 71–82). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Derwing, T. M., Diepenbroek, L. G., & Foote, J. A. (2012). How well do general-skills ESL textbooks address pronunciation? TESL Canada Journal, 301, 22–44. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Derwing, T. M., & Munro, M. J. (2005). Second language accent and pronunciation teaching: A research-based approach. TESOL Quarterly, 391, 379–397. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dupoux, E., Peperkamp, S., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2010). Limits on bilingualism revisited: Stress ‘deafness’ in simultaneous French-Spanish bilinguals. Cognition, 1141, 266–275. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Field, J. (2005). Intelligibility and the listener: The role of lexical stress. TESOL Quarterly, 391, 399–423. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Foote, J. A., Holtby, A. K., & Derwing, T. M. (2011). Survey of the teaching of pronunciation in adult ESL programs in Canada, 2010. TESL Canada Journal, 291, 1–22. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gilbert, J. B. (1995). Pronunciation practice as an aid to listening comprehension. In D. J. Mendelsohn, & J. Rubin (Eds.), A guide for the teaching of second language listening (pp. 97–112). San Diego, CA: Dominie Press, San Diego, CA.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gooskens, C., & Van Heuven, V. J. (2019, to appear). Mutual intelligibility. In M. Zampieri, & P. Nakov (Eds.), Similar languages, varieties, and dialects: A computational perspective. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gooskens, C., Van Heuven, V. J., Van Bezooijen, R., & Pacilly, J. J. A. (2010). Is spoken Danish less intelligible than Swedish? Speech Communication, 521, 1020–1037. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Graddol, D. (2006). English next. London: The British Council.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haug Hilton, N., Gooskens, C., & Schüppert, A. (2013). The influence of non-native morphosyntax on the intelligibility of a closely related language. Lingua, 1371, 1–18. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Howlader, M. R. (2010). Teaching English pronunciation in countries where English is a second language: Bangladesh perspective. ASA University Review, 41, 233–244.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jenkins, J. (1998). Which pronunciation norms and models for English as an international language? ELT Journal, 521, 119–126. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2000). The phonology of English as an international language: New models, new norms, new goals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2002). A sociolinguistically based, empirical researched pronunciation syllabus for English as an international language. Applied Linguistics, 23(1), 83–103. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kachru, B. B. (1985). Standards, codification, and sociolinguitic realism: The English language in the outer circle. In R. Quirk, & H. G. Widdowson (Eds.), English in the world (pp. 11–34). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koike, Y. (2014). Explicit pronunciation instruction: Teaching suprasegmentals to Japanese learners of English. In N. Sonda, & A. Krause (Eds.), JALT 2013 Conference Proceedings (pp. 361–374). Tokyo.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moedjito (2015). Factors determining global intelligibility of EFL learners in Asian contexts. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences, 51, 155–164.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Morley, J. (1991). The pronunciation component in teaching English to speakers of other languages. TESOL Quarterly, 25(3), 481–521. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mouri, T., Hirose, K., & Minematsu, N. (2003). Consideration on vowel durational modification for Japanese CALL system. Proceedings of Eurospeech 2003, 3153–3156.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Munro, M. J., & Derwing, T. (1997). Accent, intelligibility and comprehensibility. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 191, 1–16. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Munro, M. J., & Derwing, T. M. (2006). The functional load principle in ESL pronunciation instruction: An exploratory study. System, 341, 520–531. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2008). Segmental acquisition in adult ESL learners: A longitudinal study of vowel production. Language Learning, 581, 479–502. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pennington, M. C. (1998). The teachability of phonology in adulthood: A re-examination. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 361, 323–341. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peperkamp, S., & Dupoux, E. (2002). A typological study of stress ‘deafness’. In C. Gussenhoven, & N. Warner (Eds.), Laboratory Phonology 7 (pp. 203–240). Berlin: Mouton-De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Robinson, P., Mackey, A., Gass, S. M., & Schmidt, R. (2012). Attention and awareness in second language acquisition. In S. Gass, & A. Mackey (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of Second Language Acquisition (pp. 247–267). London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Suwartono, S. (2014). Enhancing the pronunciation of English suprasegmental features through reflective learning method. TEFLIN Journal, 251, 80–93.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Trofimovich, P., & Baker, W. (2006). Learning second language suprasegmentals: Effect of L2 experience on prosody and fluency characteristics of L2 speech. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 281, 1–30. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tsurutani, C., & Ishihara, S. (2012). Naturalness judgement of prosodic variation of Japanese utterances with prosody modified stimuli. Proceedings of Interspeech 2012, 646–649.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van Heuven, V. J. (1986). Some acoustic characteristics and perceptual consequences of foreign accent in Dutch spoken by Turkish immigrant workers. In J. van Oosten, & J. F. Snapper (Eds.), Dutch Linguistics at Berkeley (pp. 67–84). Berkeley: The Dutch Studies Program, U. C. Berkeley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2008). Making sense of strange sounds: (Mutual) intelligibility of related language varieties. A review. International Journal of Humanities and Arts Computing, 21, 39–62. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). A relative measure of the interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit: A meta-analytic exercise. In S. Bátyi, & M. Vígh-Szabó (Eds.), Language – System, Usage, Application (pp. 31–52). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016). An acoustic characterisation of English vowels produced by American, Dutch, Chinese and Hungarian speakers. Hungarian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 16(2), 1–20. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van Heuven, V. J., & Gooskens, C. (2017). An acoustic analysis of English vowels produced by speakers of seven different native-language backgounds. In M. Wieling, G. Bouma, & G. van Noort (Eds.), From semantics to dialectometry. Festschrift in honour of John Nerbonne (pp. 129–139). Groningen: University of Groningen.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van Heuven, V. J., & De Vries, J. W. (1981). Begrijpelijkheid van buitenlanders: de rol van fonische versus niet fonische factoren [Intelligibility of foreigners: the role of phonic versus non-phonic factors]. Forum der Letteren, 221, 309–320.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Venkatagiri, H. S., & Levis, J. M. (2007). Phonological awareness and speech comprehensibility: An exploratory study. Language Awareness, 161, 263–277. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Walker, R. (2001). Pronunciation for international intelligibility. English Teaching Professional, 211, 1–7.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, Z. (2014). Developing accuracy and fluency in spoken English of Chinese EFL learners. English Language Teaching, 71, 110–118. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, H., & Van Heuven, V. J. (2015). The interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit as bias toward native-language phonology. i-Perception, 6(6), 1–13. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yenkimaleki, M. (2016). Why prosody awareness training is necessary for training future interpreters. Journal of Education and Human Development, 51, 256–261. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017). Effect of prosody awareness training on the quality of consecutive interpreting between English and Farsi (LOT dissertation series 459). Utrecht: LOT.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yenkimaleki, M., & Van Heuven, V. J. (2013). Prosodic feature awareness training in interpreting: An experimental study. In L. Gómez Chova, A. López Martínez, & I. Candel Torres (Eds.), Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Education, Research and Innovation, November 18th-20th, 2013, Seville, Spain, 4179–4188.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016a). Effect of explicit teaching of prosodic features on the development of listening comprehension by Farsi-English interpreter trainees: An experimental study. International Journal of English Language Teaching, 41, 32–41.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016b). The effect of prosody teaching on developing word recognition skills for interpreter trainees: An experimental study. Journal of Advances in Linguistics, 71, 1101–1107. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016c). Prosody teaching matters in developing speaking skills for Farsi-English interpreter trainees: An experimental study. International Journal of English Language and Linguistics Research, 4(5), 82–91.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016d). Effect of prosody awareness training on the performance of consecutive interpretation from Farsi into English: An experimental study. Asia Pacific Translation and Intercultural Studies, 3(3), 235–251. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016e). Explicit teaching of segmentals versus suprasegmentals: which would yield better listening comprehension skills for interpreter trainees? An experimental study. British Journal of English Linguistics, 4(6), 11–22.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yenkimaleki, M. & Van Heuven, V. J. (2018). The effect of teaching prosody awareness on interpreting performance: an experimental study of consecutive interpreting from English into Farsi. Perspectives, Studies in Translation Theory and Practice, 26(1), 84–99. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (8)

Cited by eight other publications

Jeong, Hyeseung & Stephanie Lindemann
2025. Beyond ideologies of nativeness in the intelligibility principle for L2 English pronunciation: A corpus-supported review. System 129 ► pp. 103599 ff. DOI logo
Tang, Jing & Jiayong He
2024. Segmentals weigh much more in comprehensibility than nuclear stress in read speech. Acta Psychologica 247 ► pp. 104313 ff. DOI logo
Yenkimaleki, Mahmood, Vincent J. van Heuven & Hossein Moradimokhles
2023. The effect of prosody instruction in developing listening comprehension skills by interpreter trainees: does methodology matter?. Computer Assisted Language Learning 36:5-6 ► pp. 968 ff. DOI logo
Yenkimaleki, Mahmood, Vincent J. van Heuven & Hassan Soodmand Afshar
2023.  The efficacy of segmental/suprasegmental vs. holistic pronunciation instruction on the development of listening comprehension skills by EFL learners . The Language Learning Journal 51:6 ► pp. 734 ff. DOI logo
Yenkimaleki, Mahmood
2021. Prosody training benefits in perception vs. production skills in simultaneous interpreting: an experimental study. Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics 10 DOI logo
Yenkimaleki, Mahmood & Vincent J. van Heuven
2021. Effects of attention to segmental vs. suprasegmental features on the speech intelligibility and comprehensibility of the EFL learners targeting the perception or production-focused practice. System 100 ► pp. 102557 ff. DOI logo
Yenkimaleki, Mahmood & Vincent J. van Heuven
2022. Comparing the nativeness vs. intelligibility approach in prosody instruction for developing speaking skills by interpreter trainees: An experimental study. Speech Communication 137 ► pp. 92 ff. DOI logo
Yenkimaleki, Mahmood & Vincent J. van Heuven
2023. Relative contribution of explicit teaching of segmentals vs. prosody to the quality of consecutive interpreting by Farsi-to-English interpreting trainees. Interactive Learning Environments 31:1 ► pp. 451 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 8 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue