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Article published In: Journal of Second Language Pronunciation
Vol. 9:1 (2023) ► pp.71–102

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Explicit pronunciation instruction in the second language classroom

An acoustic analysis of German final devoicing

ORCiD logo with link | University of British Columbia
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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.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with University of British Columbia.

Published online: 20 July 2023
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jslp.22038.str
Abstract
The present study uses an acoustic analysis to examine the effects of implicit and explicit pronunciation instruction on the acquisition of German final devoicing in the L2 classroom. Twenty-nine English-speaking L2 learners of German at a North American university were assigned to an implicit or explicit condition. Learner speech samples were recorded, following a pre/post/delayed-post-test design. Four acoustic correlates of final and medial obstruent voicing were analyzed to establish the degree to which underlyingly voiced word-final stops were phonetically devoiced. Results indicate that learners in the explicit condition significantly outperformed learners in the implicit condition, with all four acoustic measures signaling significantly greater word-final devoicing by the post-test in the explicit condition. Orthography, declarative knowledge, and level of awareness are hypothesized as factors that influenced the acquisition process. The study calls for additional acoustic work on the effects of different instructional practices on German L2 pronunciation.
Article outline
  • 1.Literature review
    • 1.1Pronunciation instruction
    • 1.2German final devoicing
    • 1.3Acoustic properties
    • 1.4Research question
  • 2.Materials and methods
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Procedure
    • 2.3Stimuli
    • 2.4Data analysis
    • 2.5Intervention
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Final devoicing
      • 3.1.1Closure duration
      • 3.1.2Release duration
      • 3.1.3Preceding vowel duration
      • 3.1.4Voicing into closure
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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