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Article published In: Journal of Second Language Pronunciation
Vol. 11:1 (2025) ► pp.76–102

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Implicit feedback and lexical stress

Development of perception and production in a classroom environment

ORCiD logo with link | American University of Sharjah
 | University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
 | American University of Sharjah
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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.

Research funded by American University of Sharjah (FRG19-M-S76) to Özgür Parlak. The work in this paper was supported, in part, by the Open Access Program from the American University of Sharjah, and made Open Access under a CC BY 4.0 license through payment of an APC on behalf of the author. This paper represents the opinions of the author(s) and does not mean to represent the position or opinions of the American University of Sharjah.

Published online: 24 February 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jslp.24050.par
Abstract
The current study explored the effects of recasts on the production and perception of primary stress in a classroom context. Following a pretest-posttest-delayed posttest design, 28 L1 Arabic speakers were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. Participants received four hours of instruction over a period of four days, and the lessons were recorded for stimulated recall. Teaching materials focused on argumentation, and were embedded with the target vocabulary to facilitate incidental mispronunciation. When the intervention group produced target words with misplaced primary stress, they received a recast. The control group did not receive corrective feedback. The results of linear mixed-effects analyses showed that recasts facilitated primary stress development through increased vowel duration. Stimulated recall data confirmed that participants noticed the recasts they received. However, there were no changes in participants’ perceptions of stress placement. These findings suggest that incidental pronunciation errors can be addressed through implicit feedback.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Corrective feedback and L2 phonology
    • 2.2Lexical stress
  • 3.The current study
  • 4.Method
    • 4.1Participants
    • 4.2Materials
      • 4.2.1Production tests
      • 4.2.2Perception tests
      • 4.2.3Biodata
      • 4.2.4Teaching Materials
    • 4.3Procedure
  • 5.Analysis
  • 6.Results
    • 6.1Research Question 1
    • 6.2Research Question 2
  • 7.Discussion
  • 8.Limitations and future directions
  • References
References (73)
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