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  • Differential Contribution o...
    In Young Yang

    영어학, 2021, Letnik: 21
    Journal Article

    This study investigated how English suprasegmentals contribute to two aspects of pronunciation proficiency—comprehensibility and foreign-accentedness. Further, it discussed their implications for teaching English as a foreign language. The read speech of 35 volunteers, who were second language (L2) English speakers in Korea, was analyzed in terms of the following seven variables concerning English suprasegmentals: the number of pauses, total duration of pauses, articulation rate, mean length of run, pitch range, prominence frequency, and sentence stress appropriacy. The results of a multiple regression analysis showed that the number of pauses, the sentence stress appropriacy, and the articulation rate were significant predictors of L2 speech comprehensibility. Speech rate factors and prominence frequency were the strongest predictors of foreign-accentedness. In addition, these results suggest that better understanding in communicative contexts requires teaching learners about the placement of sentence stress without overemphasizing the mere rhythmic pattern of spoken English. The discussion explains how discourse-level pronunciation practice and information structures can be integrated into L2 speaking and listening to improve student benefits. KCI Citation Count: 4