The present study investigated the English proficiencies of Japanese speakers and measured pronunciation training effectiveness in English acquisition. Junior high school teachers of English and college students in a teacher training course (JET) served as participants. After examining their English proficiencies, we carried out pronunciation training over a period of three months, and then measured training effectiveness. We analyzed the production patterns from the viewpoints of compensatory shortening of a stressed vowel, ISI durations, and weak vowel production. We also employed official TOEFL ITP and TOEIC® Speaking scores, in addition to reading rate and vocabulary size. The present state analysis showed strong correlations of all parameters examined in this study. JET participants showed a high degree of attainment regarding stressed vowel shortening. The results indicated that the degree of difficulty in acquiring durational control of stressed vowel is not so high, compared with the acquisition of ISI durational control. The stressed vowel shortening showed a strong correlation with reading rate and vocabulary. The measurement of training effectiveness showed a significant effect in the F1 frequencies of the weak vowel. The training indicated different degrees of effect on each of the parameters examined in this study.
Cite as: Sudo, M.M., Kagomiya, T., Hori, T. (2020) Present state analysis and measurement of pronunciation training effectiveness in English acquisition: Relationships between production patterns and English proficiencies. Proc. Speech Prosody 2020, 872-875, doi: 10.21437/SpeechProsody.2020-178
@inproceedings{sudo20_speechprosody,
author={Michiko Mochizuki Sudo and Takayuki Kagomiya and Tomoko Hori},
title={{Present state analysis and measurement of pronunciation training effectiveness in English acquisition: Relationships between production patterns and English proficiencies}},
year=2020,
booktitle={Proc. Speech Prosody 2020},
pages={872--875},
doi={10.21437/SpeechProsody.2020-178}
}