PTLC2005 Grit Mehlhorn Learner autonomy and pronunciation coaching: 1
Learner Autonomy and Pronunciation Coaching
Grit Mehlhorn, University of Stuttgart (Germany)
1 Introduction This paper gives a general overview of the motivation, goals and
methods of Individual Pronunciation Coaching (IPC). It will be shown that for adult
learners of a second language (here: German), IPC can sharpen the learners’ language
awareness and facilitate learner autonomy.1
2 Individual Pronunciation Coaching The difficulties experienced while learning the
pronunciation of a second language do not only depend on the mother tongue of the
learners but also on individual differences between learners. Even students of the same
mother tongue and with a very similar learning background show huge differences in
their individual pronunciation. Learners also differ in terms of their ability of segmental
and prosodic differentiation, articulatory skills, cognitive learning styles, the learning
strategies they use, the degree of language awareness, self-monitoring skills, their
motivation and their expectations with respect to their pronunciation level.
As pronunciation practice plays only a marginal role in standard foreign language
teaching, even very advanced learners have no clear idea of how and where their
pronunciation deviates from the pronunciation of native speakers. Therefore, in the
pronunciation of many language learners we find fossilizations, – much more often than
in their grammar or vocabulary. Indeed, for many learners it is not sufficient to be
exposed to the second language. Without a certain experience in systematic listening to
sounds or intonation and without an awareness on what to focus, much of the input is
“filtered out”. Thus, the pronunciation of surrounding native speakers may have only little
influence on what a learner produces himself. In heterogeneous learner groups with
different mother tongues, it is very difficult to deal with the pronunciation difficulties of
individual learners. Hence, lack of time is the main argument against teaching phonetics
in the foreign classroom, along with the observation that teachers’ knowledge in this
area is often limited. Therefore, many teachers restrict themselves to the immediate
correction of only very striking pronunciation deviations. A conscious discussion of
reasons for these deviations rarely takes place. To remedy the aforementioned
problems, teachers would have to acquire additional competences and phonetic
knowledge. However, since not every teacher can be an expert for every mother tongue
of his learners, the idea of individual coaching with special focus on foreign
pronunciation was born. This is a new kind of individual coaching which coexists with
general language learning coaching (Kleppin & Mehlhorn 2005).
The motivation of the learner plays a particularly important role in pronunciation learning
since very often, a feeling of success or sense of achievement in the foreign
pronunciation is reached only after a longer period of time, after persistent exercising.
This is another reason to do IPC which is designed to show even small progress which
would not be recognized in a different setting. Naturally, this has a positive impact on the
learner’s motivation.
3 Goals Individual learning coaching is based on the concept of learner autonomy (cf.
among others Benson 2001). The learner is seen as an individual who is capable of
1
Space does not permit more than a cursory description. For empirical examples on IPC with students of
German as a second language, see Mehlhorn (in press).
PTLC2005 Grit Mehlhorn Learner autonomy and pronunciation coaching: 1
taking control of his own learning. It is an important goal of the individual learning
coaching to support the learner’s independence. The IPC has a limited time frame. The
sooner the learner is able to learn independently, the better. The increase of the
learners’ autonomy, self-reflection and their capability of self-appraisal are further aims
accompanying the improvement of the learners’ pronunciation skills.
An essential aim of the IPC is to help the learner gain sufficient knowledge of the
phonetic system of the target language to feel at ease when using it. Having understood
the system, the learner will be more likely to feel in control of it; and feeling in control will
almost certainly reduce the anxiety felt when speaking the second language. Supporting
the self-confidence of the learner is therefore one of the fundamental goals of the
individual coaching. Confidence building here takes the form of making clear to the
learner which phenomena he needs to work on and which sounds he can safely
consider to be less problematic.2
4 Methods in IPC At the beginning of the coaching process, the learner is informed
about the proceeding and the possibilities of the coaching:
-
The coach makes a diagnosis of the learner’s individual pronunciation.
She recommends material designed to improve the pronunciation and shows to the
learner how to work with it.
The coach supports the learner in splitting up his main goals into small, realistic subgoals.
She helps the learner develop appropriate learning strategies and
gives feedback on the learner’s progress.
All these measures are intended to make the learner more independent. At the same
time, it is necessary to make clear that work on pronunciation must necessarily be
active. The learner won’t improve his pronunciation by being told what to do, but by
doing it. Obviously, if the learner is treated as an autonomous person, his progress
depends almost entirely on his own effort. The IPC is intended to provide maximum
support, but does not spare the learner the effort of learning.
In the first coaching session, the coach inquires about the so-called learning biography.
This means information about the mother tongue, foreign languages, strategies in
pronunciation learning, phonetic knowledge (i.e. knowledge about the phonetic
particularities of the mother tongue and the target language), self-assessment of his
own pronunciation, already recognized problems, crucial experiences with his foreign
pronunciation (e.g. perceived misunderstandings), aims, time frame, etc. This
information is necessary to provide the learner with coaching that directly addresses his
individual needs.
In a second step, the learner reads a short text aloud. This text is recorded in the
computer. This recording serves as diagnosis and starting point for the coaching.3 While
the learner reads the text, the coach marks the deviations in his own copy of the text.
2
Experience shows that there can be huge differences between pronunciation aspects which seem
problematic to the learner and those which are perceived as deviant by the pronunciation coach. Learners
of German, e.g., often mention the uvular [R] and the high front rounded vowels in the first place. Only few
learners are aware of deviations in the target intonation or rhythm, however.
3
Another valuable means in the diagnosis process are perception tests. If the learner has difficulties to
perceive certain sounds in the target language, it seems appropriate to start with listening exercises (e.g.
identification and discrimination of given sounds) before going on to the production of the sounds in
question.
PTLC2005 Grit Mehlhorn Learner autonomy and pronunciation coaching: 1
When discussing the identified deviations in the recording it is recommended to
differentiate between more striking deviations which could lead to misunderstandings or
make communication more difficult, and less irritating deviations. Now that the learner
knows about his individual problems, he decides which particular difficulty he wants to
work on. Then, the learner and the coach discuss different approaches and possibilities
for pronunciation practice. Depending on the learner’s difficulties it can be useful to
explain the relation between sounds and letters in German, to show articulation places
of certain consonants, to show differences in the rhythms between L1 and L2, or to draw
the attention of the learner to particular intonation patterns or stress rules. The explicit
knowledge about phonetic and prosodic rules concerning the own difficulties can help
the learner to take control of his own pronunciation. However, the explanations of the
coach should not be limited to linguistic knowledge. She can demonstrate how to use
language learning software, how to profit from listening tasks, songs, audio books or a
vocabulary trainer, where the learner can find rules and exercises for his individual
problems on a CD-ROM, which exercises are appropriate for which difficulty, etc.
Together, the learner and the coach discuss which procedure could be helpful for the
learner’s working on his pronunciation. However, the decision about the path and
direction the learner wants to take is up to the learner, since he is the one who has to
put his chosen methods into action.
A next step of raising the awareness of the learner with respect to his pronunciation
deviations, consists in letting the learner hear his deviations. He listens to his recording
and has to concentrate on the marked items. This is done to account for the fact that
unless the learner recognizes his deviations, he is hardly able to change his
pronunciation. As many learners are visual perceivers, one can use both visual and
auditory means to illustrate certain differences between the learners’ native and the
target language. Visual displays of speech are a particularly valuable means for raising
language awareness of the various aspects of speech, especially intonation (see
Stibbard 1996; Hardison 2004) – provided that the deviations are explained to the
learner in a comprehensive way.
At the end of the session, the learner formulates his goals and defines the necessary
steps to reach them, i.e., the exercises he will do until the next session and the
pronunciation phenomena to which he will pay special attention. This is a kind of verbal
contract between the learner and his coach and serves as a starting point for the next
session. Usually, those sessions take place on a regular basis, normally every three or
four weeks. The time frame for the whole coaching is a few months.
The subsequent coaching sessions can proceed in the following phases:
1. The learner reports about his learning: what he trained and how he trained, which
difficulties he encountered, in which areas he noticed a progress, which sub-goals
he reached, etc.
2. A new diagnosis can be made with the help of a new recording of the learner’s
pronunciation. The feedback from the coach with respect to the learner’s
performance in certain aspects of pronunciation, and comparisons with former
recordings serve as a means for showing to the learner his progress in
pronunciation.
3. The consequence of this evaluation can be either
a. to maintain the strategies used, if they worked for the learner, and to set a new
sub-goal, i.e. to work on the next pronunciation difficulty, or
PTLC2005 Grit Mehlhorn Learner autonomy and pronunciation coaching: 1
b. to revise the procedure, if it did not suit the learner’s needs. In the latter case,
the old goal would be maintained and a new strategy, i.e., other methods and/or
exercises, should be tried.
4. During the coaching session, it can be necessary to make the learner aware of
pronunciation rules of the target language or to explain and demonstrate new
learning strategies, e.g. how to use a pronunciation dictionary, how to concentrate
on certain aspects of prosody, etc.
5. A last step consists in the agreement on the next sub-goals and the learning
strategies to reach them.
5 Conclusion
For adult learners, it is important to understand the nature of their deviations. In the IPC,
the coach tries to maximize the possibilities of noticing via focus on form. This enables a
reflection and awareness process which yields deeper processing and hence more
profound learning – even outside the coaching context. Strategies and techniques which
the learner used successfully for improving his German pronunciation should facilitate
the learning of further languages in many cases. The more strategies the learner has
tried, the more conscious his decision to adopt a certain procedure. The reflection on
the learning experience, the learning progress, and the evaluation of successful learning
strategies is bound to open new perspectives for the organization of further learning. If
the learner is able to identify “weak spots” himself and to draw the right consequences
from self-observation, comparison with a standard, and self-evaluation, he will no longer
depend on the feedback of the coach. The language (learning) awareness he has
reached, and the gain in self-confidence, which enables him to overcome his hesitation
when speaking the target language, form the prerequisites for further autonomous
learning and pronunciation improvement.
6 References
Benson, Phil (2001) Teaching and researching autonomy in language learning.
Longman: London.
Hardison, Debra M. (2004) Generalization of Computer-Assisted Prosody Training:
Quantitative and Qualitative Findings. Language Learning & Technology, Vol. 8, No. 1,
2004, 34–52.
Kleppin, Karin & Mehlhorn, Grit (2005) Sprachlernberatung. In: Rüdiger Ahrens & Weier,
Ursula (eds.), Englisch in der Erwachsenenbildung des 21. Jahrhunderts. Heidelberg:
Universitätsverlag, 71–90.
Mehlhorn, Grit
(to appear) Individual pronunciation coaching and prosody. In:
Gut, Ulrike & Jürgen Trouvain (eds.): Non-native prosody: phonetic description and
teaching practice. (= Phonetics & Phonology), Mouton de Gruyter.
Stibbard, Richard (1996) Teaching English Intonation with a Visual Display of
Fundamental Frequency. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. II, No. 8, 1996.