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L1 Influence on L2 Intonation in Russian Speakers of English

This thesis investigates the development of intonation in questions and L1 influence. It is a longitudinal study using data from classroom interaction over six ten-week terms. The data was from video recordings at the National Labsite for Adult ESOL at Portland State University.Yes-no/and wh-/questions from one Russian speaking learner of English were analyzed over time and by language support level. Both acoustic and perceptual analysis was done. The yes-no/questions showed a clear pattern of target-like boundary tones more often without language support than with language support. A much smaller percentage of wh-/questions were target-like. The influence of L1 on L2 intonation was evident in both the yes-no/and wh-questions, although more so in the wh-questions. There were some aspects of interlanguage observed and there was no change in intonation patterns over time to become more target-like. Implications for this study include the importance in teaching intonation explicitly and how classroom exercises may or may not facilitate the development of L2 intonation.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:pdx.edu/oai:pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu:open_access_etds-2069
Date23 July 2013
CreatorsCrosby, Christiane Fleur
PublisherPDXScholar
Source SetsPortland State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceDissertations and Theses

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