A number of studies in the literature claim that storytelling is a powerful tool in the development of receptive (i.e., Reading and Listening) and productive (i.e., Speaking and Writing) language skills, including pronunciation (e.g., Atta-Alla, 2011; Mottalabi & Pourgharib, 2013; Zare-Behatash, Saed and Sajjadi, 2016). Furthermore, there are studies that suggest that storytelling is even more effective than traditional teaching methods (e.g., Hsu, 2010; Li & Seehouse, 2010; Zare-Behatash, Saed and Sajjadi, 2016). The problem, however, is that those studies generally lack specific information about how storytelling improves pronunciation and what aspects are enhanced, for instance.
This study aims to fill such a gap in the literature by investigating the effect(s) of storytelling on the development of the pronunciation of Brazilian beginner learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) who are 15 years of age and older, through a focus on specific segmental (i.e., /I/; /i/ and /ð/; /θ/) and suprasegmental (i.e., word stress) features that are considered difficult for Brazilian learners of English to pronounce intelligibly (i.e., Baptista, 2001; Cruz, 2003; Reis, 2006). Additionally, it aims to investigate how storytelling activities compare in effectiveness to textbook activities in the development of pronunciation, since textbook activities are widely used pedagogical tools in English classes in Brazil and generally considered to be effective in the development of language skills (e.g., Consolo, 1990; Xavier & Urio, 2006). Last, the study examines Brazilian learners’ perceptions about the usefulness and relevance of the storytelling/textbook activities they were exposed to in improving their pronunciation.
Data were collected at a private school in Brazil three times a week, in 12, 25-minute sessions. A total of 86 learners participated in the study and were randomly divided into three different groups (i.e., experimental, n=28; comparison, n=29; and control, n=29). The experimental group performed storytelling activities and the comparison group performed textbook activities. The control group received no treatment. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted to examine the data gathered from pre-tests, post-tests and questionnaires.
The findings of the statistical analyses showed significant differences in the participants’ performance in the perception and production pre-tests/post-tests, suggesting that storytelling and textbook activities played an effective role in the pronunciation improvement of the participants. In addition, findings showed that storytelling and textbook activities had a similar effect on pronunciation. The findings of the quantitative and qualitative questionnaires showed that, in general, participants in the experimental (i.e., storytelling) and comparison (i.e., textbook) groups similarly enjoyed performing their respective activities, although they were not much sure about their usefulness and relevance for the improvement of their English pronunciation.
This study offers various contributions in the investigation of the effect of storytelling on pronunciation improvement. In addition to addressing the lack of specific information in previous studies on the relationship between storytelling and pronunciation development, it also contributes to the field by showing teachers that L2 pronunciation development may be impacted by a number of factors at individual, psychological, sociocultural and sociocognitive levels, to mention a few. Moreover, it suggests that the implicit approach examined in the study did not seem to play an effective role in the development of learners’ pronunciation. Instead, an inductive approach that involves exposing learners to target sounds through the use of enhanced input, for instance, could potentially increase the effectiveness of pronunciation improvement through storytelling. / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/9267 |
| Date | 26 April 2018 |
| Creators | Rezende Lucarevschi, Claudio |
| Contributors | Nassaji, Hossein |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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