Comparing the nativeness vs. intelligibility approach in prosody instruction for developing speaking skills by interpreter trainees: An experimental study

TY - JOUR

T1 - Comparing the nativeness vs. intelligibility approach in prosody instruction for developing speaking skills by interpreter trainees

T2 - An experimental study

AU - Yenkimaleki, Mahmood

AU - van Heuven, Vincent J.

N1 - Funding Information: We would like to thank all the students and colleagues who collaborated with us in this study. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Elsevier B.V.

PY - 2022/2

Y1 - 2022/2

N2 - The present study investigates the relative contribution of the Nativeness vs. Intelligibility approach in prosody instruction for developing English speaking skills by Iranian interpreter trainees. Three groups of student interpreters were formed. Participants were assigned to groups at random. The speaking skill pretest scores revealed that the three groups were homogeneous before starting the training program. The Control group listened to authentic audio tracks in English, and discussed their contents, watched authentic English movies, and did exercises to improve speaking skills without receiving prosody training. The Nativeness approach group instead spent part of the time on the theoretical explanation of, and practical exercises in, English prosody with the overall aim to train students to acquire native-like speaking skills. The Intelligibility approach group spent part of the time on the theoretical explanation of, and practical exercises in, English prosody emphasizing the requirement that students produce intelligible speech. The total instruction time was the same for all three groups, i.e., 18 h. Students then took a posttest in speaking skills. The results show that both experimental groups performed better than the control group. Moreover, the Intelligibility approach group outperformed the Nativeness approach group in developing speaking skills.

AB - The present study investigates the relative contribution of the Nativeness vs. Intelligibility approach in prosody instruction for developing English speaking skills by Iranian interpreter trainees. Three groups of student interpreters were formed. Participants were assigned to groups at random. The speaking skill pretest scores revealed that the three groups were homogeneous before starting the training program. The Control group listened to authentic audio tracks in English, and discussed their contents, watched authentic English movies, and did exercises to improve speaking skills without receiving prosody training. The Nativeness approach group instead spent part of the time on the theoretical explanation of, and practical exercises in, English prosody with the overall aim to train students to acquire native-like speaking skills. The Intelligibility approach group spent part of the time on the theoretical explanation of, and practical exercises in, English prosody emphasizing the requirement that students produce intelligible speech. The total instruction time was the same for all three groups, i.e., 18 h. Students then took a posttest in speaking skills. The results show that both experimental groups performed better than the control group. Moreover, the Intelligibility approach group outperformed the Nativeness approach group in developing speaking skills.

KW - Intelligibility approach

KW - Nativeness approach

KW - Prosody instruction

KW - Speaking skills

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123696186&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.specom.2022.01.007

DO - 10.1016/j.specom.2022.01.007

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85123696186

SN - 0167-6393

VL - 137

SP - 92

EP - 102

JO - Speech Communication

JF - Speech Communication

ER -