Abstract:

Communicative competence is the ultimate goal of most learners of a second language and intelligible pronunciation a fundamental part of it. Unfortunately, learners often lack the opportunity to explore how intelligible their speech is for different audiences. Our research investigates whether synchronous-voice computer-mediated communication could be an adequate tool both to promote more authentic interactions and to test the intelligibility of students´ pronunciation with different audiences. We also study whether the kind of dyad (NNS sharing L1, NNS different L1, and NS) affects improvement in pronunciation and amount of phonetically modified output as a result of interactions and investigate whether teachers' considerations of the seriousness of phonetic errors are confirmed by interlocutors' incomprehension.

Author: Maria Camino Bueno Alastuey