2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Rhythm Pattern Database for Teaching Intelligible Pronunciation to Japanese EFL Learners
| Project/Area Number |
23652131
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Research Field |
Foreign language education
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| Research Institution | Tokyo Gakugei University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2011 – 2013
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| Keywords | 英語教育 / 発音指導 / リズム / 中学検定教科書 / 通じる英語 |
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| Research Abstract |
Rhythm Pattern Database for teaching intelligible pronunciation to Japanese EFL learners has been created, using all the 18 junior high school English textbooks. "Rhythm pattern" shows how many syllables a certain word has and where its primary stress comes. The database includes such information as the number of syllables, rhythm patterns, genres, corresponding katakana words and the number of their moras. According to the database, one-syllable words and two-syllable words occupy 90% of the textbooks.
A study is conducted to clarify how 30 English words pronounced by 26 Japanese EFL students using three different representations of word stress influence intelligibility to the 42 listeners who are not familiar with Japanese language and culture. The result indicates that the words pronounced by the students with the help of "rhythm pattern" representation have enhanced intelligibility, compared with those pronounced with the words without any indication of word stress.
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