Intonation and Word Stress in Georgian EFL Learners’ Utterances: does Praat Training Help?

Abstract

For EFL speakers, prosodic features such as intonation and word stress contribute greatly to the comprehensibility of an utterance (Derwing & Rossiter, 2003; Zielinski, 2008). Yet, many of the problems learners face in being understood may be due to L1 - L2 transfer of these prosodic features (Flege, 1984). While some phonological research has been done on Georgian speakers speaking in Georgian (Alkhazishvili, 1959; Skopeteas, Féry, & Asatiani, 2008), little is known about L1 - L2 phonological transfer in Georgian EFL learners’ utterances in English. Additionally, no known study has used Praat training with Georgian EFL speakers to increase the awareness of intonation and word stress in English and improve the intelligibility of their utterance. This study investigated L1 - L2 transfer in word stress and intonation of speech collected during a free- speaking activity from several Georgian EFL learner participants. Based on examples in the recordings, five problematic words and five problematic phrases in English were identified as target forms for a three-week pronunciation training that focused on intonation and word stress with Praat with the same six participants. Recordings before and after pronunciation training will be collected and analyzed to investigate modifications made by the participants. Results indicate a statistically significant improvement in word stress, however a non-significant change in intonation. While certain features of L1 - L2 transfer in word stress and intonation are present in the data, they do not match exactly the tendency of Georgian speakers. Implications are made for pronunciation teachers of Georgian learners as well as teachers with learners of other languages that face similar prosodic differences.