An Acoustic Account of Prosodic Competence through Shadowing

Abstract

Adopting an acoustic framework, this experimental study elucidates the effect of shadowing technique on prosodic competence of learners of English whose L1 (Arabic) and English have quite dissimilar phonological systems. It is appertained to prosodic aspects such as pauses, stress, and sound length that cause challenges to non-English native speakers. Two individuals of heterogeneous linguistic background participated in a pre-test and a post-test before and after five weeks of shadowing sessions. The data was analyzed acoustically using Praat Software. Findings showed that the participant with the elementary level outperformed the other participant whose level was intermediate, partially because the former was highly motivated to improve her English. The study concluded that shadowing per se is no way a panacea for improving supra-segmental features unless it is coupled with a motivation to do so, regardless of the level of proficiency.

Keywords: Pauses, Pronunciation, Prosody, Shadowing, Supra-segmental Features