The Effectiveness of Shadow-Reading With and Without Written Script on Pronunciation of Iranian Intermediate EFL Students

Subject Areas : Journal of Teaching English Language Studies

Meisam Shafiei ¹ , Ramin Rahmany ²

1 - MA, Islamic Azad University-Takestan Branch
2 - PhD Islamic Azad University-Takestan Branch

Received: 2015-12-08 Accepted : 2016-01-06 Published : 2016-02-01

Keywords: Shadow-Reading, Pronunciation, Written Script, Non-Written Script, Intermediate EFL Students,

Abstract :

Pronunciation is essential to appropriate communication because the incorrect use ofpronunciation inevitably leads to the message being misunderstood by the receptor. In spite of itsimportance, L2 learners often regard pronunciation as the most difficult language skill to learn.In this study, shadowing as an act or task in pronunciation, in which the learner tracks the targetspeech and repeats it immediately as exactly as possible, is recommended to enhance thestudents’ pronunciation. More specifically, this study aimed at investigating the effect ofshadowing with and without written script on the Iranian EFL students’ pronunciation. 77participants out of a population of 99 students were randomly picked through the administrationof Preliminary English Test (PET). The participants were three groups of intermediate level. TheFirst group, containing 27 students, did shadow-reading with written script (group A); the secondgroup comprising 25 students, who did shadow-reading without written script (group B); and thethird, consisting of 25 learners, who acted as the control group. Each shadowing lesson wasconducted with the detailed instructions as recommended by Kadota and Tamai (2004). The datawere collected through the administration of a pre- test and a post-test. The analysis of the testscores, using a one-way ANOVA, revealed that the experimental groups (A & B) performedstatistically better in pronunciation. It also revealed that the shadowing with written script groupperformed statistically better than the without written script group. The implications of this studyare that shadowing, as a fruitful technique, can be incorporated into the teaching of thepronunciation to the EFL students.

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