This dissertation investigates how English-speaking second language (L2) learners of Mandarin perceive, process and learn Mandarin lexical tones. While most languages use modulations in pitch (intonation) to convey meanings at the phrasal and sentential levels, a number of languages, including Mandarin, also use suprasegmental features such as…

As part of the effort to elevate the oral English proficiency of Thai EFL learners, this paper explores university students' target-deviant English use in conversation, which should be systematically tackled in conversation teaching. Data examined included 41 two-three-minute video-recorded role-play dialogues from two English conversation…

Having received the stamp of an "often neglected" element in second language teaching, opinions of English Language Teaching (ELT) Teacher Trainees (TT) taking pronunciation as an explicit instruction course seem to be neglected in research advocated in this field as well. Moreover, features of pronunciation (segmentals and…

The greatest difficulty in reading Arabic script for nonnatives has long been considered as the absence of short vowels, however there is more to be dealt with. While the correlation of 28 Arabic consonants pose no great difficulty in deciphering the script, the six vowel phonemes voiced only by three letters even with help of some relevant…

Mastering pronunciation in EFL context, where direct access to native speaker is scarce, is a highly challenging objective for many language students in Iran. Stress as a suprasegmental feature, more specifically, poses its own problems, specially when suffixes are added to words. There are different types of suffixes, two of which are neutral…