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What vocabulary size tells us about pronunciation skills: Issues in assessing L2 learners

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2020

Paolo Mairano Open the ORCID record for Paolo Mairano [Opens in a new window]  and
Fabian Santiago
Paolo Mairano*
Affiliation:
University of Lille, UMR STL (Savoirs, Textes et Langage)
Fabian Santiago
Affiliation:
University of Paris 8, UMR SFL (Structures Formelles du Langage)
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Measures of second language (L2) learners’ vocabulary size have been shown to correlate with language proficiency in reading, writing and listening skills, and vocabulary tests are sometimes used for placement purposes. However, the relation between learners’ vocabulary knowledge and their speaking skills has been less thoroughly investigated, and even less so in terms of pronunciation. In this article, we compare vocabulary and pronunciation measures for 25 Italian instructed learners of L2 French. We measure their receptive (Dialang score) and productive (vocd-D, MTLD) vocabulary size, and calculate the following pronunciation indices: acoustic distance and overlap of realizations for selected L2 French vowel pairs, ratings of nasality for ratings of foreign-accentedness, fluency metrics. We find that vocabulary measures show low to medium correlations with fluency metrics and ratings of foreign-accentedness, but not with vowel metrics. We then turn our attention to the impact of research methods on the study of vocabulary and pronunciation. More specifically, we discuss the possibility that these results are due to pitfalls in vocabulary and pronunciation indices, such as the failure of Dialang to take into account the effect of L1-L2 cognates, and the lack of measures for evaluating consonants, intonation and perception skills.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of French Language Studies , Volume 30 , Issue 2: Methodological challenges in SLA: A focus on French , July 2020 , pp. 141 - 160
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© Cambridge University Press 2020

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References

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