DISCRIMINATION TRAINING AND SELF-EVALUATION IN THE TEACHING OF PRONUNCIATION

AN EXPERIMENT WAS CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF PHONEME DISCRIMINATION TRAINING UPON THE ABILITY OF SUBJECTS TO DISCRIMINATE AMONG FRENCH PHONEMES AND TO DISCRIMINATE FRENCH PHONEMES FROM THEIR ENGLISH NEAR-EQUIVALENTS, TO IMITATE THE PRONUNCIATION OF FRENCH PHONEMES, AND TO MAKE VALID JUDGMENTS OF THEIR OWN PRONUNCIATION. THREE GROUPS OF UNDERGRADUATES WITH NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE IN FRENCH RECEIVED TREATMENTS CONTAINING VARYING PROPORTIONS OF DISCRIMINATION TRAINING AND PRONUNCIATION PRACTICE. WHEN TESTED, THE GROUPS WHICH HAD RECEIVED THE HIGHEST PROPORTION OF DISCRIMINATION TRAINING PERFORMED DISCRIMINATION TASKS MORE ACCURATELY AND MIMICKED THE PRONUNCIATION OF FRENCH WORDS BETTER THAN THE GROUPS WITH HIGHER PROPORTIONS OF PRONUNCIATION PRACTICE. THERE WAS NO OVERALL DIFFERENCE IN THE NUMBER OF ERRORS IN SELF-EVALUATION THOUGH THE GROUP WHICH HAD RECEIVED THE HIGHEST PROPORTION OF DISCRIMINATION TRAINING TENDED TO BE MORE SEVERE IN ITS EVALUATION THAN THE OTHER GROUPS. IT APPEARS THAT DISCRIMINATION TRAINING IS AN EFFECTIVE TECHNIQUE IN THE TEACHING OF THE PRONUNCIATION OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES SINCE IT RESULTS IN BETTER PRONUNCIATION AND STRICTER SELF-EVALUATION. BASED ON THE RESULT OF STRICTER SELF-EVALUATION, THE AUTHOR RECOMMENDED DISCRIMINATION TRAINING FOR USE IN LABORATORY CONTEXTS OR PROGRAMED INSTRUCTION WHERE THERE IS NO INSTRUCTOR TO MAKE EVALUATIONS. THIS DOCUMENT IS A REPRINT FROM THE "INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING," VOLUME 4, NUMBER 1, MARCH 1966. (AUTHOR)