Self-awareness Strategy Using Podcasting to Improve Tense and Lax Vowel Pronunciation Sounds in Beginner EFL-Adult Learners

Authors

  • Dalia Lisette Aguilar Vacacela Centro Ecuatoriano Norteamericano
  • Maria Rossana Ramirez Universidad Casa Grande

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18196/ftl.5148

Keywords:

self-awareness, tense-lax vowels, podcasting, pronunciation

Abstract

This action research study measured the effectiveness of a self-awareness strategy and podcasting to help beginners EFL-adult learners to pronounce tense-lax vowels in English accurately. The participants were 17 adult students with an A1.2 English level. This innovation was implemented in a language school in a coastal city in Ecuador, South America. The results were obtained using quantitative data gathered from a pre and a post-test, which were divided in two parts; a scripted and extemporaneous one. The final scores produced a large effect size of 2.27 for tense vowels and 4.89 for lax vowels, indicating that most of students were able to pronounce more than the 80% of tense and lax vowels accurately. These results demonstrated that the self-awareness strategy and the podcasting had a great impact on tense-lax vowels pronunciation in adults. Despite the favorable results, further and deeper research is needed with a larger sample, period of time, and training.

Author Biography

Maria Rossana Ramirez, Universidad Casa Grande

María Rossana currently coordinates the graduation process for the Master program for English Teachers. She has presented workshops and lectures at a local, national, and international level. She is the Chair of the Higher Education Interest Section of TESOL.

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Published

2020-01-30

How to Cite

Vacacela, D. L. A., & Ramirez, M. R. (2020). Self-awareness Strategy Using Podcasting to Improve Tense and Lax Vowel Pronunciation Sounds in Beginner EFL-Adult Learners. Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Learning, 5(1), 79–98. https://doi.org/10.18196/ftl.5148

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 1 (2020): January

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Articles

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