Enhancing control of the abdominal region to address L2 English learners’ segmental pronunciation problems

Abstract

In L2 English pronunciation instruction at the segmental level, anatomically the emphasis has been almost exclusively on the learners’ articulatory functions. However, an overlooked aspect of instruction is to also encourage learners, especially those with more syllable-based L1s, to use their abdominal region to assist them in pronouncing certain problematic sounds, particularly certain long vowel/diphthong sounds and voiced consonants. There appears to have been no research examining the effectiveness of such instruction incorporating abdominal control, so a study was conducted tracing the development of two learners, through case studies, when taught with this approach. The learners’ progress was observed and chronicled by the researcher, and also quantified through the use of a reading aloud test administered pre- and post-instruction. The study found that the learners progressed with many of the problematic sounds (some, as observed by the researcher, instantaneously once shown how to use their abdomen to say the sounds), although slightly less so with others. Further, some of these gains were maintained in a final, delayed administration of the reading aloud test. The findings from this study flag the usefulness of further investigating the method in future on a larger scale, preferably through an experimental study.