Phonetic Portrait of a Ukrainian EFL Teacher: Prosodic Parameters in Academic Discourse

Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Special Issue on the English Language in Ukrainian Context, November 2020

10 Pages Posted: 3 Feb 2021

See all articles by Olga Valigura

Olga Valigura

Kyiv National Linguistic University

Valentyna Parashchuk

Volodymyr Vynnychenko Central Ukrainian State Pedagogical University - Department of English Language and ELT Methodology

Liubov Kozub

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - Department of Foreign Languages for Mathematical Faculties

Date Written: November 23, 2020

Abstract

Particular durable second language (L2) pronunciation distinctions of speakers who belong to the same first language (L1) community serve as their instant audio-identification markers, creating their typical phonetic portrait. Deviations in non-native English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher pronunciation remain a vibrant area of research due to their impact on speech intelligibility and comprehensibility, their pragmatic and emotional potential in oral verbal communication. The purpose of this contribution was to establish standard pronunciation deviations in academic speech of Ukrainian EFL teachers, thus depicting their phonetic portrait. A research methodology included acoustic and auditory analyses of pronunciation of British and Ukrainian speakers of English. The findings showed that Ukrainian EFL teachers display a set of common pronunciation distinctions: on the tonal level of the beginning and the end of the intonation group, tonal range, interval, rate and tone movement change in different parts of the intonation group, volume realization, speech rate; lack of qualitative and quantitative differences in the pronunciation of long and short monophthongs in stressed and unstressed syllables, full pronunciation of unstressed vowels. The results will find their application in EFL teacher education programs and further research of the accented speech nature.

Keywords: English academic discourse, foreign accent, non-native speech, phonetic portrait, prosody, segmental and prosodic features, teachers’ professional identity

Suggested Citation

Valigura, Olga and Parashchuk, Valentyna and Kozub, Liubov, Phonetic Portrait of a Ukrainian EFL Teacher: Prosodic Parameters in Academic Discourse (November 23, 2020). Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Special Issue on the English Language in Ukrainian Context, November 2020 , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3735590 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3735590

Olga Valigura (Contact Author)

Kyiv National Linguistic University ( email )

73 Velyka Vasylkivsk
Laboratorna str., 3
Kyiv, 03680
Ukraine

Valentyna Parashchuk

Volodymyr Vynnychenko Central Ukrainian State Pedagogical University - Department of English Language and ELT Methodology ( email )

Ukraine

Liubov Kozub

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - Department of Foreign Languages for Mathematical Faculties ( email )

Ukraine

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