2018 Volume 29 Pages 289-304
Previous studies have shown that English stressed-timed rhythm can be acquired through the use of materials specific to teaching rhythms that provide visual and auditory cues for rhythmic production. The current study focused on whether reading-aloud training with regular classroom textbooks improved learners' production of stress-timed rhythm. Undergraduate students from five universities (n = 211) enrolled in either a parallel reading training group or a repeating training group. After engaging in 10 weeks' reading-aloud training, the pretest and posttest of the participants' (n = 60) rhythmic production were compared in terms of the inter-stress interval (ISI) duration and its relative length in terms of the number of vowels within the ISI. Results show that reading-aloud training will not improve rhythmic production if the instructors do not focus learners' attention on the auditory information. Findings suggest that the measure of absolute ISI duration is a reflection of improved speed, which is irrelevant for an improvement of stress-timed rhythm in which the speakers manage to pronounce ISIs at a relatively similar speed irrespective of the number of weak syllables. Furthermore, the relationships among listening comprehension, oral reading speed, and rhythmic production ability are uniquely identified in this study.
