Institutional greetings

ABSTRACT: The aim of average foreign language (FL) learners is usually international comfortable intelligibility. Still, many FL teachers across the globe are hesitant as to whether focusing on pronunciation in a communicative EFL classroom is indeed worthwhile, how and when to practise it with their students, and which aspects to focus on. Thus, the talk will start with a reminder, dispelling potential doubts in the above-mentioned areas. Special attention will be drawn to the role of explicit pronunciation instruction, students’ perceptions of its usefulness, and the importance of phonological competence. However, to put the puzzle of successful pronunciation teaching together, we cannot ignore individual differences (IDs) of learners. According to Dörnyei (2005), “IDs have been found to be the most consistent predictors of L2 learning success (…), and no other phenomena investigated within SLA have come even close to this level of impact” (p. 2). Thus, the second part of the presentation will concentrate on presenting studies showing how selected IDs determine the level of accentedness and/or comprehensibility. I will focus on pronunciation (learning) anxiety (Baran-Łucarz, 2013; 2014; 2017), motivation (e.g., Baran-Łucarz, 2017; Nowacka, 2012), attitudes towards the sound of the target language (Baran-Łucarz, 2017), beliefs related to the importance of pronunciation and its learning (Baran-Łucarz, 2017), personality (perfectionism, the Big Five; Baran-Łucarz, in review), selected cognitive factors - working memory (Mora, 2022) and cognitive style (Baran, 2004), and socio-psychological variables, e.g., ethnocentrism (Szyszka & Baran-Łucarz, 2022). On top of that, the relevance of engagement and enjoyment will be discussed, based on results of a mixed-method study conducted among Polish majors of English (Baran-Łucarz, in review). Thirdly, pronunciation learning preferences of students with various profiles will be discussed. This will lead us to the concept of pronunciation student-tailored instruction, based on the idea that learners vary in their need for pronunciation instruction, type and amount of feedback and teacher scaffolding, guidance towards self-regulated learning, in their favoured classroom exercises and autonomous pronunciation learning strategies, attitudes to the use of various materials and resources, and in how important classroom dynamics and rapport with the teacher is for them. Finally, directions for future research on effective pronunciation teaching and learning will be suggested, opening the floor for further discussion on this matter.

ABSTRACT: The world of applied linguistics and the profession of foreign language teaching needs to finally sweep away the notion of “Native Speaker” (NS) and the deficit perspective surrounding foreign language learners. We argue that Positive Psychology is a source of inspiration for a new and more positive perspective on foreign language learners and users. Rather than obsessing about negative aspects of life, Positive Psychologists defend a more holistic perspective. By transforming the view of learners as failed “NS” of the target language to that of increasingly competent and happy users of a foreign language would lift a huge burden from the shoulders of foreign language learners and their teachers alike. We argue that the unexpected longevity and ubiquity of the NS in the foreign language teaching profession have deep historical roots in linguistics and culture, and that only a radical paradigm shift can dislodge it.

ABSTRACT: The question of how second language (L2) pronunciation features are acquired by late L2 learners is of abiding interest in second language acquisition research (see Wayland 2021). It is well-documented that individuals who are first exposed to an L2 as adults are less likely to produce L2 sounds (as well as other pronunciation features) with language-specific properties than individuals with an early L2-learning onset. However, acquiring an L2 late in life may not only result in accented L2 speech, but may also influence a bilingual’s first language (L1) accent. Such non-age-related changes in L1 pronunciation experienced by late bilinguals living in an L2-immersion setting are referred to as L1 attrition of speech/pronunciation. Attrition may not only be evidenced in measurable acoustic-phonetic changes of specific segmental and prosodic features in the L1 (e.g., Kornder & Mennen 2021a; Mennen et al. 2022), but has also been shown to lead to a perceptible non-native L1 accent (e.g., Kornder & Mennen 2021b; Mayr et al. 2020). Despite a steadily growing number of studies exploring aspects related to L1 attrition of speech, not much is known about the relationship between L2 acquisition and L1 attrition of pronunciation (but see Kornder et al. 2023). Does, for instance, an advanced L2 pronunciation proficiency entail (perceptible) changes of L1 pronunciation? In this talk, I will first provide an overview of the state of research in the field of L1 attrition of speech, with a focus on segmental speech production and perceived nativeness of bilingual L1 pronunciation. In the second part, I will present and discuss recent research that set out to explore and characterize the specific relationship between L2 acquisition and L1 attrition of speech.