Functional Load and the Teaching-Learning Relationship in L2 Pronunciation
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22093263 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andrew Sewell (0000-0002-3797-1025, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 6 |
| Publication date | 2021-05-24 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Frontiers in Communication (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2297-900X • E-ISSN: 2297-900X |
| Publisher | Frontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH) |
| DOI | 10.3389/fcomm.2021.627378 |
| OpenAlex | W3164766748 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 21 |
Though frequent recourse has been made to the functional load (or FL) principle in establishing priorities for L2 pronunciation teaching, it remains an under-theorized and relatively under-utilized concept. This is despite the existence of empirical evidence pointing to correlations between the FL ranking of phonemic contrasts and a) the effect that the absence of particular contrasts has on the comprehensibility of speech, and b) their occurrence at different levels of proficiency. Previous studies have found that errors involving high FL sound contrasts are linked with educed comprehensibility, and have also found that high FL errors are less common in learners at higher proficiency levels. Taken together, these findings suggest that language learners tend to pay more attention to high FL contrasts and incorporate them into their repertoires more readily than low FL contrasts, possibly because the high FL contrasts are more salient in terms of contrastive potential and frequency of occurrence. The concept of FL therefore appears to be relevant in considering the relative ease (or difficulty) of learning and teaching particular features, and in understanding the relationship between learning and teaching. Frequent calls have been made for FL considerations to inform the setting of priorities in L2 pronunciation teaching, for example. In this mini-review I will explore and re-evaluate the concept of FL in terms of both theoretical formulation and empirical application, aiming to identify both its contributions and its limitations
Cognitive psychology · Empirical evidence · Empirical research · Epistemology · Linguistics · Mathematics education · Pronunciation · Salient · Second language · Statistics · Computer Science · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Mathematics · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Psychology · Artificial Intelligence
Functional Load in L2 Phonology
Commentary
Commentary
The impact of functional load and phoneme position on automated pronunciation assessment in young Korean EFL learners
The impact of functional load and cumulative errors on listeners' judgments of comprehensibility and accentedness
Learning on the Field
Transdisciplinary Intersections in Second Language Pronunciation Learning and Teaching
Who is Fu? - Perception of L2 sounds that are partially neutralized in L1
The Phonology of English as an International Language (Oxford Applied Linguistics)
Phonology and Language Use
Frequency and the Emergence of Linguistic Structure
High functional load inhibits phonological contrast loss
Lexical competition in non-native spoken-word recognition
Second language acquisition and second language learning
The functional load principle in ESL pronunciation instruction
The pronunciation of Hong Kong English
Thai English
Functional Loads of Pronunciation Features in Nonnative Speakers' Oral Assessment
Functional Load and the Lexicon
The Quantification of Functional Load
Bridging phonological system and lexicon
Function, Structure, and Sound Change
Research methods and intelligibility studies
Towards a phonology of Hong Kong English
| Citations per year | 1.6 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2021 - 2025 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |