Pronunciation plays a significant role in language learning. It directly affects learners' communicative competence and performance. Typically, the two-hour in-class instruction is far from sufficient to support learning retention of the corrected pronunciation errors. Continued practice is indispensable for pronunciation improvement. Besides in-class explicit instruction, after-class activities is an effective complement to enable student engagement and extend their learning beyond the classroom. Peer feedback has been proved to be one of the effective instructional strategies. Computer-mediated communication (CMC) creates an environment to enhance peer feedback activities, which yield numerous benefits for L2 learners. In view of the advantage of CMC peer feedback, in this study the students were introduced to the text-based CMC feedback to reinforce pronunciation practice outside of class. The current study aimed to compare the effects of synchronous and asynchronous CMC modes on pronunciation improvement. To achieve this goal, the LINE app and Email were adopted because they do not require any specific equipment or software and they have been widely used free communication tools among college students. A total of 30 first-year EFL students participated in 15-week after-class activities. The students were randomly assigned to the SCMC group (synchronous peer feedback using LINE) and the ACMC group (asynchronous peer feedback using Email). The students were paired and commented on their partners' pronunciation performance. The results indicated that students made substantial progress regardless the CMC modes they used. Students made the biggest improvements on consonants and stress of words, which were followed by vowels and word endings. Moreover, students showed a positive attitude towards the text-based CMC peer feedback activities
關聯:
Hwa Kang English Journal ； 24卷 (2019 / 07 / 01) ， P77 - 102
