Examining the Sound Patterns of Foreign-Accented English - AFOE00001

• Title: Examining the Sound Patterns of Foreign-Accented English
• Guaranteed by: Institute of Phonetics (21-FU)
• Faculty: Faculty of Arts
• Actual: from 2023
• Semester: winter
• Points: 0
• E-Credits: 5
• Examination process: winter s.:
• Hours per week, examination: winter s.:0/2, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: unknown / unknown (unknown)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment
• Guarantor: Mgr. Kryštof Buchal

Course completion requirements

Last update: Mgr. Veronika Erdélyiová (16.04.2024)

see the course syllabus

Literature

Last update: Mgr. Veronika Erdélyiová (16.04.2024)

Hansen Edwards, J. G. (2023). The Sounds of English Around the World: An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology. Cambridge University Press.

Syllabus

Last update: Mgr. Kryštof Buchal (16.04.2024)

Course description and objectives:

Can we guess where the speaker is from based on their foreign accent in English? Why is it challenging for non-native speakers to sound native-like? Can we identify the sound patterns of English in non-native speakers? If so, can it help non-native speakers improve their foreign accent? This course is designed as a quick journey through the phonetic realms with a particular emphasis on foreign accents in English. It intends to be not just theoretical, but also empirical. Target audience: anyone interested in delving into the sound patterns of English as a foreign language, without prior experience in phonetics.

During the first weeks, the students will learn the basics of English phonetics and phonology, one of the sessions being especially dedicated to exploring various features of foreign-accented English, including listening to extracts from non-native English speech corpora and other resources. This will provide the students with the essential knowledge necessary for the empirical part of the course, which will allow them to get hands-on experience of phonetic analyses performed in Praat, a computer program used by phoneticians from all over the world. Next, each student will be asked to carry out their own phonetic “mini-study”, which will consist in finding and recording 2 to 3 speakers of English as a foreign language, preferably speaking the same mother tongue as the student, and subsequently analyzing the recordings, the objective being to try to find any distinctive features of the particular foreign accent of English. The instructor will provide guidance through all the stages of the study.

The aim of the course is to give the students an opportunity to discover the variability of English by exploring the sounds of different foreign accents. In addition, the students will experience what it is like to carry out a simple phonetic study including getting through all the stages it involves (participant recruitment, obtaining consent to participate, data collection & analysis).

Each student will be awarded 5 credits for successful completion of the course upon submission of a brief report (max. 2 pages) summarizing their study.
The course will be taught in English. No prior knowledge of phonetics is required. The students will need to bring their laptops and headphones to class starting week 7.

Course syllabus:

* Week 1
Introduction to English phonetics and phonology I
Introduction, course outline, requirements
What phonetics and phonology deal with

* Week 2
Introduction to English phonetics and phonology II
Phonemes & transcription (International Phonetic Alphabet)
Vowels

* Week 3
Introduction to English phonetics and phonology III
Consonants
Sound interactions (linking, assimilation, phonotactics)

* Week 4
Introduction to English phonetics and phonology IV
Lexical stress
Strong and weak syllables, rhythm

* Week 5
Recording session in the lab
Recording participants for our studies

* Week 6
Foreign-accented English
What foreign-accented English is
How foreign-accented English is perceived
Features of foreign-accented English

* Week 7
Introduction to Praat
First steps in Praat, a program used for phonetic analyses

* Week 8
Mini-study preparation
Deciding what can be analyzed in the recordings

* Week 9
Phonetic analyses
Working on phonetic analyses under the instructor's supervision

* Week 10
Phonetic analyses
Working on phonetic analyses under the instructor's supervision

* Week 11
Phonetic analyses
Working on phonetic analyses under the instructor's supervision

* Week 12
Presentation of results