Effects of explicit instruction in the acquisition of intonation in Spanish/L2

Abstract

Intonation is a complex and important element for communication. Nevertheless, this aspect tends to be overlooked or approached in an implicit way, in the context of second language acquisition (SLA). Having this in mind and considering the low number of researches on acquisition of suprasegmental features in second language (L2), this study aims at analyzing effects of explicit instruction on acquisition of declarative and total interrogative utterances in Spanish/L2. Furthermore, we expect to verify if students perform higher in total interrogative and declarative utterances. To that end, we conducted a semi-experimental study, with Brazilian learners of Spanish, at an intermediate-advanced level. The 19 participants were divided into four groups, based on two factors: i) condition (experimental or control); and ii) context (graduation course or independent language course). For data generation, we used the following instruments: i) questionnaire, which enabled the design of the profile of students; and ii) pre and post linguistic tests, which encompassed tasks of comprehension and production (controlled, semi-controlled and free) of target-utterances. Conducted statistical analyses did not indicated significant effects of explicit instruction, although the intervention seemed to help in the minimization of similarity effects, in cases of declarative utterances, and in the production of total interrogative ones. In addition, total interrogative utterances appear to be harder than declarative ones for Brazilian learners.