The Effect of Teaching Suprasegmental Features on Korean University Students' Listening Comprehension

Abstract

This study will look into how Korean college students’ awareness of suprasegmental features influences their listening comprehension and their communicative competence. To acquire correct English pronunciation, suprasegmental features should be explained in detail.The collected data were analyzed using paired sample t-test, and the Cronbach’s alpha levels of the reliability coefficients were used. For the initial analysis of the data, the Cronbach’s alpha levels of the reliability were used in the survey. All of Cronbach’s alpha levels were over .80, indicating that each subscale met the recommended criteria. To compare the improvement of students’ listening ability focusing on suprasegmental features, pre and post-tests were done and the contents of the pre and post-tests were identical, but the order of items was randomized for each test.Before the experiment, a pre-test was conducted to measure the ability to study English. This test proves that there is no significant difference in basic listening abilities among subjects. However, there is significant difference in the area of stress as 7.08(***p<.001), and in the area of contract as 4.11(***p<.001). Also, significant differences were shown in the area of both linking and rhythm as 2.91(**p<.01). In the case of comprehension ability of English materials, there is also significant difference between experimental group and control group as 2.02(*p<.05). Finally, it shows that there is no significant difference in the control group but there is statistically significant in the experimental group.
Based on the results of this research, further implications for English education are as followed. First, listening instruction should be actively included in English class. Second, learning activities for pronunciation and listening convergence instruction are strongly encouraged. Third, various applications of form-focused instruction should be studied and used..