An investigation into the recognition and production of pitch patterns of if-clauses by Turkish pre-service teachers of English

Year 2018, Volume: 14 Issue: 4, 285 - 300, 15.12.2018

İbrahim Halil Topal

Abstract

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An investigation into the recognition and production of pitch patterns of if-clauses by Turkish pre-service teachers of English
Teaching pitch patterns of English as part of one of the elements of intonation has considerably been undervalued in Turkish teacher education contexts despite its significance in communication (Roach, 2001; Scherer, 2003; Maastricht et al., 2016) hence less research was conducted on this subject (Wennerstrom, 2001; Pickering, 2002; Demirezen, 2014) especially in Turkish teacher education settings. This study therefore intended to explore the competency levels of Turkish pre-service teachers of English on the recognition and production of pitch phonemes of If-clauses. It further aimed to remediate any pitch-related problems of the participants through a variety of explicit drills utilizing Grammar Intonation Model (Cauldwell & Hewings, 1996) and Audio-Articulation Model (Demirezen, 2003) in the light of Discourse Intonation Model (Brazil, 1997). Data were gathered through pre-test/post-test experimental design with the participation of 61 freshmen of the ELT department of a state university in the academic year of 2015/16. Descriptive and inferential analyses demonstrated that the majority of the participants were in need of remedial training. It was also discovered that the treatment was effective in ameliorating the participants’ problems in terms of recognition. It was concluded in this study that Turkish pre-service teachers of English must be exposed to continuous remedial training in intonation, especially pitch patterns.
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Author 1
Author (Last name, First name)	Topal, İbrahim Halil
Affiliated institution (University)	Gazi University
Country	Turkey
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Department & Rank	School of Foreign Languages
Corresponding author (Yes/No) Write only one corresponding author.	Yes
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Keywords

pitch patterns; teacher education; If-conditionals; intonation; Grammar/Intonation Model; Discourse Intonation Model; Audio-Articulation Model

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