Imitation/self-imitation in computer-assisted prosody training for Chinese learners of L2 Italian.

Recent studies on L2 acquisition, speech synthesis and automatic identification of foreign accents argue for a major role of prosody in the perception of non-native speech. Research on the relationship between pronunciation improvement and student/teachers’ voice similarities has also shown that the better the match between the learners' and native speakers' voices in terms of f0 and articulation rate, the more positive the impact on pronunciation training. This study investigates the effects of imitation and self-imitation on the acquisition of L2 suprasegmental patterns. Degree of foreign accent, improvements in intelligibility, and effectiveness of communication were measured to determine the success of each technique. For this purpose, a prosodic transplantation technique and a computer-assisted learning methodology were used. Recent studies on L2 acquisition, speech synthesis and automatic identification of foreign accents argue for a major role of prosody in the perception of non-native speech. Research on the relationship between pronunciation improvement and student/teachers’ voice similarities has also shown that the better the match between the learners' and native speakers' voices in terms of f0 and articulation rate, the more positive the impact on pronunciation training. This study investigates the effects of imitation and self-imitation on the acquisition of L2 suprasegmental patterns. Degree of foreign accent, improvements in intelligibility, and effectiveness of communication were measured to determine the success of each technique. For this purpose, a prosodic transplantation technique and a computer-assisted learning methodology were used.