Effects of Prosody on EFL Listening Comprehension

Abstract

Research in prosody and listening comprehension has shown a positive correlation between the two factors for language learning in general. The findings confirm that priming the intonation of an utterance may result in better processing of the speech signal. The current study examines whether EFL listening comprehension could be improved through intonational priming of speech utterances in English. Therefore, EFL listening comprehension is tested through true or false statements which were cued either by a “prime” (a suprasegmental sampling of the sound) or a neutral or foil cue. Thirty participants were enrolled in the study through15 EFL Saudi students and 15 native speakers of English. The results show that no significant improvement was found for the cue type. Perhaps listening comprehension could instead be improved by providing explicit instruction on attention to prosodic elements.