A preliminary study of applying shadowing technique to English intonation instruction

The current training techniques on English pronunciation put emphasis on isolated words or sentences, resulting in the lack of opportunities for EFL learners to practice intonation. It has been noted that the importance and necessity of intonation training have been undervalued, and empirical studies on developing second language (L2) intonation pedagogy are urgently needed. This preliminary study aims to find out whether shadowing technique from interpretation practice can be used to promote English intonation acquisition. Fourteen non-English major students from National Taiwan University (NTU) were recruited and divided into control and experimental groups. The result from a SPSS Independent Sample T-test revealed significant differences between the two groups in intonation, fluency, word pronunciation, and overall pronunciation. The paper ends with a discussion on the implication of applying interpreting skills to intonation training and directions for future research.