Pausing patterns preceding and following adverbial clause conjunctions in English: A prosodic analysis of native and non-native speakers of English

This quasi-experimental research explores the difference between the pausing patterns of native English and nonnative Turkish speakers of English concerning their pause durations preceding and following English adverbial clause conjunctions. The findings reveal statistically significant differences between native and nonnative participants for two conjunctions, namely because and whereas. The study analyzes in detail the potential reasons for the difference and attributes the difference to three types of transfer: (i) transfer from teacher and teaching practices, (ii) transfer of cognitive planning habits in spontaneous speech to read speech, and (iii) transfer from other learners. Moreover, through experimental intervention, the current research tries to raise awareness in nonnative participants regarding their idiosyncratic pausing patterns. Based on the findings from the posttest measurements, we conclude that it is possible to fine-tune the pausing behavior of nonnative speakers of English. The study contributes to the literature on the teaching of temporal characteristics of speech. © 2019 Editorial Board TESL - EJ. All rights reserved