Prática musical na aquisição fonético-fonológica de L2: o papel da escuta ativa e do canto

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the contributions of musical practices to the development and improvement of the phonetic-phonological competence in English as a second language (L2) among native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese. English presents phonotactic patterns and certain phones and phonemes that are not found in Brazilian Portuguese, which can pose a significant challenge for Brazilians in terms of oral production. The literature suggests that musical practice can serve as a facilitating tool in this process (Toscano-Fuentes; Mora, 2012; Daquila, 2023; Zhang et al., 2023). To test this hypothesis empirically, an experiment was conducted in three stages, with 12 adult participants who are native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese and learners of English as an L2. The stages 1 and 3 – pre-test and post-test – were equally presented to every participant. In stage 2, the type of musical intervention was manipulated as an intergroup factor on three levels: (1) singing (phonetic-phonological discrimination practices plus singing); (2) active listening (phonetic-phonological discrimination practices); and (3) non-active listening, the latter taken as the control group. It is expected that the phonetic productions of the participants in the singing group will show greater compatibility with the phonetic-phonological patterns of English after the experimental intervention, followed by the active listening group and, finally, the non-active listening group. The song selected for the study was “The One That Got Away”, by Katy Perry. The choice is justified by its phonetic potential: the song features systematic occurrences of virtually all English phones, making it particularly suitable for phonetic-phonological exposure and practice. The results were partially consistent with predictions and revealed that participants in the singing group performed better in the post-test, with productions that suggest the formation of new phonetic categories, as well as a reduction in epenthesis. However, the non-active listening group, the control group, performed better than the active listening group, whose gain was null. These results are discussed in light of the Speech Learning Model (Flege, 1995; Flege; Bohn, 2021) and the Perceptual Assimilation Model (Best, 1995).