Intuitive Visualization of Intonation for Foreign Language Learners

• We present three different studies, starting off from six different existing notation systems and then refining and testing the most promising visualizations and modes of presentation in two further studies. • We combine different methodologies by carrying out think-aloud usability test, thus collecting both qualitative statements and behavioral data on student performance, which we compare with a large-scale reception experiment. • We find that iconic systems are easier to interpret than symbolic ones; • we find that stylized contours may lead to better productions than concrete contours; • we find that combining stress and intonation in the same notation is not a problem in itself and that a two-step presentation, in which the information on the stress pattern of the utterance is presented first, can help the integration of information on stress and intonation; • nevertheless, we find that the notation system we propose, which combines stress information with stylized intonation contours, turns out most robust, leading reliably to good learner productions. In this paper, we present three studies in which we develop and test different representations of intonation contours and prosodic stress with the aim to provide foreign language learners with a notation that they can easily interpret. Study I addresses learners’ productions of target intonation based on six common notation systems. The results reveal how learners themselves make sense of the different representations and show that learners produce fewest errors in iconic representations with stylized contours. Based on these results, Study II examines the role of complexity of information by experimenting with one- versus two-step presentations of the teaching material. While Study I was carried out as a production task by pairs of learners, Study II shows in an online perception test with native speakers that a stylized representation with a sparse representation of stress performs best. Study III explores these findings in another production task. The results confirm that the most suitable visualization technique of those investigated is to present stylized intonation contours with the main points of emphasis added, and that a two-step presentation can be helpful.