Foreign language pronunciation testing: A new approach

The need for a good pronunciation test arises because the pronunciation tests which are currently available neither reflect a foreign language learner's pronunciation in different speech situations, nor capture the approach of testing holistically, i.e. all features of pronunciation including those of stress and intonation. A new type of pronunciation test is therefore proposed in two versions, one for adults and one for children. The test is based on Tarone's variability principle and language continuum paradigm, which ascribes different results in different elicitation tasks to the level of controlled speech. The tests consist of various speech tasks arranged from more controlled to less controlled situations. The scoring is based on 1-5 rating scales, and is applied to the three major components of articulation: pronunciation, stress and intonation. In a study on adults and children in which the two tests were used, high reliability as well as a good discriminatory power between different levels were found. The rating was done twice for the sake of higher objectivity. In view of the satisfactory results and the advantages of these tests, they are proposed as an alternative to other existing tests for those who need pronunciation tests.