Intonation of English Questions for Chilean EFL Learners: A Case Study

Prosodic aspects, such as intonation patterns, are commonly left behind by ESL/EFL teachers given their complexity and due to the fact that prosody is the least tangible aspect of language. This action research project establishes common question intonation patterns Chilean EFL learners use when reading and in spontaneous speech. Together with this, the importance of prosody in the process of teaching pronunciation, and the benefits of a pedagogical intervention on the matter are confirmed. A universe of six adult A2 level learners from a well-known English language institute in Santiago, Chile, took part in this experimental research. A two-task pre-test and post-test was administered with a gap of ten weeks between their application, in order to check the students' progress before and after a pedagogical intervention. The results showed empirical evidence that learners significantly improved their phonological performance after receiving formal training on prosodic aspects concerning question intonation patterns. That may lead to the assumption that such training is necessary for A2 level students in order to successfully learn and apply prosodic aspects of the English language.