Um estudo de caso sobre percepção de junturas e proeminências em inglês como LE

Abstract

This dissertation aims at investigating and comparing the perception of junctures among words and words in focus position in English sentences for students with several years of English studies outside regular education and students with little or no English studies outside regular school. It was questioned to what degree the number of years of English studies outside the regular school could be a contributing factor to greater ease in inferring the constituents of a sequence characterized as phonological processes of junctures among words and in perceiving words in focus position in oral English language as FL. The analyzed data came from two activities prepared based on two scenes of the show Smallville: one, with sentences to fill in gaps, and the other with phrases for marking words in focus position. The analysis was based on theories of oral comprehension and the acoustic-phonetic basis for the analysis of junctures and prominence. The results showed that there are different processes involved in perception of junctures. Students with more time of English study relied on semantic and synthetic knowledge, and phonetic as well. Top-down strategies of were used by these students in attempting to attribute meaning to what had been heard. Students with little or no English study relied exclusively on what was perceived. Bottom-up strategies and the interference of mother tongue were found in the responses of these students. There had been no difference in the perception of junctures in relation to levels of difficulty. There was link between production and perception of prominent words in English statements. It was concluded that the number of years of English was not a determinant for the perception of prominence