Third language pronunciation performance and metaphonological awareness: A correlational study

The paper aims at exploring the relationship between perceived pronunciation performance and metalinguistic awareness in the acquisition of third language phonology. The study involved 27 participants with Polish as L1, English as L2 and French as L3. In the first part of the study, third language pronunciation performance was assessed by means of online ratings involving 3 components: foreign accentedness, comprehensibility and pronunciation accuracy judgements. In the second part, metaphonological awareness was investigated through the application of stimulated recall verbal protocols. A composite measure was calculated based on self-repair of L3 pronunciation, performed phonetic analysis, manifested self-awareness of pronunciation problems and metacognitive comments on cross-linguistic interactions. The findings point to patterns of correlations between the participants’ measures of metaphonological awareness and their pronunciation ratings. Generally, the participants with higher levels of awareness were perceived as less foreign accented, more intelligible and accurate in terms of their L3 pronunciation performance.