Many of the studies investigating L2 learners' pronunciation gather data mostly through controlled methodologies in which participants read lists of words, expressions, sentences, or texts in experimental/laboratory (pre/post-test) settings. Whilst semi-naturalistic data collection provides a set of instruction asking learners to produce utterances in which they choose their own wording (picture descriptions, storytelling, debates), naturalistic data collection on the other hand consists of recording learners' "stress-free" oral utterances, without the presence of the researcher and with no instruction, mostly outside the classroom (Erlandson et. al, 1993). To date, no study in the L2 learning/acquisition literature has phonetically and phonologically analyzed naturalistic oral data. Research in the field of informal second language learning have only investigated speech elements such as fluency and accuracy through semi-naturalistic data (Cole & Vanderplank, 2016; Kusyk, 2017). Drawing on the difference between read and naturalistic speech (Howell & Kadi-Hanifi, 1991), we conducted a pilot research using semi-naturalistic methodology and acoustically analyzed oral productions of learners who engage in informal activities. We asked a group of 18 French students to hold an oral diary (Song, 2009). The instruction was to record a summary, a synthesis or anything they like, without any written note, right after doing an activity in English (the ones they already do in their daily life). Five volunteers sent us between two to four recordings (a dozen of hours) and agreed to be interviewed. Content analysis of both oral diaries and interviews shows that these learners are conscious about the improvement of their oral skills thanks to informal activities (TV series and movies, music, and games), and also acknowledged the fact that the oral diary activity has given them the opportunity to practice their speaking skills especially at the articulatory level. Furthermore, the acoustic analysis revealed a more fluent, accurate and comprehensible speech with a pronunciation tending rather to the American accent. Segmental and suprasegmental aspects such as rhoticity, flap, nasal vocalization, rise and fall intonation, uptalk, freaky voice, etc. were largely identified within some learners (speakers 10, 3 and 14). These results indicate that oral diaries and interviews in the L2 constitute a good qualitative method to collect spontaneous spoken corpus that allows the researcher to holistically analyze L2 learners' oral productions.
References
Cole, J., & Vanderplank, R. (2016). Comparing autonomous and class-based learners in Brazil: Evidence for the present-day advantages of informal, out-of-class learning. System, 61, 31‑42.
Erlandson, D. A., Harris, E. L., Skipper, B. L., & Allen, S. D. (1993). Doing naturalistic inquiry: A guide to methods. Sage.
Kusyk, M. (2017). The development of complexity, accuracy and fluency in L2 written production through informal participation in online activities. Calico Journal, 34(1), 75-96.
Song, J. W. (2009). An Investigation into the Effects of an Oral English Diary a Using Voice Bulletin Board on English Spoken Performance. Multimedia Assisted Language Learning, 12(1), 125-150.
Howell, P., & Kadi-Hanifi, K. (1991). Comparison of prosodic properties between read and spontaneous speech material. Speech communication, 10(2), 163-169.
