Abstract

The purpose of this research was to test the effect of stress presentation mode on stress acquisition of advanced learners of Russian. The study attempted to determine if advanced learners of Russian are able to place stress more correctly on words in specific texts after receiving various treatments or receiving no treatment. Participants were Brigham Young University students studying Russian as a second language at the third-year level or higher. They were randomly assigned into three groups: a group that received no treatment, a treatment group that read words with graphically marked stress, and a treatment group that heard texts read by a native speaker. All participants completed a pretest, a treatment (in the second and third groups), and a posttest. The pretest and the posttest consisted of a reading task: the participants read 12 sentences taken from 12 different texts. The same words from the texts were used in the treatment to expose the participants to the sentences again in order to determine if the treatment made a difference in the acquisition of correct stress. The treatment was different for each group. Group 1 (A) read texts marked with stress, Group 2 (B) read the same texts but without stress marked; rather, they heard a native speaker of Russian read the texts on a recording, and Group 3 (C) read the same texts but without stress marked graphically or hearing a native speaker. The results of the research reject the hypothesis that aural presentation of stress as opposed to a visual only presentation leads to improved acquisition of stress. However, based on the analyses of the data, overall findings rendered some interesting and unexpected results and observations. First, although the treatment for group A appears to be more effective than that for groups B and C, all groups showed improvement after completing the treatment. This strongly suggests that reading, whatever form it takes, can be a useful tool in facilitating control of stress. Second, group A had more participants that fell into the "fast" reading category, and fast readers scored significantly higher than slow or medium speed readers. This suggests that the faster one reads the better one controls stress, or the better one controls stress the faster one reads.

Degree

College and Department

Humanities; Center for Language Studies

Rights

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