ABSTRACT
Chapter 7 states the main conclusions drawn from the data, implications of the research, and avenues for future investigations. Consistent trends in student-directed speech across participants include shorter phrase segmentation resulting in more pauses, fewer expected pre-nuclear F0 rise patterns, and more F0 boundary excursions, particularly high-rises during instructional and administrative discourse. TAs spoke louder and employed higher F0 mean and wider F0 range overall. Findings are attributed to phonetic strengthening during teacher talk, differences between TAs regarding the emotions and attitudes they portray to their students, and familiarity with the course and student population. The consistent and unique prosodic features of student-directed speech support its classification as its own speech style. This new evidence has implications for second language pedagogy, as it indicates the prosodic effects of teacher training and experience. Once we can pinpoint specific prosodic modifications that aid learners, we can instruct educators to utilize these tools effectively. Methodological implications point to the value of naturalistic data elicitation and mixed methods analyses of naturally-occurring speech styles. Future research studies expanding the profile of participants, incorporating physical gesture, applying different frameworks for analysis, and investigating student perception of prosody are suggested.
