The impact of rhythm, intonation, and stress on B1 adult english as a foreign language learners’ communicative competence development

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the influence of rhythm, intonation, and stress on the communicative competence of B1 adult English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners at the Language Center of the Catholic University of Cuenca, Ecuador. Likewise, it aims to understand how these three prosodic features affect learners’ fluency and comprehension, addressing two primary questions: the overall role of prosodic features in EFL learning and the specific challenges learners face in mastering them. A convergent parallel mixed-method design was employed, and data were collected from seventy-one EFL students and eleven university professors through structured surveys and semi-structured interviews. The findings reveal that these prosodic features help develop learners’ communicative competence, with intonation identified as the most challenging aspect to learn and master. This study stresses the need for integrating explicit and frequent prosodic instruction into EFL curricula to improve learners’ oral proficiency and sheds light on practical pedagogical strategies to address these challenges.