The cognitive-affective nexus: How task sequencing reshapes pronunciation learning trajectories

This study investigates how the sequencing of pronunciation tasks influences learners’ cognitive engagement and affective responses, focusing on the underexplored intersection between attention, emotion, and phonological development. Drawing on a sample of intermediate L2 English learners (N = 60), we compared performance across three groups exposed to segmental, suprasegmental, and connected speech tasks arranged in either pedagogically-sequenced or random order. Acoustic, perceptual, and self-report data were collected to examine pronunciation gains, attentional patterns, and emotional shifts over time. Findings reveal that structured task sequencing significantly enhances segmental accuracy and prosodic fluency, while also reducing anxiety and increasing learner engagement. In contrast, random task presentation led to weaker gains and heightened emotional variability. These results support the view that pronunciation instruction benefits from systematic task progression, particularly when emotional and cognitive demands are aligned. We propose a cognitive-affective model of task-based pronunciation instruction, emphasizing the dynamic interplay between processing demands and learner emotion. This framework extends existing theories of second language task design by integrating affective variables as core components, rather than peripheral influences. The study contributes both empirically and conceptually to research on pronunciation pedagogy, with implications for curriculum design and task-based language teaching more broadly.