The perception of voice qualities in audiobooks in the context of teaching French as a second language

Audiobooks are a common part of everyday life and their possibilities are also used when learning a foreign language. The article comprehensively addresses the issue of audiobooks as a variation of the Listening comprehension activity on a sample of secondary and university students. In addition to their experience with audiobooks, their attitude to listening comprehension, it examines the preferences regarding specific characteristics of the voices of the narrators. The students first determined the perceived characteristic on a scale of 1-4 in the following categories: pitch (high-low), speed (slow-fast), melodicity (monotonous-melodious), articulation (comprehensible-incomprehensible). Later, subjective ratings were assigned to these categories on a scale from strong like to strong dislike. The preference research was conducted on an excerpt of Grand Meaulnes by A. Fournier, which was recorded by two professional and two amateur narrators.