Can Late EFL Learners Attain Nativelike Pronunciation? Evidence from Catalan Speakers’ Production of English Low Vowels

[Abstract] Catalan learners of English have many difficulties to produce the three English low vowels /ӕ ʌ ɑ/ accurately. This is because, like Spanish, Catalan has only one low vowel /а/ so learners tend to perceive the three target vowels as instances of the same Catalan cetegory (Rallo Fabra, 2005). Flege (1995) predicts that nonnative speakers can produce L2 sounds authentically if they perceive the differences between the native and the target sounds. This paper investigates production accuracy of the three English low vowels by three groups of Catalan learners of English differing in foreign accent (FA) and a group of native English speakers. The data were obtained in an elicitation task in which participants were asked to pronounce a series of monosyllabic words containing one of the three target vowels. Production accuracy was measured quantitatively in terms of spectral data of first and second formant vowel frequencies. Results indicate that learners can produce nativelike instances of vowels /ӕ/ and /ʌ/ but not of /ɑ/. These findings do not really follow Flege’s predictions, since learners were able to produce nativelike instances of two English vowels although these vowels were heard as “similar” to Catalan /a/

Finnish Children Producing English Vowels — Studying in an English Immersion Class Affects Vowel Production

The aim of this study was to examine how earlier second language teaching affects Finnish school children’s pronunciation of British English vowels. Two groups of Finnish children between the ages of eleven and thirteen were tested. The early learners studied in an English immersion class in a Finnish elementary school while the control group attended a regular Finnish speaking class at the same school. The task consisted of twenty three English stimulus words which included the twelve monophthong English target vowels in voiced and voiceless environments. The words were repeated seven times during the task. The participants produced the words after a native model and the target vowel qualities were then acoustically analysed. Statistical analysis revealed a group main effect. More specifically the analysis showed that the groups differed significantly in the way they produced target vowel second formant (F2) values. The F2 difference was only significant in the voiced context. Closer examination of the groups’ vowel qualities revealed that the control group tended to produce the F2 values higher than the early learner group in most of the target vowels. The higher F2 values can be an indication of more frontal tongue position or less lip rounding during vowel production

Perception and production training effects on production of English lexical schwa by young Spanish learners

Phonetic training has been found to expedite aural and oral abilities in the L2. While considerable research has been conducted on the effects of perception training on production and of production training on perception, fewer studies have addressed them as separate training regimes in the same experimental setting outside laboratory conditions. This paper examined the effects of two training procedures (one based on production tasks and one based on perception tasks) on the production of English lexical schwa by young Spanish learners in their intact EFL classrooms. Both trained groups exhibited significant gains in the post-test and a slight advantage of the production-based trained group was observed. Learners? orosensory awareness, self-perception, and self-feedback were actions included in this protocol which may have contributed to such advantage. Our results demonstrate that guided pronunciation training protocols can be successful in the classroom with young learners to boost production skills

The Perception-Production Link in L2 Phonology

In a first or second language (L2), it is thought that in order to accurately produce a sound, one must be able to accurately distinguish that same sound in reception. This intuitive connection, called the perception-production link, also enjoys theoretical support from Flege’s (1995) Speech Learning Model and empirical support from a considerable number of experimental studies. However, reports of perception without production and production without perception present a challenge to the perception-production link. In this brief review, the perception-production link is explained and evidence supporting and challenging the link is summarized. Additionally, empirical research on the link is critically reviewed to highlight issues with research design and interpretation. Finally, the perception-production link’s current status in L2 research is discussed and directions for future research are presented

Finnish children producing English vowels - Studying in an English immersion class affects vowel production

The aim of this study was to examine how earlier second language teaching affects Finnish school children’s pronunciation of British English vowels. Two groups of Finnish children between the ages of eleven and thirteen were tested. The early learners studied in an English immersion class in a Finnish elementary school while the control group attended a regular Finnish speaking class at the same school. The task consisted of twenty three English stimulus words which included the twelve monophthong English target vowels in voiced and voiceless environments. The words were repeated seven times during the task. The participants produced the words after a native model and the target vowel qualities were then acoustically analysed. Statistical analysis revealed a group main effect. More specifically the analysis showed that the groups differed significantly in the way they produced target vowel second formant (F2) values. The F2 difference was only significant in the voiced context. Closer examination of the groups’ vowel qualities revealed that the control group tended to produce the F2 values higher than the early learner group in most of the target vowels. The higher F2 values can be an indication of more frontal tongue position or less lip rounding during vowel production.</p

A Psycholinguistic Perspective on Development of Phonetic Category Formation in Bilingual Children

This chapter reviews theories and research about phonetic category formation in bilingual children. Investigating phonetic categories provides us with a way to answer one of the longstanding theoretical issues in bilingualism, that is, whether bilingual children possess one versus two linguistic systems in the learning of their respective languages. In this chapter, theoretical backgrounds of phonetic categories in bilingual adults and children are reviewed. Then, empirical evidence showing phonetic categories in bilingual children is summarized. Finally, a development model of phonetic category formation in simultaneous and sequential bilingual children is proposed. Based on the model, detailed phonetic categories do not form across-the-board and bilingual children may invoke multi-dimensional representations of phonetic categories

Age effects in first language attrition: speech perception by Korean-English bilinguals

This article has been awarded Open Materials and Open Data badges. All materials and data are publicly accessible via the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/B2478 and at https://osf.io/G4C7Z. Learn more about the Open Practices badges from the Center for Open Science: https://osf.io/tvyxz/wiki.This study investigated how bilinguals’ perception of their first language (L1) differs according to age of reduced contact with L1 after immersion in a second language (L2). Twenty-one L1 Korean-L2 English bilinguals in the United States, ranging in age of reduced contact from 3 to 15 years, and 17 control participants in Korea were tested perceptually on three L1 contrasts differing in similarity to L2 contrasts. Compared to control participants, bilinguals were less accurate on L1-specific contrasts, and their accuracy was significantly correlated with age of reduced contact, an effect most pronounced for the contrast most dissimilar to L2. These findings suggest that the earlier bilinguals are extensively exposed to L2, the less likely they are to perceive L1 sounds accurately. However, this relationship is modulated by crosslinguistic similarity, and a turning point in L2 acquisition and L1 attrition of phonology appears to occur at around age 12.This research was supported by funding from the Ph.D. Program in Second Language Acquisition at the University of Maryland. The funding source was not involved in the design of the study, in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. We thank Dr. Youngkyu Kim at Ewha Womans University for his substantial support and Ms. Irene Jieun Ahn (formerly at Ewha Womans University and currently at Michigan State University) for her help during data collection in Korea. (Ph.D. Program in Second Language Acquisition at the University of Maryland

Does Studying in a Music-oriented Education Program Affect Non-native Sound Learning? — Effects of Passive Auditory Training on Children’s Vowel Production

Earlier studies have shown that children are efficient second language learners. Research has also shown that musical background might affect second language learning. A two-day auditory training paradigm was used to investigate whether studying in a music-oriented education program affects children’s sensitivity to acquire a non-native vowel contrast. Training effects were measured with listen-and-repeat production tests. Two groups of monolingual Finnish children (9–11 years, N=23) attending music-oriented and regular fourth grades were tested. The stimuli were two semisynthetic pseudo words /ty:ti/ and /tʉ:ti/ with the native vowel /y/ and the non-native vowel /ʉ/ embedded. Both groups changed their pronunciation after the first training. The change was reflected in the second formant values of /ʉ/, which lowered significantly after three trainings. The results show that 9–11-year-old children benefit from passive auditory training in second language production learning regardless of whether or not they attend a music-oriented education program.</p