This study investigated whether speaker variability in phonetic training benefits vowel learnability
by Arabic learners of English. Perception training using High-Variability stimuli in laboratory
studies has been shown to improve both the perception and production of Second Language sounds
in adults and children and has become the dominant methodology for investigating issues in
Second Language acquisition. Less consideration is given to production training, in which Second
Language learners focus on the role of the articulators in producing second language sounds. This
study aimed to assess the role of speaker variability by comparing the effect of using HighVariability and Low-Variability stimuli for production training in a classroom setting. Forty-six
Arabic children aged 9-12 years were trained on 18 Standard Southern British English vowels in
five training sessions over two weeks and were tested before and after training on their vowel
production and category discrimination. The results indicate that Low-Variability stimuli may be more
beneficial for children, however, High-Variability stimuli may alter some phonetic cues. Furthermore, the
results suggest that production training may be used to improve the perception and production of Second
Language sounds, but also to inform the design of Second Language pronunciation learning programmes
and theories of Second Language acquisition
