Perception and production development in citation versus sentence contexts by learners of Japanese

Abstract

This study compares the degrees of L2 learners perception versus production development in isolated word contexts with those in sentence contexts. Native speakers of English learning Japanese participated in the perceptual training program used in Hirata [Proc. Int. Congr. Phon. Sci. 2, 1413–1416 (1999)] in which subjects identified, and received immediate feedback on, the numbers of morae in target words in either citation or sentence contexts. Before and after training, subjects were tested on their ability to accurately perceive and produce words that included difficult durational contrasts (1) in citation contexts (word tests), and (2) in frame sentences (sentence tests). The results of the word tests showed no positive or negative correlation between the degrees of perception and production improvement. However, in the sentence tests, a negative correlation was found (r=−0.651): the greater the improvement in one domain, the less the improvement in the other. These contrasting results suggest that development captured in isolated word contexts does not readily predict that in fluent speech contexts, expanding Greenspan et al. [J. Exp. Psychol. 14(3), 421–433 (1988)]. The factors responsible for the negative correlation in the sentence contexts are discussed in light of the mechanisim of fluent L2 acquisition. [Work supported by Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning.]