SPEECH PERCEPTION IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: A SUGGESTED MODEL

Abstract

In recent work on second language acquisition, reference has been made to the learner's second language “production grammar” and “perception grammar,” since decoding skills seem to be acquired before encoding skills. However, the postulation of two basically separate grammars for any language can pose problems. A model of speech perception and production is suggested here which attempts to account for different rates of acquisition of perceptual and productive skill in the second language, without assuming the existence of two separate second language grammars. In Neisser's model of speech perception, Stage One could correspond to a “perception grammar”; however, it cannot be strictly called a “grammar.” In Stage Two the second language grammar used in decoding the utterance is the same as that used in production of the second language utterance. The discrepancy between perception and production in second language acquisition can be accounted for by assuming the existence of a preliminary stage of speech perception, in which decoding is not based upon syntactic rules, but upon a feature analysis and hypothesis formation. Some principles which may be used in analyzing the utterance in this preliminary stage are discussed and related to some research findings in second language acquisition.