L2 Phonological Awareness Research Articles

Do Linguistic Factors Impact Phonological Awareness in L2? A Study of Phonological Awareness of English by Adult Saudi Learners

The study explores the impact of certain linguistic factors on phonological awareness ability in the second language. This study examines the effect of three linguistic factors on Saudi university students’ L2 phonological awareness: the linguistic environment (single vs. clustered), the linguistic affiliation of the phoneme (novel vs. non-novel), and the phonological representation of the lexical item that contains the target phoneme (real-word vs. non-word). The linguistic factors that are examined and controlled in this study represented essential differences between the participants’ L1 and L2, hence highlighting the effect of L1-L2 distance. The participants were 48 university students majoring in English language. Two phonological awareness tasks were administered, a phoneme deletion task and a phonological judgement task, to test phonological awareness at the phonemic and phonotactic levels. The results showed that the linguistic environment of the phoneme had a significant impact on the participants’ L2 phonological awareness. The linguistic affiliation of the target phoneme was another linguistic factor that affected the participants’ L2 phonological awareness. Their perception of novel L2 phonemes was considerably poorer than non-novel phonemes. This result confirms the validity of the linguistic affiliation hypothesis in explaining phonemic awareness in L2. Additionally, the results revealed that the quality of the phonological representation plays a significant role in the participants’ performance on the phonological awareness tasks in L2 and that the lexical status of the item affected this underlying phonological representation. The findings of this study offer theoretical and practical implications for the acquisition and teaching of a second language.

L1–L2 phonological skills predict L2 early literacy in bilinguals with developmental language disorder

In this study, we investigated first- (L1) and second-language (L2) vocabulary and phonology, and selective attention, as precursors of L2 early literacy in bilingual kindergartners with and without Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). We compared typically developing (TD) and DLD bilinguals with TD/DLD monolinguals (n = 157, MAGE = 3;8), and examined how TD/DLD bilinguals' precursor abilities predicted L2 phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), and letter knowledge. The precursor variables were assessed during preschool, including L1/L2 Dutch and L1 Turkish/Polish. Two years later, we assessed L2 Dutch early literacy. The results showed that at preschool, DLD bilinguals scored lower than the other groups on L1 vocabulary and L1–L2 phonology. By kindergarten, bilingual and DLD groups had poorer Dutch rhyme and RAN than monolingual and TD groups, respectively. Combined L1–L2 phonological skills predicted phonological awareness and RAN among TD/DLD bilinguals. We conclude that poorer L1–L2 phonology in DLD bilingual preschoolers poses a risk for their L2 early literacy at kindergarten.

Phonological Awareness of English among Saudi Learners: An Examination of the Role of Lexical Status and Intra-syllabic Phonological Unit

This study explores phonological awareness ability in the second language. Although some studies have examined L2 phonological awareness, most of these studies have not provided sufficient details on the type of stimulus items employed in these studies nor considered the possible effect of some linguistic factors on the results. Thus, the study aims to explore the impact of the lexical status of the item on phonological awareness in L2. In addition, the study examines the preferred intra-syllabic phonological unit in L2 among Saudi university students. Specifically, the study examines the effect of the lexical status (word vs non-word) and the intra-syllabic phonological unit (onset-rime vs. body-coda) on the phonological awareness of English. The participants were 48 university students majoring in English language. Two phonological awareness tasks were administered to test phonological awareness at the intra-syllabic and phonotactic levels. The tasks were an intra-syllabic segmentation task and a lexical decision task. The results showed significant effects of both linguistic factors on the participants’ L2 phonological awareness. The lexical status of the test item had a significant effect on the participants’ performance in the task. The participants performed significantly better in identifying real-words than non-words, which reflects an advanced phonotactic awareness. Finally, the results revealed that the body-coda unit is the preferred intra-syllabic structure for Saudi learners. Therefore, the study provides evidence that the onset-rime hypothesis is not universal and is at least not applicable to Saudi Arabic speakers. The study offers theoretical and practical implications for the acquisition and teaching of L2.

General auditory processing, Mandarin L1 prosodic and phonological awareness, and English L2 word learning

Abstract This study examined general auditory processing, Mandarin L1 prosodic and phonological awareness, and the relations with English L2 word learning. Participants were 61 Mandarin-speaking children who learned English as an L2 in Taiwan. They received the following tasks: general auditory processing (i.e., amplitude envelope rise time, pitch contour and interval), Mandarin L1 prosodic and phonological awareness, and English L2 word learning (at Time 1 and 2). The results revealed that (1) only amplitude envelope rise time discrimination, independent of years of English learning, predicted English L2 word learning at Time 1, (2) Mandarin L1 phonological awareness, relative to Mandarin L1 prosodic awareness, made more contributions to English L2 word learning after controlling amplitude envelope rise time discrimination, and (3) successful English learners outperformed their unsuccessful peers on Mandarin L1 phonological awareness. Taken together, beginning English learners might use amplitude envelop rise time cuing syllable boundaries and rely on L1 prosodic and phonological awareness for English L2 word learning.

Does Nonlinguistic Segmentation Predict Literacy in Second Language Education? Statistical Learning in Ivorian Primary Schools.

Statistical learning (SL) is a learning mechanism that does not directly depend on knowledge of a language, but predicts language and literacy outcomes for children and adults. Research linking SL and literacy has not addressed children who first learn to read in their second language (L2), common in primary schools worldwide. Several studies have linked SL with childhood literacy in Australia, China, Europe, and the U.S., and we pre-registered an adaptation for Côte d'Ivoire, where students are educated in French and speak a local language at home. Recruiting 117 sixth-graders from primary schools in several villages, we tested for correlations >0.3 between SL and literacy with 80-90% power. We found no evidence for these correlations, but visual SL was correlated with L2 phonological awareness. Although this finding may suggest a role of SL in emergent L2 skills, it underscores the need to include L2 acquisition contexts in literacy research.

Relationships Between First and Second Language Phonological Awareness and Rapid Automatized Naming in Chinese Children with Dyslexia

Relationships Between First and Second Language Phonological Awareness and Rapid Automatized Naming in Chinese Children with Dyslexia

The Contribution of Music Abilities and Phonetic Aptitude to L2 Accent Faking Ability

This study examined how second language (L2) speakers’ individual differences in music perception abilities, singing abilities and phonetic aptitude relate to their L2 phonological awareness. To measure participants’ L2 phonological awareness, we used an accent faking paradigm, where participants were asked to speak in their native language (German) while imitating a strong L2 accent (English). We measured their musical abilities with the AMMA test and their singing abilities with two singing tasks and a self-report questionnaire. Their phonetic aptitude was assessed with a combination of phonological short-term memory tasks (forward and backward digit span tasks), and language perception and production tasks, in which participants needed to process and imitate sounds from unfamiliar languages. A regression analysis revealed that singing abilities and phonetic aptitude could predict participants’ English faking abilities. This suggests that being able to sing could help learners produce and memorise highly accurate L2 sounds, although their performance could also partly be explained by innate learning capacities such as phonetic aptitude. This study also proposes a new combination of tests to obtain a well-rounded assessment of individual differences in phonetic aptitude.

What Predicts First‐ and Second‐Language Difficulties? Testing Language and Executive Functioning Skills as Correlates

AbstractThis study examined the co‐occurrence of word reading difficulty in Chinese (L1) and English as a second language (L2) and tested language and executive functioning (EF) skills as correlates. Thirty‐nine poor readers in Chinese (PC), 39 poor readers in English (PE), and 26 poor readers of both languages (PB) were compared to 39 average readers who served as controls (C). The co‐occurrence rate of L1–L2 difficulty was 40%. Moreover, PC, PE, and PB performed less well than C on all language and EF skills; PB performed less well than PC, PE, and C on L1 and L2 phonological awareness, L2 morphological awareness, rapid naming, and EF. Findings highlight the role of language and EF skills in L1 and L2 reading development.

The impact of lexical skills and executive functioning on L1 and L2 phonological awareness in bilingual kindergarten

This study investigated the role of lexical skills and executive functioning on L1 Dutch and L2 English phonological awareness in children enrolled in bilingual Dutch/English kindergarten in The Netherlands (n = 95) and monolingual Dutch kindergarten (n = 83). Participants had an average age of 5 years and 10 months and completed tasks on phonological awareness, lexical skills (vocabulary and lexical specificity), and executive functioning (sustained visual and auditory attention, behavioural self-regulation, and verbal short-term memory) in the L1 Dutch and the L2 English. Dutch phonological awareness was predicted by self-regulation and verbal short-term memory. English phonological awareness was directly predicted by Dutch phonological awareness and visual sustained attention. The results highlight the importance of executive functioning such as sustained attention, behavioural self-regulation and short-term memory in first and second language learning in kindergarten, and support cross-language transfer effects from L1 to L2 phonological awareness among bilingual learners.

The influence of orthography in second language phonological acquisition

AbstractWe provide an exhaustive review of studies in the relatively new domain of research on the influence of orthography on second language (L2) phonological acquisition. While language teachers have long recognized the importance of written input—in addition to spoken input—on learners’ development, until this century there was very little systematic research investigating the relationship between orthography and L2 phonological acquisition. Here, we review studies of the influence of written input on L2 phonological awareness, phoneme perception, the acquisition of phonological processes and syllable structure, and the pronunciation and recognition of words. We elaborate the variables that appear to moderate written input effects: (1) whether or not a novel phonological contrast is systematically represented by the L2 writing system (systematicity); (2) whether some or all of the L2 graphemes are familiar to learners from the L1 (familiarity); (3) for familiar graphemes, whether the native language (L1) and the L2 employ the same grapheme-phoneme correspondences (congruence); and (4) the ability of learners to perceive an auditory contrast that is systematically represented in writing (perceptibility). We conclude by calling for future research on the pedagogical implications of this body of work, which has thus far received very little attention by researchers.

Factors affecting L2 phonological awareness in Chinese-Dutch preschoolers

Abstract The present study compared the relationship between Dutch phonological awareness (rhyme awareness, initial phoneme isolation), Dutch speech decoding and Dutch receptive vocabulary in two groups in different linguistic environments: 30 Mandarin Chinese-Dutch bilingual children and 24 monolingual Dutch peers. Chinese vocabulary and phonological awareness were taken into account in the bilingual group. Bilingual children scored below their Dutch monolingual counterparts on all Dutch tasks. In the bilingual group, Dutch rhyme awareness was predicted by Dutch speech decoding, both directly, and indirectly via Dutch receptive vocabulary. When adding Chinese proficiency to the model, Chinese rhyme awareness was found to mediate the relationship between Dutch speech decoding and Dutch rhyme awareness. It can thus be concluded that second language (L2) phonological awareness in Chinese-Dutch kindergartners is affected by their L2 speech and vocabulary level, on the one hand, and their level of phonological awareness in the first language (L1).

Phonological Awareness of English Phonemes by Kuwaiti Arabic Speakers with Evidence of Phonemic Hypercorrection

Research in the area of L2 phonological awareness continues to grow rapidly considering the importance of achieving proficient spoken English and ensuring being understood during communication, but most importantly on guaranteeing learners (worldwide) better professional opportunities. In Kuwait, conversing in English at a level at which the users can understand and be understood has become crucially important, regardless of the field in which the population studies or works. Within such intriguing context of phonological awareness in second language acquisition, the current study investigated the association of English phonemes production and perception by speakers of Kuwaiti Arabic and the main triggers of incorrect production. The present study looked specifically into the phonological errors made by Kuwaiti speakers of English when L1 has a parallel phoneme of only one of the two contrasting L2 phonemes in its L1 phoneme and/or orthography systems. The study was conducted on 244 Kuwaiti male and female participants between the ages of 18 and 30. The sample answered a 44 words questionnaire consisting of three English phonemes, namely, /p/, /v/ and /t∫/ and their counterparts /b/, /f/ and /∫/. The participants were asked to choose the correct sound they hear in word-initial and word-final positions. Findings of the study suggest that many Kuwaiti learners of English found it difficult to identify the English phonemes as a result of a deeper level of complications triggered by the occurrence of contrasting phonemes in both L1 and L2, hypercorrection, and interference of orthography. It is, hence, believed that perception is not the sole reason that causes Arabic learners of English to produce English sounds incorrectly.

Cross-Language Transfer of Phonological and Orthographic Awareness in L1-Korean L2-English Early Literacy Acquisition

The current study explored the cross-language transfer of L2 word recognition (WR) among 129 Korean EFL students. Participants underwent measures of L1-/ L2 phonological awareness (PA), L1-/ L2 orthographic awareness (OA), and L1-/ L2 unfamiliar-/ pseudo word recognition (WR). Findings showed that (a) the significant predictors of L1 unfamiliar WR were L1 PA-/ OA; (b) L1-/ L2 PA and L2 OA played an important role in L2 unfamiliar WR; and (c) L2 PA-/ OA were positively predictive of L2 pseudo WR. These results support the linguistic interdependence hypothesis that literacy skills can be transferred from one language to another (Cummins, 2000). The findings of the current study suggest the importance of L1 phonological components in L2 early literacy acquisition. Specifically, the present results propose that knowledge of L1 phonological elements such as syllable onsets, nuclei, codas, and bodies may play a crucial role in successful L2 WR among, at least, early Korean-English readers.

Weak English foreign language readers: the cross-linguistic impact of morphological awareness

Linguistic abilities as well as home environment explain successful English as a foreign language (EFL) reading acquisition. The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which morphological derivational awareness measured in Arabic as a first language (L1) predicted EFL word recognition and reading comprehension among 66—11th grade female high school students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Measures included L1 phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge, and derivational morphological awareness, as well as EFL word recognition and reading comprehension. Background variables including socioeconomic background measured as home-population density and English exposure out of school measured by time spent viewing English television per day were controlled for. Hierarchical regression analyses found L1 phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge and derivational morphological awareness judgment all directly contributed to EFL word recognition. English home language exposure and derivational morphological awareness production directly predicted EFL reading comprehension, and morphological awareness mediated the connection between L1 phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge and EFL reading comprehension. These results highlight the cross-linguistic role of morphological awareness together with home background on EFL reading for female high school students from low socio-economic backgrounds.

What is phonological awareness in L2?

Abstract Phonological awareness is widely recognized as an important component of L2 reading. Phonological awareness is also considered a primarily metalinguistic skill not affected by the individual's L2 language proficiency, or by L1-L2 linguistic distance. The current paper takes a different perspective on L2 phonological awareness. It argues that L2 phonological awareness is affected by L2 language-specific factors, and that these factors may be as equally implicated in phonological awareness in L2 as the metalinguistic insight that words may be broken down into phonological units – often considered the hallmark of the phonological awareness construct. In support of this claim, we discuss two types of evidence. The first concerns significant differences between phonological awareness in L1 and L2, as well as a significant correlation between L2 oral language proficiency and phonological awareness in L2. The second concerns linguistic distance and the effect on L2 phonological awareness of phonological differences between L1 and L2. Both pieces of evidence are used to promote the argument that it is important to view phonological awareness in L2 as a two-dimensional construct encompassing a metalinguistic component, which may be metalinguistic in nature and language-independent, and a linguistic component which is language-specific and reflects phonological representations in L2.

BRAZILIAN EFL LEARNERS’ AWARENESS ABOUT L2 PHONES: IS MALL PRONOUNCED AS ‘MAL’?

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper was to examine the extent of non-verbalizable knowledge L1 Brazilian Portuguese (BP) learners of English possess about the segmental inventory of the L2. The study had two aims: i) to determine to what extent L1 BP EFL learners are aware of contrastive and non-contrastive L2 segments, ii) to determine which type of segments present the lowest level of awareness. To the date, little research has been carried out about the non-verbalizable aspect of L2 phonological awareness, most studies having relied on participants’ verbalization of the acquired knowledge (e.g., KENNEDY & TROFIMOVICH, 2010; WREMBEL, 2011). Whereas language learners are frequently taught grammar explicitly, pronunciation of the L2 is rarely addressed in the foreign language classroom. Moreover, phonology is in nature less susceptible to conscious processing than other aspects of L2 learning, making the noticing, and especially the explicit explanation, of phonological aspects difficult. Nevertheless, high L2 phonological awareness is beneficial for L2 pronunciation (KIVISTÖ-DE SOUZA, 2015), making its examination a priority in the foreign language classroom context. The participants of the study were 71 advanced EFL learners and 18 native speakers of American English. Participants performed a perception test which presented English segments spoken by native and non-native speakers. The ability to identify pronunciation deviations in the non-native speaker trials was taken as a measure for phonological awareness. The results showed that the L1 BP participants manifested a significantly lower sensitivity to English segmental phonology than the native English speakers (F[1, 87] = 40.56, p <.001, η2=.31). Pronunciation deviations involving consonants were identified to the greatest extent (52%), whereas the trials involving short-lag VOTs were identified the poorest (33%). The results reveal a need for explicit pronunciation instruction and the employment of consciousness-raising activities in the Brazilian EFL classroom.

L2 Reading Comprehension and Its Correlates: A Meta‐Analysis

The present meta‐analysis examined the overall average correlation (weighted for sample size and corrected for measurement error) between passage‐level second language (L2) reading comprehension and 10 key reading component variables investigated in the research domain. Four high‐evidence correlates (with 18 or more accumulated effect sizes: L2 decoding, L2 vocabulary knowledge, L2 grammar knowledge, first language [L1] reading comprehension), and six low‐evidence correlates (L2 phonological awareness, L2 orthographic knowledge, L2 morphological knowledge, L2 listening comprehension, working memory, metacognition) were included in the study. For the four high‐evidence correlates, a series of moderator analyses were also carried out to examine the effects of age, L2 proficiency, L1–L2 script and language distance, and measurement characteristics. The results showed that L2 grammar knowledge (r = .85), L2 vocabulary knowledge (r = .79), and L2 decoding (r = .56) were the three strongest correlates of L2 reading comprehension. The six low‐evidence correlates had moderate‐to‐strong mean correlations, with L2 listening comprehension being the strongest correlate (r = .77) and metacognition (r = .32) being the weakest correlate. Age, some measurement characteristics, and L1–L2 language distance were found to be significant moderators for some reading components.

Mimicking accented speech as L2 phonological awareness

This study investigated Spanish-speaking learners’ awareness of a non-distinctive phonetic difference between Spanish and English through a delayed mimicry paradigm. We assessed learners' speech production accuracy through voice onset time (VOT) duration measures in word-initial pre-vocalic /p t k/ in Spanish and English words, and in Spanish words produced with an English accent. In addition, the second language (L2) English words and the English-accented Spanish words were rated, respectively, by first language (L1) English and L1 Spanish listeners on 9-point accentedness scales. Spanish-speaking learners were found to modify their native short-lag laryngeal timing patterns significantly, producing longer VOT durations in L2 English and, crucially, in their production of English-accented Spanish words, than they did in the production of L1 Spanish words. This was taken as evidence of learners having developed tacit phonological awareness of the cross-language VOT difference between Spanish and English voiceless stops.

Extracting Phonological Patterns for L2 Word Learning: The Effect of Poor Phonological Awareness

An implicit word learning paradigm was designed to test the hypothesis that children who came to the task of L2 vocabulary acquisition with poorer L1 phonological awareness (PA) are less capable of extracting phonological patterns from L2 and thus have difficulties capitalizing on this knowledge to support L2 vocabulary learning. A group of Chinese-speaking six-grade students took a multi-trial L2 (English) word learning task after being exposed to a set of familiar words that rhymed with the target words. Children's PA was measured at grade 3. Children with relatively poorer L1 PA and those with better L1 PA did not differ in identifying the forms of the new words. However, children with poorer L1 PA demonstrated reduced performance in naming pictures with labels that rhymed with the pre-exposure words than with labels that did not rhyme with the pre-exposure words. Children with better L1 PA were not affected by the recurring rime shared by the pre-exposure words and the target words. These findings suggest that poor L1 PA may impede L2 word learning via difficulty in abstracting phonological patterns away from L2 input to scaffold word learning.

Phonological awareness and oral language proficiency in learning to read English among Chinese kindergarten children in Hong Kong

Learning to read is very challenging for Hong Kong children who learn English as a second language (ESL), as they must acquire two very different writing systems, beginning at the age of three. Few studies have examined the role of phonological awareness at the subsyllabic levels, oral language proficiency, and L1 tone awareness in L2 English reading among Hong Kong ESL kindergarteners. This study aims to investigate L1 and L2 phonological awareness and oral language proficiency as predictors of English reading among children with Chinese as L1. One hundred and sixty-one typically developing children with a mean age of 5.16 (SD=.35) selected from seven preschools in Hong Kong. Participants were assessed for English reading, English and Chinese phonological awareness at different levels, English oral language skills, and letter naming ability. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that both oral language proficiency and phonological awareness measures significantly predicted L2 word reading, when statistically controlled for age and general intelligence. Among various phonological awareness units, L2 phonemic awareness was the best predictor of L2 word reading. Cross-language transfer was shown with L1 phonological awareness at the tone level, uniquely predicting L2 word reading. The present findings show the important role of phonological awareness at the subsyllabic levels (rime and phoneme) and oral language proficiency in the course of L2 reading development in Chinese ESL learners. The significant contribution of L1 tone awareness to L2 reading suggests that phonological sensitivity is a general competence that ESL children need to acquire in early years. The findings have significant implications for understanding L2 reading development and curriculum development.