Language Speech Learning Research Articles

Neural Basis of Second Language Speech Learning - Past and Future: A Commentary on "The Neurocognitive Underpinnings of Second Language Processing: Knowledge Gains From the Past and Future Outlook".

Neural Basis of Second Language Speech Learning - Past and Future: A Commentary on "The Neurocognitive Underpinnings of Second Language Processing: Knowledge Gains From the Past and Future Outlook".

Detangling experiential, cognitive, and sociopsychological individual differences in second language speech learning: Cross-sectional and longitudinal investigations

AbstractIn this two-part study, we conducted both cross-sectional and longitudinal investigations on the relative weights of experiential, cognitive, and sociopsychological factors in adult L2 speech learning. In the cross-sectional phase (Study 1), speech was elicited from 73 Japanese speakers of English via a picture description task, and rated for accentedness and comprehensibility. These scores were linked to scores on a range of tests designed to measure aptitude, motivation, and anxiety. The results showed that comprehensibility was exclusively linked to experiential variables (e.g., the amount of L2 use outside classrooms), while accentedness was linked to phonemic coding ability and anxiety. In the longitudinal phase (Study 2), we tracked the same participants' L2 comprehensibility and accentedness development when they received four weeks of explicit pronunciation instruction. According to the results of pre- and post-tests, participants significantly improved the comprehensibility and accentedness of their speech regardless of cognitive and sociopsychological differences.

How does having a good ear promote successful second language speech acquisition in adulthood? Introducing Auditory Precision Hypothesis-L2

AbstractIn this paper, I first provide a brief review of how scholars have conceptualized, tested, and elaborated aptitude frameworks relevant to second language (L2) speech learning. Subsequently, I introduce an emerging paradigm that assigns a fundamental role to domain-general auditory processing (i.e., having a good ear) in L1 speech acquisition and proposes that the same faculty acts as a cornerstone of L2 speech learning (i.e., the Auditory Precision Hypothesis-L2). This hypothesis predicts that learners with more precise auditory processing ability will be able to make the most of every input opportunity, which will result in more advanced L2 speech proficiency. To close, I will provide suggestions on how scholars can assess L2 students’ auditory processing ability (e.g., our team's offline test deposited at L2 Speech Tools for Researchers & Teachers [http://sla-speech-tools.com/]) and discuss how the results can be used to maximize learners’ L2 speech learning opportunities via optimal, profile-matched training programs (e.g., explicit vs. incidental training; naturalistic vs. classroom learning; phonetic vs. auditory training).

Domain-general auditory processing as a conceptual and measurement framework for second language speech learning aptitude: A test-retest reliability study

Abstract This article proposes a conceptual and measurement framework for postpubertal, L2 speech learning aptitude that is centered around domain-general auditory processing (i.e., representing spectral and temporal characteristics of sounds). To this end, we examine the construct and reliability of a battery of auditory processing tests by presenting the results of an empirical study wherein 100 participants took the tests twice. The findings showed (a) that the tasks tapped into multiple dimensions of auditory processing ability (e.g., perceptual acuity, audio-motor integration); and (b) that test-retest reliability ranged from “fair” to “excellent” (ICC (2,2) = .4–.8). Last, we introduce an offline version of the tests (deposited at L2 Speech Tools for Researchers & Teachers; http://sla-speech-tools.com/), provide a brief user manual, and invite researchers to use these tests to examine the role of auditory processing in various aspects of L2 speech learning (naturalistic vs. classroom, perception- vs. production-based practice).

Assimilation patterns predict L2 identification accuracy of English initial consonants

Abstract A large range of studies has generated predictions of second language (L2) speech learning problems from perceptual assimilation patterns of nonnative sounds to native (L1) categories. The present study extends our knowledge of assimilation patterns as a predictor of L2 speech perception by examining the relationship between perceptual assimilation and L2 identification. Specifically, we examine how nonnative listeners’ perceptual assimilation of the full range of English initial consonants predicts their identification accuracy. Four groups of non-native listeners, differing orthogonally with regard to their L1 (Danish, Finnish) and English-language immersion experience (immersion, non-immersion) participated. As predicted, assimilation patterns interacted with L2 experience in accounting for how the L2 learners identified English consonants for some assimilation types, while the predictions were less successful for other assimilation types.

Auditory precision hypothesis-L2: Dimension-specific relationships between auditory processing and second language segmental learning

Growing evidence suggests a broad relationship between individual differences in auditory processing ability and the rate and ultimate attainment of language acquisition throughout the lifespan, including post-pubertal second language (L2) speech learning. However, little is known about how the precision of processing of specific auditory dimensions relates to the acquisition of specific L2 segmental contrasts. In the context of 100 late Japanese-English bilinguals with diverse profiles of classroom and immersion experience, the current study set out to investigate the link between the perception of several auditory dimensions (F3 frequency, F2 frequency, and duration) in non-verbal sounds and English [r]-[l] perception and production proficiency. Whereas participants' biographical factors (the presence/absence of immersion) accounted for a large amount of variance in the success of learning this contrast, the outcomes were also tied to their acuity to the most reliable, new auditory cues (F3 variation) and the less reliable but already-familiar cues (F2 variation). This finding suggests that individuals can vary in terms of how they perceive, utilize, and make the most of information conveyed by specific acoustic dimensions. When perceiving more naturalistic spoken input, where speech contrasts can be distinguished via a combination of numerous cues, some can attain a high-level of L2 speech proficiency by using nativelike and/or non-nativelike strategies in a complementary fashion.

Review of Wayland (2021): Second Language Speech Learning: Theoretical and Empirical Progress

Review of Wayland (2021): Second Language Speech Learning: Theoretical and Empirical Progress

How Does Having a Good Ear Promote Instructed Second Language Pronunciation Development? Roles of Domain‐General Auditory Processing in Choral Repetition Training

AbstractGrowing evidence suggests that auditory processing ability may be a crucial determinant of language learning, including adult second language (L2) speech learning. The current study tested 47 Chinese English‐as‐a‐Foreign‐Language students to examine the extent to which two types of auditory processing, i.e., perceptual acuity and audio‐motor integration, related to improvements in the comprehensibility and nativelikeness of L2 speech following two weeks of choral repetition training (i.e., shadowing). All participants’ pronunciation proficiency became significantly more comprehensible over time, and the degree of improvement in the nativelikeness of pronunciation was tied to the ability to remember and reproduce sounds (i.e., audio‐motor integration). The findings suggest that robust auditory‐motor integration may play a key role in the acquisition of advanced‐level L2 pronunciation proficiency (i.e., comprehensible and nativelike speech).

Domain‐General Auditory Processing Partially Explains Second Language Speech Learning in Classroom Settings: A Review and Generalization Study

AbstractTo date, a growing number of studies have shown that domain‐general auditory processing, which prior work has linked to L1 acquisition, could explain various dimensions of naturalistic L2 speech proficiency. The current study examined the generalizability of this topic to L2 speech learning in classroom settings. The spontaneous speech samples of 39 Vietnamese English‐as‐a‐foreign‐language learners were analyzed for fluent and accurate use of pronunciation and lexicogrammar and linked to a range of variables in their auditory processing profiles. The results identified moderate‐to‐strong correlations between the participants’ accurate use of lexicogrammar and audio‐motor sequence integration scores (i.e., the ability to reproduce melodic/rhythmic information). However, the relationship between phonological proficiency and auditory acuity (i.e., the ability to encode acoustic details of sounds) was nonsignificant. Although the findings support the audition‐acquisition link to classroom L2 speech learning to some degree, they only suggest that this link is robust for the acquisition of lexicogrammar information.

The effects of metaphonological awareness training on L3 Mandarin tone acquisition by Cantonese learners

ABSTRACT According to the speech learning model [Flege, J. E. (1995). Second language speech learning: Theory, findings, and problems. In W. Strange (Ed.), Speech perception and linguistic experience: Issues in cross-language research (pp. 233–277). York Press], learners whose first language (L1) is a tonal language (e.g. Cantonese) can be confused by similar yet different tones in their L1 and another tonal language (e.g. Mandarin). Encouraged by the biliteracy and trilingualism language policy in Hong Kong, L1 Cantonese learners of Mandarin have been committed to learning the third language (L3) Mandarin tones but are struggling with that task. The main purpose of this study is to examine Cantonese learners’ perceptions and production of Mandarin tones, and to investigate learners’ performance in production tasks before and after implementing metaphonological awareness protocols. Twenty-five Cantonese learners studying at a local university were recruited to complete the production, perception and verbal protocol tasks. Based on Wrembel’s [2015. Metaphonologcial awareness in multilinguals: A case of L3 Polish. Language Awareness, 24(1), 60–83. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2014.890209] framework, this study categorised the participants’ statements of metaphonological awareness shown in their self-correction and self-reflection performances in the introspective and retrospective protocols. The error rates and patterns in the production and perception tasks were analysed. Metaphonological awareness training has a significant positive effect on improving learners’ Mandarin tone pronunciation.

Dunning-Kruger effect in second language speech learning: How does self perception align with other perception over time?

Dunning-Kruger effect in second language speech learning: How does self perception align with other perception over time?

The effects of perception- vs. production-based pronunciation instruction

While research has shown that provision of explicit pronunciation instruction (PI) is facilitative of various aspects of second language (L2) speech learning (Thomson & Derwing, 2015), a growing number of scholars have begun to examine which type of instruction can best impact on acquisition. In the current study, we explored the effects of perception- vs. production-based methods of PI among tertiary-level Japanese students of English. Participants (N = 115) received two weeks of instruction on either segmental or suprasegmental features of English, using either a perception- or a production-based method, with progress assessed in a pre/post/delayed posttest study design. Although all four treatment groups demonstrated major gains in pronunciation accuracy, performance varied considerably across groups and over time. A close examination of our findings suggested that perception-based training may be the more effective training method across both segmental and suprasegmental features.

How does longitudinal interaction promote second language speech learning? Roles of learner experience and proficiency levels

This study examined how longitudinal interaction impacts the development of second language (L2) oral proficiency in relation to learners’ different experience and proficiency levels. Japanese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) participated in weekly conversation exchanges with native speakers (NSs) in the USA via videoconferencing tools over one academic semester (12 weeks). The participants’ spontaneous speech, elicited from a story telling task before and after the treatment, was analysed via a set of linguistic measures. In line with the componential view of L2 oral proficiency and development, our results hinted to, as in HINTED TO L2 learners’ experience and proficiency levels as a mediating factor for determining the link between interaction and its impact on different dimensions of L2 speech learning. While the longitudinal interaction equally improved the participants’ grammatical complexity and articulation rate – a fundamental component for defining L2 oral proficiency – the development of less experienced/proficient learners was observed across a wide range of lexicogrammar and fluency features (lexical appropriateness/richness, grammatical accuracy, pause ratio). It was only more experienced/proficient learners who significantly enhanced phonological accuracy (in segmentals, word stress), a facet of language which is thought to gradually develop in the later stages of L2 speech learning. These findings add another piece of evidence for the differential effects of long-term interaction relative to L2 learners’ developmental stages.

Explicit and implicit aptitude effects on second language speech learning: Scrutinizing segmental and suprasegmental sensitivity and performance via behavioural and neurophysiological measures

The current study examines the role of cognitive and perceptual individual differences (i.e., aptitude) in second language (L2) pronunciation learning, when L2 learners’ varied experience background is controlled for. A total of 48 Chinese learners of English in the UK were assessed for their sensitivity to segmental and suprasegmental aspects of speech on explicit and implicit modes via behavioural (language/music aptitude tests) and neurophysiological (electroencephalography) measures. Subsequently, the participants’ aptitude profiles were compared to the segmental and suprasegmental dimensions of their L2 pronunciation proficiency analyzed through rater judgements and acoustic measurements. According to the results, the participants’ segmental attainment was associated not only with explicit aptitude (phonemic coding), but also with implicit aptitude (enhanced neural encoding of spectral peaks). Whereas the participants’ suprasegmental attainment was linked to explicit aptitude (rhythmic imagery) to some degree, it was primarily influenced by the quality and quantity of their most recent L2 learning experience.

Individual differences in second language speech learning in classroom settings: Roles of awareness in the longitudinal development of Japanese learners’ English /ɹ/ pronunciation

The current study longitudinally examined a crucial individual difference variable – i.e. awareness (operationalized as explicit attention and articulatory knowledge) – in adult second language (L2) speech learning in the context of 40 Japanese learners’ English /ɹ/ pronunciation development in an EFL classroom. The participants’ speech, elicited from word reading, sentence reading and timed picture description tasks at the beginning and end of one academic semester, were analysed in terms of three acoustic dimensions of English /ɹ/: third formant (F3), second formant (F2) and duration. Whereas the participants showed gains in the relatively easy aspect of the English /ɹ/ acquisition (F2 reduction for tongue retraction) as a function of increased L2 input, their explicit awareness of accurate English /ɹ/ pronunciation played a significant role in the acquisition of the relatively difficult dimension (lengthening phonemic duration). The awareness-acquisition link was not found, however, for the most difficult dimension (F3 reduction for labial, alveolar and pharyngeal constrictors) at least within the timeframe of the project.

Percepção fônica de línguas não nativas no arcabouço da cognição e do realismo indireto

O presente artigo problematiza a percepção de sons linguísticos não nativos segundo os preceitos de um dos mais influentes modelos de percepção difundidos na literatura em aquisição de segunda língua, o Perceptual Assimilation Model for Second Language Speech Learning (PAM-L2), desenvolvido por Catherine Best e Michael Tyler em 2007. Especificamente, vislumbra-se uma discussão sobre os aspectos cognitivos e filosóficos que envolvem a percepção de elementos fônicos não nativos segundo o referido modelo, em que se questiona o quão direto pode ser o evento perceptual a propósito da linguagem e de seu sistema de sons. Como alternativa ao referencial teórico original do PAM-L2, propõe-se uma nova caracterização dos aspectos cognitivos e filosóficos do modelo, a qual sugere que o evento perceptual seja amplamente licenciado por recursos cognitivos, alicerçados sobre as contribuições das neurociências e da psicologia cognitiva, e empreendido segundo as concepções filosóficas do realismo indireto.

外国語音声学習と年齢 : 年齢なんて関係ない!?( 外国語をはなそう!)

外国語音声学習と年齢 : 年齢なんて関係ない!?( 外国語をはなそう!)

A Longitudinal Investigation of the Relationship between Motivation and Late Second Language Speech Learning in Classroom Settings.

The current study set out to examine the role of learner motivation in second language (L2) speech learning in English-as-a-Foreign-Language classrooms. The motivational orientations of 40 first-year university Japanese students were surveyed via a tailored questionnaire and linked to their spontaneous speech development, elicited via a timed picture description task at the onset and end of one academic semester, in terms of perceived comprehensibility (i.e., ease of understanding) and accentedness (i.e., linguistic nativelikeness). Significant improvement in comprehensibility (but not accentedness) was found among certain individuals. These students likely showed a strong motivation to study English for their future career development as a vague and long-term goal, as well as a high degree of concern for improving comprehensibility, grammatical accuracy and complexity.

Video‐Based Interaction, Negotiation for Comprehensibility, and Second Language Speech Learning: A Longitudinal Study

AbstractThis study examined the impact of video‐based conversational interaction on the longitudinal development (one academic semester) of second language production by college‐level Japanese English‐as‐a‐foreign‐language learners. Students in the experimental group engaged in weekly dyadic conversation exchanges with native speakers in the United States via telecommunication tools. The native speaker interlocutors were trained to provide interactional feedback (recasts) when the nonnative speakers’ utterances hindered successful understanding (i.e., negotiation for comprehensibility). The students in the comparison group received regular foreign language instruction without any interaction with native speakers. The coded video data showed that the experimental students worked on improving all linguistic domains of language, likely in response to their native speaker interlocutors’ interactional feedback (recasts, negotiation) during the treatment. The pretest–posttest data of the students’ spontaneous production showed that they made significant gains in the dimensions of comprehensibility, fluency, and lexicogrammar but not in those of accentedness and pronunciation.Open PracticesThis article has been awarded an Open Materials badge. All materials are publicly accessible in the IRIS digital repository at http://www.iris‐database.org. Learn more about the Open Practices badges from the Center for Open Science: https://osf.io/tvyxz/wiki.

A Multidimensional Scaling Study of Native and Non-Native Listeners' Perception of Second Language Speech.

Second language speech learning is predicated on learners' ability to notice differences between their own language output and that of their interlocutors. Because many learners interact primarily with other second language users, it is crucial to understand which dimensions underlie the perception of second language speech by learners, compared to native speakers. For this study, 15 non-native and 10 native English speakers rated 30-s language audio-recordings from controlled reading and interview tasks for dissimilarity, using all pairwise combinations of recordings. PROXSCAL multidimensional scaling analyses revealed fluency and aspects of speakers' pronunciation as components underlying listener judgments but showed little agreement across listeners. Results contribute to an understanding of why second language speech learning is difficult and provide implications for language training.