Phonological Sensitivity Research Articles

Perception of English semivowels by Japanese-speaking learners of English

Abstract This study compared the perception of English semivowels /j/ and /w/ and their corresponding vowels /i/ and /u/ by two groups of Japanese-speaking learners of English: foreign language (FL) learners in Japan and second language learners who were initially FL learners (FL-L2). The phonological targets were /i/ and /u/ with and without preceding /j/ and /w/, respectively (/ji/-/i/ and /wu/-/u/). Discrimination and identification results showed that both groups performed comparably for /i/ with and without /j/, indicating their reliance on native phonological sensitivity to /i/ and /j/, which closely resemble Japanese /i/ and /j/. However, important differences emerged for /u/ with and without /w/, possibly due to articulatory differences in lip rounding for /u/ and /w/ between the two languages. Notably, while FL-L2 learners were equally competent in both the /u/-/wu/ and the /i/-/ji/ discriminations, FL learners were much less capable of the /u/-/wu/ discrimination than of the /i/-/ji/ discrimination. Moreover, FL-L2 learners were better at identifying /u/ than their FL peers, suggesting that L2 exposure may have facilitated their acquisition of the articulatory details associated with /u/. Overall, the study showed that engaging in L2 immersion following FL learning is beneficial for non-native phonological development among adult learners.

How Hearing Loss and Cochlear Implantation Affect Verbal Working Memory: Evidence From Adolescents.

Verbal working memory is poorer for children with hearing loss than for peers with normal hearing (NH), even with cochlear implantation and early intervention. Poor verbal working memory can affect academic performance, especially in higher grades, making this deficit a significant problem. This study examined the stability of verbal working memory across middle childhood, tested working memory in adolescents with NH or cochlear implants (CIs), explored whether signal enhancement can improve verbal working memory, and tested two hypotheses proposed to explain the poor verbal working memory of children with hearing loss: (a) Diminished auditory experience directly affects executive functions, including working memory; (b) degraded auditory inputs inhibit children's abilities to recover the phonological structure needed for encoding verbal material into storage. Fourteen-year-olds served as subjects: 55 with NH; 52 with CIs. Immediate serial recall tasks were used to assess working memory. Stimuli consisted of nonverbal, spatial stimuli and four kinds of verbal, acoustic stimuli: nonrhyming and rhyming words, and nonrhyming words with two kinds of signal enhancement: audiovisual and indexical. Analyses examined (a) stability of verbal working memory across middle childhood, (b) differences in verbal and nonverbal working memory, (c) effects of signal enhancement on recall, (d) phonological processing abilities, and (e) source of the diminished verbal working memory in adolescents with cochlear implants. Verbal working memory remained stable across middle childhood. Adolescents across groups performed similarly for nonverbal stimuli, but those with CIs displayed poorer recall accuracy for verbal stimuli; signal enhancement did not improve recall. Poor phonological sensitivity largely accounted for the group effect. The central executive for working memory is not affected by hearing loss or cochlear implantation. Instead, the phonological deficit faced by adolescents with CIs denigrates the representation in storage and augmenting the signal does not help.

The cognitive-linguistic profiles and academic performances of Chinese children with dyslexia across cultures: Beijing, Hong Kong, and Taipei.

This study examined the cognitive-linguistic and literacy-related correlates of dyslexia in three Chinese cities and the English word reading and mathematics performances of Chinese children with dyslexia. Chinese children with/without dyslexia were measured with an equivalent test battery of literacy and mathematics in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Taipei. Univariate analysis results suggested that phonological sensitivity distinguished those with and without dyslexia across all three cities in group comparisons. In Taipei and Hong Kong, morphological awareness, delayed copying, and spelling also distinguished the groups. Logistic regression analyses demonstrated that Chinese character reading, as directly compared to Chinese word reading, also distinguished the groups particularly well. In addition, in Beijing and Hong Kong, children with dyslexia performed significantly less well in English word reading than those without dyslexia. In Hong Kong and Taipei, children with dyslexia also had difficulties in mathematics performance. Findings highlight the fundamental importance of some cognitive-linguistic skills for explaining Chinese dyslexia across cultures, the utility of recognizing the individual Chinese character as a foundational unit of analysis in Chinese across cultures, and the generalizability of the comorbidity of both English as a second language (L2) and mathematics with dyslexia in Chinese children in both Beijing and Hong Kong.

Asynchronies in Auditory and Language Development Obscure Connections to Phonological Deficits in Children

Purpose: For half a century, psycholinguists have been exploring the idea that developmental language disorders may have their roots in suprathreshold auditory dysfunctions, but results are inconclusive. Typical studies focus on relationships between temporal processing abilities and measures of various language skills at the time of testing, a proximal account. This study expanded that focus by testing three novel hypotheses: (a) Spectral processing impairments may be more responsible for language-learning deficits than temporal processing impairments. (b) Phonological sensitivity is likely the specific language skill most strongly affected by auditory (dys)functions. (c) Poor auditory functioning observed at young ages may wholly or partly recover, reducing the magnitude of relationship between those recovered functions and persistent language skills at older ages. Method: Sixty-six children (31 boys, 35 girls) 7–10 years of age participated: 36 with typical language and 30 with reading or speech disorder; from this sample two subsamples were designated: younger (7–8 years) and older (9–10 years) children. Four auditory measures were obtained of spectral modulation detection (0.5 and 2.0 cycles per octave) and temporal modulation detection (16 and 64 Hz). Four language measures were obtained, two lexicosyntactic and two phonological. Results: Younger children showed deficits in all auditory skills, but most strongly for spectral modulation detection at 0.5 cycles per octave; that measure was the only one for which older children showed deficits. Spectral modulation detection was the auditory function most strongly correlated with a language skill, and that language skill was phonological sensitivity. Conclusions: Early impairments in suprathreshold auditory functions, especially spectral processing, interfere with language acquisition at early stages, especially phonological sensitivity. Although auditory functions can recover to some extent, impairments in language skills persist, indicating that a distal account may more appropriately explain the relationship. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.24730128

Early otitis media puts children at risk for later auditory and language deficits

BackgroundOtitis media is a common disorder of early childhood suspected of hindering auditory and language development, but evidence regarding these effects has been contradictory. To examine potential sources of these contradictory past results and explore in more detail the effects of early otitis media on auditory and language development, three specific hypotheses were tested: (1) Variability in children's general attention could influence results, especially for measures of auditory functioning, leading to spurious findings of group differences; (2) Different language skills may be differentially affected, evoking different effects across studies depending on skills assessed; and (3) Different mechanisms might account for the effects of otitis media on acquisition of different language skills, a finding that would affect treatment choices. MethodChildren 5–10 years old participated: 49 with and 68 without significant histories of otitis media. The auditory function examined was temporal modulation detection, using games designed to maintain children's attention; two additional measures assessed that attention. Measures of lexical knowledge and phonological sensitivity served as the language measures. ResultsSustained attention was demonstrated equally across groups of children with and without histories of otitis media. Children with histories of otitis media performed more poorly than peers without those histories on the auditory measure and on both sets of language measures, but effects were stronger for phonological sensitivity than lexical knowledge. Deficits in temporal modulation detection accounted for variability in phonological sensitivity, but not in lexical knowledge. ConclusionWhen experimental factors are tightly controlled, evidence emerges showing effects of otitis media early in life on both auditory and language development. Mechanism of effects on language acquisition appear to involve both delayed auditory development and diminished access to the ambient language.

Event related potentials to native speech contrasts predicts word reading abilities in early school-aged children

Speech perception skills have been implicated in the development of phoneme-graphene correspondence, yet the exact nature of speech perception and word reading ability remains unknown. We investigate phonological sensitivity to native (English) and nonnative (Spanish) speech syllables within an auditory oddball paradigm using event related potentials (ERPs) collected from lateral temporal electrode sites in 33 monolingual English-speaking children aged 6–8 years (N = 33). We further explore the relationship between ERPs to English word reading abilities for this group. Results revealed that language stimuli (English, Spanish), ERP condition (standard, deviant), and hemisphere (left, right) all influenced the lateral N1 component. ERPs recorded from deviant English stimuli were significantly more negative within the left hemisphere compared to all other recorded ERPs. Mean amplitude differences within the N1 in left lateral electrode sites recorded in response to English phoneme contrasts significantly predicted English word reading abilities within this sample. Results indicate that speech perception of native contrasts recorded in left temporal electrode sites for the N1 component are linked to English word reading abilities in early school-aged children.

ERP Indicators of Phonological Awareness Development in Children: A Systematic Review.

Phonological awareness is the ability to correctly recognize and manipulate phonological structures. The role of phonological awareness in reading development has become evident in behavioral research showing that it is inherently tied to measures of phonological processing and reading ability. This has also been shown with ERP research that examined how phonological processing training can benefit reading skills. However, there have not been many attempts to systematically review how phonological awareness itself is developed neurocognitively. In the present review, we screened 224 papers and systematically reviewed 40 papers that have explored phonological awareness and phonological processing using ERP methodology with both typically developing and children with reading problems. This review highlights ERP components that can be used as neurocognitive predictors of early developmental dyslexia and reading disorders in young children. Additionally, we have presented how phonological processing is developed neurocognitively throughout childhood, as well as which phonological tasks can be used to predict the development of phonological awareness prior to developing reading skills. Neurocognitive measures of early phonological processing can serve as supplemental diagnostic sources to behavioral measures of reading abilities because they show different aspects of phonological sensitivity when compared to behavioral measures.

Invented spelling in English and pinyin in multilingual L1 and L2 Cantonese Chinese speaking children in Hong Kong.

This research examined the relations among Cantonese phonological awareness, invented spelling in Pinyin (in Mandarin), and invented English spelling in 29 first language (L1) and 34 s language (L2) Cantonese-speaking second and third graders in Hong Kong. The purpose of this study was to understand how phonological awareness skills across languages are associated in multilinguals. We compared the phonological skills in the two groups (i.e., L1 and L2 Chinese speaking children) for the three official languages (i.e., Cantonese, Mandarin, and English) spoken in Hong Kong. The two groups did not differ on Cantonese phonological awareness, Mandarin Pinyin invented spelling, or English invented spelling, but the L1 group performed significantly better than the L2 group on Mandarin Pinyin tone skills, with non-verbal intelligence and grade level statistically controlled. In both groups, all three of the phonological sensitivity measures were significantly correlated with one another. With group, grade, and nonverbal IQ statistically controlled, only Mandarin Pinyin invented spelling but not Cantonese phonological awareness uniquely explained English invented spelling performance. In contrast, Pinyin invented spelling was uniquely explained by both English invented spelling and Cantonese phonological awareness skills. Results highlight some phonological transfer effects across languages.

Sensitivity to orthographic vs. phonological constraints on word recognition: An ERP study with deaf and hearing readers

The role of phonology in word recognition has previously been investigated using a masked lexical decision task and transposed letter (TL) nonwords that were either pronounceable (barve) or unpronounceable (brvae). We used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate these effects in skilled deaf readers, who may be more sensitive to orthotactic than phonotactic constraints, which are conflated in English. Twenty deaf and twenty hearing adults completed a masked lexical decision task while ERPs were recorded. The groups were matched in reading skill and IQ, but deaf readers had poorer phonological ability. Deaf readers were faster and more accurate at rejecting TL nonwords than hearing readers. Neither group exhibited an effect of nonword pronounceability in RTs or accuracy. For both groups, the N250 and N400 components were modulated by lexicality (more negative for nonwords). The N250 was not modulated by nonword pronounceability, but pronounceable nonwords elicited a larger amplitude N400 than unpronounceable nonwords. Because pronounceable nonwords are more word-like, they may incite activation that is unresolved when no lexical entry is found, leading to a larger N400 amplitude. Similar N400 pronounceability effects for deaf and hearing readers, despite differences in phonological sensitivity, suggest these TL effects arise from sensitivity to lexical-level orthotactic constraints. Deaf readers may have an advantage in processing TL nonwords because of enhanced early visual attention and/or tight orthographic-to-semantic connections, bypassing the phonologically mediated route to word recognition.

Assessing bottom-up and top-down effects on speech-in-noise recognition by adolescents with normal hearing or cochlear implants

The terms “bottom-up” and “top-down” effects are commonly used when measuring speech recognition in competing sounds to refer to listeners’ abilities to exploit details of the sensory input and to use linguistic constraints, respectively. The magnitude of each effect has been assessed for listeners with cochlear implants, but typically in separate studies. We varied the availability of bottom-up and top-down information in a single experiment by generating sentences with three kinds of clause structure, from less to more restrictive, in three different babbled backgrounds, with sex and number of talkers varied. Next we examined the factors that might explain abilities to use bottom-up and top-down information in speech-in-noise recognition. Predictor variables included spectral modulation detection abilities, lexical-syntactic knowledge, verbal working memory, and phonological sensitivity. Participants were 14-year-olds with normal hearing (NH; 46) or with cochlear implants (CIs; 46). Adolescents with cochlear implants showed deficits in their abilities both to segregate the target speech from background babble and to benefit from restrictive syntactic constructions. For adolescents with NH, only verbal working memory explained variability in abilities to use bottom-up or top-down information in speech-in-noise recognition. For adolescents with CIs, only spectral modulation detection abilities explained their abilities to apply these effects.

Auditory phoneme discrimination, articulation, and language disorders in patients with genetic epilepsy with febrile seizures plus: A case-control study

IntroductionGenetic epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+) is an epilepsy syndrome with clinical heterogeneity that was first described in 1997. Central auditory processing (CAP) is defined as the neurophysiological process in decoding sound waves from the outer ear to the auditory cortex. The present study aimed to analyze CAP and phonological disorders in preschool-age children with GEFS+. Material and MethodThis is a prospective case-control study. Twenty-seven patients diagnosed with GEFS+ aged between 4 years and 6 years and 6 months and 31 healthy controls in the same age range were included in the study. Phonological sensitivity test (SAT) and auditory discrimination test (İAT) were applied to both groups, and the results of both groups were statistically compared. ResultsThe SAT and İAT raw and Z scores of the subjects in the study group were found to be significantly higher than those of the control group (p = 0.001; p < 0.01). Electroencephalography (EEG) status of the patients or the duration of antiseizure medication use did not have a statistically significant effect on the outcome. ConclusionPatients with GEFS+ have a significantly high impairment in both articulation and auditory discrimination of phonemes compared with the healthy population. Early diagnosis and early treatment of this condition can prevent potential literacy problems and the development of dyslexia in the future.

MIPA: A theory of phonological acquisition and speech motor control

Despite long-standing interest in the relation of early speech production and phonological development, little is known about how speech motor skills develop in tandem with emerging phonological representations in childhood. Recent experimental work in our laboratory has shown that better speech motor control at young ages is associated with better outcomes at later ages in phonological sensitivity. In this talk we will advance a new, theoretical model to account for these findings. It is termed MIPA (Motor Involvement in Phonological Acquisition) and proposes that highly developed sensorimotor maps for speech support the acquisition of detailed phonological representations. We will begin by providing an overview of the model, its core predictions, and compare it to existing frameworks. We will then describe experimental studies designed to explore the conceptual merits of the model by testing children longitudinally on a set of measures assessing the coordination of vocal-tract gestures, phonological sensitivity, and the relationship between those two skills. Application of the model to the study and treatment of children with developmental disabilities that affect speech production, such as stuttering, as well as language-related disorders arising from poor sensitivity to phonological structure, such as dyslexia, will also be briefly described.

The contribution of spectral processing to the acquisition of phonological sensitivity by adolescent cochlear implant users and normal-hearing controls.

This study tested the hypotheses that (1) adolescents with cochlear implants (CIs) experience impaired spectral processing abilities, and (2) those impaired spectral processing abilities constrain acquisition of skills based on sensitivity to phonological structure but not those based on lexical or syntactic (lexicosyntactic) knowledge. To test these hypotheses, spectral modulation detection (SMD) thresholds were measured for 14-year-olds with normal hearing (NH) or CIs. Three measures each of phonological and lexicosyntactic skills were obtained and used to generate latent scores of each kind of skill. Relationships between SMD thresholds and both latent scores were assessed. Mean SMD threshold was poorer for adolescents with CIs than for adolescents with NH. Both latent lexicosyntactic and phonological scores were poorer for the adolescents with CIs, but the latent phonological score was disproportionately so. SMD thresholds were significantly associated with phonological but not lexicosyntactic skill for both groups. The only audiologic factor that also correlated with phonological latent scores for adolescents with CIs was the aided threshold, but it did not explain the observed relationship between SMD thresholds and phonological latent scores. Continued research is required to find ways of enhancing spectral processing for children with CIs to support their acquisition of phonological sensitivity.

Characterizing the knowledge of educators across the tiers of instructional support.

Translating the research base on effective reading instruction to the classroom has been a challenge. The delivery of these instructional methods requires practical skills coupled with an understanding of the aspects of language being taught. The purpose of this study was to explore the level of literacy knowledge of the English language held by educators who provide instruction to students in the primary grades. Data from 1369 classroom teachers, 74 reading interventionists, and 131 special educators comprising the analytic sample were collected as part of a training initiative in a US state. Participating educators completed a 50-item test of phonological sensitivity, phonemic awareness, decoding, encoding, and morphology. Multiple regression analyses confirmed differences in the levels of knowledge observed between the groups of educators. Reading interventionists demonstrated greater knowledge than classroom teachers and special educators in the total proportion of correct responses and across each domain. Classroom teachers demonstrated greater knowledge than special educators in phonological sensitivity and decoding but did not differ from each other in phonemic awareness, encoding, or morphology knowledge. Special educators provide intervention to students with the most severe forms of reading disabilities, yet they had the lowest level of knowledge. In contrast, reading interventionists, who provide intervention within general education, had the highest levels of knowledge. These findings suggest a need to elevate the knowledge of special educators and consider reading interventionists' role in supporting students identified with a specific learning disability in reading.

Reading and Writing Words: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective

ABSTRACT We review cognitive-linguistic approaches to conveying meaning, sound, and orthographic information across scripts in order to highlight the impact of variability in written and spoken language on learning to read and to write words. With examples of word recognition and word writing from different scripts, including Chinese, Arabic, Persian, and English among others, we highlight 1) characteristics and boundaries of a word and how these sometimes present challenges for reading and spelling, 2) phonological sensitivity, including phonological omissions in print, suprasegmental processing, and “distance” between spoken and written forms, vis-à-vis literacy acquisition at the word level, 3) the importance of specific types of divergent visual-orthographic knowledge for the mastery of different writing systems, and 4) expanding understanding of visual-motor skills and their role in spelling across scripts. All of these aspects of variability in different writing systems should be more broadly integrated as theoretical models and intervention methods of reading or writing are tested across different writing systems.

Teacher Preparedness to Utilize Emergent Literacy for Teaching Initial Literacy in Selected Schools of Mansa District

Effective teaching of initial literacy in Grade 1 demands more of the teacher’s attention to&#x0D; pupils’ emergent literacy skills and consideration of how they learn. The emergent literacy&#x0D; skills children acquire lay a firm foundation for their learning to read and write in the&#x0D; conventional sense. Some of the skills that children develop under emergent literacy&#x0D; include phonological awareness and phonological sensitivity, which give children the&#x0D; ability to hear, recognize, manipulate and distinguish the sounds of the language they have&#x0D; acquired. These are key language skills which teachers will need to utilize in their teaching&#x0D; of reading and writing skills to Grade 1 learners in the classroom.&#x0D; A study was carried out whose purpose was to investigate whether primary school teachers&#x0D; in Mansa District utilized emergent literacy skills in their teaching of conventional reading&#x0D; and writing skills to the learners in Grade 1 considering the fact that emergent literacy lays&#x0D; a firm and solid foundation for continuous development of the literacy skills. The study&#x0D; was a descriptive survey and qualitative in nature since it required the researcher to&#x0D; describe the state of affairs as found and observed in their natural setting in the research&#x0D; sites. The qualitative methods of data collection and analysis were used. The sample for&#x0D; this study comprised 62 Grade 1 teachers and 3,594 Grade 1 primary school pupils. Only&#x0D; those schools teaching initial literacy in the local familiar language using the Breakthrough&#x0D; to Literacy (BTL) methodology were targeted for this research.&#x0D; The findings indicated that: (1) Teachers lacked knowledge about emergent literacy and&#x0D; did not know how useful it was for continuous literacy development among the children.&#x0D; (2) Most of the teachers ignored pupils’ prior literacy knowledge and considered their&#x0D; learners as complete illiterates who knew nothing about literacy skills. (3) Teachers never&#x0D; designed extra teaching and learning materials for teaching literacy. Rather, they relied on&#x0D; the New Breakthrough to Literacy (NBTL) kit materials. (4) The class sizes were large and&#x0D; meaningful scaffolding was lacking in most of the classes.&#x0D; This study concluded that the Ministry of Education in Zambia should consider emergent&#x0D; literacy as the foundation for conventional literacy development in Grade 1. One&#x0D; recommendation was that teachers should be equipped with knowledge of emergent&#x0D; literacy through deliberate training. They need to understand and appreciate emergent&#x0D; literacy as an essential body of knowledge to be utilized for successful conventional&#x0D; literacy development among Grade 1 learners.

A surgeon-scientist's perspective and review of cognitive-linguistic contributions to adult cochlear implant outcomes.

Objective(s)Enormous variability in speech recognition outcomes persists in adults who receive cochlear implants (CIs), which leads to a barrier to progress in predicting outcomes before surgery, explaining “poor” outcomes, and determining how to provide tailored rehabilitation therapy for individual CI users. The primary goal of my research program over the past 9 years has been to extend our understanding of the contributions of “top‐down” cognitive‐linguistic skills to CI outcomes in adults, acknowledging that “bottom‐up” sensory processes also contribute substantially. The main objective of this invited narrative review is to provide an overview of this work. A secondary objective is to provide career “guidance points” to budding surgeon‐scientists in Otolaryngology.MethodsA narrative, chronological review covers work done by our group to explore top‐down and bottom‐up processing in adult CI outcomes. A set of ten guidance points is also provided to assist junior Otolaryngology surgeon‐scientists.ResultsWork in our lab has identified substantial contributions of cognitive skills (working memory, inhibition‐concentration, speed of lexical access, nonverbal reasoning, verbal learning and memory) as well as linguistic abilities (acoustic cue‐weighting, phonological sensitivity) to speech recognition outcomes in adults with CIs. These top‐down skills interact with the quality of the bottom‐up input.ConclusionAlthough progress has been made in understanding speech recognition variability in adult CI users, future work is needed to predict CI outcomes before surgery, to identify particular patients' strengths and weaknesses, and to tailor rehabilitation approaches for individual CI users.Level of Evidence4

The Duality of Patterning in Language and its Relationship to Reading in Children with Hearing Loss.

Duality of Patterning has long been recognized as a unique design feature of human language, and refers to the distinct bi-level structure in which words comprise one level (semantic) and word-internal, phonetic elements comprise the other level (phonological). This report describes this design feature and offers a perspective on why and how it should help shape reading interventions for children with hearing loss. Three components comprise this report. Section I offers an overview of Duality of Patterning. Section II reviews results from a longitudinal study illustrating how children with and without hearing loss acquire each level of linguistic structure, and how each level contributes to reading acquisition for each group differently. Section III of this report provides suggestions for how to incorporate this information into interventions for children with hearing loss. Outcomes presented illustrate that semantic structure begins to take form first, with phonological structure following. Semantic structure is related to reading comprehension, and phonological structure is related to word recognition, at least for alphabetic orthographies. Children with hearing loss acquire a less differentiated linguistic system, with structure at the phonological level only partly, or coarsely acquired, and with a lack of clear distinction from the semantic level of structure. Consequently the roles of each level of structure in reading acquisition are less clearly defined for children with hearing loss. For children with normal hearing, learning to read is compartmentalized: Emerging sensitivity to phonological structure supports development of word recognition, and semantic-level skills support reading comprehension. Hearing loss diminishes language skills overall, but especially phonological sensitivity. Children with hearing loss, especially those with cochlear implants, must rely on all language skills to learn to read, including both word recognition and reading comprehension, which creates a highly inefficient processing strategy.

THE EFFECTS OF L1–L2 PHONOLOGICAL MAPPINGS ON L2 PHONOLOGICAL SENSITIVITY

AbstractThis study examines the effects of asymmetrical mappings of L2 sounds to L1 sounds on real-time processing of L2 phonology. L1-Korean participants completed a self-paced listening (SPL) task paired with a picture verification (PV) task, in which an English sentence was presented word by word along with a picture that matched or mismatched the sentence. In the critical region, an L2 vowel was deliberately replaced with the wrong vowel for two types of English vowel pairs: Type 1: English vowel pairs showing a one-to-one mapping to Korean counterparts (e.g., English: /i/ and /æ/ to Korean /i/ and /æ/, respectively); and Type 2: English vowel pairs showing a two-to-one mapping to a Korean counterpart (e.g., English /i/ and /ɪ/ to Korean /i/). We analyzed response times (RTs) and PV accuracy. Longer RTs were observed for Type 1 errors than Type 2 errors, indicating lower sensitivity to L2 vowels with two-to-one mapping to an L1 vowel. Also, PV accuracy was lower for the sentences containing Type 2 errors. These results suggest that asymmetrical L2-L1 sound mapping can affect learners’ processing of L2 phonological knowledge, which in turn can negatively affect their comprehension.

Phonological Sensitivity of Bilingual and Multilingual (Primary) School Students

Summary This literature overview presents findings stemming from eleven contemporary studies dealing with various aspects of phonological sensitivity in bilingual and multilingual individuals within the context of formal education. The selected studies were published in English, during the past decade, but they include several languages in various combinations. The main objective of this review is to inquire about the nature of phonological sensitivity in bilingual and multilingual individuals while they are developing their early literacy or expanding their literacy to new languages. To achieve that, findings from the selected studies were categorized according to the targeted aspects of phonological sensitivity, i.e. phonological units. The most common research designs, instruments and self-reported limitations were listed to provide a better understanding of the circumstances in which research was conducted. Phonological sensitivity of young bilinguals and multilinguals who are developing their literacy skills appears to be complex, but no distinctive advantages or disadvantages were reported in comparison to monolinguals. However, multiple varying characteristics of research participants frequently interfere with the research design, mainly because of group heterogeneity and small sample size unsuitable for generalization. For a better understanding of the topic, further research is needed, especially in the area of multilingualism.