No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
The roles of task, segment type, and attention in L2 perceptual training
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 February 2022
Abstract
Previous studies show that attention plays an important role in second language (L2) phonetic attainment. This study compares the effect of two high variability phonetic training methods (identification (ID) and categorical AX discrimination (DIS)) on specifically targeted sounds and on implicitly exposed but untargeted sounds. Four groups of Spanish/Catalan bilingual learners of English were trained on either a subset of English vowels (/iː ɪ æ ʌ ɜː/) or word-initial and word-final stops. The study also examined if the potential effect of training generalized to new stimuli and persisted two months after training. Results revealed that trainees significantly outperformed the controls in their identification of targeted sounds, and improvement generalized to new stimuli and was maintained after training, showing the efficacy of both training methodologies. However, while all trainees performed similarly with initial stops, ID trainees outperformed DIS trainees in vowel perception. Interestingly, only DIS trainees showed a significant improvement in the perception of untargeted sounds, indicating that this training method (possibly due to the absence of labels and the exposure to two physically present stimuli in each trial) may be more suited to enhance learners’ perception of both targeted and untargeted sounds.
- Type
- Original Article
- Information
- Copyright
- © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press
References
Aliaga-García, C., & Mora, J. C. (2009). Assessing the effects of phonetic training on L2 sound perception and production. In Watkins, M. A., Rauber, A. S., & Baptista, B. O. (Eds.), Recent research in second language phonetics/phonology: Perception and production (pp. 2–31). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Alves, U. K., & Luchini, P. L. (2017). Effects of perceptual training on the identification and production of word-initial voiceless stops by Argentinean learners of English. Ilha do Desterro 70(3), 15–32. https://10.5007/2175-8026.2017v70n3p15
10.5007/2175-8026.2017v70n3p15CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Best, C., & Tyler, M. (2007). Nonnative and second-language speech perception: Commonalities and complementarities. In Bohn, O.-S., & Munro, M. (Eds.), Language Experience in Second Language Speech Learning – In honor of James Emil Flege (pp. 13–34). John Benjamins Publishing Company.10.1075/lllt.17.07besCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bohn, O-S. (2002). On phonetic similarity. In Burmeister, P., Piske, T., & Rohde, A. (Eds.), An integrated view of language development: Papers in honor of Henning Wode (pp. 191–216). Wissenschaftlicher Verlag.Google Scholar
Bradlow, A. R. (2008). Training non-native language sound patterns: Lessons from training Japanese adults on the English /r/ - /l/ contrast. In Hansen Edwards, J. G., & Zampini, M. L. (Eds.), Phonology and Second Language Acquisition (pp. 287–308). John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.36.14bra
CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradlow, A. R., Akahane-Yamada, R., Pisoni, D. B., & Tohkura, Y. (1999). Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/and /l/: Long-term retention of learning in perception and production. Perception & Psychophysics, 61(5), 977–985. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03206911
CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broadbent, D. E. (1958). Effects of noise on behaviour. In Harris, C. M. (Ed.), Handbook of Noise Control (pp. 10–34). McGraw-Hi.Google Scholar
Burnham, D. K. (1986). Developmental loss of speech perception: Exposure to and experience with a first language. Applied Psycholinguistics, 7(03), 207. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0142716400007542
CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlet, A. (2017). L2 perception and production of English consonants and vowels by Catalan speakers: The effects of attention and training task in a cross-training study. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.Google Scholar
Carreiras, M., & Price, C. J. (2008). Brain activation for consonants and vowels. Cerebral Cortex, 18(7), 1727–1735. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhm202
CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cebrian, J. (2006). Experience and the use of non-native duration in L2 vowel categorization. Journal of Phonetics, 34(3), 372–387. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2005.08.003
CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cebrian, J. (2019) Perceptual assimilation of British English vowels to Spanish monophthongs and diphthongs. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 145(1), EL52–EL58. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.5087645.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cebrian, J. (2021). Perception of English and Catalan vowels by English and Catalan listeners: A study of reciprocal cross-linguistic similarity. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 149(4), 2671–2685. https://doi.org//10.1121/10.0004257.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cebrian, J., & Carlet, A. (2014). Second-language learners’ identification of target-language phonemes: A short-term phonetic training study. Canadian Modern Language Review, 70(4), 474–499. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.2318
CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cebrian, J., Gorba, C., & Gavaldà, N. (2021). When the easy becomes difficult: Factors affecting the acquisition of the English /iː/-/ɪ/ contrast. Frontiers in Communication, 6, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2021.660917.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Y., & Pederson, E. (2021). The role of orienting attention during perceptual training in learning non-native tones and consonants. In Wayland, R. (Ed.), Second language speech learning: theoretical and empirical progress (pp. 485–502): Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Collet, G., Colin, C., Serniclaes, W., Hoonhorst, I., Markessis, E., Deltenre, P., & Leybaert, J. (2013). Changes in voicing perception by adult French speakers after identification training. Applied Psycholinguistics, 36(02), 463–483. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0142716413000313
CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooke, M., García-Lecumberri, M.L., Maidment, J., & Ericsson, A. (2005). The web transcription tool. Retrieved February 18, 2017, from http://www.wtt.org.uk/.Google Scholar
Darcy, I., Ewert, D., & Lidster, R. (2012). Bringing pronunciation instruction back into the classroom: An ESL teachers’ pronunciation “toolbox”. In Levis, J., & Lavelle, K. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 3rd Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference, Sept. 2011 (pp. 93–108). Iowa State University.Google Scholar
Flege, J. (1995a). Second language speech learning: Theory, findings and problems. In Strange, W. (Ed.), Speech Perception and Linguistic Experience: Issues in Cross Language Research (pp. 233–277). York Press.Google Scholar
Flege, J. (1995b). Two procedures for training a novel second language phonetic contrast. Applied Psycholinguistics, 16, 425–442. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716400066029
CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flege, J. E. (1989). Chinese subjects’ perception of the word-final English /t/–/d/ contrast: Performance before and after training. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 86(5), 1684–1697.10.1121/1.398599CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flege, J. E., & Bohn, O. S. (2021). The Revised Speech Learning Model (SLM-r). In Wayland, R. (Ed.), Second language speech learning: theoretical and empirical progress (pp. 3–83). Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fouz-González, J., & Mompean, J.A. (2020). Exploring the potential of phonetic symbols and keywords as labels for perceptual training. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 1–32. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263120000455
Google Scholar
Fry, D. B., Abramson, A. S., Eimas, P. D., & Liberman, A. M. (1962). The identification and discrimination of synthetic vowels. Language and Speech, 5(4), 171–189. https://doi.org/10.1177/002383096200500401
CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fullana, N., & Mora, J. C. (2009) Production and perception of voicing contrasts in English word-final obstruents: Assessing the effects of experience and starting age. In Watkins, M. A., Rauber, A. S., & Baptista, B. O. (Eds.), Recent Research in Second Language Phonetics/Phonology: Perception and Production. (pp. 97–117). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Guion, S. G., & Pederson, E. (2007). Investigating the role of attention in phonetic learning. Language Experience in Second Language Speech Learning Language Learning & Language Teaching, 57–77. https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.17.09gui
Google Scholar
Iverson, P., & Evans, B. G. (2009). Learning English vowels with different first-language vowel systems II: Auditory training for native Spanish and German speakers. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 126(2), 866–877. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.3148196
CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Iverson, P., Pinet, M., & Evans, B. G. (2012). Auditory training for experienced and inexperienced second-language learners: Native French speakers learning English vowels. Applied Psycholinguistics, 33(01), 145–160. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0142716411000300
CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jamieson, D. G., & Morosan, D. E. (1986). Training non-native speech contrasts in adults: Acquisition of the English /ð/-/θ/ contrast by francophones. Perception & Psychophysics, 40(4), 205–215. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03211500
CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kivistö-de Souza, H., & Carlet, A. (2014). Vowel inventory size and the use of temporal cues in non-native vowel perception by Catalan and Danish EFL learners. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech (Vol. 5, pp. 322–336). Concordia Working Papers in Applied Linguistics (COPAL).Google Scholar
Kuhl, P., & Iverson, P. (1995). Linguistic experience and the “Perceptual Magnet Effect”. In Strange, W. (Ed.), Speech Perception and Linguistic Experience: Issues in Cross Language Research (pp. 121–154). York Press.Google Scholar
Law, I. L. G., Grenon, I., Sheppard, C., & Archibald, J. (2019). Which is better: Identification or discrimination training for the acquisition of an English coda contrast. In S. Calhoun, P. Escudero, M. Tabain & P. Warren (Eds.), Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS), Melbourne, Australia 2019 (pp. 939–943). Australasian Speech Science and Technology Association Inc. 2019.Google Scholar
Lee, H. Y., & Hwang, H. (2016). Gradient of learnability in teaching English pronunciation to Korean learners. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 139(4), 1859–1872.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lerdpaisalwong, S. (2015). Perception training of Thai learners: American English consonants and vowels. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. The University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.Google Scholar
Liberman, A. M., Cooper, F. S., Shankweiler, D. P., & Studdert-Kennedy, M. (1967). Perception of the speech code. Psychological Review, 74(6), 431–461.10.1037/h0020279CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Logan, J. S., Lively, S. E., & Pisoni, D. B. (1991). Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/ and /l/: A first report. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 89(2), 874–886. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1894649
CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Logan, J., & Pruitt, J. (1995). Methodological issues in training listeners to perceive non-native phonemes. In Strange, W. (Ed.), Speech Perception and Linguistic Experience: Issues in Cross Language Research (pp. 351–378). Timonium, MD: York Press.Google Scholar
Long, M. (1991). Focus on Form. Studies in Bilingualism Foreign Language Research in Cross-Cultural Perspective, 39–52. https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.2.07lon
CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mora, J. C., & Mora-Plaza, I. (2019) Contributions of Cognitive Attention Control to L2 Speech Learning. In Nyvad, A. M., Hejná, M., Højen, A., Bothe Jespersen, A., & Hjortshøj Sørensen, M., (Eds.), A Sound Approach to Language Matters – In Honor of Ocke-Schwen Bohn (pp. 477–499). Dept. of English, School of Communication & Culture, Aarhus University.Google Scholar
Muñoz, C. (2008). Symmetries and asymmetries of age effects in naturalistic and instructed L2 learning. Applied Linguistics, 29(4), 578–596. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amm056
CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nishi, K., & Kewley-Port, D. (2007). Training Japanese listeners to perceive American English vowels: Influence of training sets. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 50(6), 1496–1509. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2007/103)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nozawa, T. (2015). Effects of training methods and attention on the identification and discrimination of American English coda nasals by native Japanese listeners. In the Scottish Consortium for ICPhS 2015 (Ed.), Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. The University of Glasgow. ISBN 978-0-85261-941-410.1121/1.4934161CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ortega, M., Mora-Plaza, I., & Mora, J. C. (2021). Differential effects of lexical and non-lexical high-variability phonetic training on the production of L2 vowels. In Kirkova-Naskova, A., Henderson, A., & Fouz-González, J. (Eds.), English pronunciation instruction: Research-based insights. John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Pederson, E., & Guion-Anderson, S. (2010). Orienting attention during phonetic training facilitates learning. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 127(2), EL54–EL59. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.3292286
CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pereira, Y. I. (2014). Perception and production of English vowels by Chilean learners of English: Effect of auditory and visual modalities on phonetic training [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University College London.Google Scholar
Pisoni, D. B. (1973). Auditory and phonetic memory codes in the discrimination of consonants and vowels. Perception & Psychophysics, 13(2), 253–260. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03214136
CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Polka, L. (1992). Characterizing the influence of native language experience on adult speech perception. Perception & Psychophysics, 52(1), 37–52. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03206758
CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Posner, M. I. (1980). Orienting of attention. Quarterly journal of experimental psychology, 32(1), 3–25. dhttps://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199791217.003.0003CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raphael, L. J. (1972). Preceding vowel duration as a cue to the perception of the voicing characteristic of word-final consonants in American English. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 51(4B), 1296–1303. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1912974
CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rauber, A., Rato, A., Kluge, D., & Santos, G. (2012). TP (Version 3.1).[Software]. Brazil: Worken. [http://www.worken.com.br/tp_regfree.php?l=i].Google Scholar
Recasens, D., & Mira, M. (2015). Place and manner assimilation in Catalan consonant clusters. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 45(02), 115–147. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0025100315000080
CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roach, P. (2000). Phonetics and phonology: A Practical course. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Saito, K. (2015). Variables affecting the effects of recasts on L2 pronunciation development. Language Teaching Research, 19(3), 276–300. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168814541753
CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sakai, M., & Moorman, C. (2017). Can perception training improve the production of second language phonemes? A meta-analytic review of twenty-five years of perception training research. Applied Psycholinguistics, 1–36.Google Scholar
Schmidt, R. (2001). “Attention”. In Robinson, P. (Ed.), Cognition and second language instruction (pp. 3–32). Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shinohara, Y. & Iverson, P. (2018). High variability identification and discrimination training for Japanese speakers learning English /r/–/l/. Journal of Phonetics 66, 242–251.10.1016/j.wocn.2017.11.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, M. S. (1993). Input enhancement in instructed SLA. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 15(02), 165–179. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263100011943
CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steinlen, A. K. (2005). The influence of consonants on native and non-native vowel production: A cross-linguistic study. Gunter Narr Verlag.Google Scholar
Strange, W. (2007). Cross-language phonetic similarity of vowels: Theoretical and methodological issues. In Bohn, O.-S., & Munro, M. (Eds.), Language Experience in Second Language Speech Learning – In honor of James Emil Flege (pp. 35–55). John Benjamins Publishing Company.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strange, W., & Dittmann, S. (1984). Effects of discrimination training on the perception of /r-l/ by Japanese adults learning English. Perception & Psychophysics, 36(2), 131–145. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03202673
CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomson, R. I. (2018). High variability [pronunciation] training (HVPT): A proven technique about which every language teacher and learner ought to know. Journal of Second Language Pronunciation, 4(2), 208–231.10.1075/jslp.17038.thoCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomson, R. I., & Derwing, T. M. (2016). Is phonemic training using nonsense or real words more effective? In Levis, J., Le, H.., Lucic, I., Simpson, E., & Vo, S. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 7th Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference (pp. 88–97). Ames, IA: Iowa State University.Google Scholar
Wang, X., & Munro, M. J. (2004). Computer-based training for learning English vowel contrasts. System, 32(4), 539–552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2004.09.011
CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wayland, R. P., & Li, B. (2008). Effects of two training procedures in cross-language perception of tones. Journal of Phonetics, 36(2), 250–267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2007.06.004
CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wee, D. T., Grenon, I., Sheppard, C., & Archibald, J. (2019). Identification and discrimination training yield comparable results for contrasting vowels. In Calhoun, S., Escudero, P., Tabain, M., & Warren, P., (Eds.), Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS), Melbourne, Australia 2019 (pp. 939–943). Australasian Speech Science and Technology Association Inc. 2019.Google Scholar