Perceptual Training of Second-Language Vowels: Does Musical Ability Play a Role?

Non-native phoneme perception can be challenging for adult learners. This article explores two routes to strengthening early representations of non-native targets: perceptual training, which focuses on auditory discrimination of novel contrasts, and articulatory training, which highlights the articulatory gestures of non-native categories. Of particular interest is whether cross-modal transfer from production to perception is beneficial to improving discrimination. A longitudinal experiment integrating both training types found that articulatory training did not improve discrimination once perceptual learning had taken place. However, a follow-up experiment found an equivalent benefit for perceptual and articulatory training when each was presented as the only learning style to separate groups of learners. These findings suggest that articulatory learning can ‘cross over’ to assist acquisition in the perceptual domain, and may play a key role for second language (L2) learners struggling with both perception and production of novel phoneme categories.

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Second-language spoken word identification: Effects of perceptual training, visual cues, and phonetic environment

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s0142716405050319 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 26 (4) ◽

pp. 579-596 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

DEBRA M. HARDISON

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Speech Processing ◽

Visual Cues ◽

Word Identification ◽

Spoken Word ◽

Perceptual Training ◽

Korean Learners ◽

Gating Paradigm ◽

Korean Learners Of English

Experiments using the gating paradigm investigated the effects of auditory–visual (AV) and auditory-only perceptual training on second-language spoken-word identification by Japanese and Korean learners of English. Stimuli were familiar bisyllabic words beginning with /p/, /f/, //, /l/, and /s, t, k/ combined with high, low, and rounded vowels. Results support the priming role of visual cues in AV speech processing. Identification was earlier with visual cues and following training, especially for words beginning with // and /l/, which also showed significant effects of adjacent vowel. For the Japanese, the AV advantage in identifying //- and /l/-initial words was accentuated following training. Findings are discussed within a multimodal episodic model of learning.

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Effects of perceptual training on second language vowel perception and production

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s0142716415000533 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 37 (5) ◽

pp. 1175-1199 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

SOLÈNE INCEOGLU

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Native Speakers ◽

American English ◽

Training Group ◽

Auditory Training ◽

Perceptual Training ◽

Vowel Perception ◽

Training Groups ◽

Nasal Vowels ◽

Facial Gestures

ABSTRACTThis study investigates whether audiovisual training leads to greater improvement in perception and production than auditory training. The participants (n= 60) were American English native speakers enrolled in intermediate French courses. They received audiovisual training, audio-only training, or no training, and were tested at pretest and posttest on their perception and production of French nasal vowels. The results suggest that both training groups improved significantly from the pretest to the posttest, but that the differences between the audiovisual and audio-only groups were not statistically significant. However, the production of the audiovisual training group improved significantly more than the production of the audio-only training group did, suggesting that seeing facial gestures leads to greater improvement in pronunciation.

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Phonological memory, attention control, and musical ability: Effects of individual differences on rater judgments of second language speech

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s0142716410000317 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 113-140 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

TALIA ISAACS ◽

PAVEL TROFIMOVICH

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Individual Differences ◽

Attention Control ◽

Music Majors ◽

Phonological Memory ◽

Musical Ability ◽

High Stakes ◽

Musical Aptitude ◽

Memory And Attention ◽

Nonmusic Majors

ABSTRACTThis study examines how listener judgments of second language speech relate to individual differences in listeners’ phonological memory, attention control, and musical ability. Sixty native English listeners (30 music majors, 30 nonmusic majors) rated 40 nonnative speech samples for accentedness, comprehensibility, and fluency. The listeners were also assessed for phonological memory (serial recognition), attention control (trail making), and musical aptitude. Results showed that music majors assigned significantly lower scores than nonmusic majors solely for accentedness, particularly for low ability second language speakers. However, the ratings were not significantly affected by individual differences in listeners’ phonological memory and attention control, which implies that these factors do not bias listeners’ subjective judgments of speech. Implications for psycholinguistic research and for high-stakes speaking assessments are discussed.

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On the Relationship Between General Auditory Sensitivity and Speech Perception: An Examination of Pitch and Lexical Tone Perception in 4- to 6-Year-Old Children

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2019_jslhr-19-00104 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 63 (2) ◽

pp. 487-498

Author(s):

Puisan Wong ◽

Man Wai Cheng

Keyword(s):

Speech Perception ◽

Theoretical Models ◽

Developmental Trajectory ◽

Auditory Sensitivity ◽

Pitch Discrimination ◽

Lexical Tone ◽

Perceptual Training ◽

Lexical Tones ◽

Tone Perception ◽

Tone Discrimination

Purpose Theoretical models and substantial research have proposed that general auditory sensitivity is a developmental foundation for speech perception and language acquisition. Nonetheless, controversies exist about the effectiveness of general auditory training in improving speech and language skills. This research investigated the relationships among general auditory sensitivity, phonemic speech perception, and word-level speech perception via the examination of pitch and lexical tone perception in children. Method Forty-eight typically developing 4- to 6-year-old Cantonese-speaking children were tested on the discrimination of the pitch patterns of lexical tones in synthetic stimuli, discrimination of naturally produced lexical tones, and identification of lexical tone in familiar words. Results The findings revealed that accurate lexical tone discrimination and identification did not necessarily entail the accurate discrimination of nonlinguistic stimuli that followed the pitch levels and pitch shapes of lexical tones. Although pitch discrimination and tone discrimination abilities were strongly correlated, accuracy in pitch discrimination was lower than that in tone discrimination, and nonspeech pitch discrimination ability did not precede linguistic tone discrimination in the developmental trajectory. Conclusions Contradicting the theoretical models, the findings of this study suggest that general auditory sensitivity and speech perception may not be causally or hierarchically related. The finding that accuracy in pitch discrimination is lower than that in tone discrimination suggests that comparable nonlinguistic auditory perceptual ability may not be necessary for accurate speech perception and language learning. The results cast doubt on the use of nonlinguistic auditory perceptual training to improve children's speech, language, and literacy abilities.

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Distinctiveness and Assimilation in Vowel Perception in a Second Language

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2019_jslhr-h-19-0074 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 62 (12) ◽

pp. 4534-4543

Author(s):

Wei Hu ◽

Sha Tao ◽

Mingshuang Li ◽

Chang Liu

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Native Language ◽

Vowel Identification ◽

Vowel Perception ◽

Perceptual Distance ◽

Vowel Space ◽

English Vowels ◽

Chinese Counterpart ◽

Vowel Categories

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate how the distinctive establishment of 2nd language (L2) vowel categories (e.g., how distinctively an L2 vowel is established from nearby L2 vowels and from the native language counterpart in the 1st formant [F1] × 2nd formant [F2] vowel space) affected L2 vowel perception. Method Identification of 12 natural English monophthongs, and categorization and rating of synthetic English vowels /i/ and /ɪ/ in the F1 × F2 space were measured for Chinese-native (CN) and English-native (EN) listeners. CN listeners were also examined with categorization and rating of Chinese vowels in the F1 × F2 space. Results As expected, EN listeners significantly outperformed CN listeners in English vowel identification. Whereas EN listeners showed distinctive establishment of 2 English vowels, CN listeners had multiple patterns of L2 vowel establishment: both, 1, or neither established. Moreover, CN listeners' English vowel perception was significantly related to the perceptual distance between the English vowel and its Chinese counterpart, and the perceptual distance between the adjacent English vowels. Conclusions L2 vowel perception relied on listeners' capacity to distinctively establish L2 vowel categories that were distant from the nearby L2 vowels.

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