The perception, production and the effect of explicit instruction in L2 English and Spanish vowels in foreign language (FL) adult learners

Icardo Isasa, Ane

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Description

Title

The perception, production and the effect of explicit instruction in L2 English and Spanish vowels in foreign language (FL) adult learners

Author(s)

Icardo Isasa, Ane

Issue Date

2020-05-05

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Hualde, José Ignacio

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Hualde, José Ignacio

Committee Member(s)

• Bowles, Melissa
• García Lecumberri, María Luisa
• Mroz, Aurore

Department of Study

Spanish and Portuguese

Discipline

Spanish

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• L2 Phonology
• Classroom Acquisition
• Speech Perception
• Speech Production
• High Phonetic Variability Training

Abstract

Adult L2 language learners struggle with the acquisition of L2 phonological categories due to the early attrition of the ability to acquire sounds (Scovel, 1988) and to the pervasive transfer of L1 phonological categories (Best, 1995; Best & Tyler, 2007; Flege, 1995; Kuhl, 1993; Escudero & Boersma, 2004; Escudero, 2005, 2009). As the phonological categories of the first and the second language share the vowel space, depending on their inventories and the quantity and quality differences, the adequate categorization of certain L2 sounds may not be successful, resulting in intelligibility problems and communication breakdowns (Derwing & Munro, 1995). However, current L2 speech theories reject the Critical Period Hypothesis (Lennenberg, 1967) and claim that the development of these categories is possible with experience and exposure (Escudero, 2005; Flege, 1995). Most studies have focused on learners in a second language environment. However, in a foreign language (FL) context where the exposure to the language in a communicative setting is minimal, the development of L2 categories can suppose an even more difficult task. However, individual differences such as proficiency levels (Archila-Suerte, Zevin, Bunta & Hernandez, 2011) and explicit phonetic classroom training can aid in the successful acquisition of L2 sounds in a FL context (Bradlow, 2018). This dissertation aims to answer this question: What is the perception and production link in the acquisition of vowels of an L2 in a foreign language context and does explicit classroom instruction aid adult learners in the development of perceptual and production skills? For that, it investigates the differences in the perception and production between the American English vowel pairs beat-bit, boot-book, and bus-boss by foreign language learners of different proficiency levels in Spain, as well as the link between the perception and the production of these vowels. This thesis also investigates the effect of different types of explicit phonetic classroom trainings in the development of the perception and the production of the pena-peina contrast in Spanish by upper-level college students in the American Midwest. Although some L2 vowels are phonologically identical to or resemble native categories, they pose issues precisely due to their phonetic closeness to native categories (Flege, 1995) and due to their functional load and frequency in the language (Brown, 1991, Strange & Shafer, 2008). Therefore, this thesis aims to explore how, and which categories are the most problematic to learners of different proficiency levels, and whether classroom acquisition is possible depending on the explicit phonetic training implemented in the phonetics and pronunciation classroom. Several perception and production tasks were designed and conducted for this dissertation. Spanish learners of L2 English, English learners of L2 Spanish, and native speakers of both languages completed tasks in three studies: The Spanish learners of L2 English and native speakers of English completed two perception tasks (an ABX perceptual discrimination task and a perceptual category assimilation task) and three production tasks (a delayed-repetition task, a word-reading task, and a picture narration task). Results showed that advanced learners have a slight advantage in the perceptual discrimination task over the beginner and intermediate groups, and that the vowel pair boot-book was the easiest to discriminate, whereas bus-boss was the most difficult. Individually, the vowels in beat and boot, the closest to the Spanish categories, were the easiest to discriminate, and were found to have the best fit index to Spanish /i/ and /u/ in the category assimilation task. In terms of production, the vowel beat was the easiest to produce accurately, while bus was the most difficult. The advanced learners were able to discriminate the vowel pairs in terms of vowel frontness (F2), but the results for vowel height were more divided by instruction level. Overall, there seemed to be a perception-production link, but there may be different paths from perception to production dependent on level of instruction, in which beginners tend to rely on phonetic imitation while advanced learners change their phoneme categorizations as they increase their instruction level. The English learners of L2 Spanish completed a pre-test and a post-test containing an ABX perceptual discrimination task and three production tasks: a delayed-repetition task, a word-reading task, and a paragraph-reading task, and the native Spanish group completed these tasks once. L2 Spanish learners were divided in two types of explicit pronunciation instruction treatments, the High Phonetic Variability Training (HPVT), and the Low Phonetic Variability Training (LPVT). There was also a control classroom with no explicit phonetic instruction. Results showed a significant improvement in perception for the HPVT group, but production-wise, the control group performed more accurately than the experimental groups. In sum, this dissertation adds to the L2 English and L2 Spanish speech perception and production literature, explores the nature of L2 phonology development in a foreign language setting, and provides avenues for the improvement of these skills in the classroom.

Graduation Semester

2020-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

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Copyright 2020 Ane Icardo Isasa

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