Identification of the contrast full vowel-schwa: training effects and generalization to a new perceptual context

Autores

  • Esther Gómez Lacabex University of the Basque Country
  • María Luisa García Lecumberri University of the Basque Country
  • Martin Cooke University of Sheffield

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2008n55p173

Resumo

 

This study examines the ability to identify the English phonological contrast full vowel-schwa by Spanish learners of English after two different types of training: auditory and articulatory. Perceptual performance was measured in isolated words in order to investigate the effect of training and in sentences to study the robustness of acquisition in generalizing to a context which was not used during training. Subjects were divided into three groups: two experimental groups, one undergoing perceptual training and one undergoing production based training, and a control group. Both experimental groups' perception of the reduced vowel improved significantly after training. Results indicated that students were able to generalize their reduced vowel identification abilities to the new context. The control group did not show any significant improvement. Our findings agree with studies that have demonstrated positive effects of phonetic training (Derwing. Munro & Wiebe, 1998; Rochet, 1995; Cenoz & García Lecumberri, 1995, 1999). Interestingly, the results also support the facilitating view between perception and production since production training proved beneficial in the development of perceptual abilities (Catford & Pisoni, 1970; Mathews, 1997). Finally, our data showed that training resulted in robust learning, since students were able generalize their improved perceptual abilities to a new context.

Biografia do Autor

Esther Gómez Lacabex, University of the Basque Country

Esther Gómez Lacabex is an associate lecturer at the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) in Spain, where she teaches English for specific purposes. She holds a BA degree in English language and linguistics (UPV-EHU) and is currently working on her PhD on the acquisition of English phonetics. Her research interests focus on the acquisition of foreign language speech and pronunciation teaching. She has participated in a series of Basque and Spanish research projects on the age factor in foreign language acquisition, and she is currently engaged in another project on content and language integrated learning in formal contexts.

María Luisa García Lecumberri, University of the Basque Country

María Luisa García Lecumberri is an Associate Professor of English Phonetics at the University of the Basque Country (Spain). She obtained an M.A. in Phonetics at University College London and a Ph.D. in Phonetics by the University of London. Her current research areas include the acquisition of foreign language speech and speech perception in adverse conditions. Her work in these fields has been carried out within several funded research projects such as Sound to Sense, Marie Curie RTN (http://www.sound2sense.eu). She has presented at international conferences and journals and edited books such as Age and the Acquisition of English as a Foreign Language (ed.). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2003.

Martin Cooke, University of Sheffield

Martin Cooke is currently Ikerbasque Research Professor at the University of the Basque Country (Spain). Prior to this, he was Professor of Computer Science at the University of Sheffield, UK. His interests are in speech perception, computational auditory scene analysis, active hearing, second language acquisition and the effect of noise on speech production. He is the author of “Modelling auditory processing and organisation” (Cambridge University Press) and “Visual Representations of Speech Signals” (John Wiley). He is twice winner of the annual Speech Communication Best Paper Award (2004 and 2008).

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Publicado

2008-01-01

Edição

n. 55 (2008)

Seção

Artigos

Licença

A revista Ilha do Desterro publica artigos e resenhas inéditos, referentes as áreas de Inglês, Literaturas em Língua Inglesa e Estudos Culturais. Publica volumes mistos e/ou temáticos, com artigos e resenhas em inglês e português. 

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.