Learners’ beliefs about teachers’ social characteristics influence their pronunciation preferences

2025-11-26

Learners’ beliefs about language and language users impact the inferences they make about linguistic structure as well as their learning outcomes (Ballard & Winke 2017; Falkert 2016; Hayes-Harb et al. 2022). Hayes-Harb et al. (2022) demonstrated that participants preferred speech samples exhibiting a pronunciation pattern that was associated with a “teacher” over that of a “student” in a simulated language classroom context, indicating that language learners differentially weigh their input based on characteristics of the speaker. We extend this work by investigating whether preferences for the teacher’s pronunciation could be modulated by attributing “favorable” versus “unfavorable” social characteristics to the teacher regarding their teaching experience, teaching effectiveness, and linguistic background. We found that participants still tended to prefer the teacher’s pronunciation, but that this preference was reduced when the teacher had been characterized unfavorably. We thus provide evidence that preferences for speech input from teachers are modulated by beliefs about the social characteristics of the teacher, contributing to our understanding of linguistic stereotyping and its impact on language teaching and learning.

An Investigation of the Relationship Between Perceptual Sensitivity and Word Learning Performance for the Hindi Voiced Unaspirated Dental-Retroflex Contrast by English Speakers

2025-09-02

Adults' pre-existing perceptual sensitivity predicts their ability to learn new words involving novel lexical tone contrasts. Considering the importance of individuals’ pre-existing sensitivity, combined with the limited research on pre-existing sensitivity to consonant contrasts, we examine the role of perceptual sensitivity in the learning of the Hindi voiced unaspirated dental-retroflex contrast by English listeners with no prior experience. We ask [1] does pre-training perceptual sensitivity to this contrast predict word learning performance, and [2] do participants exhibit gains in perceptual sensitivity following word identification training? Our study involves four tasks: AX pre-test, word identification training, word identification test, and AX post-test. To address RQ1, we examined whether a positive correlation was observed between an individual’s pre-existing sensitivity to the contrast (AX pre-test) and their ability to learn Hindi-like minimal pairs involving the contrast (word identification test). We address RQ2 by comparing pre-word-learning to post-word-learning AX discrimination performance. While participants’ perceptual sensitivity improved following word identification training, we found no evidence of a relationship between participants’ pre-training sensitivity and performance on the word identification test. Additional research is needed to understand whether and how learners’ pre-training perceptual sensitivity relates to their word learning performance for difficult L2 consonant contrasts.

The interacting effects of talker, contrast, and listener variability in cross-language speech perception

JASA Express Letters · 2024-08-01

Building on previous observations of variability in speech research, we examine variability in speech perception study materials associated with the specific talker and contrast under examination. English-speaking listeners completed a web-based auditory AXB task involving Hindi dental-retroflex stop contrasts produced by four talkers. Main effects of talker and contrast, as well as the interaction of the two, were observed. Further, there was a great deal of individual listener variation. These findings complicate our ability to characterize the difficulty that Hindi dental-retroflex contrasts pose for English speakers, and lead to critical questions concerning the generalizability of speech perception study findings.

The interacting effects of talker, contrast, and listener variability in cross-language speech perception

2024-05-08

Building on previous observations of variability in speech research, we examine variability in speech perception study materials associated with the specific talker and contrast under examination. English-speaking listeners completed a web-based auditory AXB task involving Hindi dental-retroflex stop contrasts produced by four talkers. Main effects of talker and contrast, as well as the interaction of the two, were observed. Further, there was a great deal of individual listener variation. These findings complicate our ability to characterize the difficulty that Hindi dental-retroflex contrasts pose for English speakers, and lead to critical questions concerning the generalizability of speech perception study findings.

Investigating Adult Learners’ Perceptual and Phonolexical Representations of Novel Phonological Contrasts

Languages · 2024-11-30

Previous studies have shown that language learners’ auditory word recognition behavior provides evidence for independent contributions of perceptual and phonolexical representations, and learners’ patterns of auditory word recognition have been characterized as resulting from “fuzziness” or “imprecision” associated with these representations. More recently, it has been argued that representational “fuzziness” may in fact take various forms (e.g., neutralized, precise, ambiguous). The purpose of the present study is to further build on this line of work by elaborating additional logically possible scenarios by crossing larger sets of logically possible types of perceptual and phonolexical representational precision/imprecision, as an exercise in exploring the empirical and theoretical implications of our characterizations of representational fuzziness in language learners. We collect new empirical data for the purpose of demonstrating how we might evaluate auditory word recognition performance relative to this fuller set of predicted scenarios. We computed the set of hypothesized scenarios by crossing possible perceptual and lexical representations. We crossed four possible perceptual representations (NeutralizedC + NeutralizedV, NeutralizedC + PreciseV, PreciseC + NeutralizedV, or PreciseC + PreciseV) and six possible phonolexical representations (Neutralized, Ambiguous, Not X, Precise, Fuzzy Word, or Word Length), for a total of 24 scenarios, each accompanied by a set of predictions with respect to accuracy on an auditory word–picture matching test. We interpret the group and individual performance relative to these scenarios with the ultimate aim of better understanding the implications of our assumptions about the nature of perceptual and phonolexical representations relative to observed patterns of learner behavior. Our hope is that in computing this factorial typology of logically possible scenarios and demonstrating a starting point for how we might empirically evaluate its predictions, we set the stage for future research to refine the hypothesis space through empirical studies of auditory word processing in language learners.

The acquisition of L2 allophonic variants: The role of phonological distribution and lexical cues

Second language Research · 2022-06-06 · 2 citations

Adult learners acquire second language (L2) allophones with experience. We examine two mechanisms which may support the acquisition of allophonic variants in second language acquisition. One of the mechanisms is based on the distribution of phones with respect to their phonological context (i.e. phonological distribution). The other is based on the role the phones play in contrasting words (i.e. lexical contrast). Experiment 1 established adult native English speakers’ baseline sensitivity to the novel [b]–[β] auditory contrast. In Experiment 2 we examined whether adult native English speakers infer the phonological status of [b] and [β] in an artificial language based only on their distributions to phonological contexts. We observed no evidence that these participants were able to do so. In Experiment 3 we investigated whether learners infer the phonological status of [b] and [β] from the role they play in lexical contrast and observed both perceptual and lexical processing evidence to suggest that adults may use meaning-based cues to the lack of contrast to learn that two phones are allophones of the same phoneme. Together our findings suggest that adult L2 learners may prioritize information about function (in this case, lexical contrast) over the phonological distribution of phones as they determine the phonological status of L2 sounds.

Whose input matters?

Journal of Second Language Pronunciation · 2022-12-31 · 4 citations

Abstract Input is a necessary condition for language acquisition. In the language classroom, input may come from a variety of sources, including the teacher and student peers. Here we ask whether adult Lx learners are sensitive to the social roles of teachers and students such that they exhibit a preference for input from the teacher. We conducted an experiment wherein adult English speakers heard words in an artificial language. During an exposure phase, in one condition a “teacher” produced words with 25 ms of VOT on initial stop segments and a “student” produced the same words with 125 msec of VOT; in another condition the VOT durations were reversed. At test, participants judged productions by a different “student” and demonstrated a preference for the productions that matched the VOT durations of the teacher during exposure, providing evidence for an influence of social factors in differentiating input in Lx acquisition.

The influence of orthography in second language phonological acquisition

Language Teaching · 2021 · 96 citations

• Computer Science
• Linguistics
• Artificial Intelligence

Abstract We provide an exhaustive review of studies in the relatively new domain of research on the influence of orthography on second language (L2) phonological acquisition. While language teachers have long recognized the importance of written input—in addition to spoken input—on learners’ development, until this century there was very little systematic research investigating the relationship between orthography and L2 phonological acquisition. Here, we review studies of the influence of written input on L2 phonological awareness, phoneme perception, the acquisition of phonological processes and syllable structure, and the pronunciation and recognition of words. We elaborate the variables that appear to moderate written input effects: (1) whether or not a novel phonological contrast is systematically represented by the L2 writing system ( systematicity ); (2) whether some or all of the L2 graphemes are familiar to learners from the L1 ( familiarity ); (3) for familiar graphemes, whether the native language (L1) and the L2 employ the same grapheme-phoneme correspondences ( congruence ); and (4) the ability of learners to perceive an auditory contrast that is systematically represented in writing ( perceptibility). We conclude by calling for future research on the pedagogical implications of this body of work, which has thus far received very little attention by researchers.

Investigating the phonological content of learners’ “fuzzy” lexical representation for new L2 words (Hayes-Harb & Barrios 2019)

2021-01-18

L2 learning of phonological alternations with and without orthographic input: Evidence from the acquisition of a German-like voicing alternation (Barrios & Hayes-Harb 2020)

2021-01-18