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Article published In: Journal of Second Language Pronunciation
Vol. 8:1 (2022) ► pp.95–115

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Phonetic listen-and-repeat training alters 6–7-year-old children’s non-native vowel contrast production after one training session

ORCiD logo with link | University of Turku
 | Aalto University
 | University of Turku
Published online: 9 February 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jslp.21005.imm
Abstract
The present study investigated children’s ability to learn to produce a non-native vowel contrast through a listen-and-repeat training method that is traditionally used in foreign language classrooms. Sixteen Finnish preschoolers (aged 6–7 years) were tested. The stimuli were two semi-synthetic pseudo words with the familiar vowel /y/ and the novel vowel /ʉ/ embedded in the first syllable. The procedure included four training and four recording sessions on two consecutive days. The vowels produced by the children were acoustically analyzed to obtain the average values of the first and second formant. The results showed that the participants changed their production of /ʉ/ towards the acoustic model after the first training and the change remained throughout the experiment. Our findings suggest 6–7-year-old children learn to produce a non-native vowel contrast even with limited L2 sound exposure in a listen-and-repeat training setting.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.AOL and second language sound learning
    • 2.1Phonetic studies on child and adult learners in naturalistic L2 environments and instructed learning settings
    • 2.2Child and adult learners in phonetic L2 training studies
  • 3.Material and methods
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Stimuli
    • 3.3Procedure
    • 3.4Analysis
  • 4.Results
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
References (37)
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