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Article published In: Journal of Second Language Pronunciation
Vol. 8:3 (2022) ► pp.363–388

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Whose input matters?

The influence of socially-differentiated input sources in adult Lx phonetic learning

ORCiD logo with link | University of Utah
 | University of Utah
 | University of Minnesota
Published online: 7 March 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jslp.21050.hay
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.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Kinds of linguistic input variability and their role in acquisition
    • 1.2Variability in VOT
    • 1.3Social influences on speech perception
  • 2.Methods
    • 2.1Researcher positionality
    • 2.2Participants
    • 2.3Stimuli
    • 2.4Procedure
  • 3.Results
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
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