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Article published In: Journal of Second Language Pronunciation
Vol. 11:3 (2025) ► pp.363–393

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Hul’q’umi’num’ listening quizzes

Speech perception in a language revitalization classroom context

ORCiD logo with link | University of Toronto, Canada | University of Oxford, UK
 | Simon Fraser University, Canada
 | University of Victoria, Canada
 | Simon Fraser University, Canada
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with University of Oxford.

Published online: 3 November 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jslp.25001.per
Abstract
In this paper, we discuss a set of 60 listening quizzes, created to support adult learners of Hul’q’umi’num’ (Coast Salish) in fine-tuning their listening and speaking skills. Hul’q’umi’num’ has a rich consonant inventory, including many sounds not found in learners’ L1 (English). The goal of the quizzes was twofold: provide learners with opportunities to practice hearing these sounds and, at the same time, inform us about the features of Hul’q’umi’num’ L2 speech perception. Findings showed which sounds were particularly easy or challenging, laying the foundation for creating more targeted resources to better aid sound acquisition among Hul’q’umi’num’ learners. Evidence of improvement in perceptual ability after taking the quizzes was also found. This work contributes to diversifying scientific approaches to second language acquisition by showing how speech perception research and pedagogy can be combined in an Indigenous language revitalization context.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Hul’q’umi’num’ context
    • 1.2Listening training for speech production and perception
  • 2.Listening quizzes for Hul’q’umi’num’ learners
    • 2.1Creation process
    • 2.2Organization, format, and types
      • 2.2.1Organization
      • 2.2.2Format
      • 2.2.3Types
    • 2.3Linguistic sets
  • 3.Perceptual training experiment
    • 3.1Methodology
      • 3.1.1Participants
      • 3.1.2Materials
      • 3.1.3Procedure
    • 3.2Analysis
      • 3.2.1Difficult contrasts
      • 3.2.2Improvement over the training phase
      • 3.2.3Improvement from pre- to posttest
      • 3.2.4Qualitative analysis: Student feedback
  • 4.Discussion
    • 4.1Interpretation of results
    • 4.2Usability for pedagogy
    • 4.3Best practices for quiz creation in a revitalization context
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
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