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Article published In: Journal of Second Language Pronunciation
Vol. 3:1 (2017) ► pp.80–108

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Phonological development in two-way bilingual immersion

The case of Spanish vowels

 | University of Minnesota
Published online: 14 April 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jslp.3.1.04men
In spite of the well-documented advantage of an early age of acquisition, findings from one-way (foreign language) immersion programs suggest that this instructional context is insufficient for acquisition of nativelike articulations by child foreign language learners. It has been suggested that the lack of exposure to native speaking peers may contribute to reported non-native pronunciation. This study expands upon the previous research with child second language learners of Spanish, exploring how children, who learn academic content in Spanish, alongside native Spanish-speaking peers produce the Spanish vowels. Few differences are observed between the learner and peer native speaker groups, suggesting that the direct contact with native speakers of Spanish afforded by two-way bilingual immersion promotes phonological acquisition.
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