In:Quantitative Methods in Multilingual Acquisition and Processing
Edited by Gabrielle Klassen and John W. Schwieter
[Research Methods in Applied Linguistics 16] 2026
► pp. 56–80
Chapter 4Using offline methods to probe the bi/multilingual acquisition of
phonological and phonetic domains
Published online: 26 March 2026
https://doi.org/10.1075/rmal.16.04sim
https://doi.org/10.1075/rmal.16.04sim
Abstract
This chapter summarizes the methods generally employed to
characterize the phonetic behavior — including pronunciation (production)
and listening (perception) — and underlying phonological representations of
bilingual and learner populations. The chapter is divided into three main
sections. The first section focuses on speech production, with especial
emphasis on laboratory tasks, such as the reading aloud and delayed
imitation tasks. The section explains how production data are gathered and
then coded and analyzed. The second section revolves around speech
perception, with special emphasis on phonetic categorization and
discrimination. The section outlines the basic aspects of perception
experiments, the nature of the data they produce, and the cognitive
processes they are hypothesized to tap into. The third, and last, section
focuses on phonological representations, with special emphasis on the
probing of the phonological representations of words. The experimental
paradigms discussed in the section include lexical decision, auditory and
cross-modal priming, and novel word learning. The section explains the
basics of such experimental designs as well as the nature of the data they
produce. The chapter argues that researchers benefit from incorporating a
variety of methods into their phonetic and phonological research.
Article outline
- 4.1Introduction
- 4.2Speech production
- 4.2.1Gathering production data
- 4.2.2Analyzing production data
- 4.3Speech perception
- 4.3.1Identification tasks
- 4.3.2Discrimination tasks
- 4.4Spoken word recognition
- 4.4.1Lexical decision
- 4.4.2Auditory and cross-modal priming
- 4.4.3Novel word learning
- 4.5Conclusion
Notes References
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