Speech Perception And Production In L2

This book is concerned with studying speech perception and production in an L2. It deals with segments, syllables, and features above syllable level (the suprasegmental level). The volume brings together careful theoretical and empirical research conducted in different countries, including the United States of America, Greece, Northern Cyprus, Canada, the Republic of Cyprus, Israel, and Spain.

Research on L2 speech perception and production indicate that adult language learners are able to acquire L2 speech sounds that they initially have difficulty with (Best, 1994). Moreover, use of the audiovisual modality, which provides language learners with articulatory information for speech sounds, has been illustrated to be effective in L2 speech perception training (Hazan et al., 2005). Since auditory and visual skills are integrated with each other in speech perception, audiovisual perception training may enhance language learners' auditory perception of L2 speech sounds (Bernstein, Auer Jr, Ebehardt, and Jiang, 2013). However, little research has been conducted on L1 Mandarin learners of English. Based on these hypotheses, this study investigated whether audiovisual perception training can improve learners' auditory perception and production of L2 speech sounds.

A state-of-the-art survey of second language speech research, presenting revision of an influential model alongside new empirical studies.

Recent Research in Second Language Phonetics/Phonology: Perception and Production reports the findings of seventeen interphonology studies on perception/production of sounds by different first language speakers. All the papers describe careful empirical research, and as such will be of great interest to anyone working, or intending to work, in the specific field of second language phonological acquisition. However, given that speech production and perception are highly complex skills, the research findings in this volume will also be relevant to those with a broader interest in language learning or cognition in general.

Originally published in 1980, this title looks at the mental processes involved in producing and understanding spoken language. Although there had been several edited volumes on speech in the previous ten years, this volume was unique in that it deals exclusively with perception and production of fluent speech. The chapters in this volume, contributed to by distinguished scientists from psychology, linguistics and computer science, deal with such questions as: How are ideas encoded into sound? How does a speaker plan an utterance? How are words recognized? What is the role of knowledge in speech perception? In short, how do people communicate with each other using speech?

This stimulating collection of articles from leading international researchers provides a state-of-the-art overview of core issues in second language speech perception and production. Aimed at phoneticians, speech scientists, psycholinguists, applied linguists, and pedagogical specialists, it presents engaging discussions of fundamental problems and controversies within the field, as well as new empirical findings arising from a variety of methodological approaches. Its twenty chapters, inspired by the ground-breaking work of James E. Flege, address such topics as the theoretical underpinnings of second language speech learning; the nature and etiology of foreign accents; the effects of age, experience, and training; speech intelligibility; and the acquisition of vowels, consonants, tone, and prosody. This volume will serve as a valuable resource, not only for researchers, but for anyone wishing to gain an understanding of an area of linguistics that is rapidly growing in importance.

This book addresses important issues of speech processing and language learning in Chinese. It highlights perception and production of speech in healthy and clinical populations and in children and adults. This book provides diverse perspectives and reviews of cutting-edge research in past decades on how Chinese speech is processed and learned. Along with each chapter, future research directions have been discussed. With these unique features and the broad coverage of topics, this book appeals to not only scholars and students who study speech perception in preverbal infants and in children and adults learning Chinese, but also to teachers with interests in pedagogical applications in teaching Chinese as Second Language.