Vowel Perception and Transcription Trainer for Learners of English as a Foreign Language

• Authors: Šárka Šimáčková , Václav Jonáš Podlipský
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

We use the freely available program Praat to create a vowel-training application for learners of English familiar with IPA transcription. The application is easy to operate, allowing users to change the training difficulty, providing the listeners with immediate feedback, and adapting to their performance during a training session. To evaluate the effectiveness of the Trainer, performance of 59 Czech learners during a single training session and across multiple sessions was tracked. Results showed improvement both between sessions and within sessions. In the final training session, vowel identification accuracy showed considerable resistance to gradual addition of increasing levels of noise. Testing the trainer with additional 52 learners showed significantly higher error-rates for low-frequency words and supported the importance of top-down lexical effect in vowel identification.

Keywords

EN

English as a foreign language; IPA; training application; vowel identification

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Łódzki. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
• Journal: Research in Language
• Year: 2019
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 213-230

Dates

published

2019-09-30

Contributors

author

Šárka Šimáčková

• Palacký University Olomouc

author

Václav Jonáš Podlipský

• Palacký University Olomouc

References

• Baker, Wendy and Pavel Trofimovich. 2006. Perceptual paths to accurate production of L2 vowels: The role of individual differences. IRAL–International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 44 (3), 231-250. https://doi.org/10.1515/IRAL.2006.010
• Barriuso, Taylor Anne and Rachel Hayes-Harb. 2018. High Variability Phonetic Training as a Bridge from Research to Practice. CATESOL Journal 30 (1), 177-194.
• Bradlow, Ann R., Akahane-Yamada, Reiko, Pisoni, David. B. and Yoh'ichi Tohkura. 1999. Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/ and /l/: Long-term retention of learning in perception and production. Perception & psychophysics 61 (5), 977-985. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03206911
• Boersma, Paul and David Weenink, 2019. Praat: doing phonetics by computer [Computer program]. Version 6.0.49, retrieved 10 March 2019 from http://www.praat.org/
• Broersma, Mirjam. 2012. Increased lexical activation and reduced competition in second-language listening. Language and cognitive processes 27 (7-8), 1205-1224. https://doi.org/10.1080/01690965.2012.660170
• Dekaney, Elisa M. 2003. The effect of computerized versus classroom instruction on the phonetic pronunciation of English. Journal of Research in Music Education 51 (3), 206-217. https://doi.org/10.2307/3345374
• Derwing, Tracy. M. 2010. Utopian goals for pronunciation teaching. In: Proceedings of the 1st Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference, ed. by John Levis and Kimberly LeVelle. Ames, IA: Iowa State University, 24-37.
• Escudero, Paola. 2007. Second-language phonology: The role of perception. In: Phonology in Context, ed. by M. C. Pennington. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 109-134. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230625396_5
• Escudero, Paola and Daniel Williams. 2014. Distributional learning has immediate and long-lasting effects. Cognition 133 (2), 408-413. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2014.07.002
• Flege, James Emil and Serena Liu. 2001. The effect of experience on adults’ acquisition of a second language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 23 (4), 527-552. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263101004041
• Flege, James Emil, Ian R.A. MacKay and Diane Meador. 1999. Native Italian speakers’ perception and production of English vowels. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 106 (5), 2973-2987. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.428116
• Flege, J. E., Frieda, Elaina M., Walley, Amanda C. and Lauren A. Randazza. 1998. Lexical factors and segmental accuracy in second language speech production. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 20 (2), 155-187. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263198002034
• Grenon, Izabelle, Mikio Kubota and Chris Sheppard. 2019. The creation of a new vowel category by adult learners after adaptive phonetic training. Journal of Phonetics 72, 17-34. DOI: 10.1016/j.wocn.2018.10.005
• Jia, Gisela, Strange, Winifred, Wu, Yanhong, Julissa Collado and Qi Guan. 2006. Perception and production of English vowels by Mandarin speakers: Age-related differences vary with amount of L2 exposure. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 119 (2), 1118-1130. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.2151806
• Iverson, Paul, Melanie Pinet and Bronwen G. Evans. 2012. Auditory training for experienced and inexperienced second-language learners: Native French speakers learning English vowels. Applied Psycholinguistics 33 (1), 145-160. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716411000300
• Kissling, Elizabeth M. 2014. What predicts the effectiveness of foreign-language pronunciation instruction? Investigating the role of perception and other individual differences. Canadian Modern Language Review 70 (4), 532-558. http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.2161
• Kissling, Elizabeth M. 2015. Phonetics instruction improves learners’ perception of L2 sounds. Language Teaching Research 19 (3), 254-275. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168814541735
• Lee, Andrew H. and Roy Lyster. 2016. The effects of corrective feedback on instructed L2 speech perception. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 38 (1), 35-64. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263115000194
• Ladefoged, Peter and Keith Johnson. 2011 (6th ed.). A Course in Phonetics. USA: Wadsworth.
• Motohashi-Siago, Miki and Debra M. Hardison. 2009. Acquisition of L2 Japanese geminates: Training with waveform displays. Language Learning & Technology 13 (2), 29-47. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/44179
• Nishi, Kanae and Diane Kewley-Port. 2007. Training Japanese listeners to perceive American English vowels: Influence of training sets. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 50 (6), 1496-1509. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2007/103)
• Perrachione, Tyler K., Lee, Jiyeon, Ha, Louisa Y. and Patrick C. M. Wong. 2011. Learning a novel phonological contrast depends on interactions between individual differences and training paradigm design. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 130 (1), 461-472. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.3593366
• Podlipský, Václav J., Radek Skarnitzl and Jan Volín. 2009. High front vowels in Czech: A contrast in quantity or quality? INTERSPEECH-2009. [Online] Available at http://www.isca-speech.org/archive/interspeech_2009 [Accessed on 10 February 2017].
• OneLook Dictionary Search. Retrieved from https://www.onelook.com/
• Samuel, Arthur G. 2001. Knowing a word affects the fundamental perception of the sounds within it. Psychological Science 12.(4), 348-351. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00364
• Sheldon, Amy and Winifred Strange. 1982. The acquisition of /r/ and /l/ by Japanese learners of English: Evidence that speech production can precede speech perception. Applied Psycholinguistics 3.(3), 243-261. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716400001417
• Shinohara, Yasuaki and Paul Iverson. 2018. High variability identification and discrimination training for Japanese speakers learning English /r/–/l/. Journal of Phonetics 66, 242-251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2017.11.002
• Šimáčková, Šárka. 2003. “Engela’s Eshes”: Cross-linguistic perception and production of English [æ] and [ɛ] by Czech EFL learners trained in phonetics. In Solé, Maria-Josep, Daniel Recasens and Joaquín Romero (eds.), Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 2003), Barcelona, 3-9 August, 2003, 2293-2296.
• Šimáčková, Šárka and Václav J. Podlipský. 2012. Pronunciation skills of an interpreter. In: Jitka Zehnalová, Ondřej Molnár and Michal Kubánek (eds.), Teaching translation and interpreting skills in the 21st century. Olomouc: Palacký University Olomouc, 139-149.
• Šimáčková, Šárka and Václav J. Podlipský. 2016. Global foreign accent rating of code-switched and L2-only sentences. Research in Language 14 (2), 149-164. https://doi.org/10.2478/rela-2018-0009
• Šimáčková, Šárka and Václav J. Podlipský. 2018. Production accuracy of L2 vowels: Phonological parsimony and phonetic flexibility. Research in Language 16 (2), 169-191. https://doi.org/10.2478/rela-2018-0009
• Šimáčková, Šárka, Kateřina Kolářová and Václav J. Podlipský. 2014. Tempo and connectedness of Czech-accented English speech. Concordia Working Papers in Applied Linguistics 5, 667-77.
• Skarnitzl, Radek and Pavel Šturm. 2016. Pre-fortis shortening in Czech English: A production and reaction-time study. Research in Language 14 (1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1515/rela-2016-0005
• Skarnitzl, Radek and Pavel Šturm. 2017. Voicing assimilation in Czech and Slovak speakers of English: Interactions of segmental context, language and strength of foreign accent. Language and speech 60 (3), 427-453. https://doi.org/10.1177/0023830916654509
• Skarnitzl, Radek and Jan Volín. 2012. Referenční hodnoty vokalických formantů pro mladé dospělé mluvčí standardní češtiny. Akustické listy 18 (1), 7-11.
• Verhelst, Norman, et al. 2009. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Volín, Jan and Radek Skarnitzl. 2010. The strength of foreign accent in Czech English under adverse listening conditions. Speech Communication 52 (11-12), 1010-1021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.specom.2010.06.009
• Volín, Jan, Lenka Weingartová and Radek Skarnitzl. 2013. Spectral characteristics of schwa in Czech accented English. Research in Language 11 (1), 31-39. https://doi.org/10.2478/v10015-012-0008-6
• Wanrooij, Karin, Paul Boersma and Titia L. van Zuijen. 2014. Distributional vowel training is less effective for adults than for infants. A study using the mismatch response. PloS One 9 (10), e109806. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0109806
• Wanrooij, Karin, Paul Boersma and Titia Benders. 2015. Observed effects of “distributional learning” may not relate to the number of peaks. A test of “dispersion” as a confounding factor. Frontiers in Psychology 6. Article 1341. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01341
• Wanrooij, Karin, Johanna De Vos and Paul Boersma. 2015. Distributional vowel training may not be effective for Dutch adults. In: 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 2015). University of Glasgow.
• Wells, J. C. 1982. Accents of English. Volume 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511611759

Identifiers

DOI

10.18778/1731-7533.17.3.01