Modern Foreign Languages Faculty Work
Title
L2 Acquisition and Category Formation of Spanish Voiceless Stops by Monolingual English Novice Learners
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
2013
Publication Title
Selected Proceedings of the 16th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium
Abstract
While several studies have examined the end state of L2 phonological acquisition, little is known about the initial stages of L2 category formation. Similarly, studies have investigated the impact of explicit pronunciation instruction on intermediate and advanced learners' improvement in pronunciation but not novice learners' improvement in pronunciation. This study attempts to fill this gap by examining the impact of explicit phonetic instruction on 26 second-semester Spanish learners' improvement in the production of the voiceless stops (/ptk/). The participants were split into a target group (N=15) and a control group (N=11) and were administered a pre-test and post-test designed to elicit their productions of the voiceless stops. The target group received explicit phonetic instruction between the pre- and post-test, while the control group received extra general language practice instead. Results suggest that category formation of voiceless stops happens separately and that explicit instruction on L2 pronunciation is likely to help not only at intermediate and advanced levels but also at beginner stages.
First Page
118
Last Page
127
Recommended Citation
Counselman, David W. and Verónica González López. "L2 Acquisition and Category Formation of Spanish Voiceless Stops by Monolingual English Novice Learners." Selected Proceedings of the 16th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, October 25-28, 2012, University of Florida, edited by Jennifer Cabrelli Amaro, Gillian Lord, Ana de Prada Pérez, and Jessi Elana Aaron, p. 118-127, Cascadilla Proceedings Project, 2013.
Link Out URL
http://www.lingref.com/cpp/hls/16/paper2929.pdf