ABSTRACT

Do learners of a second language (L2) need frequent contact with native speakers of that language in order to master its phonology? What if they hear audio recordings of native speakers and receive immediate corrective feedback about their perception? We used a randomized controlled experiment with 135 Chinese speakers (with English as their L2) to examine whether a high-variability perceptual training (HVPT) paradigm might enhance the perception of challenging contrasts between English voiced and voiceless stop consonants. Learners in all the age groups tested – middle childhood, early adolescence, and young adulthood – showed enhanced perception of English stop consonants after 20 five-minute training sessions conducted across 4 to 6 weeks, based on audio-recorded input coupled with corrective feedback. The training benefits were maintained at the one-month follow-up. Our results suggest that HVPT using audio-recordings of native speakers can be an affordable and useful language enrichment to supplement live interaction with native speakers, for L2 learners of a wide age range.

摘要

第二语言（L2）的学习者是否需要经常与该语言的母语者接触才能掌握其语音学？如果他们听到母语人士的录音并收到有关他们的感知的即时纠正反馈该怎么办？我们使用了135名讲中文的随机对照实验（以英语为第二语言）来检查高变异性知觉训练（HVPT）范式是否可以增强对英语浊音和无声终止辅音之间具有挑战性对比的感知。在4到6周内进行了20次五分钟的训练后，基于音频记录的输入和纠正反馈，在测试的所有年龄组（儿童中期，青春期和年轻成年）中的学习者均表现出对英语停止辅音的增强感知。在一个月的随访中保持了培训收益。我们的结果表明，对于年龄广泛的L2学习者而言，使用母语人士音频录音的HVPT可以是一种负担得起且有用的语言充实，以补充与母语人士的实时互动。