Effects of Explicit Phonetic Instruction in Shaping Second-Language Perceptual Cue Weighting: Evidence From English /i:/--/I/.
Purpose: This study examined how Chinese second-language (L2) learners of English weight vowel duration and spectral cues in the English /i:/--/I/ contrast at both the group and individual levels. It further explored the role of explicit phonetic instruction from correlational and causal perspective...
| Published in: | Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research Vol. 69; no. 4; pp. 1490 - 1514 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
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American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Apr2026
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=192982173&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 192982173 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 10924388 1SM jtl: Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research issn: 10924388 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Apr2026 vid: 69 iid: 4 pid: 42 pub: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association artinfo: ui: 192982173 10.1044/2025_JSLHR-25-00389 ppf: 1490 ppct: 24 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 2MB tig: atl: Effects of Explicit Phonetic Instruction in Shaping Second-Language Perceptual Cue Weighting: Evidence From English /i:/--/I/. aug: au: Zheng, Ziyue Wonnacott, Elizabeth affil: Department of Education, University of Oxford, United Kingdom su: China Teaching methods Randomized controlled trials Learning Multilingualism Linguistics Phonetics College students Language acquisition Subject headings Prompts (Psychology) Statistical significance Research funding Educational outcomes Statistical sampling Logistic regression analysis Two-way analysis of variance Kruskal-Wallis Test Fisher exact test Multiple regression analysis Descriptive statistics Pre-tests & post-tests Speech perception Data analysis software sug: subj: Teaching methods Randomized controlled trials Learning Multilingualism Linguistics Phonetics College students Language acquisition China Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling Subject headings Prompts (Psychology) Statistical significance Research funding Educational outcomes Statistical sampling Logistic regression analysis Two-way analysis of variance Kruskal-Wallis Test Fisher exact test Multiple regression analysis Descriptive statistics Pre-tests & post-tests Speech perception Data analysis software ab: Purpose: This study examined how Chinese second-language (L2) learners of English weight vowel duration and spectral cues in the English /i:/--/I/ contrast at both the group and individual levels. It further explored the role of explicit phonetic instruction from correlational and causal perspectives. Finally, it investigated whether the benefits of training were uniform across learners or varied according to individual differences. Method: The current research adopted a pre--post design with 48 Mandarinspeaking L2 English learners randomly assigned to a control group (n = 23) and an experimental group (n = 25). In the pretest and posttest, both groups completed a forced-choice identification task using synthesized "bead--bid" continua covarying in spectral and temporal dimensions. Between the pre- and posttest, the experimental group received explicit phonetic instruction designed to raise their metalinguistic awareness of how vowel spectrum and duration functionally differentiate /i:/ and /I/. Results: At pretest, at a group level, participants primarily relied on duration, although individual variability was substantial and aligned with the perceptual learning stages posited by the Second Language Linguistic Perception (L2LP) model. Explicit instruction reduced reliance on duration in the experimental group, while both groups increased reliance of the spectral cue. Instructional benefits varied across individuals: Learners with initially more balanced cue use and those with prior immersion experience were more likely to shift away from duration. Conclusions: These findings support the generalizability of the L2LP model to Mandarin listeners and demonstrate that explicit instruction can effectively promote cue reweighting, particularly when targeting noncontrastive dimensions in the learners' first language. Instructional outcomes were shaped by prior language experience. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.31402767 pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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