MA Thesis Abstract

Effects of Transfer on Interlanguage Phonology

While acquiring a second language phonology, the learners internalize a system of phonological rules which may be distinct from the target language and the native language. This structured system which learners construct during the process of second language acquisition is termed interlanguage. Interlanguage phonology has become an important area of investigation leading to the resurgence of interest in the phonological aspects of second language acquisition research. This study examined the role of language transfer in determining the form of interlanguage phonology. It also attempted to verify the predictions made by contrastive analysis; a pedagogical tool used to predict areas of difficulty for language learners in acquiring a second language. The speech data of native Hindi speakers, speaking English, were audiotaped for transcription and analysis. Close inspection of the data analysis revealed that transfer is not the only process operating to shape interlanguage phonology. The concepts of markedness, language transfer, and developmental universals are clearly evident and interact with one another in many interesting ways, yielding differing degrees of variation. This study also provided some evidence that the contrastive analysis hypothesis is not tenable unless it incorporates universal properties of second language acquisition.

Dissertation Abstract

Effects of Visual Instruction on Second Language Productive Phonology

The acquisition of second language productive phonology is seldom successful with adult language learners. Opinion is sharply divided between those who espouse that successful acquisition of pronunciation in an L2 is impossible to attain after puberty, and those who espouse that adult language learners can achieve native-like pronunciation in their L2 with the aid of effective teaching methods. Current methodology consists of learner imitation of an externally provided model. The present study tested the proposed hypothesis that adult learners practicing second language sounds by means of diagrams depicting articulatory movements (point and manner of articulation) and conscious modifications of their researcher-prompted output, would approximate closer the target sounds, with the result of more native-like production and a more rapid progress. The theoretical underpinnings of the current pedagogy assume that speech perception precedes speech production. This study challenged the current pedagogical assumption, and examined the production and perception of English /l/ and /r/ by native Japanese speakers, looking at whether with improved ability to produce English /l/ and /r/ accurately the speakers would be able to perceive these English liquids correctly. Thirty-six female Japanese speakers of English were divided into three groups: experimental A, experimental B, and control. The experimental group A subjects were shown visual diagrams and given specific instructions on how to manipulate their organs of speech in order to produce English /l/ and /r/ in words and sentences. No external modeling was provided; rather the investigator indicated when the subjects approximated the English liquids, and when they mispronounced them. The subjects were confronted with their own productions, as the investigator marked them as correct or incorrect. However, the control group subjects only repeated pairs of words and sentences containing English /l/ and /r/ in various word positions after an instructor (a native speaker of English) on an audiocassette. The experimental groups A and B, and the control group subjects were given a speech perception test in which they identified English /l/ and /r/ occurring in different word positions in sentences. Productions of English /l/ and /r/ by the experimental and the control group subjects were rated by 16 native speakers of English for accuracy. The mean percent correct identification scores for the English liquids /l/ and /r/ spoken by these subjects were compared. The findings of the present study indicated that the experimental group A subjects succeeded in accurately producing the English liquids and in correctly identifying perceptual speech contrasts in a native-like fashion whereas the experimental group B and the control group subjects production and perception of these liquids did not improve. The results also suggested that speech production precedes speech perception in the acquisition of second language phonology. Based on these results, a module for teaching English /l/ and /r/ to adult Japanese speakers of English is proposed, and future directions for research on second language productive phonology are suggested.