Journal of Second Language Pronunciation - Online First

Previous research revealed that Hindi speakers identify American English (AE) phonemes /v/ and /w/ with only chance accuracy. Building on these findings, this study explored the production of AE /v/ and /w/ by Hindi speakers, utilizing both acoustic analysis of second formant (F2) onset and AE listeners’ ratings. Participants included two groups of Hindi-English bilinguals, one residing in the US for more than 5 years, one residing in India, and a group of monolingual AE speakers. Results indicated significant differences in F2 onset between AE speakers and Hindi groups, with AE speakers differentiating the consonants more than the Hindi speakers did. The F2 onset of the Hindi speakers who had resided in the US differed from the F2 onsets produced by those with no AE immersion experience in certain conditions only. AE listeners rated only a few productions from Hindi speakers as accurate representations of AE /v/ and /w/. AE /v/-/w/ is difficult for Hindi speakers to produce contrastively, even for those who have resided in the US for several years.

This is the first observational study to evaluate the feasibility of implementing large language models (LLMs) for second language (L2) metaphonological awareness training. A custom implementation of GPT-4 acting as a homework tutor was piloted in an English phonetics and phonology course for first-year university students. Two novel homework assignments were designed to leverage the LLM’s strengths and explore its weaknesses. Analysis of learner interaction logs, homework reflections, and survey data revealed that most learners perceived the AI Tutor as helpful for its personalised explanations. However, the overall sentiment was mixed due to the LLM’s propensity for confabulation. Despite these challenges, the pilot demonstrated the potential for LLMs to engage learners in active and self-regulated learning. Recommendations for future directions include designing LLM-based learning environments, promoting AI literacy among educators and learners, and experimentally researching long-term effects of AI tutors on learning outcomes.

This study investigated the effects of task complexity on the linguistic dimensions of comprehensibility and perceived fluency in L2 Japanese. 36 Chinese-speaking learners of Japanese performed two argumentative speech tasks with differing levels of complexity. These audio samples were judged by eight experienced native raters of Japanese for comprehensibility and perceived fluency and then analyzed in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency. The results showed that linguistic correlates of comprehensibility exhibit a task-specific effect, with additional linguistic dimensions (e.g., syntactic density, explicit grammatical marking) becoming increasingly relevant as task complexity rises. In contrast, perceived fluency also undergoes a task-specific shift but differently: rather than expanding the set of predictors, it changes the nature of primary cues, placing greater emphasis on syntactic sophistication alongside (but not replacing) temporal aspects. Findings underscore the unique role of Japanese linguistic system in shaping listeners’ judgments of L2 Japanese.

The effects of observing pitch gestures on non-native English intonation perception among 80 Japanese learners of English were examined to uncover whether pitch gestures boost the perception of intonation patterns in the contexts of congruent, incongruent, and no gestures (CGs, IGs, and NGs, respectively); gestural effects differ from various intonation patterns; and gestural effects are based on the complexity of stimuli. The results showed that identification was most accurate for CGs, followed by NGs and IGs for both word and sentence stimuli. Although gestural effects differed depending on intonation patterns and the target stimuli, observing CGs enhances the perception of intonation patterns, including rising patterns, which are particularly challenging for Japanese learners. Consequently, these findings provide pedagogical implications for incorporating pitch gestures into both the learning and teaching of second-language intonation.

This study investigated Mandarin-speaking English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners’ prominence production in relation to prominence position, focus type, and proficiency. Eighty Mandarin-speaking EFL learners and 20 native English speakers read 12 question-answer pairs in English, with the questions eliciting different prominence patterns (end vs. non-end) for different focus types (broad vs. narrow). The results revealed that the phonological aspect (prominence assignment) was influenced by prominence position, focus type, and proficiency, but the phonetic aspect (phonetic realization of prominence) was affected only by prominence position. Phonologically, the learners achieved more native-like performance on end than non-end prominence, on broad than narrow focus, and their performance improved with proficiency. Phonetically, they achieved more native-like performance on end than non-end prominence and produced native-like F and intensity, but not duration. Drawing on these patterns, in teaching priorities should be given to prominence assignment over phonetic realization, non-end over end prominence, and narrow over broad focus.