scholarly journals Computer-based auditory training improves second-language vowel production in spontaneous speech

2018 ◽  
Vol 144 (3) ◽  
pp. EL165-EL171
Author(s):  
Angelos Lengeris
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Auditory Training ◽  
Vowel Production ◽  
Computer Based

scholarly journals Does Studying in a Music-oriented Education Program Affect Non-native Sound Learning? — Effects of Passive Auditory Training on Children’s Vowel Production

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 678-687
Author(s):  
Katja Immonen ◽  
Jemina Kilpeläinen ◽  
Paavo Alku ◽  
Maija S. Peltola
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Education Program ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Auditory Training ◽  
Vowel Production ◽  
Musical Background ◽  
Second Formant ◽  
Vowel Contrast

Earlier studies have shown that children are efficient second language learners. Research has also shown that musical background might affect second language learning. A two-day auditory training paradigm was used to investigate whether studying in a music-oriented education program affects children’s sensitivity to acquire a non-native vowel contrast. Training effects were measured with listen-and-repeat production tests. Two groups of monolingual Finnish children (9–11 years, N=23) attending music-oriented and regular fourth grades were tested. The stimuli were two semisynthetic pseudo words /ty:ti/ and /tʉ:ti/ with the native vowel /y/ and the non-native vowel /ʉ/ embedded. Both groups changed their pronunciation after the first training. The change was reflected in the second formant values of /ʉ/, which lowered significantly after three trainings. The results show that 9–11-year-old children benefit from passive auditory training in second language production learning regardless of whether or not they attend a music-oriented education program.

Auditory Training to Improve Speech Perception and Self-Efficacy in Aging Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 1270-1281
Author(s):  
Leah Fostick ◽  
Riki Taitelbaum-Swead ◽  
Shulamith Kreitler ◽  
Shelly Zokraut ◽  
Miriam Billig
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Temporal Order Judgment ◽  
Auditory Training ◽  
Intensity Discrimination ◽  
Training Design ◽  
Auditory Temporal Processing ◽  
Temporal Properties ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Aging Adults

Purpose Difficulty in understanding spoken speech is a common complaint among aging adults, even when hearing impairment is absent. Correlational studies point to a relationship between age, auditory temporal processing (ATP), and speech perception but cannot demonstrate causality unlike training studies. In the current study, we test (a) the causal relationship between a spatial–temporal ATP task (temporal order judgment [TOJ]) and speech perception among aging adults using a training design and (b) whether improvement in aging adult speech perception is accompanied by improved self-efficacy. Method Eighty-two participants aged 60–83 years were randomly assigned to a group receiving (a) ATP training (TOJ) over 14 days, (b) non-ATP training (intensity discrimination) over 14 days, or (c) no training. Results The data showed that TOJ training elicited improvement in all speech perception tests, which was accompanied by increased self-efficacy. Neither improvement in speech perception nor self-efficacy was evident following non-ATP training or no training. Conclusions There was no generalization of the improvement resulting from TOJ training to intensity discrimination or generalization of improvement resulting from intensity discrimination training to speech perception. These findings imply that the effect of TOJ training on speech perception is specific and such improvement is not simply the product of generally improved auditory perception. It provides support for the idea that temporal properties of speech are indeed crucial for speech perception. Clinically, the findings suggest that aging adults can be trained to improve their speech perception, specifically through computer-based auditory training, and this may improve perceived self-efficacy.

Grammatical Gender in the German Multiethnolect

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-29
Author(s):  
Peter Auer ◽  
Vanessa Siegel
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Grammatical Category ◽  
Immigrant Background ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Bare Nouns ◽  
Gender System ◽  
Germanic Languages

While major restructurings and simplifications have been reported for gender systems of other Germanic languages in multiethnolectal speech, this article demonstrates that the three-way gender distinction of German is relatively stable among young speakers from an immigrant background. We investigate gender in a German multiethnolect based on a corpus of approximately 17 hours of spontaneous speech produced by 28 young speakers in Stuttgart (mainly from Turkish and Balkan background). German is not their second language, but (one of) their first language(s), which they have fully acquired from childhood. We show that the gender system does not show signs of reduction in the direction of a two-gender system, nor of wholesale loss. We also argue that the position of gender in the grammar is weakened by independent innovations, such as the frequent use of bare nouns in grammatical contexts where German requires a determiner. Another phenomenon that weakens the position of gender is the simplification of adjective-noun agreement and the emergence of a generalized gender-neutral suffix for prenominal adjectives (that is, schwa). The disappearance of gender and case marking in the adjective means that the grammatical category of gender is lost in Adj + N phrases (without a determiner).

scholarly journals The Emergence of Second Language Categorisation of the English Article Construction

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Helen Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Functional Categories ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Form Function ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Increased Sensitivity ◽  
English Articles

This study examines the emergent cognitive categorisation of the English article construction among second language (L2) learners. One hundred and fourteen Mandarin-L1 learners of English, divided into two L2 proficiency levels (low-to-intermediate and advanced), were measured by a computer-based cloze test for the accuracy and response time of appropriate use of English articles in sentential contexts. Results showed that when learners acquired the polysemous English article construction they demonstrated stronger competence in differentiating individual form-function mappings in the article construction. L2 learners’ patterns of article construction usage were shaped by semantic functions. Learners performed better on the definiteness category than on the non-definiteness categories, suggesting that learners were sensitive to the prototypicality of nominal grounding. Advanced learners demonstrated an increased sensitivity to semantic idiosyncrasy, but they lacked contextualised constructional knowledge. Competition among the functional categories and restructuring of functional categories are important ways of regularization that learners go through to acquire semantically complex systems such as articles.

scholarly journals Computer Dictionaries and Encyclopedias in Teaching English as a Second Language

1970 ◽  
pp. 55-62
Author(s):  
Damira Jantassova ◽  
Safura Zhilkishenova ◽  
Elena Klukina
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Information Search ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Free Access ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
School Students ◽  
Experimental Teaching ◽  
Computer Based

The objective of this paper is to explore one of the aspects of the problem of the use of information communication technologies in English as a Second Language teaching and learning. There has been studies on the effectiveness of computer dictionaries and encyclopedias in teaching and learning English language as well as the attitude of school English teachers to the application of computerbased inquiry software that are considered to be new in Kazakhstani comprehensive education. This article argues that computer dictionaries and encyclopedias contribute to development of English language learning by providing a teacher and a learner with a didactic tool for free access to a variety of materials, comfortable information search opportunities, and communication as well. The study that was conducted in Karaganda city high school, Kazakhstan, shows that the computer dictionaries and encyclopedias motivate school students to learn English language more enthusiastically. Key words: computer-based inquiry software, hypermedia, language skills, experimental teaching DOI: 10.3126/nelta.v14i1.3091 Journal of NELTA Vol.14, No 1&2, 2009 December Page: 55-62

Can a Commercially Available Auditory Training Program Improve Audiovisual Speech Performance?

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (3S) ◽  
pp. 308-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dania Rishiq ◽  
Aparna Rao ◽  
Tess Koerner ◽  
Harvey Abrams
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Auditory Training ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
Hearing Aid Use ◽  
Speech Performance ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
B Test ◽  
Experimental Group

Purpose The goal of this study was to determine whether hearing aids in combination with computer-based auditory training improve audiovisual (AV) performance compared with the use of hearing aids alone. Method Twenty-four participants were randomized into an experimental group (hearing aids plus ReadMyQuips [RMQ] training) and a control group (hearing aids only). The Multimodal Lexical Sentence Test for Adults (Kirk et al., 2012) was used to measure auditory-only (AO) and AV speech perception performance at three signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Participants were tested at the time of hearing aid fitting (pretest), after 4 weeks of hearing aid use (posttest I), and again after 4 weeks of RMQ training (posttest II). Results Results did not reveal an effect of training. As expected, interactions were found between (a) modality (AO vs. AV) and SNR and (b) test (pretest vs. posttests) and SNR. Conclusion Data do not show a significant effect of RMQ training on AO or AV performance as measured using the Multimodal Lexical Sentence Test for Adults.

TRENDS IN COMPUTER-BASED SECOND LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT

2005 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 228-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan Jamieson
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Language Testing ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Adaptive Tests ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Computer Adaptive Tests

In the last 20 years, several authors have described the possible changes that computers may effect in language testing. Since ARAL's last review of general language testing trends (Clapham, 2000), authors in the Cambridge Language Assessment Series have offered various visions of how computer technology could alter the testing of second language skills. This chapter reflects these perspectives as it charts the paths recently taken in the field. Initial steps were made in the conversion of existing item types and constructs already known from paper-and- pencil testing into formats suitable for computer delivery. This conversion was closely followed by the introduction of computer-adaptive tests, which aim to make more, and perhaps, better, use of computer capabilities to tailor tests more closely to individual abilities and interests. Movement toward greater use of computers in assessment has been coupled with an assumption that computer-based tests should be better than their traditional predecessors, and some related steps have been taken. Corpus linguistics has provided tools to create more authentic assessments; the quest for authenticity has also motivated inclusion of more complex tasks and constructs. Both these innovations have begun to be incorporated into computer-based language tests. Natural language processing has also provided some tools for computerized scoring of essays, particularly relevant in large-scale language testing programs. Although computer use has not revolutionized all aspects of language testing, recent efforts have produced some of the research, technological advances, and improved pedagogical understanding needed to support progress.

scholarly journals Computer-Based Auditory Training Programs for Children with Hearing Impairment – A Scoping Review

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (01) ◽  
pp. 088-093 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manohar Nanjundaswamy ◽  
Prashanth Prabhu ◽  
Revathi Rajanna ◽  
Raghavendra Ningegowda ◽  
Madhuri Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Impairment ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
Auditory Training ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Data Synthesis ◽  
Evidence Based Practices ◽  
Communication Breakdown ◽  
Rehabilitation Programs ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Computer Based

Introduction Communication breakdown, a consequence of hearing impairment (HI), is being fought by fitting amplification devices and providing auditory training since the inception of audiology. The advances in both audiology and rehabilitation programs have led to the advent of computer-based auditory training programs (CBATPs). Objective To review the existing literature documenting the evidence-based CBATPs for children with HIs. Since there was only one such article, we also chose to review the commercially available CBATPs for children with HI. The strengths and weaknesses of the existing literature were reviewed in order to improve further researches. Data Synthesis Google Scholar and PubMed databases were searched using various combinations of keywords. The participant, intervention, control, outcome and study design (PICOS) criteria were used for the inclusion of articles. Out of 124 article abstracts reviewed, 5 studies were shortlisted for detailed reading. One among them satisfied all the criteria, and was taken for review. The commercially available programs were chosen based on an extensive search in Google. The reviewed article was well-structured, with appropriate outcomes. The commercially available programs cover many aspects of the auditory training through a wide range of stimuli and activities. Conclusions There is a dire need for extensive research to be performed in the field of CBATPs to establish their efficacy, also to establish them as evidence-based practices.

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