Automation of Function Assignment in the Models of Speech Production and Second Language Acquisition

This article explores the concept of function assignment in first language (L1) and second language (L2) speech production, compares automation of function assignment in L1 and L2 speech production, pursues factors hampering automation of function assignment in L2 speech production, and discusses how to improve automation of function assignment in L2 speech production. Grammatical encoding, of which function assignment is one of the subordinate processes, is also one of the processes in L2 speech production. While function assignment in L1 speech production is mostly automatic, it demands much attentional resources and is executed under conscious supervision in L2 speech production. L2 learners’ incomplete knowledge of the target language and their limited working memory resources hamper automation of function assignment in L2 speech production. Furthermore, as per generative models of learning, to improve automation of function assignment, teachers can either adopt strategies or improve instructional designs targeting this subprocess. Together, this conceptual paper gives a comprehensive overview of automation of function assignment, explores its impact on second language acquisition (SLA), and reveals that it is feasible to facilitate automation of function assignment in L2 speech production by improving instructional designs, especially the presentation methods of sentence elements.

The Impressionistic Study of English /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ in Initial Position by L2 Thai Learners

Although studies on English sound learning by L2 Thai learners have been widely examined, there have been no studies on the production of the English /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ sounds in the initial position by L2 Thai learners with consideration of vowel contexts, the experience of L2 learners and target sounds. The aim of this study is to examine the production of the English /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ sounds in the initial position while taking the aforementioned factors into account. The data was from 48 L2 Thai learners, and the subjects were divided into two groups of university students: English-majors and non-English-majors. The two target sounds: English /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ together with the Thai /tɕʰ/ sound were tested in 27 words (9 words for each target sound). The subjects produced the target sounds five times, and their production was transcribed by two British transcribers. The results showed that the subjects had high target-like production when producing /ʃ/ but low target-like production when producing /tʃ/. In finding the correlation between the factors and the target-like production, neither the vowel contexts nor the experience could account for the production. The only factor that relates to the production of English /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ was the target sounds, i.e. the number of the productions that was deemed non-target-like was significantly higher when the target sound was /tʃ/ than when it was /ʃ/. This suggests that the target sounds, rather than the L2 experience and the vowel contexts, play a significant role in L2 speech production.

A cross-language study on feedforward and feedback control of voice intensity in Chinese–English bilinguals

Speech production requires the combined efforts of feedforward and feedback control, but it remains unclear whether the relative weighting of feedforward and feedback control is organized differently between the first language (L1) and the second language (L2). In the present study, a group of Chinese–English bilinguals named pictures in their L1 and L2, while being exposed to multitalker noise. Experiment 1 compared feedforward control between L1 and L2 speech production by examining intensity increases in response to a masking noise (90 dB SPL). Experiment 2 compared feedback control between L1 and L2 speech production by examining intensity increases in response to a weak (30 dB SPL) or strong noise (60 dB SPL). We also examined a potential relationship between L2 fluency and the relative weighting of feedforward and feedback systems. The results indicated that L2 speech production relies less on feedforward control relative to L1, exhibiting attenuated Lombard effects to the masking noise. In contrast, L2 speech production relies more on feedback control than L1, producing larger Lombard effects to the weak and strong noise. The relative weighting of feedforward and feedback control is dynamically changed as second language learning progresses.

An incremental model of second language speech production mechanisms: Developmental evidence from object ellipsis in second language Chinese speech production

Aims: This study investigates object ellipsis in English and Korean speakers’ second language (L2) Chinese speech production and the effects of first language (L1) influence in L2 Chinese speech production. Design: 59 English speakers and 64 Korean speakers at various Chinese proficiency levels, as well as 16 native speakers of Chinese, participated in the study. In addition to an acceptability judgement test, an utterance-recall task was employed in the study to prime participants for relevant structures. Findings: There are early stages where derivations, such as move, deletion, etc., are not implemented in L2 speech production, although at later stages L2 speech production mechanisms can converge with that of native speakers. No evidence of L1 influence is found, and L2 learners are found to behave differently in the utterance-recall task and the sentence acceptability judgement task. Originality: The study includes data from L2 Chinese learners from beginner to advanced levels and provides a comprehensive picture of structural priming effects on the development of L2 speech production. Implications: There is a discontinuity in the development of L2 speech production mechanisms, and the development of the mechanisms is incremental in nature. Mechanisms for L2 language comprehension are different from those for L2 speech production, at least as far as L2 at the early stages is concerned.

Lexical Access in L2 Speech Production: a controlled serial search task

When it comes to lexical access in L2 speech production, working memory (WM) seems to play a central role as for less automatized procedures require more WM capacity to be executed (Prebianca, 2007). With that in mind, this paper aims at claiming that bilingual lexical access qualifies as a controlled serial strategic search task susceptible to individual differences in WM capacity. Evidence in support of such claim is provided by the results of AUTHOR's (2010) study conducted so as to investigate the relationship between L2 lexical access, WMC and L2 proficiency. AUTHOR's (2010) findings indicate that bilingual lexical access entails underlying processes such as cue generation, set delimitation, serial search and monitoring, which to be carried out, require the allocation of attention. Attention is limited and, as a result, only higher spans were able to perform these underlying processes automatically.