22 / 10 / 2010

Spoken word processing

Auditory Word Priming

Second Language Attention

Language Experience

1.

Research questions

2.

Research methods

3.

Research findings

4.

Relevance

5.

Critical notes

6.

Questions and Answers

To investigate whether the experience of L2

learners affect their sensitivity to
phonological information spoken under 2
circumstances :
a) when their attention is directed to the meaning
of the spoken words.
b) when their attention is NOT directed to the
meaning of the spoken words.

L2 learners with more experience

L2 learners with less experience

Attention is directed to the meaning of

words

Attention is not directed to the meaning

of words.

65 native Chinese speakers (23 female , 42

male)
They were divided into 2 groups :

The length of

The length of

residence (LOR) in

residence (LOR) in

Canada is

Canada is

1.3 years

3.5 years

(0.44 2.2 years)

(2.3 6.4 years)

These 2 groups were further categorized into the below :

Control Group

Semantic Group

Learners attention was

NOT directed to the
meaning of words

Learners attention was

directed to the meaning of
words

1st task
Listened to 46 words

Control group

Semantic group
(meaning based test)

Track the presentation order

Rate the words pleasantness

by circling the number (1-46)

on a 7-point scale

that corresponded to each

(1=meaning is unpleasant,

word serial position

7= meaning is pleasant)

2nd task (Repeating 1st task) with an

unfamiliar voice

Listened to 72 words

Abroad

Attitude

Demand

Foreign

Laught
er

People

Sister

Advice

Average

Dirty

Forgive

Magic

Properly Stomach

Afraid

Avoid

Discover Governme
nt

Manage Provide
r

Story

Again

Become

Effort

Happy

Many

Random

Suddenl
y

Agreeme
nt

Belong

Even

Healthy

Matter

Ready

Summar
y

Almost

Building

Expensi
ve

Hungry

Mistake Remain

Alone

Ceiling

Factory

Husband

Officer

Rememb
er

Today

Already

City

Failure

Improve

Often

Review

Togethe
r

Answer

Corner

Finger

Income

Pattern

Seldom

Unique

Area

Country

Follow

Judgmen
t

pencil

Severe

Water

Welcom
e

Welcom
e

Supper

In a familiar voice (repeated word forms & voices), the

participants with longer LOR showed better result in both
conditions (control & semantic)

In an unfamiliar voice (repeated word forms only), the

participants with both short and long LOR showed
no difference when they were directed to the
meaning of

words (semantic)

Initial stages of L2 learning

Encode, store, access spoken L2 episodically (not
reliable / short term memory)

Later stages of L2 learning (more experience)

Sensitive to abstract information
Create abstract phonological representation for
spoken words
Encode, store, access spoken words as lexicon

 When L2 learners are engaged in a meaningful,

semantic and phonological processing, LOR
doesnt play a significant part.
Why?
Adults learners tend to process the meaning or words
first, and add acoustic-phonetic labels to the words.
Inclined to reply on their already predominant
strategy of processing L2 input.

The Psychology of Language

Trevor A, Harley

The role of sound in accessing meaning :

Phonological mediation
page 216 - 217

1. A comprehensive study.

For example : the process to choose

participants

2. These findings must be replicated in the

future before any strong conclusion
regarding negative effects of meaningful
semantic processing can be drawn.