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Research on the perception of novel phonemic contrasts by second language (L2) learners typically employs tasks such as identification and discrimination. These tasks allow researchers to study L2 speech in a highly controlled setting. However, they differ in important ways from natural communication, which normally requires learners to (1) access lexical representations of words containing novel contrasts, and (2) interpret linguistic context (e.g., syntax, semantics, discourse) while simultaneously perceiving/producing novel contrasts. This study investigated whether learners/ perceptual performance with respect to novel contrasts is mediated by whether or not tasks require lexical access (LA) and/or the simultaneous interpretation of linguistic context (SILC). Native English speakers learned Ukrainian auditory nonword pairs differentiated by palatalization contrasts along with pictured “meanings.” An ability to distinguish the words was tested in tasks differing on the two dimensions (LA and SILC). Performance was most accurate in the noLA + noSILC task, least accurate in the LA + SILC and noLA + SILC tasks, and intermediate in the LA + noSILC task, indicating that both LA and SILC appear to depress perceptual accuracy. However, the effect of SILC is stronger than that of LA. Future directions and implications for the study of L2 perception/production will be discussed.

The sound system of English is complex and varied. English learners bring their knowledge of other sound systems to the learning of English, and differences between sound systems may cause problems for them in listening and pronunciation. Choosing appropriate goals for pronunciation and listening, using perceptual training in addition to pronunciation training, and helping learners acquire strategies for dealing with problems with listening and pronunciation will help to facilitate successful communication beyond the English classroom.

Recent research has identified that L1 orthography can affect perception of vowels in a second language (e.g., Escudero and Wanrooij, 2010). The present study investigates the effect that participants' beliefs about orthography have on their ability to perceive vowels in a second language. English- and Polish-speaking learners of Swedish have to encounter some new vowel sounds and also the characters that are used to represent them, e.g., å, ä, and ö. New survey data of native speakers of English, Polish, and Swedish confirm that L1 English speakers see these characters like these as familiar letters with diacritics, while L1 Swedish and L1 Polish speakers tend to see these types of characters as different characters of the alphabet. These differing beliefs about orthography may cause English speakers to confuse the vowels represented in Swedish by the characters å, ä and ö with vowels represented by the characters a, a, and o, respectively, while Polish speakers would not be similarly affected. Results of a Swedish vowel perception study conducted with native speakers of English and Polish after exposure to Swedish words containing these characters will be presented. These results contribute to increasing knowledge about the relationship between L1 orthography and L2 phonology.