The Effects of Early English Learning on Auditory Perception of English Minimal Pairs by Taiwan University Students

Lin, Hui-Li; Chang, Hsing-Wu; Cheung, Hintat

doi:10.1023/b:jopr.0000010513.34809.61

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…We identified five such studies (summarized in Appendix S1, Table S1.2, in the Supporting Information online). Their findings either were mixed (Larson‐Hall, 2008; Lin, Chang, & Cheung, 2004) or suggested no relationship between AO and language proficiency (Al Thubaiti, 2010; Muñoz, 2011, 2014). However, all five studies share two serious limitations.…”

Section: Background Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

The Long‐Term Proficiency of Early, Middle, and Late Starters Learning English as a Foreign Language at School: A Narrative Review and Empirical Study

et al. 2020

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Throughout Europe, there is a growing trend for students to start learning foreign languages at elementary school. Although policymakers expect early‐start programs to boost second language skills, empirical findings are mixed; recent studies have raised many questions. In this large‐scale study, we aimed to close some of these gaps. We examined the effects of early‐start English on receptive language proficiency in a random sample of 19,858 students from 1,431 Year 9 classes in Germany, comparing the reading and listening comprehension of early starters (English from Year 1), a middle group (Year 3), and late starters (Year 5), and analyzing to what extent foreign language instruction at secondary level builds on students’ existing knowledge. By Year 9, the proficiency levels of the three groups differed only slightly. We provide evidence that this lack of long‐term impact may be attributable to English teaching at secondary level being insufficiently adaptive to students’ prior knowledge.

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Section: Background Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

The Long‐Term Proficiency of Early, Middle, and Late Starters Learning English as a Foreign Language at School: A Narrative Review and Empirical Study

et al. 2020

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“…It has been noted that non-native listeners may have similar speech perception skills as native listeners in low noise conditions, but that these abilities significantly decrease in high noise conditions (Buus et al, 1986; Florentine et al, 1984; Lin, Chang & Cheung, 2004; Mayo, Florentine & Buus, 1997; Tabri, Abou Chacra & Pring, 2011; Takata & Nabelek, 1990). Using the Speech-in-Noise (SiN) task, Mayo, Florentine & Buus (1997) showed that not only was speech perception in noise poorer in L2 learners, but that it was also dependent on the age the L2 was acquired; bilinguals who learnt English after 14 years of age had the worst performance in the SiN task compared to monolinguals and bilinguals who learnt English before 6 years of age.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Poorer verbal working memory for a second language selectively impacts academic achievement in university medical students

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et al. 2013

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Working memory (WM) is often poorer for a second language (L2). In low noise conditions, people listening to a language other than their first language (L1) may have similar auditory perception skills for that L2 as native listeners, but do worse in high noise conditions, and this has been attributed to the poorer WM for L2. Given that WM is critical for academic success in children and young adults, these speech in noise effects have implications for academic performance where the language of instruction is L2 for a student. We used a well-established Speech-in-Noise task as a verbal WM (vWM) test, and developed a model correlating vWM and measures of English proficiency and/or usage to scholastic outcomes in a multi-faceted assessment medical education program. Significant differences in Speech-Noise Ratio (SNR50 ) values were observed between medical undergraduates who had learned English before or after five years of age, with the latter group doing worse in the ability to extract whole connected speech in the presence of background multi-talker babble (Student-t tests, p < 0.001). Significant negative correlations were observed between the SNR50 and seven of the nine variables of English usage, learning styles, stress, and musical abilities in a questionnaire administered to the students previously. The remaining two variables, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Age of Acquisition of English (AoAoE) were significantly positively correlated with the SNR50 , showing that those with a poorer capacity to discriminate simple English sentences from noise had learnt English later in life and had higher levels of stress – all characteristics of the international students. Local students exhibited significantly lower SNR50 scores and were significantly younger when they first learnt English. No significant correlation was detected between the SNR50 and the students’ Visual/Verbal Learning Style (r = −0.023). Standard multiple regression was carried out to assess the relationship between language proficiency and verbal working memory (SNR50 ) using 5 variables of L2 proficiency, with the results showing that the variance in SNR50 was significantly predicted by this model (r2 = 0.335). Hierarchical multiple regression was then used to test the ability of three independent variable measures (SNR50 , age of acquisition of English and English proficiency) to predict academic performance as the dependent variable in a factor analysis model which predicted significant performance differences in an assessment requiring communications skills (p = 0.008), but not on a companion assessment requiring knowledge of procedural skills, or other assessments requiring factual knowledge. Thus, impaired vWM for an L2 appears to affect specific communications-based assessments in university medical students.

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“…The research that has been done so far regarding EFL pronunciation has generally focused on the segmental level (Foote et al, 2016;Murphy, 1997). The effectiveness of L 2 phonemic instruction has been measured with speakers from various L 1 backgrounds (Derwing, Munro & Wiebe, 1997;Dufour, Nguyen & Frauenfelder, 2010;Gordon, Darcy & Ewert, 2013;Kissling, 2013;Levis & Cortés, 2008;Lin, Chang & Cheung, 2004;Tuan, 2010).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effectiveness of the Instruction of the Intonation of English Implications to L1 Spanish Trainee Teachers

Olea

2019

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When it comes to Second and Foreign Language Teaching, the teaching of pronunciation has, for long, been neglected (Derwin & Munro, 2005) and it has not been given due attention in textbooks (Thompson, 1995). Additionally, studies tend to focus on only some intonation patterns such as wh-questions and yes-no questions, leaving other patterns which are as important unexplored. Thus, a research gap is generated. This study aims to narrow that gap by means of exploring the effectiveness of the teaching of intonation to Spanish-speaking trainee teachers at a Chilean university. The study focuses on a less familiar intonation pattern, that of utterances which express implied information, namely, implications. The study involved 9 participants (3 males, and 6 females) who were in the process of becoming English teachers and who were enrolled in an English phonetics course. All participants took a pre-test followed by a foursession intervention on the intonation of English implications and a post-test which involved the reading of 29 prompts. In order to compare pre-and posttest results, a Wilcoxon signed-ranked test was run. The results drawn from the non-parametric test revealed that the participants were able to perform English intonation for implications better after having received training (Mdn=22) than before the treatment (Mdn=11), Z=-2,668, p=0,008.

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The Effects of Early English Learning on Auditory Perception of English Minimal Pairs by Taiwan University Students

Cited by 6 publications

References 21 publications

The Long‐Term Proficiency of Early, Middle, and Late Starters Learning English as a Foreign Language at School: A Narrative Review and Empirical Study

The Long‐Term Proficiency of Early, Middle, and Late Starters Learning English as a Foreign Language at School: A Narrative Review and Empirical Study

Poorer verbal working memory for a second language selectively impacts academic achievement in university medical students

The Effectiveness of the Instruction of the Intonation of English Implications to L1 Spanish Trainee Teachers

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