The gender factor in the perception of English segments by non-native speakers

Bryła-Cruz, Agnieszka

doi:10.14746/ssllt.2021.11.1.5

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Unlike previous research on language learning and phonetics that showed a gender gap in sound perception (e.g., Hansen Edwards 2008;Moyer 2010Moyer , 2016, the present study indicated that females did not significantly outperform males in the perception task involving auditory discrimination. However, the lack of a significant gender effect in learners' perceptions of Arabic contrastive consonants is in line with some previous research in the field of second-language acquisition (e.g., Bryla-Cruz 2021). This implies that gender may not be a major factor in determining how people perceive and process phonetic information in a second language.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Learners’ Perceptions of Arabic Consonant Contrasts: Gender and Learning-Context Effects

Shehata

2024

Languages

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This study investigates the effects of gender and the learning context on learners’ perceptions of Arabic consonant contrasts. To this end, 60 intermediate Arabic learners, half of which were males and half of which were females, were recruited from two different learning contexts: a study-abroad (SA) program in Egypt and an at-home (AH) setting at a western American university. Learners in the two groups were tested before and after a semester of Arabic study using a perception task that involved distinguishing four Arabic consonant contrasts: /d - dˁ/, /h - ħ/, /s - sˁ/, and /t - tˁ/). The results reveal that the advantage of females in segmental identification accuracy was not verified, as female performance did not significantly differ from male performance in any of the four target consonant contrasts. In contrast, the learning context was found to positively impact learners’ perceptions of the target Arabic consonants, as the SA group significantly outperformed their counterparts in the AH environment on the /h - ħ/ and /d - dˁ/ contrasts. However, there were no significant differences between learners in the two different contexts regarding the two other consonant contrasts (i.e., /s - sˁ/ and /t - tˁ/). The findings bring insights into the understanding of the gender-based differences in identifying problematic Arabic consonantal contrasts for English learners in two different contexts of learning, and they shed light on the implications for language pedagogy for pronunciation training.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Learners’ Perceptions of Arabic Consonant Contrasts: Gender and Learning-Context Effects

Shehata

2024

Languages

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“…The Gender Role Theory posits that prevalent gender stereotypes are culturally shared expectations for gender appropriate behaviors. Females and males acquire appropriate behaviors and attitudes from the sociocultural environment they grow up in ( Eagly and Karau, 2002 ; Bryła-Cruz, 2021 ). The biological viewpoint suggests that gender difference also depends on cognitive ability and learning style, which are derived from fundamental physiological differences, such as those in the development of the brain or higher-level cortical functions ( de Lima Xavier et al, 2019 ).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

State Boredom Partially Accounts for Gender Differences in Novel Lexicon Learning

Wang

Song

et al. 2022

Front. Psychol.

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Gender plays an important role in various aspects of second language acquisition, including lexicon learning. Many studies have suggested that compared to males, females are less likely to experience boredom, one of the frequently experienced deactivating negative emotions that may impair language learning. However, the contribution of boredom to gender-related differences in lexicon learning remains unclear. To address this question, here we conducted two experiments with a large sample of over 1,000 college students to explore the relationships between gender differences in boredom and lexicon learning. In Experiment 1, a cohort of 527 participants (238 males) completed the trait and state boredom scales as well as a novel lexicon learning task without awareness of the testing process. In Experiment 2, an independent cohort of 506 participants (228 males) completed the same novel lexicon learning task with prior knowledge of the testing procedure. Results from both experiments consistently showed significant differences between female and male participants in the rate of forgetting words and the state boredom scores, with female participants performing better than male participants. Furthermore, differences in state boredom scores partially explained differences in the rate of forgetting words between female and male participants. These findings demonstrate a novel contribution of state boredom to gender differences in lexicon learning, which provides new insights into better language-learning ability in females.

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“…There is a cornucopia of previous publications that focus on EFL learners' and speakers' problems with /z/ (Broersma 2010;Bryła-Cruz 2021;Demirezen 2016;Flege, Hillenbrand 1986;Lersveen 2018;McAllister 2007;Rugaeseter 2014;Roa et al 2021;Zhang et al 2021). The prior research literature focuses on i) the perception of the /s/ -/z/ contrast by EFL speakers and their English L1 controls (Broersma 2010;Flege, Hillenbrand 1986), ii) the perception of the /s/ -/z/ contrast by EFL speakers without the reference to the English L1 controls (McAllister 2007;Rugaeseter 2014;Roa et al 2021), iii) EFL speakers' perception and production of English fricatives inclusive of /z/ (Demirezen 2016;Lersveen 2018;Zhang et al 2021), and iv) gender differences in the production and perception of /z/ (Bryła-Cruz 2021).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gender differences in the production and perception of English consonants, inclusive of /z/, are explored by Bryła-Cruz (2021). She suggests that the /s/ -/z/ contrast is difficult to Polish L1 EFL speakers in the word-final position.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, it is difficult for 20% of female and 37.5% male participants in her study. Bryła-Cruz (2021) argues that whilst there is a Polish counterpart of /z/, Polish L1 EFL speakers' problems with the perception of /z/ are associated with insufficient attention to vowel duration as a temporal parameter in the /s/ -/z/ contrast (Bryła-Cruz 2021: 130).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The English Fricative Consonant /z/ as a Challenge to Norwegian L1 EFL Learners: An Error Analysis of Phonemic Transcriptions

Капранов

2022

PET

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English fricatives, such as /z/, are thought to pose substantial challenges to the students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) whose first languages (L1s) are characterised by phonetic repertoires that are dissimilar to that of English as far as fricatives are concerned (Kallio et al. 2021;Kanokpermpoon 2007). The absence of the fricative /z/ in the phonetic inventory of Norwegian is reported to impact negatively on the Norwegian L1 EFL learners' speech production in English (Rugesaeter 2014). The study that is further presented in the article aims to analyse potential challenges associated with the English fricative consonant /z/ experienced by a group of Norwegian L1 EFL students (hereafter "participants") on the B2 level of proficiency in English according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (The Council of Europe 2011). To that end, the participants were requested to execute a series of phonemic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA): one transcription at the end of the autumn semester (Task 1) and another one at the end of the spring semester (Task 2). The phonemic transcriptions in the study were regarded as a diagnostic tool (Fouz-González, Mompean 2021; Lintunen 2005) that provided an index of the participants' familiarity with /z/ and, indirectly, reflected their use of /z/. The error analysis of the participants' transcriptions revealed that the majority of them made mistakes by substituting /z/ for /s/. Considering that the substitution of /z/ for /s/ was common in Task 1 and persisted in Task 2, it was concluded that the participants, who were on the upper-intermediate level of English proficiency, found /z/ challenging. The linguo-didactic implications of the findings are discussed in the article.

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The gender factor in the perception of English segments by non-native speakers

Cited by 6 publications

References 71 publications

Learners’ Perceptions of Arabic Consonant Contrasts: Gender and Learning-Context Effects

Learners’ Perceptions of Arabic Consonant Contrasts: Gender and Learning-Context Effects

State Boredom Partially Accounts for Gender Differences in Novel Lexicon Learning

The English Fricative Consonant /z/ as a Challenge to Norwegian L1 EFL Learners: An Error Analysis of Phonemic Transcriptions

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