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Part of
English Pronunciation Instruction: Research-based insights
Edited by Anastazija Kirkova-Naskova, Alice Henderson and Jonás Fouz-González
[AILA Applied Linguistics Series 19] 2021
► pp. 327–356

Chapter 14
Differential effects of lexical and non-lexical high-variability phonetic training on the production of L2 vowels

| University of Barcelona
| University of Barcelona
| University of Barcelona

This study investigated the effects of phonetically-oriented and lexically-oriented high-variability phonetic training. Forty-one L1-Catalan/Spanish EFL learners were randomly assigned to three groups. Two were trained on the English /æ/-/ʌ/ contrast either through nonwords (n=14) or words (n=12), and an untrained group (n=15) served as control. Training consisted of discrimination, identification, and immediate repetition tasks. Participants were tested on their vowel production through a delayed word repetition task. Gains were assessed through normalised Bark-converted spectral distance scores between trainees’ and native speakers’ productions of the target sounds. The results revealed that the nonword group’s vowel qualities were closer to those of native speakers at post-test, suggesting that attention to phonetic detail induced by nonword-based training was superior to lexically-oriented training.

Keywords: High-variability phonetic training, nonword/word training, L2 vowel production, generalisation of learning, lexical encoding, focus on phonetic forms, English as a foreign language
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Conditions in HVPT
  • Methods
    • Participants
    • Materials
    • Phonetic training
    • Testing
    • Procedures
    • Data analysis
  • Results
    • Generalisation effects
    • Training group effects
  • Discussion
  • Pedagogical implications
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 13 October 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.19.14ort
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