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Child Bilingualism and Second Language Learning: Multidisciplinary perspectives
Edited by Fangfang Li, Karen E. Pollock and Robbin Gibb
[Bilingual Processing and Acquisition 10] 2020
► pp. 9–28

Chapter 2
The application of bilingual phonological learning models to early second language development

| Université de Montréal
| University of Alberta

The goal of this chapter is to review how bilingual phonological learning models can be applied to understanding early second language development among children in kindergarten. Specifically, we review Best’s Perceptual Assimilation Model, Flege’s Speech Learning Model, Kuhl’s Language Magnet Model, and Willem van Leussen & Escudero’s Second Language Phonetic Model. We present results from a study of 25 children who were attending kindergarten in French and who spoke Tagalog and English at home. The children’s consonant productions in a word naming task were transcribed and analysed. Although the results did not align with a single model, it was useful conceptually to contrast “shared” versus “unshared” phonemes as the “unshared” phonemes were produced with lower accuracy overall.

Article outline
  • Introduction
    • Cross-linguistic interactions
    • Models of non-native speech sound perception and speech sound learning
    • Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM) (Best, McRoberts, & Goodell, 2001)
    • Native Language Magnet Model (NLM) (Kuhl, Tsuzaki, Tohkura, & Meltzoff, 1994)
    • Speech Learning Model (SLM) (Flege, 1997)
    • Second Language Phonetic Learning Model (L2PL) (van Leussen & Escudero, 2015)
  • Current study
    • Participants
    • Data collection and analysis
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • References
Published online: 1 December 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.10.02mez
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