Cover not available
Article published In:
Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education
Vol. 9:1 (2021) ► pp.112–144

Phonological development in Spanish immersion

A comparison of programmatic context

ORCID logo | University of Minnesota
Studies of lexical and syntactic development in immersion programs are numerous, yet phonological development has received much less attention. This study compares the pronunciation of English home language students in one-way and two-way Spanish immersion programs across three sound classes: voiceless stops, rhotics, and vowels. Learner productions were analyzed acoustically and compared to those of Spanish-English bilingual peers. Findings suggest that the two-way immersion context may facilitate more nativelike articulation. Amount of exposure to native speaker input, emerging adolescent identity, and decreases in instructional use of the minority language are explored as contributing factors to the greater outcomes of two-way students.
Keywords: language immersion, Spanish, pronunciation, vowels, voice onset time, rhotics
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous research
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Tasks
    • 3.3Data analysis
  • 4.Voiceless stop consonants
    • 4.1Overview
    • 4.2Analysis
    • 4.3Results
  • 5.Rhotics
    • 5.1Overview
    • 5.2Analysis
    • 5.3Results
  • 6.Vowels
    • 6.1Overview
    • 6.2Analysis
    • 6.3Findings
  • 7.Discussion
    • 7.1Does the pronunciation of EHL students in a one-way Spanish immersion program differ from that of EHL students in a two-way Spanish immersion program as compared to SHL students in a two-way immersion program? If so, how?
    • 7.2Does the pronunciation of English home language students in Spanish immersion programs change over time? If so, how?
  • 8.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 3 December 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jicb.18013.men
References (98)
References
Au, T. K., Knightly, L. M., Jun, S., & Oh, J. S. (2002). Overhearing a language during childhood. Psychological Science, 13(3), 238–243. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bates, D., Machler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 671, 1–48. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blecua Falgueras, B. (2001). Las vibrantes del español: Manifestaciones acústicas y procesos fonéticos. (Unpubished doctoral dissertation). Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.Google Scholar
Bosch Galcerán, L. (1983). El desarrollo fonológico infantil: Una prueba para su evaluación. Anuario de Psicología 281, 88–114. [URL]
Bosch, L., Costa, A., & Sebastián-Galles, N. (2000). First- and second-language vowel perception in early bilinguals. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 121, 189–221. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bradlow, A. R. (1995). A comparative acoustic study of English and Spanish vowels. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 97(3), 1916–1924. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Campbell, R. (1984). The immersion education approach to foreign language teaching. In Studies in Immersion Education: A Collection for US Educators (pp. 114–143). Sacramento: California State Department of Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED239509)Google Scholar
Christian, D., Montone, C., Lindholm, K. J., & Carranza, I. (1997). Profiles in two-way immersion education. Delta Systems and Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar
Cobb, K., & Simonet, M. (2015). Adult second language learning of Spanish vowels. Hispania, 98(1), 47–60. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cho, T., & Keating, P. (2009). Effects of initial position versus prominence in English. Journal of Phonetics, 37(4), 466–485. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dalton-Puffer, C., Kaltenboeck, G., & Smit, U. (1997). Learner attitudes and L2 pronunciation in Austria. World Englishes, 16(1), 115–128. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Day, E. M., & Shapson, S. M. (1996). Studies in immersion education. Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
DeKeyser, R. M. (2000). The robustness of critical period effects in second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 22(4), 499–533. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Delattre, P. (1965). Comparing the phonetic features of English, French, German and Spanish: An interim report. Julius Groos Verlag Heidelbert.Google Scholar
Delforge, A. M. (2008). Unstressed vowel reduction in Andean Spanish. In L. Colantoni & J. Steele (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Laboratory Approaches to Spanish Phonology (107–124). Cascadilla Proceedings Project. [URL]
Díaz-Campos, M. (2004). Context of learning of Spanish second language phonology. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26(2), 249–273. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Díaz-Campos, M., & Lazar, N. (2003). Acoustic analysis of voiceless initial stops in the speech of study abroad and regular class students: Context of learning as a variable in second language acquisition. In P. Kempchinsky, & C. – E. Piñeros (Eds.), Theory, practice, and acquisition: Papers from the 6th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium and the 5th Conference on the Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese (pp. 352–370). Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Eckman, F. R. (1977). Markedness and the contrastive analysis hypothesis. Language Learning, 27(2), 315–330. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Elliot, A. R. (1997). On the teaching and acquisition of pronunciation within a communicative approach. Hispania, 80(1), 95–108. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Face, T. L. (2006). Intervocalic rhotic pronunciation by adult learners of Spanish as a second language. In C. A. Klee & T. L. Face (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 7th Conference on the Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as First and Second Languages (pp. 47–58). Cascadilla. [URL]
Face, T. L. & Menke, M. R. (2020). L2 acquisition of Spanish VOT by English-speaking immigrants in Spain. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 13(2). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Flege, J. E. (1995). Second language speech learning: Theory, findings, and problems. In W. Strange (Ed.), Speech perception and linguistic experience: theoretical and methodological issues (pp. 233–277). York Press.Google Scholar
(1991). Age of learning affects the authenticity of voice-onset time (VOT) in stop consonants produced in a second language. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 89(1), 395–411. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1987). The production of ‘new’ and ‘similar’ phones in a foreign language: Evidence for the effect of equivalence classification. Journal of Phonetics, 151, 47–65. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Flege, J. E., & Eefting, W. (1987). Production and perception of English stops by native Spanish speakers. Journal of Phonetics, 15(1), 67–83. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Flege, J. E., & Hillenbrand, J. (1984). Limits on pronunciation accuracy in adult foreign language speech production. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 76(3), 708–721. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Flege, J. E., Frieda, E. M., & Nozawa, T. (1997). Amount of native-language (L1) use affects the pronunciation of an L2. Journal of Phonetics, 25(2), 169–186. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fortune, T. W. (2001). Understanding immersion students’ oral language use as a mediator of social interaction in the classroom. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Minnesota.Google Scholar
Fortune, T. W., & Arabbo, M. A. (2006). Attending to Immersion Language Proficiency at the Program Level. Dual Language Immersion Pre-Conference Institute of the National Association of Bilingual Education.Google Scholar
Fortune, T. W., & Tedick, D. J. (2015). Oral proficiency development of K-8 Spanish immersion students. Modern Language Journal, 99(4), 637–655. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fought, C. (2003). Chicano English in context. Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Freeman, R. D. (1996). Dual language planning at Oyster Bilingual School: “It’s much more than language.” TESOL Quarterly, 30(3), 557–582. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Freeman, Y. S., Freeman, D. E., & Mercuri, S. P. (2005). Dual language essentials for teachers and administrators. Heinemann.Google Scholar
García Lecumberri, M. L., & Gallardo, F. (2003). English FL sounds in school learners of different ages. In M. del P. García Mayo & M. L. García Lecumberri (Eds.), Age and the acquisition of English as a foreign language (pp. 115–135). Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Genesee, F. (1994). Integrating language and content: Lessons from immersion (Research Report 11). National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning. [URL]
(1987). Learning through two languages: Studies of immersion and bilingual education. Heinle & Heinle.Google Scholar
Granena, G., & Long, M. H. (2013). Age of onset, length of residence, language aptitude, and ultimate L2 attainment in three linguistic domains. Second Language Research, 29(3), 311–343. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grøsjean, F. (1989). Neurolinguists, beware! The bilingual is not two monolinguals in one person. Brain and Language, 36(1), 3–15. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Guion, S. (2003). The vowel systems of Quichua-Spanish bilinguals: Age of acquisition effects on the mutual influence of the first and second languages. Phonetica, 601, 98–128. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Guirao, M., & García Jurado, M. A. (1990). Frequency of occurrence of phonemes in American Spanish. Revue québécoise de linguistique, 19(2), 135–149. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hahn, L. D. (2004). Primary stress and intelligibility: Research to motivate the teaching of suprasegmentals. TESOL Quarterly, 38(2), 201–223. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Harada, T. (2007). The production of voice onset time (VOT) by English-speaking children in a Japanese immersion program. IRAL, 45(4), 353–378. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2006). The acquisition of single and geminate stops by English-speaking children in a Japanese immersion program. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 28(4), 601–632. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1999). The acquisition of segmental timing by children in a Japanese immersion program. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of California – Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Harley, B. (1979). French gender ‘rules’ in the speech of English-dominant, French-dominant and monolingual French-speaking children. Working Papers on Bilingualism, 191, 129–156.Google Scholar
Harley, B., & Swain, M. (1984). The interlanguage of immersion students and its implications for second language teaching. In A. Davies et al. (Ed), Interlanguage (pp. 291–311). Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Hedgcock, J. S., & Lefkowitz, N. (2000). Overt and covert prestige in the French language classroom: When is it good to sound bad? Applied Language Learning, 11(1), 75–97.Google Scholar
Henriksen, N. C., & Willis, E. W. (2010). Acoustic characterization of phonemic trill production in Jerezano Andalusian Spanish. In M. Ortega-Llebaria (ed.), Selected proceedings of the 4th conference on laboratory approaches to Spanish phonology (pp. 115–127). Cascadilla Proceedings.Google Scholar
Howard, E. R., & Sugarman, J. (2001). Two-way immersion program: Features and statistics. ERIC Digest, EDO-FL-01-01. Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics. [URL]
Kent, R. D., & Read, C. (1992). The acoustic analysis of speech. Singular Publishing Group.Google Scholar
Kessinger, R. H. & Blumstein, S. E. (1997). Effects of speaking rate on voice-onset time in Thai, French, and English. Journal of Phonetics, 25(2), 143–168. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Labov, W. (1973). The linguistic consequences of being a lame. Language in Society, 2(1), 81–115. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ladefoged, P. (2006). A course in phonetics (5 ed.). Thomson Wadsworth.Google Scholar
Larson-Hall, J. (2008). Weighing the benefits of studying a foreign language at a younger starting age in a minimal input situation. Second Language Research, 24(1), 35–63. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lefkowitz, N., & Hedgcock, J. (2002). Sound barriers: Influences of social prestige, peer pressure, and teacher (dis)approval on FL oral performance. Language Teaching Research, 6(3), 223–244. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lev-Ari, S., & Keysar, B. (2010). Why don’t we believe non-native speakers? The influence of accent on credibility. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46(6), 1093–1096. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Linares, T. A. (1981). Articulation skills in Spanish-speaking children. In R. Padilla (Ed.), Ethnoperspectives in bilingual education research: Bilingual education technology (pp. 363–367). Eastern Michigan University Press.Google Scholar
Linck, J. A., & Cummings, I. (2015). The utility and application of mixed-effects models in second language research. Language Learning, 65(S1), 185–207. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lippi-Green, R. (1997). English with an accent: Language, ideology and discrimination in the United States. Routledge.Google Scholar
Lisker, L. & Abramson, A. (1964). A cross-language study of voicing in initial stops: Acoustical measurements. Word, 20(3), 384–422. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lobanov, B. M. (1971). Classification of Russian vowels spoken by different speakers. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 491, 606–608. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lord, G. (2008). Second language acquisition and first language phonological modification. In J. Bruhn de Garavito, & E. Valenzuela (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 10th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 184–193). Cascadilla Proceedings Project. [URL]
Lyster, R., & Mori, H. (2008). Instructional counterbalance in immersion pedagogy. In T. W. Fortune & D. J. Tedick (Eds.), Pathways to multilingualism: Evolving perspectives on immersion education (pp. 133–151). Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Major, R. C. (1987). Phonological similarity, markedness, and rate of L1 acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 9(1), 63–82. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Marín Galvez, R. (1995). La duración vocálica en español. E.L.U.A., 101, 213–226. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Menke, M. R. (2010). The Acquisition of Spanish Vowels by Native English-Speaking Students in Spanish Immersion Programs. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Minnesota.Google Scholar
(2015). How native do they sound?: An acoustic analysis of the Spanish vowels of elementary Spanish immersion students. Hispania, 98(4), 804–824. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2017). The Acquisition of Spanish Vowels by Two-way Bilingual Immersion Learners. Journal of Second Language Pronunciation, 3(1), 80–107. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2018). Development of Spanish Rhotics in Spanish-English Bilingual Children in the United States. Journal of Child Language, 45(3), 788–806. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Menke, M. R., & Face, T. L. (2010). Second language Spanish vowel production: An acoustic analysis. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 3(1), 181–214. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Munro, M. J., & Derwing, T. M. (2006). The functional load principle in ESL pronunciation instruction: An exploratory study. System, 34(4), 520–531. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Navarro Tomás, T. (1957). Manual de pronunciación española. C.S.I.C.Google Scholar
Netelenbos, N., Li, F., & Rosen, N. (2016). Stop consonant production of French immersion students in Western Canada: A study of voice onset time. International Journal of Bilingualism, 20(3), 346–357. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Piske, T., MacKay, I. R. A., & Flege, J. E. (2001). Factors affecting degree of foreign accent in an L2: A review. Journal of Phonetics, 29(2), 191–215. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Quilis, A. (1999). Tratado de fonología y fonética españolas (2 ed.). Editorial Gredos.Google Scholar
Ronquest, R. (2013). An acoustic examination of unstressed vowel reduction in Heritage Spanish. In S. Blackwell & C. Howe (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 15th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 157–171). Cascadilla Press. [URL]
Rosa, J. (2016). From mock Spanish to inverted Spanglish. Language ideologies and the racialization of Mexican and Puerto Rican youth in the United States. In H. Samy Alim, J. R. Rickford, & A. F. Ball (Eds.), Raciolinguistics: How language shapes our ideas about race (pp. 65–80). Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rose, M. (2010). Intervocalic tap and trill production in the acquisition of Spanish as a second language. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 3(2), 379–419. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Saito, K. & Lyster, R. (2011). Effects of form-focused instruction and corrective feedback on L2 pronunciation development of /ɹ/ by Japanese learners. Language Learning, 62(2), 595–633. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, A. M., & Flege, J. E. (1995). Effects of speaking rate changes on native and nonnative speech production. Phonetica, 52(1), 41–54. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sebastián-Galles, N., & Soto-Faraco, S. (1999). Online processing of native and non-native phonemic contrasts in early bilinguals. Cognition, 721, 111–123. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Simonet, M., Casillas, J. V., & Díaz, Y. (2014). The effects of stress/accent on VOT depend on language (English, Spanish) and consonant (/d/, /t/) and linguistic experience (monolinguals, bilinguals). In Proceedings of the International Conference on Speech Prosody (pp. 202–206). International Speech Communications Association. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Snow, M. A., & Campbell, R. N. (1985). The acquisition of Spanish phonology by English-speaking children in an immersion program. In T. J. Bhatia & W. C. Ritchie (Eds.), Progression in second language acquisition (pp. 19–30). Bahri Publications.Google Scholar
Solon, M., Long, A. Y., & Gurzynski-Weiss, L. (2017). Task complexity, language-related episodes and production of L2 Spanish vowels. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 39(2), 347–380. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Swain, M., & Johnson, R. K. (1997). Immersion education: A category within bilingual education. In R. K. Johnson & M. Swain (Eds.), Immersion education: International perspectives (pp. 1–16). Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tagliamonte, S., & Molfenter, S. (2007). How’d you get that accent? Acquiring a second dialect of the same language. Language in Society, 36(5), 649–675. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tarone, E. & Swain, M. (1995). A sociolinguistic perspective on second language use in immersion classrooms. The Modern Language Journal, 79(2), 166–178. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thomas, E. R. & Kendall, T. (2007). NORM: The vowel normalization and plotting suite. Available on-line at [URL]
Wesche, M. (2002). Early French immersion: How has the original Canadian model stood the test of time. In P. Burmeister, T. Piske & A. Rohde (Eds.), An integrated view of language development: Papers in honor of Henning Wode (pp. 357–379). Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier.Google Scholar
Willis, E. W., & Bradley, T. G. (2008). Contrast maintenance of taps and trills in Dominican Spanish: Data and analysis. In L. Colantoni & J. Steele (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Laboratory Approaches to Spanish Phonology (pp. 87–100). Cascadilla Proceedings Project. [URL]
Wolf, C. (1984). Tiempo real y tiempo aparente en el estudio de una variación lingüística: Ensordecimiento y sonorización del yeísmo porteño. In L. Schwarz & I. Lerner (Eds.), Homenaje a Ana María Barrenechea (pp.175–96). Castalia.Google Scholar
Yao, Y. (2009). Understanding VOT variation in spontaneous speech. In M. Pak (Ed.), Current numbers in unity and diversity of languages (pp. 1122–1137). Linguistic Society of Korea.Google Scholar
Zampini, M. L. (1998). The relationship between the production and perception of L2 Spanish stops. Texas Papers in Foreign Language Education, 3(3), 85–100.Google Scholar
(1994). The role of native language transfer and task formality in the acquisition of Spanish spirantization. Hispania, 77(3), 470–481. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zampini, M. L., Clarke, C. M., & Green, K. P. (2000). Language experience and the perception of stop consonant voicing in Spanish: The case of late English-Spanish bilinguals. In R. P. Leow & C. Sanz (Eds.), Spanish applied linguistics at the turn of the millennium (pp. 194–209). Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Zuengler, J. (1998). Identity markers and L2 pronunciation. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 10(1), 33–50. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Thane, Patrick, Michele Goldin, Abril Jimenez, Esther Hur, Julio Cesar Lopez Otero & Jennifer Austin
2022. Where we are and where we ought to be: The need for research-based assessments for dual language immersion learners. NABE Journal of Research and Practice 12:2 ► pp. 84 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.