Variability in L2 Vowel Production: Different Elicitation Methods Affect Individual Speakers Differently

Area of Science:

• Phonetics and Phonology
• Second Language Acquisition
• Speech Science

Background:

• Elicitation methods significantly influence second language (L2) speech production.
• Understanding these effects is crucial for accurate language assessment and L2 phonological knowledge research.
• Previous studies indicate task-dependent variations in L2 speech performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare L2 vowel intelligibility across two distinct elicitation tasks: picture naming and interrupted repetition.
• To investigate the generalizability of intelligibility differences across various phonetic contexts, lexical items, and individual speakers.
• To provide insights into L2 phonological knowledge acquisition, storage, and retrieval.

Main Methods:

• Compared intelligibility of Cantonese speakers' English vowels (/i I u ℧/) in different phonetic environments.
• Utilized a picture-naming task (no auditory prompt) and an interrupted repetition task (with auditory prompt and short-term memory disruption).
• Analyzed intelligibility scores, focusing on differences between tasks and their consistency across speakers and conditions.

Main Results:

• Interrupted repetition task yielded significantly higher mean vowel intelligibility (over 10 points) than picture naming for words below 80% intelligibility.
• The observed intelligibility advantage of interrupted repetition did not generalize consistently across all phonetic conditions or individual speakers.
• Significant individual speaker variability was noted, highlighting the nuanced nature of task effects on L2 speech production.

Conclusions:

• While interrupted repetition generally enhances L2 vowel intelligibility, this finding requires careful qualification due to speaker-specific variations.
• Results have implications for designing effective language assessment tools and understanding L2 phonetic learning processes.
• Further research should explore the factors contributing to individual differences in task-based L2 speech performance.