The Acquisition of Phonology and Lexical Access in English as a Second Language
Code: 42300 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4313157 Advanced English Studies | OT | 0 | 0 |
Contact
- Name:
- Juli Cebrián Puyuelo
- Email:
- Juli.Cebrian@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- english (eng)
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of linguistics is necessary to follow this course; in particular, previous knowledge of general phonetics and phonology and familiarity with the English sound system will considerably facilitate following this subject.
Objectives and Contextualisation
Students will be introduced to the main topics and theories in second language acquisition research with an emphasis on the acquisition of phonology and lexical access. Students will become familiar with current research methods and data analysis techniques through an analysis of representative literature and class discussion and assignments.
Objectives:
- To achieve a general understanding of research on second/foreign language acquisition.
- To become familiar with the main theoretical frameworks and methodologies in the acquisition of second language speech.
- To describe the perception and production processes involved in L2 learning.
- To apply knowledge from speech analysis and acoustics to the study of L2 speech.
- To apply theoretical notions to the practical study of the acquisition of L2 speech and lexical access.
- To understand the relationship between phonological and lexical acquisition.
Competences
- Analyse and synthesise information at an advanced level.
- Analyse the relationship between factors, processes or phenomena in the acquisition of English as a second language, its learning and teaching methods, and its literature, history and culture.
- Apply methodological knowledge of statistical analysis and data generation, treatment and codification of multilingual databases, analysis of literary texts, etc. to research.
- Critically argue, issue judgements and present ideas on the basis of the analysis of information originating from scientific production in these areas.
- Develop autonomous learning skills applicable to the research process.
- Distinguish and contrast between the different methodological and theoretical models applied to the academic study of the acquisition, teaching and use of English as a second language in multilingual and multicultural contexts, literary studies and cultural studies.
- Show respect towards the opinions, values, behaviours and/or practices of others.
- Use new technologies for capturing and organising information relevant to lifelong learning and problem-solving in professional activities.
- Use the English language for academic and professional purposes related to research into the acquisition, teaching and use of English as a second language in multilingual and multicultural contexts, literary studies and cultural studies.
- Work effectively in teams in multilingual, multicultural and interdisciplinary professional and/or academic environments.
Learning Outcomes
- Analyse and synthesise information at an advanced level.
- Analyse the relationship between factors, processes or phenomena in the acquisition of English as a second language, its learning and teaching methods, and its literature, history and culture.
- Critically read academic articles on the acquisition of phonology and lexical access in second languages.
- Design experiments in accordance with the methodologies used in the field of the acquisition of phonology and lexical access in second languages.
- Develop autonomous learning skills applicable to the research process.
- Distinguish the basic concepts used in the field of the acquisition of phonology and the lexical access in second languages
- Identify the different theoretical models in the field of the acquisition of phonology and lexical access in second language
- Produce critical reviews of academic articles on the acquisition of phonology and lexical access in second languages.
- Show respect towards the opinions, values, behaviours and/or practices of others.
- Use new technologies for capturing and organising information relevant to lifelong learning and problem-solving in professional activities.
- Work effectively in teams in multilingual, multicultural and interdisciplinary professional and/or academic environments.
- Write high level academic texts on the acquisition of phonology and lexical access in second languages.
Content
1. Introduction to the study of speech. Research methods in L2 speech.
2. Main issues in L2 speech. Theories and models in L2 speech acquisition.
3. The speech learning model (SLM). The Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM). The Native Language Magnet model (NLMM). Feature Models.
4. Introduction to speech analysis. Categorization in phonology.
5. Factors affecting the degree of foreign accent. Age and confounds with age in the acquisition of phonology.
6. Intelligibility, comprehensibility and foreign accent.
7. Speech perception in L2 learning.
8. Speech production in L2. Relation between perception and production.
9. The acquisition of suprasegmental structure.
10. Phonetic training and L2 speech acquisition.
11. L2 speech and lexical access. Priming studies.
Methodology
Lectures and illustrations, discussion of readings, in-class exercises, labs, discussion of assignments, student presentations, data collection and analysis.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lectures | 15 | 0.6 | 2, 3, 10 |
| Practical sessions | 15 | 0.6 | 1, 2, 9, 5, 4, 3, 11, 10 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Assignments | 45 | 1.8 | 5, 4, 6, 8, 12, 3, 11, 10 |
| Readings and discussion | 25 | 1 | 1, 5, 8, 12, 3 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Homework and study | 25 | 1 | 2, 5, 6, 8, 3 |
Assessment
Continuous assessment based on class participation, assignments, and final paper (oral presentation and written paper).
Final paper or exam - 50%
Assignments - 40%
Exercises and class participation - 10%
Students are required to complete all the assignments and final paper to pass the course.
Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 30% of the assessment items.
IMPORTANT: PLAGIARISING consists of copying text from unacknowledged sources –whether this is part of a sentence or a whole text– with the intention of passing it off as the student’s own production. It includes cutting and pasting from internet sources, presented unmodified in the student’s own text. Plagiarising is a SERIOUS OFFENCE. Students must respect authors’ intellectual property, always identifying the sources they may use; they must also be responsible for the originality and authenticity of their own texts.
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
On carrying out each assessment activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.
In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion onTeams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.
Reassessment
Students will be able to rewrite their final paper or exam if it does not reach a passing mark (5/10) and the course average is at least 3.5 out of 10.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assignments | 40% | 12.5 | 0.5 | 2, 5, 6, 8, 7, 3, 11 |
| Exercises and participation in class | 10% | 0 | 0 | 5, 6, 8, 3, 11 |
| Term paper or exam | 50% | 12.5 | 0.5 | 1, 2, 9, 5, 4, 6, 12, 3, 10 |
Bibliography
References
-Background readings in (English) phonetics and phonology
Ladefoged, Peter. 1993. A Course in Phonetics. Boston, MA: Thomson Wadsworth. -Chapter 8. Acoustic phonetics.
Spencer, Andrew. (1996). Phonology. Oxford: Blackwell. -Chapter 1. Preliminaries to Phonology
-Weekly readings
Bohn, Ocke-Schwen. 2002. On phonetic similarity. In P. Burmeister, T. Piske and A. Rohde (Eds.). An Integrated View of Language Development: Papers in Honor of Henning Wode. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, pp.191-216.
Cebrian, Juli. 2006. Experience and the use of non-native duration in L2 vowel categorization. Journal of Phonetics 34, 372-387.
Celce-Murcia, Marianne, Donna Brinton & Janet Goodwin. 1996. Teaching pronunciation: A reference for teachers of English to speakers of other languages. New York: Cambridge University Press. Chapters 1 & 2.
Flege, James Emil. 1987. The production of new and similar phones in a foreign language: Evidence for the effect of equivalence classification. Journal of Phonetics, 15, 47-65.
Ju, Min & Paul Luce, P. A. 2004. Falling on sensitive ears: Constraints on bilingual lexical activation. Psychological Science, 15, 314–318.
Leather, Jonathan. 1999. Second language speech research: an introduction. In J. Leather (ed.), Phonological Issues in Language Learning. Oxfod: Basil Blackwell, pp. 1-58.
Logan, John S. & John S. Pruitt. 1995. Methodological issues in training listeners to perceive non-native sounds. In W. Strange (Ed.). Speech perception and Linguistic Experience: Theoretical and Methodological Issues. Timonium, MD: York Press, pp. 351-378.
Marian, Viorica & Marian Spivey. 2003. Competing activation in bilingual language processing. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 6, 97–115.
Munro, Murray J.& Ocke-Schwen Bohn. 2007. The study of second language speech. In Bohn, O-S. & M. J. Munro (eds.). Language Experience in Second Language Speech Learning. In honor of James Emil Flege (pp.3-11). Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Munro, Murray J. & Tracey Derwing. 1999. Foreign accent, comprehensibility, and intelligibility in the speech of second language learners. Language Learning 45:1, pp. 73-97.
Piske, Thorsten, Ian R.A. MacKay & James Emil Flege. 2001. Factors affecting degree of foreign accent in an L2: a review. Journal of Phonetics, 29, 191-215.
Trofimovich, Pavel, & Paul John, 2011. When three equals tree: Examining the nature of phonological entries in L2 lexicons of Quebec speakers of English. In P. Trofimovich & K. McDonough (Eds.), Applying priming methods to L2 learning, teaching and research: Insights from psycholinguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 105-129.
Wayland, Ratree (Ed.). 2021. Second language speech learning: Theoretical and empirical progress. Cambridge University Press.
Weber, Andrea, & Cutler, Anne. 2004. Lexical competition in non-native spoken-word recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 50(1), 1-25.
See also: http://liceu.uab.es/~joaquim/applied_linguistics/L2_phonetics/Fonetica_L2_Bib.html
Software
The free software Praat (www.praat.org) will be used to carry out acoustic analysis of speech and other functions.