Studies of the acquisition of the lenited allophones of Spanish voiced stops have traditionally focused on the production (Lord, 2010; Rogers & Alvord, 2014; Zampini, 1994), but not on the perception of these sounds. This pilot study examines relationships between (a) learner proficiency and perception of target sounds; (b) learner perception…

In this experiment we evaluate phonetic training as a tool for language learning. Specifically, we take a group of native speakers (NS) of English (n=24) currently enrolled in Arabic classes at American universities, and evaluate the effectiveness of a high variability phonetic training program (HVPT) to improve their perception of a difficult…

The goal of this study is to pilot test whether the instructional approach known as Processing Instruction could be adapted to the teaching of second language (L2) pronunciation. The target sounds selected were the Spanish tap and trill. Three groups of high school students of Spanish as a foreign language participated in the study. One group…