Domain-general auditory processing as an anchor of post-pubertal second language pronunciation learning: Behavioural and neurophysiological investigations of perceptual acuity, age, experience, development, and attainment

Domain-general auditory processing determines success in second language pronunciation learning in adulthood: A longitudinal study

“…As for formant discrimination, for example, some could perceive very subtle differences when F2 shifted to a very small degree (e.g., 7 Hz), but the formant acuity of others could be much less sensitive (e.g., 117 Hz). As observed in our precursor research (e.g., Kachlicka et al, 2019;Saito, Kachlicka, et al, 2020), the results of Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests found the pitch and duration discrimination scores to be positively skewed (p < .001, p = .041).…”

“…It would be intriguing to further this line of inquiry by probing the extent to which explicit and implicit auditory processing can help even highly experienced L2 learners (those with 10 years of immersion) ultimately improve their L2 pronunciation proficiency (cf. Saito, Kachlicka, et al, 2020).…”

“…Despite emerging evidence on the relationship between auditory processing and short-term learning of language skills in the laboratory, it remains unclear whether auditory processing ability can help L2 learners acquire new phonetic categories and transfer perceptive to productive skills in immersive naturalistic settings. As a preliminary investigation, our research team (Kachlicka, Saito, & Tierney, 2019; Saito, Kachlicka, Sun, & Tierney, 2020) cross-sectionally compared the aptitude profiles of 100 Polish residents in the United Kingdom, their immersion experience, and various dimensions of their L2 English proficiency. The results indicated that participants' explicit auditory processing abilities (formant and pitch discrimination) significantly predicted their L2 speech perception and production performance (for the generalizability of the findings to various dimensions of L2 proficiency among Polish, Spanish, and Chinese speakers of English, see Saito, Sun, Kachlicka, Robert, Nakata, & Tierney, in press).…”

A Longitudinal Investigation of Explicit and Implicit Auditory Processing in L2 Segmental and Suprasegmental Acquisition

“…In our previous research, we have proposed auditory processing as one component of explicit and implicit aptitude relevant to every stage of naturalistic L2 speech learning (see Saito, Kachlicka, Sun, & Tierney, 2020;Saito, Sun, & Tierney, 2019). Under this framework, explicit auditory processing is defined as one's ability to process sound with some degree of awareness and attention, which we assess via behavioral tasks where participants are aware of the purpose and make careful judgements (e.g., discrimination and reproduction).…”

Stages of Acquisition and the P/E Model of Working Memory: Complementary or contrasting approaches to foreign language aptitude?

“…There is some recent research that is highly relevant to this discussion, with some researchers taking a different approach to investigating what a "good ear" for language might consist of. Recalling that sound discrimination in itself has been explored as a potential aptitude component and not proved particularly effective (Carroll, 1962;Skehan, 1982), Saito and colleagues (Saito, Kachlicka, et al, 2020; have nonetheless returned to exploring what might be considered a more basic capacity to handle sound and then examined its relationship to language learning success. For example, in Saito, Kachlicka, et al (2020), sound discrimination was not based on minimal pairs, the approach typical in many previous studies.…”