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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
An Exploratory Study Of Heritage Spanish Rhotics: Addressing Methodological Challenges Of Heritage Language Phonetics Research, Elizabeth M. Kissling
An Exploratory Study Of Heritage Spanish Rhotics: Addressing Methodological Challenges Of Heritage Language Phonetics Research, Elizabeth M. Kissling
Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications
When speaking their heritage language, heritage speakers typically sound much like other “native speakers.” However, recent studies have found that heritage speakers (HSs) are highly variable and produce a range of more and less “native-like” phonetic features. In an effort to stimulate productive new research in this area, this article addresses some of the methodological challenges of heritage language phonetics research, namely dealing with high variability and identifying the best predictors of that variability. A study on heritage Spanish rhotics is presented to elucidate those methodological challenges. The study took an exploratory, bottom-up approach to analyzing the rhotics produced by …
Pronunciation Instruction Can Improve L2 Learners' Bottom-Up Processing For Listening, Elizabeth M. Kissling
Pronunciation Instruction Can Improve L2 Learners' Bottom-Up Processing For Listening, Elizabeth M. Kissling
Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications
Listening is widely regarded as an important skill that is difficult and necessary to teach in L2 classrooms. Listening requires both top-down and bottom-up processing, yet pedagogical techniques for the latter are often lacking. This study explores the efficacy of pronunciation instruction (PI) for improving learners’ bottom-up processing. The study recruited 116 relatively novice learners of Spanish as a foreign language and provided the experimental groups with brief lessons in PI emphasizing segmental or suprasegmental features followed by production-focused or perception-focused practice. Learners’ bottom-up processing skill was assessed with a sentence-level dictation task. Learners given PI on suprasegmental features followed …