The present research investigates the acquisition of the English locative alternation by Korean EFL learners, which poses a learnability paradox taking Pinker’s framework of learnability theory as its basis. It focuses on two questions (1) whether the broad-range and narrow-range semantic constraints are operative in the interlanguage of Korean EFL learners as they are in L1 children’s and (2) ...

This study tested whether successful learners of an artificial tone language exhibit sensitivity to varying degrees of tonal informativeness, which has previously been shown to effect spoken word recognition in native Mandarin speakers. Twenty naïve listeners, whose L1 is American English, learned an artificial language in which each visual nonce symbol was arbitrarily associated with a Mandari...

many researchers have investigated different aspects of learning styles. nevertheless, few studies have considered interactions between the notions of learning styles and “good language learners’” achievement. the present study aimed at exploring dominant learning style preferences by senior high-school students and comparing their preferences with those by “good language learners”. to this goa...

Phonological rules introduce variation in word forms that listeners have to compensate for. We previously showed (Darcy 2002; Darcy et al., to appear) that compensation for phonological variation in perception is driven by languagespecific mechanisms. In particular, English speakers compensate more for place assimilation than for voicing assimilation, whereas the reverse holds for French speake...

The present paper deals with the perception of Iranian EFL teachers and learners in using humor language classrooms. To this end, 10 English classes a population 70 female male students 5 institutes Esfahan were observed during spring summer 2019. Using an ethnographic approach, data collected through observation interview. results showed that both had positive attitude towards use L2 classroom...

This study examines F0 influence on perception of Korean initial lax, aspirated, and tense consonants by Japanese learners of the Korean language. Stimuli consisted of monosyllabic sounds (/ta, tsa, ta, tsa/) with interchanged F0s, including lax and aspirated consonants. Results from recognition testing of the stimuli found that both beginning and advanced learners paid less attention to stimul...

This study investigates beginning level adult Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) learners’ difficulties with Mandarin Chinese tones. Twenty CFL learners enrolled in a first semester CFL course in a U.S. university participated as speakers. Their productions of Mandarin phrases and sentences were judged by native Mandarin listeners for pronunciation and tone problems and were also rated by nati...

A series of experiments shows that Spanish learners of English acquire the ship-sheep contrast in a way specific to their target dialect (Scottish or Southern British English) and that many learners exhibit a perceptual strategy found in neither Spanish nor English. To account for these facts as well as for the findings of earlier research on second language (L2) speech perception, we provide a...