Impacts of Phonetically Variable Input on Language Learning
A special issue of Languages (ISSN 2226-471X).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2024) | Viewed by 480
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We are happy to invite submissions to the Special Issue “Impacts of Phonetically Variable Input on Language Learning” for the online journal Languages. Today’s language users and learners are equipped with various virtual communication devices and have quick and easy daily access to speech samples of multiple talkers. The goal of this Special Issue is to gauge whether and how multi-talker input is affecting people’s daily communication and language learning. We welcome papers that report empirical findings of how multi-talker input impacts language processing and learning in diverse communities.
Over the past three decades, research on the effect of exposure to multi-talker input has demonstrated that receiving input from multiple talkers facilitates the extraction of common acoustic features, and it benefits listeners in various tasks such as word recall, learning foreign phonemes, and adapting to new accents (e.g., Barcroft & Sommers, 2005; Bradlow and Bent, 2008; Bradlow et al., 1997, Goldinger et al., 1991). Recent studies have shown that multi-talker input can challenge early-stage L2 learners while facilitating statistical learning (Wiener et al., 2018; 2021) and that the effect of multi-talker input is not limited to phoneme or word learning and benefits adult L2 learners’ acquisition of novel syntactic frames (Ito & Wong, 2022). The use of multi-talker input therefore seems to have a wide range of applications, yet we need more data on when and how to best use it and, most importantly, for whom.
We invite submissions of research with various language learners and users, including children, adult L2 learners, sign language users, aging adults, and individuals with developmental disorders.
The example topics are:
The effects of multi-talker/signer input (MTI) in
- Child/youth L1 language acquisition;
- Adult L2 language processing and acquisition;
- Virtual communication (including conversations with AI);
- Language processing in aging adults;
- Language development in individuals with a perceptual/attention disorder.
While the possible topics are not limited to the above list, we particularly welcome the use of non-standard varieties of language or dialects.
Interested authors are required to submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400‒600 words summarizing their contribution. Please send it to the guest editors ([email protected]) or to Languages editorial office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.
References
Barcroft, J., & Sommers, M. S. (2005). Effects of acoustic variability on second language vocabulary learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27, 387–414.
Bradlow, A., & Bent, T. (2008). Perceptual adaptation to non-native speech. Cognition, 106, 707–729.
Bradlow, A., Pisoni, D., Akahane-Yamada, R. & Tohkura, Y. (1997). Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/ and /l/: IV. Some effects of perceptual learning on speech production. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 101, 2299–2310.
Goldinger, S. D., Pisoni, D. B., & Logan, J. S. (1991). On the nature of talker variability effects on recall of spoken word lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 17, 152–162.
Ito, K. & Wong, W. (2022). Sometimes less is more: The effects of phonetically variable input on auditory processing instruction for L2 French. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 44 (4), 1045-1070.
Wiener, S., Ito, K.,& Speer, S. (2018). Early L2 spoken word recognition combines input-based and knowledge based processing. Language and Speech, 61, 632–656.
Wiener, S., Ito, K., & Speer, S. R. (2021). Effects of multi-talker input and instructional method on the dimension-based statistical learning of syllable-tone combinations: An eye-tracking study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 43, 155–180.
Dr. Kiwako Ito
Guest Editor
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