The present study investigated whether the ability to encode the sounds of difficult second-language (L2) contrasts into novel nonnative lexical representations is modulated by the phonological form of the words to be learned. In 3 experiments, German learners of English were trained on word-picture associations with either novel minimal pairs…

The scarcity of research on speech perception among multilingual speakers precludes a full understanding of phonological acquisition in the third language (L3). In this controlled case study, we investigate L3 phonological acquisition in the perceptual domain and test the predictions of Perceptual Assimilation Model- L2 (Best & Tyler, 2007)…

This study investigates the role of perception and sensory motor learning on speech production in L2. Compared to natural language learning, acoustic input in formal adult instruction is deprived of multiple sensory motor cues and lacks the imitation component. Consequently, it is possible that inaccurate pronunciation results from training.…