Phoneme-Grapheme Mapping in Second-Language Learning

Audiovisual (AV) sensory integration is a vital aspect of communication in everyday life. During speech perception, predictive information from the lips is used to amplify the auditory signal (for a really cool demonstration of this effect, search for videos of the McGurk Effect). AV integration is a process that could substantially improve second language (L2) learning, if applied properly. In many instances, L2 students learn from reading words while listening to pronunciations. There is some doubt as to whether written word provides the necessary predictive information to amplify the auditory signal, particularly when the native alphabet doesn’t match the L2 alphabet.

In this study, we ran two experiments where native English speakers listened to Spanish words while they were simultaneously presented with the same word spelled according to Spanish or English conventions. In the first experiment, participants were asked to mimic the sound they heard. In the second experiment, the participants were asked to indicated which letter the word started with, and to indicate how confident they were in their response.

In these experiments, we found that changing how the words were spelled affected the participants’ hearing. This means that orthographic information can affect auditory processing, and what is really interesting is that this relationship may be predicated on relevant linguistic knowledge.

Collaborators

• Cindy Bukach, PhD
• Lauren Davis

Project Status

The manuscript for this project is currently being prepared for publication.