Linguistic research indicates that visual-orthographic information significantly influences the mapping of phonemic information in second language (L2) perception and word recognition. This suggests that misperceptions of sound contrasts can lead to misunderstandings with real-life communicative consequences. This study investigates the perception of the labiodental /v/ and bilabial /b/ phonemes, which are allophonic in Spanish and Korean but phonemic in English, to determine how spelling conventions affect the perception and identification of words containing either "b" or "v" by intermediate-to-advanced English learners whose native language is Spanish or Korean. For example, participants evaluated sentences such as "I gave her my vest/best.". Using a word monitoring task in English, participants saw a word on the screen that was written with a “b” or a “v” and they had to identify whether the subsequent had the word written on it or not.

The results demonstrate a clear influence of the native language on L2 learners' perception and word recognition, partially modulated by orthographic information. These findings support models that predict the mapping of L1-L2 phonemes and highlight the significant role of orthographic information. The study underscores the importance of teaching pronunciation alongside the relationship between orthography and pronunciation, with implications for language instructors, which will be discussed during the presentation.

Authors:
María Teresa Martínez García, University of Valladolid, Spain

About the Presenter(s)
María Teresa Martínez García is affiliated with the University of Valladolid (Spain). Her research focuses on speech perception in a second language (L2) and bilingualism, and she has years of experience in foreign language education.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule

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