A research project funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
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Grant Period: |
June 2000- September 2003 |
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Grant Award: |
£193,717 |
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Investigators: Research Fellows |
Valerie Hazan Marta Ortega-Llebaria (6/2000-9/2001) Anke Sennema (1/2002-9/2003) |
Languages use different sound inventories, and it is known that we attune to the sounds of our own language by the age of one year. Our learning of the sounds of a second language is strongly influenced by the relation between the phoneme inventories of the first (L1) and second (L2) language, with a tendency to assimilate L2 sound categories to our native sound categories. Research on the effect of intensive auditory training for the acquisition of new sounds contrasts, mainly carried out by research teams in the US and in Japan has shown positive results, but the training has tended to be long and effortful, which limits its practical applications. Also, this work has primarily focused on auditory training alone. Our aim was to investigate ways in which effectiveness of auditory training for language learning could be improved by enriching the information provided to the learner (via provision of speechreading information) and by combining successful training techniques with a computer-based approach using a conversational agent to interact with the learner. The outcome of this research has important implications for our understanding of the limits on neural plasticity in speech perception. It also has very practical applications, not only in the area of second language learning but also for speech remediation in children with hearing, reading and language disabilities.
The project proposal set out the measurable outcomes
of the project as follows. Please click on each outcome to see a summary of our
results.
Ø Data about the transfer of any significant effect of auditory training on speech production
Ø The design and evaluation of a language-specific knowledge-driven training system with user-interaction delivered by a conversational agent
Materials used in /l/-/r/ studies
Ortega-Llebaria, M., Faulkner, A. and Hazan, V. (2001)
Auditory-visual L2 speech perception: Effects of visual cues and
acoustic-phonetic context for Spanish learners of English. Proc.
AVSP-2001. [paper
in pdf]
Ortega-Llebaria, M., Faulkner, A. and Hazan, V.
(2001) Auditory-visual L2 speech perception: effects of visual cues and
acoustic-phonetic context for Spanish learners of English. Speech, Hearing and Language: UCL Work in Progress, vol. 13, 39-41.
[paper
in pdf]
Hazan, V. (2002) L'apprentissage des langues. Proceedings of XXIVemes Journees d'etude de
la parole, Nancy, 24-27 Juin 2002, 1-5. [paper in pdf]
Hazan, V, Sennema, A., Faulkner, A. (2002)
Audiovisual perception in L2 learners. Proceedings
of International Conference for Spoken Language Processing, Denver, 16-20
September 2002, 1685-1688. [paper in pdf]
Sennema, A., Hazan, V. and Faulkner A. (2003) The Role of Visual Cues in L2 Consonant Perception. Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Barcelona, 3-9 August 2003, 135-138. [paper in pdf]
Hazan, V., Sennema, A., Iba, M. and Faulkner, A. (2005) Effect of audiovisual perceptual training on the perception and production of consonants in Japanese learners of English, Speech Communication, 47, 360-378.
Hazan, V., Sennema, A, Faulkner, A., Ortega-Llebaria, M, Iba, M. and Chung, H (revision submitted October 2005) The use of visual cues in the perception of nonnative consonant contrasts. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.
- Ron Cole and Colleagues from the Center for Speech and Spoken Language Research
at the University of Colorado in Boulder who provided support in the
development of our training software based on the CSLU Toolkit.
- Jo Thorp and colleagues from the Bell London School provided facilities on their premises to enable us to train volunteers from their English language courses.
- Prof. Masaki Taniguchi, Professor of English Phonetics and Speech at the University of Kochi in Japan, ‘hosted’ our main /l/-/r/ training study over a five-week period.
- Prof. Joaquim Llisterri, Professor of Phonetics at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) in Spain, ‘hosted’ our /b/-/v/ study with Spanish-L1 learners.
- Prof. Midori Iba, Associate Professor at the University of Konan in Kobe Japan carried out the /b/-/v/ study in Japan using materials and software developed on this project.
- Dr Huynsong Chung, Lecturer at University of Daegu in Korea, carried out the /l/-/r/ testing in Korea, using materials and software developed on this project.
If you would like to know more about the project, please contact Valerie Hazan.
Author:
Valerie Hazan . Last Changed: 31 October 2005