L2 French vowel production: The relationship with speech perception and phonological memory

Abstract

This study explored how second language (L2) speech production of French nasal vowels is related to both L2 speech perception and individual cognitive differences in phonological short-term memory (PSTM) and working memory (WM). Thirty-two Australian-English native speakers enrolled in French language courses completed a delayed-repetition task to assess their production and a set of force-choice identification tasks in audiovisual (AV), audio-only (A) and visual-only (V) modalities to measure their perception skills. They then completed a non-word repetition task assessing their PSTM, and a listening span test measuring their WM. Results revealed that accurate production scores were higher for [ɛ̃] (91%), followed by [ɑ̃] (60%), and [ɔ̃] (55%), and that the perception and production scores were strongly correlated (AV: r = .66, A: r = .65, V: r = .68, all with large effect sizes). In terms of individual differences, there was a significant effect of PSTM on production and perception scores, but no effect of working memory capacity. The results are discussed in relation to current research on PSTM and L2 phonology, and with reference to theoretical and pedagogical implications. Show more