To draw EFL teachers’ attention to pronunciation difficulties resulting from L1 phonotactic constraints, this study examined the hypothesis that certain syllable structures could cause more mispronunciation than segmental sounds for Mandarin-speaking EFL learners. A 145-word reading passage was developed with a total of 30 target sounds, which included the problematic syllable structures that e...

INTRODUCTION A central goal of research on speech perception has been to uncover the auditory dimensions that listeners use to derive linguistically meaningful utterances from the speech signal. In order for listeners to successfully decode an utterance, they must be able to reliably distinguish the speech sounds of a particular language. The speech signal presents listeners with a multitude of...

This study examines the factors that influence Mandarin and Korean speakers’ understanding of English pitch accent placement. The results show that both groups have difficulty determining whether a native English speaker is using the correct prosody for a particular discourse context. Participants’ ability to do this task improved with greater English proficiency, as measured by the Versant Eng...

This study explores the Language Learning Experiences (LLEs) and beliefs of six non-native speaking (NNS), English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in China. Data collection involved an online questionnaire, an asynchronous focus group, as well as individual online interviews. Findings were presented as profiles of the six cases. Cross-case analysis using open and axial coding resulted in t...

We have previously proposed a statistical method for estimating the pronunciation proficiency and intelligibility of presentations made in English by non-native speakers. To investigate the relationship between various acoustic measures and the pronunciation score and intelligibility, we statistically analyzed the speaker’s actual utterances to find combinations of acoustic features with a high...

abstractthe interference of the native language in acquiring a foreign language is unavoidable. in an attempt to explore the phenomenon why this occurs, the study was conducted in english as a foreign language writing. the study also investigated how the native language interference occurred in the writing process. in fact, this qualitative study explored the reasons and the process of native l...