Compares similarities in correcting defective pronunciation in the mother tongue and in a second language. (DD)

While faulty articulation can usually be remedied by practice (imitation), faulty sound-perception calls for different teaching techniques, including presentation of correct versus incorrect sounds, minimal and contrastive pairs taken from vocabularies of first-year English textbooks. Drills are suggested, aimed at distinguishing similar sounds…

A study of the relationships of pitch discrimination, sound discrimination, pronunciation of German phonemes, and cognitive style as factors in language learning ability had as subjects two intact eighth grade German classes with a total of 45 students. Four instruments were used to measure the four variables studied. The findings for 11 research…

Discusses the use of structured exercises and the media to develop both selective and global listening skills in second language students. (AM)

A teaching strategy is outlined for coping with the phonological variability inherent in the nature of an ever-changing language. The basis for the strategy is an understanding of sound change in language and of the language level (as opposed to dialect level) goal of the student. (Author/RM)

WITH THE INTENTION OF APPLYING A MATHEMATICAL THEORY OF LEARNING TO SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION, A TWO-PART EXPERIMENT USING TWO SETS OF 20 STUDENTS WAS CONDUCTED AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY. IN EXPERIMENT I THE SS (SUBJECTS) WERE ASKED TO DISTINGUISH DIFFERENCE OR SAMENESS IN PAIRS OF INITIAL RUSSIAN SYLLABLES. THESE 144 SYLLABLES WERE GROUPED INTO…

Examples of worksheets are given and their use discussed in teaching an audiolingual course in French on the junior and senior high school levels. Activities on the worksheets involve auditory discrimination and reading and writing skills. Tape recordings are used. (RM)

It is asserted that the teacher and learner of a foreign language must learn to direct his attention to the auditory phenomena of the new language. Several auditory exercises in which some of the basic parameters of speech are involved--number, order, duration, pitch, vowel quality--are described. (RM)

Two Japanese undergraduate students were taught to pronounce and discriminate English words containing unfamiliar phonemic contrasts. Teaching pronunciation was found to be easier than teaching listening discrimination. Teaching listening discrimination resulted in collateral improvement in pronunciation, and, to a lesser extent, vice versa.…

Previous studies have suggested that nonnative (L2) linguistic sounds are accommodated to native language (L1) phonemic categories. However, this conclusion may be compromised by the use of explicit discrimination tests. The present study provides an implicit measure of L2 phoneme discrimination in early bilinguals (Catalan and Spanish).…

It is proposed that error patterns in acquisition of a second language can provide otherwise unavailable evidence for testing linguistic hypotheses about the second language itself. Three types of production and perceptual error patterns found in the learning of English by native Arabic speakers are outlined to support this suggestion. The error…

English-speaking children and adults who were learning Dutch at school and at work, without signigicant amounts of foreign language instruction, were tested at five-month intervals during their first year in Holland. The test battery included tests for active and passive control of phonology, morphology, syntax and vocabulary. Significant…

The acquisition of a correct pronunciation should be attempted at the earliest possible age. At the primary level, songs, rhymes and games are useful for teaching pronunciation. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Presenting minimal pairs in context to the student of English as a foreign language requires him to discriminate between two phonemes that may sound the same. Methodology for student exercises with minimal sentences is presented. (SW)