The effect of cross-language phonetic similarity perception on second language speech learning : the case of Polish migrant children and adults in Ireland

Abstract

The main goal of this thesis was to gain a better understanding of age- related differences in second language speech learning. Specifically, it was of interest in the present study to explore whether child learners of a second language might be more accurate in their perception and production of non-native vowel sounds than adult learners, and whether this might be related to the way they perceive cross-language phonetic similarity. This reasoning draws on the central hypothesis of the most influential second language speech learning model at present, the Speech Learning Model (Flege, 1995), which, however, has not been tested extensively to date. The hypothesis is based on the assumption that children are commonly more successful learners of a second language because of the way their languages interact during second language acquisition. It claims that, since children's internal representations for native language sounds are still developing, such representations influence perception of non-native sounds less than in the case of adults. As a result, children are predicted to discriminate between the sounds of their native language and a second language more accurately, and eventually, to perceive and produce the second language sounds with more native-like ability.