Leiden University Student Repository

Folgerts, Adrienne (2015)

Internal Processes in Acquiring an L2: Researching the phonetic and audible output of Dutch English language learners

Master thesis | Linguistics (MA)

The processes involved in second language phonology have been long researched, yet the research is not always easy to apply in real-life teaching situations. Considering the dynamics of learning a second language and respecting the innate processes that are involved in phonology acquisition the method of this thesis steps away from a traditional lengthy formal instruction: participants were given a very short instruction on their pronunciation. The differences before and after instruction were measured both phonetically (in F1 and F2 frequencies) and audibly (survey). One participant is successful at changing his output both phonetically and audibly, while the others are less successful. Their results, however, inform us about learners’ aptitude, the interconnectedness between vowel output and learner proficiency, transfer processes, and draws comparisons with dynamic systems theory and the effect that psychological tension may have on language output.

language

phonetics

dynamic process

acquisition

innate process

vowel

L2 learner

Author

Folgerts, Adrienne

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Phonetics

Supervisors

Smakman, Dick

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en