The Acquisition of the Final Voiced Alveolar Sibilant by Japanese and Spanish Learners of English as a Second Language

The ideas of second language (L2) acquisition theories were applied to explain the production of English /4 by Japanese and Spanish students. A comparison of pronunciation errors made by beginning Japanese and Spanish learners was necessary in order to test the assumption of the Markedness Differential Hypothesis (MDH). The pronunciation of English /4 by advanced Japanese and Spanish learners was also compared in order to find out if there is L2 development as L2 learning progresses and as learners are exposed more to L2 environment. All the subjects produced this sound in reading and retelling tasks with regard to task variation in interlanguage phonology. The results of the study showed that in initial stages of L2 learning, there is first language influence on L2 production. The MDH would predict that beginning Japanese students would pronounce this sound more nativelike than would beginning Spanish. The results showed significant difference in the retelling task and a trend towards significance in the reading task. Advanced learners from both language groups performed better than did beginning students. The results showed a significant difference in both reading and retelling tasks. The L2 production in formal style, the reading task, showed better results than the production in informal style, the retelling task.

Thesis Author: Eampornchai, Nawarat

Year Completed: 1991

Thesis Chair: Mary Lee Scott