Speech Sound Perception and Production in Spanish/English Bilingual Preschoolers - Project Summary Although much research has documented speech perception and production abilities in young simultaneous bilingual learners (Höhle et al., 2019) and in adult second/foreign language learners (Kim et al., 2017), there is a major gap in the literature on how young sequential bilinguals – in particular, Spanish/English Dual Language Learners (DLLs) – perceive and produce sounds in both their first (L1) and second language (L2) when exposure to English starts after exposure to Spanish in early childhood (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2017). Since perception of speech sound contrasts is crucial in order for children to develop phonological and phonemic awareness (Nittrouer & Burton, 2005) – the strongest predictors of reading achievement, understanding DLLs’ abilities to perceive and produce L1 and L2 speech sound categories during the preschool years has important implications for curricular and instructional approaches and is thus of critical importance for their future well-being and success. The proposed project uses a longitudinal design to track the development of English and Spanish speech sound perception and production skills in 50 low-income, Spanish L1/English L2 DLLs who begin to receive formal and consistent exposure to English in the Head Start preschool at around 3;6 of age. Children will be administered a) a speech perception task, b) a speech production task, and c) a vocabulary task in each language at 1) preschool entry (T1, mean age 3;6), 2) in the fall of their second year in the program (T2, mean age 4;6), and 3) at the end of preschool (T3, mean age 5;2). Children’s language history, language use and exposure patterns will be assessed at each time via parental interview and the classroom language environment will be observed as well. The study will then explore 1) the extent to which English vowel and Voice Onset Time perception and production patterns are comparable to those produced by 20 same-age monolingual controls; 2) how English and Spanish perception and production patterns in each language change from T1 to T3; 3) whether pre-existing Spanish speech sound categories influence English perception and production; and 4) the extent to which perception and production patterns are related a) with vocabulary measures in the same language, b) with language exposure and use patterns as reported by parents, c) with the classroom language environment, and d) within and across languages. The study is grounded in Flege’s Speech Learning Model (1995, 1999, 2002) and the Perceptual Assimilation Model of Second Language Speech Learning (Best & Tyler, 2007), which predict more accurate speech perception and production for phonemes and contrasts that are dissimilar between languages. The study will be carried out by a team of Spanish/English bilingual undergraduate students at California State University, Los Angeles, a federally recognized Hispanic-serving undergraduate institution, improving the research environment at CSULA and significantly contributing to the efforts to strengthen recruitment and training of minority students for careers in biomedical- and behavioral-related sciences.
