Arabs' Identification of English Weak-Form Words.

Abstract

This study addresses the issue whether the identification of L2 speech patterns evolves during the course of naturalistic L2 acquisition by adults. Naturally produced stimuli of English weak-form words were presented to two groups for forced choice identification as “weak” or “strong” form: (1) relatively nexperienced Arab speakers of English: and (2) experienced Arabs. The experienced listeners identified English “weak” and “strong” forms significantly better than the inexperienced ones. The difference is probably because the experienced group had a course on the suprasegmental aspects of English phonetics whereas the other group had only segmental training at the time of the study. It appears that identification of the second language sound patterns develops as more experience in the second language is gained. This finding is incongruent with the contrastive analysts’ view that a second language learner continues to speak and hear in terms of the sound patterns of his native tongue. We thus propose that the segmental and suprasegmental aspects of the target language would be better taught as they occur in connected speech. (research supported by Yarmouk University).