English Speakers Learning Spanish: Perception Issues Regarding Vowels and Stress

Autores
Romanelli, Sofía; Menegotto, Andrea Cecilia
Año de publicación
2015
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
The present pilot study examines both the perception of Spanish vowels /a, e, o/ in word – final position and the perception of final and penultimate stress of words ending in those vowels by beginner American English learners of Spanish. Seventeen English speakers and seven native Spanish speakers participated in this study. The English speakers were exposed to 90 hours of Spanish lessons during a three–week course in Mar del Plata, Argentina, a Spanish speaking country. Participants’ perception was assessed by pretest and posttest, which consisted of identification tasks with nonce words. The study yielded these results: (a) native English-speaking participants perceived Spanish vowels like native Spanish-speaking participants after a three-week language course; (b) Initially, English speakers received lower scores in the perception of stress than did Spanish speakers who served as a comparison (control) group; c) Three weeks after exposure to the language, the English speaking students performed like Spanish speakers in the perception of penultimate stress but not in the perception of final stress. The article concludes that vowel perception is not a problem for English speakers learning Spanish while the perception of stress contrasts is a difficult challenge. More emphasis should be given to stress perception in Spanish programs for English speakers, as stress contrasts, together with vowels, are key to interpreting the meaning of a verb in the Spanish verbal morphology system.
Fil: Romanelli, Sofía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata; Argentina
Fil: Menegotto, Andrea Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata; Argentina
Materia
PERCEPTION
VOWELS
STRESS
SPANISH
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
Repositorio
CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Institución
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
OAI Identificador
oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/44674

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spelling English Speakers Learning Spanish: Perception Issues Regarding Vowels and StressRomanelli, SofíaMenegotto, Andrea CeciliaPERCEPTIONVOWELSSTRESSSPANISHhttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.2https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6The present pilot study examines both the perception of Spanish vowels /a, e, o/ in word – final position and the perception of final and penultimate stress of words ending in those vowels by beginner American English learners of Spanish. Seventeen English speakers and seven native Spanish speakers participated in this study. The English speakers were exposed to 90 hours of Spanish lessons during a three–week course in Mar del Plata, Argentina, a Spanish speaking country. Participants’ perception was assessed by pretest and posttest, which consisted of identification tasks with nonce words. The study yielded these results: (a) native English-speaking participants perceived Spanish vowels like native Spanish-speaking participants after a three-week language course; (b) Initially, English speakers received lower scores in the perception of stress than did Spanish speakers who served as a comparison (control) group; c) Three weeks after exposure to the language, the English speaking students performed like Spanish speakers in the perception of penultimate stress but not in the perception of final stress. The article concludes that vowel perception is not a problem for English speakers learning Spanish while the perception of stress contrasts is a difficult challenge. More emphasis should be given to stress perception in Spanish programs for English speakers, as stress contrasts, together with vowels, are key to interpreting the meaning of a verb in the Spanish verbal morphology system.Fil: Romanelli, Sofía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata; ArgentinaFil: Menegotto, Andrea Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata; ArgentinaAcademy Publication2015-01info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/44674Romanelli, Sofía; Menegotto, Andrea Cecilia; English Speakers Learning Spanish: Perception Issues Regarding Vowels and Stress; Academy Publication; Journal of Language Teaching and Research; 6; 1; 1-2015; 30-421798-4769CONICET DigitalCONICETenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/http://www.academypublication.com/ojs/index.php/jltr/article/view/jltr06013042info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.17507/jltr.0601.04info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-09-03T09:47:55Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/44674instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-09-03 09:47:56.096CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv English Speakers Learning Spanish: Perception Issues Regarding Vowels and Stress
title English Speakers Learning Spanish: Perception Issues Regarding Vowels and Stress
spellingShingle English Speakers Learning Spanish: Perception Issues Regarding Vowels and Stress
Romanelli, Sofía
PERCEPTION
VOWELS
STRESS
SPANISH
title_short English Speakers Learning Spanish: Perception Issues Regarding Vowels and Stress
title_full English Speakers Learning Spanish: Perception Issues Regarding Vowels and Stress
title_fullStr English Speakers Learning Spanish: Perception Issues Regarding Vowels and Stress
title_full_unstemmed English Speakers Learning Spanish: Perception Issues Regarding Vowels and Stress
title_sort English Speakers Learning Spanish: Perception Issues Regarding Vowels and Stress
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Romanelli, Sofía
Menegotto, Andrea Cecilia
author Romanelli, Sofía
author_facet Romanelli, Sofía
Menegotto, Andrea Cecilia
author_role author
author2 Menegotto, Andrea Cecilia
author2_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv PERCEPTION
VOWELS
STRESS
SPANISH
topic PERCEPTION
VOWELS
STRESS
SPANISH
purl_subject.fl_str_mv https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.2
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv The present pilot study examines both the perception of Spanish vowels /a, e, o/ in word – final position and the perception of final and penultimate stress of words ending in those vowels by beginner American English learners of Spanish. Seventeen English speakers and seven native Spanish speakers participated in this study. The English speakers were exposed to 90 hours of Spanish lessons during a three–week course in Mar del Plata, Argentina, a Spanish speaking country. Participants’ perception was assessed by pretest and posttest, which consisted of identification tasks with nonce words. The study yielded these results: (a) native English-speaking participants perceived Spanish vowels like native Spanish-speaking participants after a three-week language course; (b) Initially, English speakers received lower scores in the perception of stress than did Spanish speakers who served as a comparison (control) group; c) Three weeks after exposure to the language, the English speaking students performed like Spanish speakers in the perception of penultimate stress but not in the perception of final stress. The article concludes that vowel perception is not a problem for English speakers learning Spanish while the perception of stress contrasts is a difficult challenge. More emphasis should be given to stress perception in Spanish programs for English speakers, as stress contrasts, together with vowels, are key to interpreting the meaning of a verb in the Spanish verbal morphology system.
Fil: Romanelli, Sofía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata; Argentina
Fil: Menegotto, Andrea Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata; Argentina
description The present pilot study examines both the perception of Spanish vowels /a, e, o/ in word – final position and the perception of final and penultimate stress of words ending in those vowels by beginner American English learners of Spanish. Seventeen English speakers and seven native Spanish speakers participated in this study. The English speakers were exposed to 90 hours of Spanish lessons during a three–week course in Mar del Plata, Argentina, a Spanish speaking country. Participants’ perception was assessed by pretest and posttest, which consisted of identification tasks with nonce words. The study yielded these results: (a) native English-speaking participants perceived Spanish vowels like native Spanish-speaking participants after a three-week language course; (b) Initially, English speakers received lower scores in the perception of stress than did Spanish speakers who served as a comparison (control) group; c) Three weeks after exposure to the language, the English speaking students performed like Spanish speakers in the perception of penultimate stress but not in the perception of final stress. The article concludes that vowel perception is not a problem for English speakers learning Spanish while the perception of stress contrasts is a difficult challenge. More emphasis should be given to stress perception in Spanish programs for English speakers, as stress contrasts, together with vowels, are key to interpreting the meaning of a verb in the Spanish verbal morphology system.
publishDate 2015
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2015-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/11336/44674
Romanelli, Sofía; Menegotto, Andrea Cecilia; English Speakers Learning Spanish: Perception Issues Regarding Vowels and Stress; Academy Publication; Journal of Language Teaching and Research; 6; 1; 1-2015; 30-42
1798-4769
CONICET Digital
CONICET
url http://hdl.handle.net/11336/44674
identifier_str_mv Romanelli, Sofía; Menegotto, Andrea Cecilia; English Speakers Learning Spanish: Perception Issues Regarding Vowels and Stress; Academy Publication; Journal of Language Teaching and Research; 6; 1; 1-2015; 30-42
1798-4769
CONICET Digital
CONICET
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/http://www.academypublication.com/ojs/index.php/jltr/article/view/jltr06013042
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.17507/jltr.0601.04
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Academy Publication
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Academy Publication
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
reponame_str CONICET Digital (CONICET)
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instname_str Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.name.fl_str_mv CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.mail.fl_str_mv dasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.ar
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