BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Informativeness\, familiarity and the modulation of perceptual bia
 ses  - Professor Charles Chang  (University of Boston and SOAS)
DTSTART:20141106T160000Z
DTEND:20141106T173000Z
UID:TALK55477@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Theodora Alexopoulou
DESCRIPTION:Transfer of language structures from the native language (L1) 
 to a second language (L2) is a concept central to the study of L2 acquisit
 ion\, yet there is no general consensus on the level at which such transfe
 r occurs. This study explored the hypothesis that in L2 perception\, trans
 fer occurs at the level of processing biases shaped by the relative inform
 ativeness (RI) of acoustic cues in the L1. To examine the role of RI\, per
 ception of unreleased final voiceless stops was tested in L1 English liste
 ners and four groups of late-onset L2 English learners whose L1s differ in
  the RI of a crucial cue to unreleased stops (vowel-to-consonant formant t
 ransitions). Speeded discrimination and identification tasks were used to 
 investigate perception in English (a familiar L2) and Korean (an unfamilia
 r L2). Between-group differences in performance were generally consistent 
 with the hypothesis\, with L1 Japanese listeners showing the poorest perce
 ption\, followed by L1 Mandarin\, Russian\, English\, and Korean listeners
 . The two exceptions occurred with Russian listeners\, who underperformed 
 Mandarin listeners in identification of English stops and outperformed Eng
 lish listeners in identification of Korean stops. Overall\, these findings
  support the view that RI in the L1 influences the uptake of acoustic info
 rmation\, resulting in processing biases that constitute a major source of
  transfer in L2 perception. However\, these biases interact with prior L2 
 knowledge\, which may result in significantly different perceptual consequ
 ences for a familiar and an unfamiliar L2.
LOCATION:GR06/07\, English Faculty Building\, 9 West Road\, Sidgwick Site
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR