Event Details

HL2C-SLLAT Seminar: Gwen Brekelmans (QMUL)

Title: Language learning across the ages: the role of talker variability

Presenter(s): Gwen Brekelmans (QMUL)

How to join: The seminars are free to attend. Simply sign up to the HL2C Mailing List or to the SLLAT mailing list to receive the link to join us via Microsoft Teams link. You do not need a Teams account to access the talk.

About: This is a joint event, co-organized by the Heritage Language 2 Consortium (HL2C) and the Second Language Learning and Teaching (SLLAT) Research Group.

Abstract:

Learning a second or foreign language can be difficult, and many of us continue to struggle with this to some extent throughout our life. Some of the reasons why this can be difficult, is that it is hard for us to learn sounds from another language if they don’t already appear in our native language(s). Several studies in areas across speech and language learning suggest talker variability, i.e. hearing multiple different voices in the language input that you are learning from, could be beneficial in learning to tell apart these non-native speech sounds. In this talk, I will present some of my research investigating the role of talker variability in language learning in primary school children and adults. I will finish with discussing recent work that attempted to replicate seminal work on talker variability, aiming to get more clarity on how reliable this possible effect of variability really is.