Individual differences of second language pronunciation aptitude, its behavioural predictors and neurobiological underpinnings
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1
University of Tübingen, Germany
It is a commonplace observation that people differ in their aptitude in second language (L2) acquisition, especially for phonetic-articulatory aspect. The current study aims at clarifying the neuro-psychological origins of the individual differences in L2 pronunciation aptitude. One hundred and ten German healthy subjects (L2: English) were required to read an English text. Native English speakers (n=34) rated the subjects’ pronunciation. All ratings were averaged as the L2 pronunciation aptitude scores. Subjects were assessed in IQ, working memory, phonetic coding ability, musicality, empathy, and five-factor personality traits. A stepwise multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis was performed: the L2 pronunciation aptitude was fed into the model as dependent variable with other variables as independent variables. Two groups (8 subjects each) of high and low aptitude were selected for the fMRI experiments (a sentence imitation task and a sentence discrimination task). The stepwise MLR analysis showed that phonetic coding ability and empathy together predicted the L2 pronunciation aptitude. During the sentence imitation task the high aptitude group showed higher BOLD signal than the low aptitude group in left M1, left IFG, left insula, bilateral SMA, bilateral paracentral gyri, bilateral basal ganglia, and right cerebellum. During the sentence discrimination task the high aptitude group showed higher BOLD signal than the low aptitude group in left IFG, left insula, and left dorsal superior temporal gyrus. Phonetic coding ability and empathy were found to be significant predictors of the L2 pronunciation aptitude. Left-sided articulation related regions (left IFG and insula) are important for the L2 pronunciation aptitude.
Keywords:
fMRI,
Language
Conference:
XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Poster Sessions: Neural Bases of Language
Citation:
Hu
X,
Erb
M,
Martin
JA,
Ackermann
H and
Reiterer
SN
(2011). Individual differences of second language pronunciation aptitude, its behavioural predictors and neurobiological underpinnings.
Conference Abstract:
XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI).
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00300
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Received:
22 Nov 2011;
Published Online:
28 Nov 2011.
*
Correspondence:
Ms. Xiaochen Hu, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, xiaochen.hu@uk-koeln.de