“They talk so fast!”: Learning to Listen to a Second Language | Presentation by Dr. Isabelle Darcy
“They talk so fast!”: Learning to Listen to a Second Language | Presentation by Dr. Isabelle Darcy
“They talk so fast!”: Learning to listen to a second language
Isabelle Darcy
Indiana University, Department of Second Language Studies
Despite reading and writing their second language (L2) at very high levels, it is not uncommon for advanced learners to find it difficult to follow casual conversations between native speakers. Why do we often feel that our second language is spoken much faster than our first? Why is it so difficult to understand native speakers in our L2, even when we know all the words? In this talk I address these questions and outline some of my research in L2 speech perception and spoken word recognition. With examples from a variety of languages, I outline what mechanisms make speech processing in L2 different from L1 and I examine the consequences this has for identifying spoken words during listening. I also show how the way we perceive L2 words may impact how we learn and remember them. Finally, I briefly discuss ways by which teaching pronunciation can help learners build functional representations for L2 words and access them more efficiently.
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