Search Results (3)

Research has shown that language ability can vary enormously depending on variables such as musical ability, musical training, and second and/or foreign language experience. In this study, we simulated initial foreign language learning conditions in which learners must recognize and match unfamiliar language input. We recruited 500 participants with different levels of foreign language experience, different levels of musical training and different socio-economic backgrounds. Their auditory phonological pattern recognition ability, short-term memory (STM) capacity, musical ability, musical self-estimation, educational status, and socio-economic status (SES) were assessed. Both overall and group-specific analyses were conducted to investigate the impact of these variables. For the group-specific analysis, participants were assigned to four groups based on the presence or absence of musical training and extensive foreign language experience. For the overall analysis, regression models were applied to the entire sample to examine the combined effects of all variables. Group-specific analyses revealed that both musical training and extensive foreign language experience contributed to individual differences in the ability to recognize phonological patterns in unintelligible auditory stimuli. A key finding was that musical training appeared to have a stronger influence on auditory phonological pattern recognition than extensive foreign language experience, particularly in the early stages of language learning. This suggests that musical training may exert a greater impact on initial phonetic acquisition processes than extensive foreign language proficiency, especially when the language stimuli are relatively poor in linguistic content. The overall analysis revealed that musical variables, short-term memory capacity, socioeconomic status, and educational status all contributed to individual differences in auditory phonological pattern recognition. Notably, the most significant finding of the overall analysis was the association between SES and auditory phonological pattern recognition in unfamiliar speech—a result that challenges the notion of aptitude measures as stable and environment-independent and highlights the potential influence of environmental factors on this capacity. Full article

This study examined how second language (L2) speakers’ individual differences in music perception abilities, singing abilities and phonetic aptitude relate to their L2 phonological awareness. To measure participants’ L2 phonological awareness, we used an accent faking paradigm, where participants were asked to speak in their native language (German) while imitating a strong L2 accent (English). We measured their musical abilities with the AMMA test and their singing abilities with two singing tasks and a self-report questionnaire. Their phonetic aptitude was assessed with a combination of phonological short-term memory tasks (forward and backward digit span tasks), and language perception and production tasks, in which participants needed to process and imitate sounds from unfamiliar languages. A regression analysis revealed that singing abilities and phonetic aptitude could predict participants’ English faking abilities. This suggests that being able to sing could help learners produce and memorise highly accurate L2 sounds, although their performance could also partly be explained by innate learning capacities such as phonetic aptitude. This study also proposes a new combination of tests to obtain a well-rounded assessment of individual differences in phonetic aptitude. Full article

Musical aptitude and language talent are highly intertwined when it comes to phonetic language ability. Research on pre-school children’s musical abilities and foreign language abilities are rare but give further insights into the relationship between language and musical aptitude. We tested pre-school children’s abilities to imitate unknown languages, to remember strings of digits, to sing, to discriminate musical statements and their intrinsic (spontaneous) singing behavior (“singing-lovers versus singing nerds”). The findings revealed that having an ear for music is linked to phonetic language abilities. The results of this investigation show that a working memory capacity and phonetic aptitude are linked to high musical perception and production ability already at around the age of 5. This suggests that music and (foreign) language learning capacity may be linked from childhood on. Furthermore, the findings put emphasis on the possibility that early developed abilities may be responsible for individual differences in both linguistic and musical performances. Full article