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The Higher the Bilingual Balance, the Better the Perception of L3 Phonemes? Taking the Learning of English Vowels by Kazakh-Chinese Bilinguals as an Example
Received date: 2022-07-19
Online published: 2023-07-14
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Previous studies have not reached a consensus on whether the bilingual balance of bilinguals is related to the acquisition of L3 phonetics. This study explored the impact of bilingual balance, that is, the proficiency level of non-dominant language (Chinese) among Kazakh-Chinese bilinguals, on phonemic learning in a third language (English). Kazakh-Chinese bilinguals are divided into two groups based on level of bilingual balance, completing tasks such as Kazakh vowel perception, Chinese vowel perception, and English vowel perception. The results showed that: Firstly, there was no significant difference in English vowel identification between the high and low bilingual balance groups, but there were significant differences in their English vowel perception confusion patterns. The low bilingual balance group exhibited more complex confusion patterns in English vowel perception confusion compared to the high bilingual balance group. Secondly, the dominant language in the low bilingual balance group could not effectively explain L3 phonemic perception, but the phonemic perception level of non-dominant language had a higher explanatory rate on L3 phonemic perception than the high bilingual balance group. This indicates that bilingual balance affects the pattern of L3 vowel perception confusion, and the English vowel confusion types in the low bilingual balance group are worse than those in the high bilingual balance group. In addition, the lower the bilingual balance, the higher the explanatory rate of non-dominant language phoneme perception on L3 phoneme perception.
Zongyi HAN , Rui WAN , Jingzhou XU , Gaohaer JIAERKEN , Libo QIAO , Wei HU , Lihong WANG . The Higher the Bilingual Balance, the Better the Perception of L3 Phonemes? Taking the Learning of English Vowels by Kazakh-Chinese Bilinguals as an Example[J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2023 , 21(3) : 304 -311 . DOI: 10.12139/j.1672-0628.2023.03.003
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