title: English Language Teaching: phonetics, phonology and auditory processing contributions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  interrelation of phonetics, phonology and auditory processing in English Language Teaching.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  to determine whether prior contact with English phonetics favors general learning of this language (L2), i.e. second language, in Portuguese speakers; to verify performance of these individuals in an auditory processing test prior to and after being taught L2.
  
  
  METHODS
  participants of the study were eight college students who had only studied English in high school. These participants were divided into two groups: control group - were only enrolled in English classes; experimental group - were enrolled in English phonetic classes prior to their enrollment in English classes. Participants were submitted to an auditory processing test and to an oral test in English (Oral Test) prior to and after the classes. Data were analyzed in the same way, i.e. prior to and after the classes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  these were expressed statistically by T-Student's test. Analyses indicated no difference in performance between groups. Scores indicated better performance of the control group for answering questions in English in the Oral Test. The experimental group had better performance in the auditory processing test after being enrolled to English phonetic classes and English course.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  prior basic knowledge of English did not enhance general learning (improvement in pronunciation) of the second language, however, it improved the ability of temporal processing in the used test.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Comunicação e Audição (ICA), Bauru, SP, Brazil. le_mma@yahoo.com.br
authors.forename: Letícia Maria Martins
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Araújo
authors.forename: Mariza Ribeiro
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Feniman
authors.forename: Fernanda Ribeiro Pinto de
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.forename: Simone Aparecida
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Lopes-Herrera
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D019303:Multilingualism; D010700:Phonetics; D013063:Speech Discrimination Tests; D013334:Students / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013663:Teaching / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult