title: Perception of Native English Reduced Forms in Adverse Environments by Chinese Undergraduate Students.
abstract: Previous research has shown that learners of English-as-a-second-language (ESL) have difficulties in understanding connected speech spoken by native English speakers. Extending from past research limited to quiet listening condition, this study examined the perception of English connected speech presented under five adverse conditions, namely multi-talker babble noise, speech-shaped noise, factory noise, whispering and sad emotional tones. We tested a total of 64 Chinese ESL undergraduate students, using a battery of listening tasks. Results confirmed that the recognition of English native speech was more challenging for Chinese ESL learners under unfavorable listening conditions, in comparison to a noise-free listening condition. These findings carry significant implications for the importance of training and assessments on connected speech perception across various listening environments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong. wlswong@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Simpson W L
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6606-6382
authors.initials: SWL
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Jenny K Y
authors.initials: JKY
authors.lastname: Tsui
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Bonnie Wing-Yin
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Chow
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Vina W H
authors.initials: VWH
authors.lastname: Leung
authors.affiliation: Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Peggy
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mok
authors.affiliation: Department of Early Childhood Education, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong.|Department of Special Education and Counselling, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Kevin Kien-Hoa
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Chung
mesh_terms: D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D002681:China; D032882:Comprehension; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Chinese learners of English-as-second-language; Connected speech; Noise masking; Reduced forms dictation; Speech-in-noise perception