Phonotactic Probability and Neighborhood Density in Foreign Language Word Learning

Abstract

Phonotactic probability refers to the frequency of occurrence of individual sounds and sound combinations; while neighborhood density refers to the number of words differing from the target word by a one phoneme substitution addition or deletion (Strokel et al 2006) The purpose of this study was to differentiate effects of phonotactic probability and neighborhood density on EFL college students’ word learning Thirty college students were divided into two groups according to their majors (i e English majors and Non-English majors) Both groups were exposed to eight nonwords varied in phonotactic probability and neighborhood density The eight nonwords were paired with eight novel objects in a story context A picture-naming task was given after 1 4 and 7 exposures of the target words to measure learning Findings suggest that phonotactic probability and neighborhood density affect word learning differently at different stages In overall word learning both English and Non-English majors showed high-probability and high-density advantage In the early stage of word learning both English and Non-English majors showed low-density advantage whereas English majors showed low-probability advantage while Non-English majors showed high-probability advantage In the later stage of word learning both English and Non-English majors showed high-probability and high-density advantage

Date of Award	2016 Feb 15
Original language	English
Supervisor	Aleck Shih-Wei Chen (Supervisor)