The perception and production of Spanish pure vowels by native English speakers

Quantitatively measuring a person’s fluency in a second language (L2) is difficult, but analysis of formant movements during vowel production may provide a more accurate way of measuring the accuracy of acquiring a native-like production of the L2. This study examined the accuracy with which two groups of native English speakers perceived and produced the Spanish vowel /e/ and diphthong /ei/, and compared their results with the results from a group of native Spanish speakers. For the perception portion of the study, participants were asked to correctly identify matching sounds, and the number and percentage of correct responses were compared across groups. For the production portion of the study, participants were recorded while reading a list of Spanish words. The results were analyzed using spectrographic analysis. While the results obtained in this study were statistically significant; due to several recommended changes in the study itself, as well as the delivery of the study, it is recommended that the study be repeated with the recommended changes in order to ensure that these results were not obtained purely by chance