Recently DEALL PhD Candidate Wei William Zhou published an article titled “Perception of English Semivowels by Japanese-Speaking Learners of English” in the International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, with Mineharu Nakayama (DEALL Professor, Japanese), and Atsushi Fujimori (Professor, University of Shizuoka, Japan).

The article examines second language (L2) speech perception among Japanese learners of English in two settings: those who began their English studies in Japan and then moved to an immersive environment in the U.S., and those who studied English exclusively in classrooms in Japan. The findings overall demonstrate better perceptual performance by those who experienced immersion, highlighting the benefits of immersive language learning environments for L2 phonological development.

Congratulations to Wei and Prof. Nakayama. You can read the full, open-access article here.