The Effects of EMA-based Augmented Visual Feedback on the English Speakers' Acquisition of the Japanese Flap: a Perceptual Study

Electromagnetic Articulography (EMA) was used to provide augmented visual feedback in the learning of non-native speech sounds. Eight adult native speakers of English were randomly assigned to one of the two training conditions: (1) conventional L2 speech production training or (2) conventional L2 speech production training with EMA-based kinematic feedback. The participants' speech was perceptually judged by six native speakers of Japanese. The results indicate that kinematic feedback with EMA facilitates the acquisition and maintenance of the Japanese flap consonant, providing superior acquisition and maintenance. The findings suggest augmented visual feedback may play an important role in adults' L2 learning.