Investigating the relationship between production and perception of word-final stop voicing in Korean high school EFL learners

• Published in: Korea Journal of English Language and Linguistics Vol. 25; pp. 472 - 492
• Main Authors: Kang, Sowon, Ahn, Hyunkee
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 한국영어학회 01.04.2025
• Subjects: 영어와문학
• ISSN: 1598-1398; 2586-7474
• DOI: 10.15738/kjell.25..202504.472

The current study analyzed Korean high school EFL learners’ production and perception of English word-final stop voicing contrasts, exploring the relationship between these skills. Results revealed that lower-proficiency learners had significantly lower production intelligibility and perceptual identification ability compared to native speakers. Higher-proficiency learners showed native-like perception but lower production intelligibility. No significant correlation was found between production intelligibility and perceptual identification ability among Korean EFL learners, suggesting these are distinct skills. Analysis of cue sensitivity showed that higher-proficiency learners’ production and perception cue hierarchy resembled native speakers’, while lower-proficiency learners differed critically, particularly in their insensitivity to vowel cues in both production and perception. These results suggest that Korean EFL learners’ difficulties with word-final stop voicing vary with proficiency. While perception may improve naturally with English learning, production seems to require dedicated training, even for higher-proficiency learners. KCI Citation Count: 0