Abstract
Increasing comprehensibility is a common desire of many speakers of a foreign language. However, most learners have troubles improving the articulation of already acquired foreign sounds despite continuing language learning.
Czech speakers of English typically struggle with the contrast between English vowels /e/ and /ӕ/. The present study employed ultrasound tongue imaging as a visual feedback for vowel remediation and two methods of articulatory practice.
Eight adult speakers of Czech English received three 40-minute ultrasound training sessions practicing articulation of the two vowels in isolation, syllables and minimal pairs. Half were practicing only articulation of the two vowels while the other half was first practicing lingual articulatory setting for English, followed by vowel practice.
Perceptual evaluation comparing pre- to post-training production shows an improvement in minimal pair contrast for most speakers but no clear difference between the training methods.