A Review of the ‘Speech Learning Model’ in the Perspectives of Learners of English in Pakistan

Abstract

This paper reports an experiment in which production of English plosives by advanced Pakistani learners was studied in the light of predictions of speech learning model (SLM). The results show that the learners equate aspirated and unaspirated allophones of English labial and coronal stops with the unaspirated stops of their L1. However, they maintain a difference between two allophones of English velar stop. Some participants also increase VOT of the unaspirated allophones of English stops to a level which is larger than the native VOT range. The directionality of learning is from dorsal to labial to coronal. The acquisition of accurate VOT of English coronal stops is found to be more difficult for Pakistani learners because they substitute English alveolar stops with retroflex stops of their L1. The findings of this study also points out some gaps in the SLM on the basis of which revisions are suggested in the SLM