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The Korean Association for the Study of English Language and Linguistics
[ Article ]
Korea Journal of English Language and Linguistics - Vol. 25, No. 0, pp.472-492
ISSN: 1598-1398 (Print) 2586-7474 (Online)
Print publication date 31 Jan 2025
Received 10 Feb 2025 Revised 08 Mar 2025 Accepted 29 Mar 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.25..202504.472

Investigating the Relationship Between Production and Perception of Word-Final Stop Voicing Contrast in Korean High School EFL Learners

Sowon Kang ; Hyunkee Ahn
(first author) Ph. D. student, Department of English Education, College of Education Seoul National University thdnjs1009@snu.ac.kr
(corresponding author) Professor, Department of English Language Education & Learning Sciences Research Institute College of Education, Seoul National University ahnhk@snu.ac.kr


© 2025 KASELL All rights reserved
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

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.

Keywords:

word final stop, cue hierarchy, voicing contrast, production, perception

Acknowledgments

An earlier version of this work was presented at the 2023 KASELL International Conference held in Seoul. This study expands upon the findings of my master’s thesis, “Korean High School EFL Learners’ Production and Perception of Word-final Voicing Contrast,” completed at Seoul National University in 2019. The thesis has been revised and condensed for publication in this journal.

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