ABSTRACT
This chapter provides background information for understanding L2 phonological processing research. Following the introductory section, Section 2.2 explains the speech production process and the acoustic cues individuals use in speech perception where many basic concepts and terms are introduced. Section 2.3 provides examples to illustrate how languages differ in a) the inventory and acoustic detail of their speech segments, b) the distinctive features they employ, and c) phonotactic constraints. These differences represent the linguistic phenomena under investigation in phonological processing research. Section 2.4 describes the research methods used in phonological processing research. Major tasks used for assessing speech perception and production are discussed. Section 2.5 discusses the models of L2 phonological processing. They are the speech learning model, the perceptual assimilation model, the native language magnet model, and featural models.
