Effects of Experience and Foreign-Accented Input on L1 Ecuadorian Spanish Speakers’ Production of English Vowels

This study examined the impact of experience and foreign-accented input on the production of second language (L2) English vowels by Spanish-speaking adult learners in a formal instructional language environment. The participants were first language (L1) Ecuadorian-Spanish speakers enrolled in an English program at a state university in Ecuador. Twenty-four third-level and 22 eighth-level learners completed a monosyllabic isolated word production task in English with the following vowels: /i ɪ ɛ æ ʊ u ɑ ʌ/. The same procedure was also conducted with their Ecuadorian English teachers. The tokens were acoustically analyzed, and the Mahalanobis distances between the pairs /i ɪ/, /ɛ æ/, /u ʊ/, and /ɑ ʌ/ were calculated using F1, F2, and duration values. The results were not uniform for all pairs of vowels, with the high pairs /i ɪ/ and /u ʊ/ displaying significant distances for the teachers, but not for the learners, and the /ɑ ʌ/ being significantly distant only for one group of teachers. The low-front pair /ɛ æ/ was the only one with significant distances for all groups. Interestingly, the inclusion of one bilingual teacher with near-native pronunciation increased the distinctiveness of some contrasts, suggesting that even limited exposure to more target-like input can influence classroom pronunciation patterns. These findings highlight the importance of teachers’ input in supporting accurate vowel learning among L2 English learners.