Activation of the phonological information through images in second language learners

Abstract

Research on lexical activation has shown that phonological information is activated when a word is heard. Likewise, studies in bilingual individuals indicate that phonology is initially activated to decode and integrate word information in the second language (L2). This study aimed to describe whether phonological information in university-level learners of a second language without immersion experience is initially activated in a visual preference task. In this assignment, four visual stimuli were simultaneously presented (a phonological competitor, a semantic competitor, a shape competitor, and a distractor), all related to an L2 word perceived auditorily. The results revealed that phonological information is initially activated upon the presentation of images, except when written words were displayed. In this case, participants showed a preference for the visual shape competitor. It is concluded that phonological activation in L2 is observed in learners without immersion experiences, as reported in previous studies with bilinguals.