Distributional vowel training may not be effective for Dutch adults

Distributional vowel training for adults has been reported as "effective" for Spanish and Bulgarian
learners of Dutch vowels, in studies using a behavioural task. A recent study did not yield a
similar clear learning effect for Dutch learners of the English vowel contrast /æ/~/ε/, as measured
with event-related potentials (ERPs). The present study aimed to examine the possibility that the
latter result was related to the method. As in the ERP study, we tested whether distributional
training improved Dutch adult learners’ perception of English /æ/~/ε/. However, we measured
behaviour instead of ERPs, in a design identical to that used in the previous studies with Spanish
learners. The results do not support an effect of distributional training and thus "replicate" the ERP
study. We conclude that it remains unclear whether distributional vowel training is effective for Dutch
adults.

Keywords: distributional training, category learning, speech perception, L2 acquisition.