An experimental approach to the Conrad phenomenon

This study adopts an experimental approach to the Conrad Phenomenon, i.e. the phenomenon that second language (L2) learners can perform remarkably better in some aspects of their L2 while performing poorly at others. L2 performance in syntax, phonetics and phonology, and the lexicon in four L2 learner groups differing in L2 experience and native language background was examined and correlations between L2 performance in the three domains revealed a general trend of positive relations between domains, thus suggesting that the Conrad Phenomenon is uncommon. The strongest between-domain relation was observed between the lexicon and phonetics and phonology, thus supporting the notion of lexical facilitation in L2 speech acquisition.