The explicit instruction and its effects in production and perception of Brazilian Portuguese anterior fricatives by Latin-American Spanish speakers

Abstract

In Portuguese, voiceless and voiced anterior fricatives constitute phonemes and can contrast (CAMARA JR, 1977). In Spanish, whi­le voiceless fricatives form phonemes, voiced fricatives only appe­ar in this language or as positional allophones or in cases of voicing assimilation (HUALDE, 2014). This research aims to analyze the pronouncing strategies and to investigate the effects of phonetics explicit instruction in production and perception of voiced ante­rior fricatives by Latin-American Spanish speakers learners of Brazilian Portuguese. The results indicate, based on Theories of L2 Speech Perception (FLEGE, 1995; BEST, 1995; BEST; TY­LER, 2007) and on a dynamical view of L2 development (LAR­SEN-FREEMAN, 1997; VERSPOOR, LOWIE, DE BOT, 2007), among other aspects, that explicit instruction is, surely, an indis­pensable tool for pronouncing teaching in Portuguese as a Foreign Language classes.