Poorer phonetic perceivers show greater benefit in phonetic-phonological speech learning.

Purpose: Previous research has demonstrated that native English speakers can learn lexical tones in word context (pitch-to-word learning), to an extent. However, learning success depends on learners' pre-training sensitivity to pitch patterns. The aim of this study was to determine whether lexical pitch-pattern training given before lexical training could improve learning and whether or not the extent of improvement depends on pre-training pitch-pattern sensitivity.

Method: Learners with high and low pitch-pattern sensitivity were given training on lexical pitch patterns before lexical training.

Results: It was found that such training resulted in better learning than lexical training alone, primarily in learners with low pre-training pitch-pattern sensitivity.

Conclusion: These data support the importance of considering individual aptitudes when developing training and also the notion of phonetic-phonological-lexical continuity in word learning.