The effect of second language immersion and musical experiences on second language speech processing and general auditory processing

Both second language speech processing and general auditory processing are important for second language learning. It remains unclear, however, how second language immersion and musical experience affect second language speech and general auditory processing. Thus, the present study aimed to examine this research question. Native Chinese speakers with intermediate English proficiency (intermediate English learners), native Chinese speakers with English immersion experience (immersed English learners), native Chinese speakers with professional music training experience for more than 10 years (native Chinese-speaking musicians), and native English speakers completed both speech and general auditory oddball tasks. The results found that compared with intermediate English learners and native Chinese-speaking musicians, both immersed English learners and native English speakers showed significantly larger mismatch negativity (MMN) in the speech oddball task, indicating second language immersion experience could facilitate speech processing. However, for general auditory processing, no significant differences in MMN were found among the groups. In summary, second language immersion experience could benefit second language speech processing but not general auditory processing, suggesting the effect of second language immersion is domain-specific (i.e., speech perception). This study fills the gap in understanding the role of different learning experiences on second language learning.