Presentation

The interaction between explicit instruction and high variability phonetic training: A systematic review

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Abstract

High variability phonetic training (HVPT) has been shown to be effective in improving learners’ perception of L2 phonetic categories (e.g., Thomson, 2018; Uchihara et al., 2025). While various characteristics that impact the effectiveness of training have been explored, it is unclear whether and how much explicit information/instruction (EI) is provided with training despite evidence that explicit information and/or phonetic instruction positively impact pronunciation learning (e.g., Saito, 2013). To better understand the extent to which EI is used in training and what its characteristics are, a systematic review of the methods used in HVPT literature was conducted. Results indicate that studies pairing EI with HVPT are few, and the characteristics of EI in them are non-systematic. This study adds transparency to the growing literature on HVPT while highlighting the need for diversifying HVPT methods to find those that are most effective.

Keywords: high variability phonetic training, second language, perception, pronunciation, instruction

How to Cite:

Schaech, S., & Huensch, A. (2026). The interaction between explicit instruction and high variability phonetic training: A systematic review. In P. Trofimovich, A. Bodea, T.-N. N. Le, R. Suzuki, & C. Teló (Eds.), Proceedings of the 16th Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference (pp. 1–10). Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, October 2025. https://doi.org/10.31274/psllt.22125