The benefits and difficulties behind language learning motivates the need to find training methods that can help non-native language learners learn a L2 in a more efficient manner. One such form of training is the sensorimotor training.

Sensorimotor training refers to forms of training involving the sensorimotor integration of the L2 learner, which is the process by which the sensory system (nerves) and the motor system (muscles) communicate and coordinate with each other. It involves the receiving and transmission of the stimuli to the central nervous system where the stimulus is interpreted. This interpretation is then used by the nervous system to help it determine how to respond and the instructions are later transmitted via nerve impulses to carry out the instructions. This entire process where bodies’ systems (sensory, motor, etc.) communicate and coordinate is managed effectively through cognitive skills. There are many different forms of sensorimotor integration and these include hand-eye coordination movements, auditory-verbal responses and all other possible combinations of the sensory and motor system.

Effectiveness of Sensorimotor Training

Sensorimotor training is effective in improving L2 learners’ perception of phonemic contrasts and in proceduralising the declarative knowledge of the L2. Firstly, sensorimotor training has the ability to help L2 learners learn, distinguish and identify phonemic contrasts that are not present in the set of phonemic sounds of their native language. The ability to successfully categorise sounds from different categories in the L2, Categorical Perception, is critical in L2 learning because a sound difference that crosses a boundary between phonemes in the L2 is less discriminable to the L1 speakers if that same sound difference does not exist in their L1(Repp and Liberman 1987).

Understanding how speech is perceived by the human brain can also help to shape a more effective way of L2 learning. Different psycholinguistic theories attempt to explain this phenomenon. A prominent one is the motor theory of speech perception, first proposed by Liberman et al. (1967). The theory was later revised in 1985. The motor theory of speech perception postulates that speech is perceived with reference to the speaker’s’ vocal tract gestures (how the speech sound is produced) and not the gestures that generate in the air (sound waves). Vocal tract gestures such as rounding or pressing the lips together are units of perception that provide phonetic information of the speech to the listener (Liberman et al. 1967; Liberman and Mattingly, 1985).

Also, sensorimotor trainings have shown to be able to help L2 learners proceduralise the declarative knowledge of the L2, thus contributing to L2 learners’ effective production of the L2 language in real-time speech. Declarative knowledge of a language refers to grammar (morphological and syntactic structures), vocabulary and orthographic rules acquired usually through a formal L2 classroom setting (Macedonia 2005). Knowledge of these declarative knowledge, however, does not translate into the L2 learners’ ability to produce basic access level of communication in the L2.

First Created Grace Tan Shu Ting, Joan Peh Wan Xuan, Thing Jia Yun, AY2014/15 Semester 1