The relationship between pronunciation and listening discrimination when Japanese natives are learning English.

Lalli et al. (1995) worked with Japanese adults learning English. The team wanted to know which skill to teach first: saying new sounds or hearing the difference between them.

They ran a single-case experiment. Some days the learners practiced pronouncing tricky English phonemes. Other days they only listened and picked out sound pairs. The researchers tracked both skills every session.

Listening training gave a two-for-one deal. When learners practiced hearing the difference between sounds, their pronunciation got better too.

The reverse was weaker. Pronunciation practice helped a little with listening, but the gains were smaller. Starting with the ear, not the mouth, worked best.

Mansell (1994) saw the same pattern in kids with learning disabilities. Listening passage preview—just hearing a fluent model—boosted oral reading more than speaking practice alone.

Rapport et al. (1982) also found collateral gains. When teens earned tokens for praising their tutees, both tutors and tutees improved in reading. Skill in one area spilled into another.

Baires et al. (2022) frame listening as active, trainable behavior. Their work supports teaching the listener first, just as S et al. did with phonemes.

If you teach speech, start with listening. Build sharp ears and the mouth often follows. Use quick discrimination trials—same/different games, minimal-pair bingo—before you ask the learner to say the sound. You save time and get double benefits.