Although many learners are able to learn vast amounts of vocabulary and master the grammar of another language, many learners find difficulty in mastering the sounds of another language. Korean, in particular has a set of consonants that seem strikingly similar to English speakers, which makes it arduous to tell them apart. For example, the words for 'moon' and 'mask' in Korean, pronounced [tal], both begin with a [t] but are produced slightly differently with the [t] in 'moon' unaspirated and the [t] in 'mask' aspirated (Aspiration refers to the puff of air that can accompany certain sounds like [b, p, t, d, k, g]). Research has shown the pitch of the vowel following these consonants can also serve as a reliable cue, with the vowels following aspirated sounds having a higher pitch than the vowels following the unaspirated sounds.
In this study, I examined whether training learners of Korean to recognize this cue can help them better discriminate between these consonants. In order to test this, learners were asked to take a short survey where they watched a video that explains these cues. They then were tested on their perception of these consonants by taking a matching quiz where they were asked to listen to a set of audio files to gauge any possible improvements. With this training, it was expected that learners of Korean could better segregate these consonants with better accuracy. It is hoped that this study will bring attention to the need to improve pronunciation education and pave the way towards further research in teaching learners of Korean not only how to better perceive these sounds, but also pronounce these sounds as well.