Research

My research interests focus on adult second language acquisition using psycholinguistic methods. Some of the big picture questions that I address in my research include: Why is it so difficult to perceive and produce non-native speech? What information about a word is stored in memory and how this information accessed? How can we improve second language instruction given our experimental findings?

My research has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Language Learning - A Journal of Research in Language Studies, and various faculty research grants from Carnegie Mellon University. I currently serve as an Associate Editor for the journal Applied Psycholinguistics and am a member of the Pittsburgh Cognitive Auditory Neuroscience (PCAN) network that links students and faculty with an interest in human auditory cognitive neuroscience.

I am a proponent of Open Science. For copies of my papers, materials, and/or data (when possible), please contact me. For more information about my current research, visit the Language Acquisition, Processing, and Pedagogy (LAPP) Lab webpage.

Publications

• Chen, T., Koda, K., & Wiener, S. (2020). Word-meaning inference in L2 Chinese: an interactive effect of learners’ linguistic knowledge and words’ semantic transparency Reading and Writing, xx-xx.
  
  
• Liu, J. & Wiener, S. (2020). Homophones facilitate lexical development in a second language. System, 91 xx-xx.
  • Materials: Available on Open Science Framework
  
  
• Wiener, S. & Lee, C.-Y. (2020). Multi-Talker Speech Promotes Greater Knowledge-Based Spoken Mandarin Word Recognition in First and Second Language Listeners. Frontiers in Psychology - Language Sciences. 11:214. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00214
  • Materials: Available on Open Science Framework
  
  
• Wiener, S., Chan, M. K. M., & Ito, K. (2020). Do explicit instruction and high variability phonetic training improve non-native speakers’ Mandarin tone productions? The Modern Language Journal, 104 (1), 152-168.
  • Materials: Available on Open Science Framework
  
  
• Wiener, S. & Tokowicz, N. (In press). Language proficiency is only part of the story: Lexical access in heritage and non-heritage bilinguals. Second Language Research.


• Wiener, S. (2020). Second language learners develop non-native lexical processing biases. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 23 (1), 119-130.
• Materials: Available on Open Science Framework


• Wiener, S. & Goss, S. (2019). Second and third language learners’ sensitivity to Japanese pitch accent is additive: An information-based model of pitch perception. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 41(4), 897-910.
• Materials: Available on Open Science Framework


• Wiener, S., Murphy, T. K., Goel, A., Christel, M. G., & Holt, L. L. (2019). Incidental learning of non-speech auditory analogs scaffolds second language learners’ perception and production of Mandarin lexical tones. In S. Calhoun, P. Escudero, M. Tabain, and P. Warren (Eds.), Proc. 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Melbourne, Australia 2019 (pp. 1699-1703). Canberra, Australia: Australasian Speech Science and Technology Association Inc.


• Wiener, S., Lee, C.-Y., & Tao, L. (2019). Statistical regularities affect the perception of second language speech: Evidence from adult classroom learners of Mandarin Chinese. Language Learning, 69(3), 527-558.
• Materials: Available on Open Science Framework


• Wiener, S. & Goss, S. (2018). Perceptual assimilation of non-native prosodic cues: Cross-linguistic effects of lexical F0 learning. Proc. 9th International Conference on Speech Prosody, (pp.947-951).
• Materials: Available on Open Science Framework


• Wiener, S., Ito, K., & Speer, S. R. (2018). Early L2 Spoken Word Recognition Combines Input-Based and Knowledge-Based Processing. Language and Speech, 61(4), 632-656.
• Materials: Available on Open Science Framework


• Wiener, S. (2017). Changes in early L2 cue-weighting of non-native speech: Evidence from learners of Mandarin Chinese. Proc. of Interspeech 2017, (pp. 1765-1769).


• Wiener, S., Ito, K., & Speer, S. R. (2016). Individual variability in the distributional learning of L2 lexical tone. In J. Barnes, A. Brugos, S. Shattuck-Hufnagel, and N. Veilleux (Eds.), Proc. 8th International Conference on Speech Prosody (pp. 538-542). Boston, MA.
• Materials: Available on Open Science Framework


• Wiener, S. & Ito, K. (2016). Impoverished acoustic input triggers probability-based tone processing in mono-dialect Mandarin listeners. Journal of Phonetics, 56, 38-51.


• Wiener, S. & Turnbull, R. (2016). Constraints of Tones, Vowels and Consonants on Lexical Selection in Mandarin Chinese. Language and Speech, 59(1), 59-82.
• Materials: Available on Open Science Framework


• Wiener, S. & Ito, K. (2015). Do syllable-specific tonal probabilities guide lexical access? Evidence from Mandarin, Shanghai and Cantonese speakers. Language, Cognition, and Neuroscience, 30(9), 1048-1060.

Teaching

Graduate courses:
• Second Language Speech
• Introduction to Linguistic Data Analysis Using R
• Advanced Research Methods and Statistics in Linguistics
• Second Language Acquisition Graduate Research Seminar

Undergraduate courses:
• "Crazy" Linguistically Rich Asian Languages
• Research Training: Modern Languages
• East Asian Psycholinguistics
• Elementary Chinese I
• Elementary Chinese II

Lab

I am the Director and Principal Investigator of the Language Acquisition, Processing, and Pedagogy (LAPP) Lab. Please visit the LAPP website to find out more about our research.