抄録
People have often intuitively sensed the link between musical ability and L2 oral
proficiency. Previous studies have also shown a positive relationship between music and
language. However, only a few researchers have investigated the relationship between
musical ability and L2 pronunciation skills through empirical investigations in the field
of memory. Therefore, this study focuses on determining the impact of acoustic shortterm
memory on L2 pronunciation skills. Seventy Japanese university students
participated in this study. The acoustic short-term memory capacity of the participants
was analyzed and measured in this study by using two tests, the Tonal Memory Span Test
and Rhythm Memory Span Test, while the L2 pronunciation skills were measured using
the English Word Reproduction Test. The results of the correlation and regression
analyses indicated that the acoustic short-term memory measured by the tests had
significant positive effects on English word reproduction skills and that tonal memory
capacity had stronger effects than rhythm memory capacity. Although this study has
several limitations, the results of the study provided a detailed and comprehensive
understanding of the impact of musical ability on the L2 pronunciation skills of
participants. It also provided some pedagogical implications for improving L2
pronunciation teaching.
