Rachel Hayes-Harb
I am a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Utah. My research focuses on a variety of phenomena related to the acquisition of the phonology of a new language by adult learners, specifically the development of phoneme inventories and phonolexical structure. My research typically involves experimental investigations of the perception of new sounds and words, and the influence of various types of linguistic experience on adult phonological development.
I served as the Editor-in-Chief of Applied Psycholinguistics from 2019-2024, and am currently on the editorial boards of Second Language Research, Phonetica, and Journal of Second Language Pronunciation.
Here is a current-ish CV.
Recent Research
The majority of my scholarship has focused on adults’ ability to establish and to use lexical representations in a new language. The involvement of the lexicon (narrowly defined here as a set of mappings between meanings and phonological forms) is central to my work: Unlike research focused primarily on speech production and perception in their own right, I investigate these phenomena primarily as they function in the service of distinguishing lexical items. In an effort to better understand the nature of learners’ phonolexical structure, I am particularly interested in the sources of information that contribute to the phonological content of lexical representations—that is, the role that various types of input play in adult language learning.
Very recently, my collaborators and I are interested in methodological issues in the study of word learning, representation, and processing by adult language learners.
Hayes-Harb, R. 2022. Methodological issues in the study of language learners’ perceptual and phonolexical representation and processing. Bilingual Lexical Representations Workshop. IMÉRA, Marseille, France, 3 May. Link to presentation slides.
Hayes-Harb, R. & Barrios, S. 2022. Investigating the phonological structure of the L2 lexicon: Designing and conducting experiments. Workshop at the 12th Annual Conference on Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching. St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, August. Link to workshop materials.
Here's another recent presentation:
Hayes-Harb, R. 2022. The acquisition, representation, and procesing of Arabic contrasts by English speakers. Keynote presentation at the 2022 Arabic Applied Linguistics Conference. Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, 19-20 November. Link to presentation slides.
Recent Teaching
Linguistics Capstone for Undergraduate Majors:
Introduction to the Study of Language
Graduate Phonetics & Phonology
Research Mentor Development
I collaborate with the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Office of Research Integrity and Compliance, and Research Education to support research mentors and mentees at the University of Utah.
To learn about research mentoring development opportunities, including the Research Mentoring Certificate, visit the Research Mentoring page.
The Research Mentoring CommUnity is a Microsoft Teams-based community for research mentors at the University of Utah. Click here to join!
Students
Julia Vonessen (2020 BA Honors)
Catherine E. Showalter (2012 MA, 2018 PhD)
Taylor Anne Barriuso (2018 PhD)
Eve Olson (2017 BA Honors)
Joshua Jackson (2017 MA)
Kelsey Brown (2015 MA)
Amanda Rabideau (2014 MA)
Jenia Ivanova (2011 MA)
Jennifer Leparmentier (2007 MA)
Zac Rasmussen (2007 Honors BA)
Selected Publications
Barlow, S., G. Beardsley, Z. Bsharah, R. Crofts, C. De La Rosa, A. Gutierrez-Prieto, C. Highfill, A. Johnson, C. Johnson, J. Johnson, I. Leyva-Cardenas, J. Martinez, N. Miller, R. Murray, S. Page, T. Petersen, I. Ramos, R. Rhodes, P. Vainuku, C. Wednesday, E. Farnsworth, S.K. Kim & R. Hayes-Harb. 2024 The effects of exposure and explicit stereotypes on veracity judgments of Polish-accented English speech: A replication and extension of Boduch-Grabka & Lev-Ari (2021). 2024. Studies in Second Language Acquisition. doi.org/10.1017/S0272263124000123. Preregistration. Study materials, data & analysis code. Full text!
Silverstein, P., […], R. Hayes-Harb, et al. 2024. A guide for social science journal editors on easing into Open Science. Research Integrity and Peer Review. Preprint. Full guide. Full text!
Kutlu, E., & Hayes-Harb, R. 2023. Towards a just and equitable applied psycholinguistics. Applied Psycholinguistics, 44(3), 293-300. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716423000280 Full text!
Hayes-Harb, R., Barrios, S., & Tripp, A. 2022. Whose input matters? The influence of socially-differentiated input sources in adult Lx phonetic learning. Journal of Second Language Pronunciation, 8, 3, 363-388. Preprint. Open stimuli, experiment code, data & analysis code. https://doi.org/10.1075/jslp.21050.hay
Barrios, S. & Hayes-Harb, R. 2021. L2 processing of words containing English /æ/-/ɛ/ and /l/-/ɹ/ contrasts, and the uses and limits of the auditory lexical decision task for understanding the locus of difficulty. Frontiers in Communication: Language Sciences. Materials, data, and code @ OSF. Full Text!
Escudero, P., & Hayes-Harb, R. 2021. The Ontogenesis Model may provide a useful guiding framework, but lacks explanatory power for the nature and development of L2 lexical representation. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1-2. 10.1017/S1366728921000602
Hayes-Harb, R. & Barrios, S. 2021. Native English speakers and Hindi consonants: From cross language perception patterns to pronunciation teaching. Foreign Language Annals. Open study materials & data. 10.1111/flan.12566
Hayes-Harb, R., & Barrios, S. 2021. The influence of orthography in second language phonological acquisition. Language Teaching 54(3), 297-326. doi:10.1017/S0261444820000658. Full Text!
Hayes-Harb, R., M. St. Andre & M. Shannahan. 2020. Assessment of undergraduate research learning outcomes: Poster presentations as artifacts. Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research (SPUR) 3, 4, 55-61. Materials @ OSF. Full text!
Barrios, S. & R. Hayes-Harb. 2020. L2 learning of phonological alternations with and without orthographic input: Evidence from the acquisition of a German-like voicing alternation. Applied Psycholinguistics, 41, 517-545. doi:10.1017/S0142716420000077. Materials @ OSF. Full text!
Hayes-Harb, R., & Barrios, S. 2019. Investigating the phonological content of learners’ “fuzzy” lexical representation for new L2 words. In J. Levis, C. Nagle, & E. Todey (Eds.), Proceedings of the 10th Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching conference, ISSN 2380-9566, Iowa State University, September 2018 (pp. 55-69). Ames, IA: Iowa State University. Materials @ OSF. Full text!
Olson, D.E. & R. Hayes-Harb. 2019. Voice onset time in Arabic and English stop consonants. Al-‘Arabiyya, 52, 29-48.
Smith, B.L. & R. Hayes-Harb & E.M. Johnson. 2019. ESL learners’ acoustic variability in producing American English tense and lax vowels. Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 5, 1, 139-164. doi: 10.1075/jslp.15050.smi.
Barriuso, T.A. & R. Hayes-Harb. 2018. High variability phonetic training as a bridge from research to practice. The CATESOL Journal, 30, 1, 177-194. Full text!
Hayes-Harb, R. 2018. How does orthography affect pronunciation in a second language? Retrieved from http://www.pronunciationforteachers.com/key-concepts.html. Full text!
Hayes-Harb, R., K. Williams-Brown & B.L. Smith. 2018. Orthographic input and the acquisition of German word-final devoicing by native English speakers. Language & Speech, 61(4), 547–564. doi: 10.1177/0023830917710048
Durham, K., R. Hayes-Harb, S. Barrios & C.E. Showalter. 2016. The influence of various visual input types on L2 learners’ memory for the phonological forms of newly-learned words. In J. Levis, H. Le., I. Lucic, E. Simpson, & S. Vo (Eds). Proceedings of the 7th Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference, Dallas, TX, October 2016. Ames, IA: Iowa State University. Refereed. Full text!
Hayes-Harb, R. & K. Durham. 2016. Native English speakers’ perception of Arabic emphatic consonants and the influence of vowel context. Foreign Language Annals, 49, 3, 557-572. doi: 10.1111/flan.12217
Blackmer, R. & R. Hayes-Harb. 2016. Identifying effective methods of instruction for adult emergent readers through community-based research. Journal of Research and Practice for Adult Literacy, Secondary, and Basic Education, 5, 2, 35-49. Full text!
Hayes-Harb, R., & H.-w. Cheng. 2016. The influence of the Pinyin and Zhuyin writing systems on the acquisition of Mandarin word forms by native English speakers. Frontiers in Psychology, 7. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00785. Materials @ IRIS. Full text!
Hayes-Harb, R. & J.F. Hacking. 2015a. Beyond rating data: What do listeners believe underlies their accentedness judgments? Journal of Second Language Pronunciation, 1, 1, 43-64. doi: 10.1075/jslp.1.1.02hay
Hayes-Harb, R. & J.F. Hacking. 2015b. The influence of written stress marks on native English speakers’ acquisition of Russian lexical stress contrasts. Slavic and East European Journal, 59, 1, 91-109. Full text!
Showalter, C. & R. Hayes-Harb. 2015. Native English speakers learning Arabic: The influence of novel orthographic information on second language phonological acquisition. Applied Psycholinguistics 36, 1, 23-42. doi: 10.1017/S0142716414000411. Materials @ IRIS. Full text!
Bassetti, B., P. Escudero & R. Hayes-Harb. 2015. Second language phonology at the interface between acoustic and orthographic input. Introduction to special issue of Applied Psycholinguistics, 36, 1, 1-6. doi: 10.1017/S0142716414000393. Full text!
Hayes-Harb, R. 2014. Acoustic-phonetic parameters in the perception of accent. In A. Moyer & J. Levis, eds. Social Dynamics in Second Language Accent. De Gruyter Mouton. Pp. 31-51. Invited.
Hayes-Harb, R. 2014. Review of Foreign Accent: The Phenomenon of Non-Native Speech, by Alene Moyer. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 18, 3, 414-418.
Showalter, C.E. & R. Hayes-Harb. 2013. Unfamiliar orthographic information and second language word learning: A novel lexicon study. Second Language Research, 29, 2, 54-69. doi: 10.1177/0267658313480154 Materials @ IRIS.
Hayes-Harb, R. & J. Watzinger-Tharp. 2012. Accent, intelligibility, and the role of the listener: Perceptions of English-accented German by native German speakers. Foreign Language Annals, 45, 2, 260–282. doi: 10.111/j.1944-9720.2012.01190.x
Hayes-Harb, R. 2012. Comparative phonetics and phonology. The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, ed. Chapelle, C.A. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. Invited.
Smith, B.L. & R. Hayes-Harb. 2011a. Individual differences in the perception of final consonant voicing among native and non-native speakers of English. Journal of Phonetics, 39, 1, 115-120. doi: 10.1016/j.wocn.2010.11.005.
Smith, B.L. & R. Hayes-Harb. 2011b. Speech production and speech perception by German speakers learning English as a second language. In P. Lang, ed. Selected Proceedings of New Sounds 2010 (Polish Studies in English Language and Literature, Volume 31). Refereed.
Hayes-Harb, R., J. Nicol & J. Barker. 2010. Learning the phonological forms of new words: Effects of orthographic and auditory input. Language and Speech, 53, 3, 367-381. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00785 Materials @ IRIS.
Smith, B.L., R. Hayes-Harb, M. Bruss & A.A. Harker. 2009. Production and perception of voicing and devoicing in similar German and English word pairs by native speakers of German. Journal of Phonetics, 37, 3, 257-275. doi: 10.1016/j.wocn.2009.03.001
Schierloh, M. & R. Hayes-Harb. 2009. The contributions of talker familiarity and individual talker characteristics to FL listening comprehension: Native English speakers listening to German. Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 41, 2, 171-185. Link to journal.
Hayes-Harb, R., B.L. Smith, T. Bent & A.R. Bradlow. 2008. The interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit for native speakers of Mandarin: Production and perception of English word-final voicing contrasts. Journal of Phonetics, 36, 4, 664-679. doi: 10.1016/j.wocn.2008.04.002
Escudero, P., R. Hayes-Harb, & H. Mitterer. 2008. Novel second-language words and asymmetric lexical access. Journal of Phonetics, 36, 2, 345-360. doi: 10.1016/j.wocn.2007.11.002
Hayes-Harb & K. Masuda. 2008. Development of the ability to lexically encode novel L2 phonemic contrasts. Second Language Research, 24, 1, 5-33. doi: 10.1177/0267658307082980
Hayes-Harb, R. 2007. Lexical and statistical evidence in the acquisition of second language phonemes. Second Language Research, 23, 1, 1-31. doi: 10.1177/0267658307071601 Materials @ IRIS.
Masuda, K. & R. Hayes-Harb. 2007. Lexical development of Korean learners of Japanese: A case study of Japanese consonant quantity. In M. Minami, ed. Applying Theory and Research to Learning Japanese as a Foreign Language. Tokyo: Kurosio. Refereed. Full text!
Hayes-Harb, R. 2006. Native speakers of Arabic and ESL texts: Evidence for the transfer of written word identification processes. TESOL Quarterly, 40, 2, 321-339. doi: 10.2307/40264525
Hayes-Harb, R. 2005. Optimal L2 speech perception: Native speakers of English and Japanese consonant length contrasts. Journal of Language & Linguistics, 4, 1, 1-29.
Boersma, P., P. Escudero & R. Hayes. 2003. Learning abstract phonological from auditory phonetic categories: An integrated model of the acquisition of language-specific sound categories. Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Barcelona, Spain, August. Full text!