Bottom-up processing

Bottom-up processing requires prior knowledge of the language system (i.e.

vocabulary, morphology, phonology, syntax, nonverbal structures, and discourse
structure) and interpretation of physical (graphic and auditory) cues. Knowledge of
vocabulary is needed to recognize words and to understand what they mean;
knowledge of morphology is needed to interpret complex lexical elements, as well as
to perceive grammatical information that is carried by inflections; knowledge of
phonology is needed to recognize spoken words, to segment speech into grammatical
units, and to relate written symbols to their spoken form; knowledge of syntax is needed
to recognize how words relate to one another, and how they are constituted as
phrases and clauses; knowledge of nonverbal structures is needed to understand facial
expressions, gestures, and other unvocalized elements of speech; knowledge of
discourse structure is needed to interpret stretches of language that are longer than a
single sentence.

We can generally assume that sufficient prior linguistic knowledge except perhaps
vocabulary is automatically (and unconsciously) available to L1 and to highly skilled
L2 speakers for interpretation of meaning, but the language knowledge of L2 learners is
often insufficient for comprehending written or spoken input. At early stages of learning,
bottom-up processing is limited to visual or auditory recognition of the limited set of
words and word combinations that have been acquired thus far, and of simple
grammatical sequences. When L2 input significantly exceeds these limits,
understanding is likely to be fragmentary. (Saville-Troike, 2012)

Bottom-up processing must be under a high degree of attentional control until

components of L2 knowledge become automatic, and many linguistic cues to
meaning are inaccessible because of learners limited store of phonological, lexical,
and grammatical information. Limits are also imposed by the mental working space
required for conscious processing, which leaves relatively little capacity for new
information and higher-order thought. (Saville-Troike, 2012)

Connected Speech

Words spoken in context (in connected speech) often sound quite different from those
same words when they are spoken in isolation. The pronunciation of words in
connected speech may leave vowel and consonant sounds relatively intact, as in
some types of linking, or connected speech may result in modifications to
pronunciation that are quite dramatic, including deletions, additions, or changes of
sounds into other sounds, or combinations of all three in a given word in context
(Alameen & Lewis, 2015).

Connected speech demonstrates the importance of intelligibility in listening

comprehension. In many elements of English pronunciation, nonnative speakers need
to speak in a way that is intelligible to their listeners, but connected speech processes
make clear that nonnative listeners must also learn to understand the speech of native
words that may sound quite different from what they have come to expect, and their
listening ability must be flexible enough to adjust to a range of variation based not only
on their interlocutors but also on the formality of the speech. (Alameen & Lewis, 2015)

Connected speech is defined as processes as the changes which conventional word

forms undergo due to the temporal and articulatory constraints upon spontaneous,
casual speech. That is, they are the processes that words undergo when their border
sounds are blended with neighboring sounds.

Categorization of connected speech (Alameen & Lewis, 2015)

The perception of connected speech is closely connected to research on listening

comprehension. In spoken language, frustrating misunderstandings in communication
may arise because NSs do not pronounce English the way L2 learners are taught in the
classroom. L2 learners inability to decipher foreign speech comes from the fact that
they develop their listening skills based on the adapted English speaking styles they
experience in an EFL class. (Alameen & Lewis, 2015)
A part of the L2 listeners problem can be attributed to the fact that listening instruction
has tended to emphasize the development of topdown listening processes over
bottomup processes. researchers have increasingly recognized the importance of
bottomup skills, including CSPs, for successful listening.