For Japanese and Korean learners of English as a second language (ESL), the substitution of [š] (the palatalized [s]) for /s/, is a well‐documented error pattern, in which a phonological rule of the learnerʹs native language (L1) is transferred to the production of the target language (L2). A necessary task for learners to achieve target‐appropriate production of L2 sounds is to overcome such rules of L1 phonology. Motivated by anecdotal observations, this work investigates any potential relations between the pronunciation accuracy of the target English /s/ and some social factors of Korean and Japanese ESL learners: L1, gender, academic major, LOR, and attitude. Two sets of production data, spontaneous speech and isolated words reading, were collected from sixteen Japanese and thirteen Korean learners of English. Then, a series of impressionistic analyses of the data was conducted. The findings indicate that the level of target‐appropriate L2 production is, to an extent, related to the learnerʹs personal and social factors.