Article published in:
Chinese as a Second Language (漢語教學研究—美國中文教師學會學報)
Vol. 51:3 (2016) ► pp. 252–265

Effects of different teaching methods on the production of Mandarin tone 3 by English speaking learners

| University of North Georgia, U.S.A
| University of British Columbia, Canad
| University of Florida, U.S.A
This study compared the effectiveness of two teaching methods on the production of Mandarin Tone 3 by English-speaking students. The control group (n=12) received pitch direction-focused instruction in which Tone 3 was introduced as a falling-rising contour tone while the experimental group (n=12) received pitch height-focused instruction in which Tone 3 was introduced as a low level tone. The ability to produce this tone in monosyllabic words, disyllabic words and sentences was assessed after 1 month, 2 months, and 3 months of instruction. The results showed that the pitch height-focused teaching method improved Tone 3 production in connected tonal environments at the sentence level, whereas the pitch direction-focused teaching method was more effective in training students to produce this tone in isolation. More importantly, unlike the pitch direction-focused method, the effectiveness of the pitch height-focused teaching method generalized to new words. It helped L2 learners to develop a self-learning skill for pronouncing unfamiliar words.
Keywords: Chinese tones, teaching methods, production
Published online: 02 February 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/csl.51.3.02he
References
Belotel-Grenié, Agnès, and Michel Grenié
1994 “Phonation Types Analysis in Standard Chinese.” Proceedings of ICSLP’94 , Yokohama, Japan, 343–346.
Chao, Yuen-Ren
(1930) “A System of Tone-letters.” Le Maître Phonétique, 451: 24–27.Google Scholar
Chen, Qinghai
1997 “Toward a Sequential Approach for Tonal Error Analysis.” Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association 32(1): 21–39.Google Scholar
Duanmu, San
2000 The Phonology of Standard Chinese. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
He, Yunjuan
2014 “The Factors Affecting the Production of Mandarin Chinese Coarticulated Tones by American Learners.” Guoji Hanyu Jiaoyu (International Chinese Language Education) 11: 136–146.Google Scholar
Liu, Yuehua. et al.
2010 Integrated Chinese. Boston, MA: Cheng & Tsui Company, Inc.Google Scholar
Liu, Xun
2010 New Practical Chinese Reader. Beijing, China: Beijing Language and Culture University Press.Google Scholar
Miracle, W. Charles
1989 ”Tone Production of American Students of Chinese: A Preliminary Acoustic Study.” Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association 241: 49–65.Google Scholar
Moore, Corinne B., and Allard Jongman
1997 “Speaker Normalization in the Perception of Mandarin Chinese.” Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 102 (3): 1864–1877. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Shen, Susan X-N
1989 “Toward a Register Approach in Teaching Mandarin Tones.” Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association 24(3): 27–47.Google Scholar
Shi, Feng, and Qibin Ran
2011 “A Comment on “Mandarin Tone Perception: A Report on a Low Level Tone.” Zhongguo Yuwen (Studies of the Chinese Language) 61: 550–555.Google Scholar
Wang, Xinchun
2012 “Auditory and Visual Training on Mandarin Tones: A Pilot Study on Phrases and Sentences.” International Journal of Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching 2(2): 16–29. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Yue, Allard Jongman, and Joan A. Sereno
2003 “Acoustic and Perceptual Evaluation of Mandarin Tone Productions Before and After Perceptual Training.” Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1131: 033–1044. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wayland, Ratree, and Bin Li
2008 “Effects of Two Training Procedures in Cross-language Perception of Tone.” Journal of Phonetics 36(2): 250–267. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wen, Baoying, and Fang Yan
2015 留学生汉语声调习得中阳上合流的实验研究 “Merging between the Second Tone and the Third Tone in Mandarin Acquisition by L2 Learners.” Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association 51 (1): 19–41.Google Scholar
Wu, Sue-mei et al.
2011 Chinese Link. Upper saddle river, NJ: Person Education, Inc.Google Scholar
Xu, Yi
(1997) Contextual Tonal Variations in Mandarin. Journal of Phonetics 251: 61–83. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Yang, Chunsheng
2016 The Acquisition of L2 Mandarin Prosody: From Experimental Studies to Pedagogical Practice. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Hang
2014 “The Third Tone: Allophones, Sandhi Rules and the Pedagogy.” Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association 49 (1): 117–145.Google Scholar
Zhang, Jie, and Yuwen Lai
2010 “Testing the Role of Phonetic Knowledge in Mandarin Tone Sandhi.” Phonology 27 (1): 153–201. CrossrefGoogle Scholar