Learning to perceive Mandarin tones: The role of acoustic information
Connie K. So · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2003
Studies show that auditory-training improves non-native listeners’ tonal identification; however, persistently perceptual confusion of several tone pairs is still observed. This may imply that learners have not yet mastered/acquired the lexical tones. Their confusion may be reduced further if the essential acoustic information of tones (e.g., duration and pitch contour) could be implemented and emphasized during training. To verify the assumption, the present study examines the impact of employing acoustic information of lexical tones as feedback on non-native listeners’ performance during a computer-based perception training of Mandarin tones. Non-native speakers of Mandarin were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Listeners in the control group were merely shown that the answer was right or wrong. In contrast, those in the experimental group received acoustic information by means of both visual and auditory feedback when the response was incorrect (i.e., showing pitch graphs and presenting the audio files for the contrastive tonal pairs). Results indicated a significant improvement in the tonal identifications for listeners who received detailed acoustic information during training. This suggests that training with acoustic information of lexical tones assists non-native listeners in distinguishing the tone pairs more effectively. [Work supported by SSHRC.]