Intelligibility, Tones and Young Beginner Learners of Mandarin Chinese

Auteur

Robert Neal, Manchester Swire Chinese Language Centre Coordinator, The Manchester Grammar School

Texte du rabat

Set within the context of teaching and learning Chinese at an inner-city secondary school in the North of England and adopting a case study research design, this book aims to develop research-informed insights into the nature of the pronunciation challenges facing beginner learners of Chinese.

Contenu

Table of Contents

Dedication
List of Figures
List of Tables

1.Introduction
Overview of the book

2. From 'Nativeness' to Intelligibility
   Intelligibility, Comprehensibility and Accentedness
   Mandarin Chinese as a lingua franca
   Second language acquisition perspectives on L2 pronunciation 1
   Intelligibility-oriented research
   CSL Pronunciation research
   The tonal system of Mandarin Chinese
   Why are tones difficult for L1 English learners?
   CSL tonal perception and training studies
   CSL intelligibility studies
   Presentation of research questions

3. Challenges of 'real world' pronunciation research
   Teachers as second language acquisition researchers
   Epistemological assumptions
   Conceptual frameworks
   Case Study Research
   Background contextualisation
   Sampling strategies
   Ethical considerations
   Data collection instruments
   Speaking tasks
   Dictation exercises
   Accentedness and comprehensibility ratings
   Semi-structured interviews with raters
   Stimulated recall interviews
   Procedure
   Data Analysis
   Identification and description of intelligibility breakdowns
   Raters' explanations of their ratings and transcriptions
   Learners' explanations of any perceived pronunciation errors
   Conclusion

4. Tones and Intelligibility
   The ten monosyllabic words featured in this chapter
   Overall intelligibility levels
   Individual intelligibility levels
   Interrater reliability
   Categorising intelligibility breakdowns
   'W' (I/me)
   'N' (you)
   'H' (to drink)
   'Dà' (big)
   'Chá' (tea)
   'Suì' (age/years old)
   'Ròu' (meat)
   'Shí' (ten)
   'Xué' (to study)
   'Ch' (to eat)
   Conclusion

5. Accentedness and Comprehensibility
   Coding Frameworks
   Learner 1
   Learner 2
   Learner 3
   Learner 4
   Learner 5
   Learner 6
   Learner 7
   Learner 8
   Learner 9
   Learner 10
   Conclusion

6. Awareness
   Learners' awareness of their own pronunciation errors during speech production
   Learners' implicit awareness of their own pronunciation errors after speech production
   Learners' explicit awareness of their own pronunciation errors after speech production
   Conclusion

7. Evidence-informed perspectives
   Focus on global not local intelligibility
   Chunking may increase intelligibility levels
   Intelligibility is a two-way street
   Assess each learner individually
   A narrow focus on tones misses the point
   'Perfect' accents and tones do not have to be put on a pedestal
   Raise learners' awareness levels of their own pronunciation errors
   Learning Chinese might not be so 'different' after all
   Explicit and implicit knowledge in instructed second language acquisition
   Conclusion

8. Conclusion
   What did I find out?
   So what?
   Next steps
   Teachers as researchers?
   Implications for school leaders and policy-makers
   A final thought

References

Appendix A: Speaking tasks used to elicit L2 Chinese speech samples
Task 1 Read aloud the following ten words
Task 2 Read aloud the following ten sentences
Task 3 Role-play activity

Appendix B: Classification of pronunciation errors at the monosyllabic level

Appendix C: Coding framework used to analyse the perceived causes of accentedness

Appendix D: Coding framework to analyse the perceived causes of lower levels of comprehensibility

Appendix E: Coding framework used to analyse learners' responses to their own intelligibility breakdowns

Code 1: No recognition of breakdown(s)
Code 2: No explanation of breakdown(s)
Code 3: Inaccurate explanation
Code 4: Unsuccessful self-repair
Code 5: Successful self-repair
Code 6: Partial explanation
Code 7: Full explanation

Acknowledgements
Index