Intelligibility, Tones and Young Beginner Learners of Mandarin Chinese

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

Table of Contents

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

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

‘Wŏ’ (I/ me)

‘Nĭ’ (you)

‘Hē’ (to drink)

‘Dà’ (big)

‘Chá’ (tea)

‘Suì’ (age/ years old)

‘Rò’ (meat)

‘Shí’ (10)

‘Xué’ (to study)

‘Chī’ (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 policymakers

A final thought

References

Appendix A: Speaking tasks used to elicit L2 Chinese speech samples

Task 1 Read aloud the following 10 words

Task 2 Read aloud the following 10 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