This article reports on an empirical study of Chinese tone production in various contexts by Thai-speaking learners of L2 Chinese. Comparisons are made between Thai students and Chinese native speakers. The acoustic data are analyzed in terms of pitch register, pitch contour and duration, which show that the main problems of Thai students are: (1) T1 is lower in sentence-mid and sentence-initial positions; (2) T2 is less rising or even exhibits a falling-rising contour at a lower register; (3) T3 cannot approximate a full falling-rising contour in isolated characters and at sentence-final position; (4) T4 is too long and the falling slope is too strong. Our results suggest that Thai students should make efforts in both pitch and rhythm control and pay attention to context variations. It is also suggested that similar research methods can be applied to L2 Chinese learners with different first languages (L1s).
{"title":"Acoustic analysis of Chinese tone production by Thai-speaking learners of L2 Chinese","authors":"Ling Zhang, Liu Shi","doi":"10.1075/jsls.19035.zha","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jsls.19035.zha","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article reports on an empirical study of Chinese tone production in various contexts by Thai-speaking learners of L2\u0000 Chinese. Comparisons are made between Thai students and Chinese native speakers. The acoustic data are analyzed in terms of pitch register,\u0000 pitch contour and duration, which show that the main problems of Thai students are: (1) T1 is lower in sentence-mid and sentence-initial\u0000 positions; (2) T2 is less rising or even exhibits a falling-rising contour at a lower register; (3) T3 cannot approximate a full\u0000 falling-rising contour in isolated characters and at sentence-final position; (4) T4 is too long and the falling slope is too strong. Our results suggest that Thai students should make efforts in both pitch and rhythm control and pay attention to context\u0000 variations. It is also suggested that similar research methods can be applied to L2 Chinese learners with different first languages\u0000 (L1s).","PeriodicalId":29903,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Second Language Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41327219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Despite numerous positive findings of explicit instruction, this topic continues to engage scholars worldwide. One issue that may be crucial for the effectiveness of explicit instruction is the interaction between cognitive individual differences (language aptitude and working memory) and types of instruction. In this experiment, 128 learners of Spanish were randomly assigned to four experimental treatments and completed comprehension-based practice for interpreting object-verb and ser/estar sentences in Spanish. Results revealed that the various combinations of rules and practice posed differential task demands on the learners and consequently drew on language aptitude and working memory to a different extent. We argue that not only are rules and practice both necessary, but that their suitable integration ameliorates task demands, reducing the burden on the learner, and accordingly mitigates the role of participants’ individual differences, thus making a substantial difference for the learning of second language grammar.
{"title":"The interaction between timing of explicit grammar explanation and individual differences in second language\u0000 acquisition","authors":"Ilina Kachinske, R. Dekeyser","doi":"10.1075/jsls.19003.kac","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jsls.19003.kac","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Despite numerous positive findings of explicit instruction, this topic continues to engage scholars worldwide. One\u0000 issue that may be crucial for the effectiveness of explicit instruction is the interaction between cognitive individual\u0000 differences (language aptitude and working memory) and types of instruction. In this experiment, 128 learners of Spanish were\u0000 randomly assigned to four experimental treatments and completed comprehension-based practice for interpreting object-verb and\u0000 ser/estar sentences in Spanish. Results revealed that the various combinations of rules and practice posed differential task\u0000 demands on the learners and consequently drew on language aptitude and working memory to a different extent. We argue that not\u0000 only are rules and practice both necessary, but that their suitable integration ameliorates task demands, reducing the burden on\u0000 the learner, and accordingly mitigates the role of participants’ individual differences, thus making a substantial difference for\u0000 the learning of second language grammar.","PeriodicalId":29903,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Second Language Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2019-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41798202","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}