Learning a tonal language by attending to the tone: An in vivo experiment

Language Learning

Volumn 61, Issue 4, 2011, Pages 1119-1141

  Liu, Ying ^a,b   Wang, Min ^c   Perfetti, Charles A ^a   Brubaker, Brian ^d   Wu, Sumei ^d   MacWhinney, Brian ^d  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH   (United States)

^b LIAONING NORMAL UNIVERSITY   (China)

^c UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND   (United States)

^d CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Chinese as a second foreign language; In vivo experiment; Learning curves; Online instruction; Pinyin; Pitch contour; Spoken syllable; Tone

Indexed keywords

EID: 80855143798     PISSN: 00238333     EISSN: 14679922     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9922.2011.00673.x     Document Type: Article

References (26)

1. Agresti, A. (2002). Categorical data analysis. New York Wiley-Interscience.
2. Bai, D. (1934). Guanzhong shengdiao shiyan lu [Experiments with tones of Guanzhong dialects]. In Guoli Zhongyangyanjiuyuan Lishiyuyan Yanjiusuo Jikan [A collection by Academia Sinica Institute of History and Language](pp. 355-361). Nanjing, China Academia Sinica.
3. Chao, Y. R. (1930). A system of tone letters. Le Maitre Phonetique, 30, 24-27.
4. Chao, Y. R. (1968). A grammar of spoken Chinese. Berkeley University of California Press.
5. Chuang, C. K., & Hiki, S. (1972). Acoustical features and perceptual cues of the four tones of standard colloquial Chinese. Journal of Acoustical Society of America, 52, 146.
6. Gandour, J. T. (1983). Tone perception in Far Eastern languages. Journal of Phonetics, 11, 149-175.
7. Glenberg, A. M., & Kaschak, M. P. (2002). Grounding language in action. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 9, 558-565.
8. Guion, S. G., & Pederson, E. (2007). Investigating the role of attention in phonetic learning. In O. S. Bohn & M. Munro (Eds.), Language experience in second language speech learning: In honor of James Emil Flege (pp. 57-77). Amsterdam Benjamins.
9. Howie, J. M. (1976). Acoustical studies of Mandarin vowels and tones. New York Cambridge University Press.
10. Koedinger, K. R., Aleven, V., Heffernan T., McLaren, B., & Hockenberry, M. (2004). Opening the door to non-programmers: Authoring intelligent tutor behavior by demonstration. In the Proceedings of 7th Annual Intelligent Tutoring Systems Conference. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
11. Koedinger, K. R., & Anderson, J. R. (1998). Illustrating principled design: The early evolution of a cognitive tutor for algebra symbolization. Interactive Learning Environments, 5, 161-180.
12. Lee, L., & Nusbaum, H. C. (1993). Processing interactions between segmental and suprasegmental information in native speakers of English and Mandarin Chinese. Perception and Psychophysics, 53, 157-165.
13. Lin, M. C. (1965). The pitch indicator and the pitch characteristics of tones in standard Chinese. Acta Acoustics (China), 2, 8-15.
14. Logan, J. S., Lively, S. E., & Pisoni, D. B. (1991). Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/ and /l/: A first report. Journal of the Acoustic Society of America, 89, 874-886.
15. Luo, H., Gordon, M., Boemio, A., & Poeppel, D. (2003, March). The perception of FM sweeps by Chinese and English listeners. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, New York.
16. Mayer, R., & Moreno, R. (2002). Aids to computer-based multimedia learning. Learning and Instruction, 12, 107-119.
17. McCandliss, B. D., Fiez, J. A., Protopapas, A., Conway, M., & McClelland, J. L. (2002). Success and failure in teaching the /r/-/l/ contrast to Japanese adults: Test of a Hebbian model of plasticity and stabilization in spoken language perception. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience, 2, 89-108.
18. McClelland, J. L., Fiez, J. A., & McCandliss, B. D. (2002). Teaching the /r/-/l/discrimination to Japanese adults: Behavioral and neural aspects. Physiology and Behavior, 77, 657-662.
19. Read, C., Zhang, Y., Nie, H., & Ding, B. (1986). The ability to manipulate speech sound depends on know alphabetic writing. Cognition, 24, 31-44.
20. Rusconi, E., Kwan, B., Giordano, B. L., Umilta, C., & Butterworth, B. (2006). Spatial representation of pitch height: The SMARC effect. Cognition, 99, 113-129.
21. Wang, M., Perfetti, C. A., & Liu, Y. (2003). Alphabetic readers quickly acquire orthographic structure in learning to read Chinese. Scientific Studies in Reading, 72, 183-207.
22. Wang, Y., Spence, M. M., Jongman, A., & Sereno, J. A. (1999). Training American liteners to perceive Mandarin tones. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 106, 3469-3658.
23. Wayland, R. P., & Guion, S. G. (2004). Training English and Chinese listeners to perceive Thai tones: A preliminary report. Language Learning, 54, 681-712.
24. Wayland, R. P., & Li, B. (2008). Effects of two training procedures in cross-language perception of tones. Journal of Phonetics, 36, 250-267.
25. Xu, Y. (1998). Consistency of tone-syllable alignment across different syllable structures and speaking rates. Phonetica, 55, 179-203.
26. Yaron, D., Freeland, R., Lange, D., Karabinos, M., Milton, D. J., & Belford, R. (2001). Uses of a flexible virtual laboratory simulation in introductory chemistry courses. Paper presented at online conference CONFCHEM (CONFerences on CHEMistry): On-Line Teaching Methods, American Chemical Society. Retrieved April 18, 2007, from.