How feedback affect non-native perception of tones
This project examines the role of feedback in the non-native perception of Mandarin tones by naive British English listeners.
To very briefly summarise the findings: simple (“correct”, “incorrect”) online(a.k.a, “immediate”) feedback does not improve the non-native perception.
Related articles:
feedback
The effect of immediate feedback on the perception of Mandarin lexical tones by non-native speakers of Mandarin
Lexical tone is one of the most difficult issues in learning Mandarin as a foreign language. Various efforts have been made by training non-native speakers to improve the perception of Mandarin lexical tones. Immediate feedback, as an essential and efficient way of perceptual learning, however, has been understudied. An AX discrimination task is used to test whether the participants’ perception of Mandarin lexical tones improves after being given immediate feedback. The result shows an evident effect of immediate feedback on the perception of Mandarin lexical tones, both within the experiment groups as well as between the experiment group and the control group
@article{zhang2014feedback,author={Zhang, Cong},journal={St. Anne's Annual Review},pages={105--125},title={{The effect of immediate feedback on the perception of Mandarin lexical tones by non-native speakers of Mandarin}},volume={5},year={2014}}
Lexical tone is an important feature in Mandarin. However, it caused substantial difficulty for the non-Mandarin speakers. Since lexical tones are not completely illegible to non-Mandarin speakers, many methods are employed to improve the perception of Mandarin lexical tones by non-Mandarin speakers. One method is perceptual learning. Perceptual learning is a learning style through which people pick up “previously unused information” (Gibson & Gibson1955). Most perceptual learning studies on Mandarin lexical tone perception have used perceptual training as the condition for the participants to pick up information (e.g. Wang et al. 1999; Wang et al. 2003; Francis et al. 2008). Feedback, which is another important tool for perceptual learning, is nevertheless understudied in Mandarin lexical tone perceptual learning studies. Since feedback has many categories, in the current study, only the immediate and simplest form of feedback is examined. Whether the perception of the lexical tones by non-Mandarin speakers can be improved by receiving immediate and simple feedback is the focus of this study. The aims of this study are: 1) to investigate the effect of feedback and provide future studies with experimental grounds on the use of feedback; 2) to suggest the use of feedback in Computer Assisted Language Learning through investigating the effect of feedback; 3) to contribute to the existing theories, such as Autosegmental Theory (Goldsmith 1979), Categorical Perception (Best 1995), Noticing Hypothesis (Schmidt 1990), with empirical evidence. The current study examined the perception of Mandarin lexical tones by 24 native British English speakers, with 5 native Mandarin speakers as one of the control groups. The experiment made use of an AX discrimination task which required the participants to make judgments on whether the tones of 160 pairs of stimuli were the same or not, regardless of the consonants or vowels. The experiment group consisted of 12 native British English speakers. This group received simple feedback which only indicated the incorrectness on the incorrect judgments immediately after the judgment was made. As a control group, the other 12 participants did not receive any feedback. The results of the experiment showed that simple immediate feedback did not have a significant effect on the perception of Mandarin lexical tones by English speakers, both in terms of accuracy and reaction time. The reasons for the results are mainly discussed in terms of feedback types, individual differences on perceptual learning, and the influence from musical experience on lexical tone perception. The first chapter of this dissertation is a general introduction. In the second chapter, some background information about the phonology of Mandarin syllables is introduced. The third chapter reviews the previous studies on lexical tone perception, perceptual learning and feedback, to establish the basis for this study. A pilot experiment and a full-scale experiment are reported in the fourth and the fifth chapter respectively. The last chapter is dedicated to the general discussion, conclusion and suggestions for future studies.
@mastersthesis{zhang2012MA,author={Zhang, Cong},title={{The effect of immediate and simple feedback on the perception of Mandarin lexical tones by English speakers}},school={MA dissertation: Newcastle University, UK},year={2012}}
Related talks:
tone perception
The Effect of Immediate Feedback on the Perception of Mandarin Tones by Non-Mandarin Speakers.
Cong Zhang, and Biao Zeng.
Annual Bloomsbury Round Table on Communication, Cognition and Culture Birkbeck, University of London, UK, 28-29 jun 2012
@conference{zhang2012MA-c,author={Zhang, Cong and Zeng., Biao},title={The Effect of Immediate Feedback on the Perception of Mandarin Tones by Non-Mandarin Speakers.},booktitle={Annual Bloomsbury Round Table on Communication, Cognition and Culture},year={2012},category={oral},month={28-29 Jun},location={Birkbeck, University of London, UK}}
tone perception
The Effect of Immediate Feedback on the Perception of Mandarin Tones by Non-Mandarin Speakers: A Pilot Study.
Cong Zhang
15th Warwick International Postgraduate Conference in Applied Linguistics University of Warwick, UK, 27 jun 2012
@conference{zhang2012MA-pilot-c,author={Zhang, Cong},title={The Effect of Immediate Feedback on the Perception of Mandarin Tones by Non-Mandarin Speakers: A Pilot Study.},booktitle={15th Warwick International Postgraduate Conference in Applied Linguistics},year={2012},month={27 Jun},location={University of Warwick, UK}}