Training American listeners to perceive Mandarin tones.

Area of Science:

• Second Language Acquisition
• Phonetics and Phonology
• Auditory Perception

Background:

• Auditory training is effective for identifying non-native speech sounds (segmental distinctions).
• Its applicability to non-native suprasegmental contrasts, specifically Mandarin tones, remains less explored.
• Understanding suprasegmental perception is crucial for advanced second language (L2) proficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effectiveness of auditory training for acquiring non-native suprasegmental contrasts (Mandarin tones).
• To determine if training gains generalize to new auditory stimuli and talkers.
• To assess the long-term retention of Mandarin tone identification skills.

Main Methods:

• Employed the high-variability paradigm for auditory training.
• Eight American learners of Mandarin participated in eight training sessions over two weeks.
• Trained participants to identify the four Mandarin tones in natural words produced by native speakers.

Main Results:

• Significant average increase of 21% in identification accuracy from pretest to post-test.
• Training gains generalized to new stimuli (18% increase) and new talkers/stimuli (25% increase).
• A six-month retention test showed sustained improvement (average 21% increase from pretest).

Conclusions:

• Auditory training is effective for improving the perception of non-native suprasegmental contrasts like Mandarin tones.
• Perceptual modification of suprasegmental features is achievable through targeted training.
• L2 acquisition processes at segmental and suprasegmental levels may share analogous learning mechanisms.