Xinchun Wang

Training Mandarin and Cantonese speakers to identify English vowel contrasts: Long‐term retention and effect on production

Synthesized hVd vowel stimuli and naturally produced CVC minimal pairs by multiple talkers were used to train native Mandarin and Cantonese speakers to identify the English /i/–/I/, /u/–/U/, and /E/–/Q/ contrasts. In the pre‐ and post‐tests, subjects took the identification tests on synthesized and natural stimuli, and were also recorded producing the target vowel contrasts. Results showed that subjects relied on duration cues for the /i/–/I/, contrast more consistently than they did for the other two contrasts. Training effectively shifted their attention from duration to spectral cues. Trainees’ perceptual performance on natural tokens improved significantly from pretest to post‐test on all three contrasts. Accuracy in generalization to new words produced by new talkers was comparable to new words by familiar talkers. The effect of perceptual learning was retained 3 months later after the training was completed. Improvement in production was observed but performance differences between pre‐ and post‐tes...

What Factors Promote Sustained Online Discussions and Collaborative Learning in a Web-Based Course?

Although the pedagogical advantages of online interactive learning are well known, much needs to be done in instructional design of applicable collaborative learning tasks that motivate sustained student participation and interaction. This study investigates the factors that encourage student interaction and collaboration in both process and product oriented computer mediated communication (CMC) tasks in a Web-based course that adopts interactive learning tasks as its core learning activities. The analysis of a post course survey questionnaire collected from three online classes suggest that among others, the structure of the online discussion, group size and group cohesion, strictly enforced deadlines, direct link of interactive learning activities to the assessment, and the differences in process and product driven interactive learning tasks are some of the important factors that influence participation and contribute to sustained online interaction and collaboration.

Training for learning Mandarin tones: A comparison of production and perceptual training

Mandarin Chinese lexical tones pose difficulties for non‐native speakers whose first languages contrast or do not contrast lexical tones. In this study, both tone language and non‐tone language speaking learners of Mandarin Chinese were trained for three weeks to identify the four Mandarin lexical tones. One group took the production training with both visual and audio feedback using Kay Sona Speech II software. The target tones produced by native Mandarin speakers were played back through a pair of headphones and the pitch contours of the target tones were displayed on the computer screen on the top window to be compared with the trainees productions which appear in real time in the bottom window. Another group of participants took the perceptual training only with four‐way forced choice identification tasks with immediate feedback. The same training tokens were used in both training modes. Pretest and post test data in perception and production were collected from both groups and were compared for effec...

English vowel production by native speakers of Beijing Mandarin

Ten English vowels produced in a controlled elicitation paradigm by 15 Beijing Mandarin speakers and 15 native English speakers were randomly presented to trained English listeners who identified them in a forced‐choice listening task. Although the non‐native productions of the vowels with Mandarin counterparts were generally as intelligible as those of the native English speakers, the remaining vowels were produced with varying degrees of intelligibility. The results suggested a strong influence of the L1 vowel system on the production of L2 vowels. In particular, acoustic analyses revealed that the acccented English vowels tended to be ‘‘pulled’’ toward their Mandarin counterparts so that they fell between the English and Mandarin vowels in an F1–F2 space. Spectral overlap in the tense–lax pairs accounted for some intelligibility problems, while the dense distribution of second‐language (L2) vowels in the area of the vowel space where the L1 vowel system is less crowded apparently increased the level of difficulty for the L2 learners in producing some vowels. The results are discussed in terms of error prediction models for L2 speech learning.