The effectiveness of acoustic training on tone acquisition by Hong Kong learners of Mandarin

Pronunciation of Mandarin tone has become one of the most important elements in teaching Mandarin in Hong Kong schools with the implementation of Biliteracy and Trilingualism language policy. Nowadays, pitch contours of Mandarin tones can be visualized with help of acoustic phonetic software such as Praat. The tool can also be used as a tool to help learners improve their pronunciation accuracy. The main purpose of this study is to examine learners’ pronunciation of Mandarin tones before and after acoustic training. The study consisted of three inter-related parts: pre-test, tone visualization training, and post-test. Six female Hong Kong learners of Mandarin were invited to read and listen 24 monosyllabic words and 40 disyllabic words in tests. During the tone visualization training, the participants were involved in five on-campus training sessions and two online self-learning sessions using the acoustic phonetic software Praat. The graphical representations such as the duration, pitch height and pitch contour of each tone and permutation were instructed. Overall, the acoustic training improved the participants’ pronunciation of Mandarin tones. The findings can help develop an effective tone training scheme for L2 Mandarin learners. Copyright © 2019 Australasian Speech Science and Technology Association Inc.