Effects of perception and vocabulary training of Mandarin tones for native speakers of Japanese: Pre-, post-, and retention test comparison

Abstract

Native speakers of Japanese were trained to perceive four Mandarin tones, and to semantically and phonetically distinguish Chinese monosyllabic word contrasting in tones. Various tests were administered not only before and after the training period but also forty days after the completion of training. Participants were divided into three groups. First group received perception training first and vocabulary training later. Second group received vocabulary training first and perception training later. The last group, which was the control group, received no training and participated only in testing sessions. The result showed that the accuracy in perception-related-tests improved by perception training, and the accuracy in vocabulary-related-tests improved by vocabulary training. In addition, the effect of training had retained even 40 days after the completion of training. More importantly, the group which received perception training first showed significantly larger improvement from pre-test to post-test than in the group which received vocabulary training first. Note that two groups received the same amount of equivalent trainings in total. Preset results demonstrated the existence of the order effect in foreign language learning. [Work supported by JSPS KAKENHI 23242032.]