Factors Influencing the Acquisition of Mandarin Chinese as a Second Additional Language Focusing on Phonetics

Norma Margaret Nel; Soezin Krog

doi:10.17275/per.21.1.8.1

EN

Factors Influencing the Acquisition of Mandarin Chinese as a Second Additional Language Focusing on Phonetics

Abstract

Mandarin has been added to the list of second additional languages (SAL) that South African learners can choose from. The researchers proactively conducted research pertaining to SAL (Mandarin) since it is a dynamic phenomenon in South Africa. The research question was formulated as follows: Do factors such as 1) phonemic differences between learners’ mother tongue and Chinese, 2) learners’ cognitive styles and 3) learners’ abilities of singing and tone imitation, influence non-native learners of Mandarin (as a SAL) in South Africa to learn Chinese phonetics? We foresee that our findings will contribute to the learning and teaching of Mandarin (SAL) in South African schools. This article serves as the second in a series of three articles, as a mixed method (quan-qual) design was called for. Hypotheses were formulated and statistics presented to either accept/reject them. We gleaned the conclusions of the quantitative part of the research as a springboard and focused on the qualitative findings derived from interviews, observations and a literature review, which enabled us to identify and arrange the (quan-qual) data according to categories and themes. The quantitative data revealed that there was no significant correlation between learners’ learning preferences and Chinese phonetics performances; singing and tone imitation abilities contributed to initial consonant pronunciation and tone 3 pronunciation; learners with musical abilities performed better at reading the Pinyin phonics table; identified initial consonants, multi-vowels and whole syllables were challenging to read; tone 3 was the most challenging, tone 1 was the easiest and tones 2, 3 and 4 were mispronounced as tone 1. From the qualitative data two themes emerged, namely the challenges of learning and teaching Chinese phonetics, and aspects to consider when learning Chinese phonetics. Based on the integrated quan-qual findings, we were able to contribute to the existing body of knowledge on this topic.

Keywords

Mandarin, Phonetics, Second additional language (SAL);, Second Language Acquisition (SLA)

Thanks

We thank Angela Liu, Deputy Principal (Chinese) at the research school for her input in the manuscript relating to examples of characters and their meanings. Our sincere thanks to the learners and the teacher of this same school, who participated in the study.

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Other Fields of Education

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Norma Margaret Nel ^* This is me
0000-0003-4900-446X
South Africa

Soezin Krog This is me
0000-0001-8075-3042
South Africa

Publication Date

January 1, 2021

Submission Date

February 1, 2020

Acceptance Date

July 1, 2020

Published in Issue

Year 2021 Volume: 8 Number: 1

DOI

https://doi.org/10.17275/per.21.1.8.1

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA83TL52YC

APA

Nel, N. M., & Krog, S. (2021). Factors Influencing the Acquisition of Mandarin Chinese as a Second Additional Language Focusing on Phonetics. Participatory Educational Research, 8(1), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.17275/per.21.1.8.1

AMA

1.Nel NM, Krog S. Factors Influencing the Acquisition of Mandarin Chinese as a Second Additional Language Focusing on Phonetics. PER. 2021;8(1):1-27. doi:10.17275/per.21.1.8.1

Chicago

Nel, Norma Margaret, and Soezin Krog. 2021. “Factors Influencing the Acquisition of Mandarin Chinese As a Second Additional Language Focusing on Phonetics”. Participatory Educational Research 8 (1): 1-27. https://doi.org/10.17275/per.21.1.8.1.

EndNote

Nel NM, Krog S (January 1, 2021) Factors Influencing the Acquisition of Mandarin Chinese as a Second Additional Language Focusing on Phonetics. Participatory Educational Research 8 1 1–27.

IEEE

[1]N. M. Nel and S. Krog, “Factors Influencing the Acquisition of Mandarin Chinese as a Second Additional Language Focusing on Phonetics”, PER, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 1–27, Jan. 2021, doi: 10.17275/per.21.1.8.1.

ISNAD

Nel, Norma Margaret - Krog, Soezin. “Factors Influencing the Acquisition of Mandarin Chinese As a Second Additional Language Focusing on Phonetics”. Participatory Educational Research 8/1 (January 1, 2021): 1-27. https://doi.org/10.17275/per.21.1.8.1.

JAMA

1.Nel NM, Krog S. Factors Influencing the Acquisition of Mandarin Chinese as a Second Additional Language Focusing on Phonetics. PER. 2021;8:1–27.

MLA

Nel, Norma Margaret, and Soezin Krog. “Factors Influencing the Acquisition of Mandarin Chinese As a Second Additional Language Focusing on Phonetics”. Participatory Educational Research, vol. 8, no. 1, Jan. 2021, pp. 1-27, doi:10.17275/per.21.1.8.1.

Vancouver

1.Norma Margaret Nel, Soezin Krog. Factors Influencing the Acquisition of Mandarin Chinese as a Second Additional Language Focusing on Phonetics. PER. 2021 Jan. 1;8(1):1-27. doi:10.17275/per.21.1.8.1