EVEN IN THE BEST-CASE SCENARIO L2 LEARNERS HAVE PERSISTENT DIFFICULTY PERCEIVING AND UTILIZING TONES IN MANDARIN: FINDINGS FROM BEHAVIORAL AND EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS EXPERIMENTS
EVEN IN THE BEST-CASE SCENARIO L2 LEARNERS HAVE PERSISTENT DIFFICULTY PERCEIVING AND UTILIZING TONES IN MANDARIN: FINDINGS FROM BEHAVIORAL AND EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS EXPERIMENTS
复制标题
即使在最好的情况下，二语学习者在感知和使用普通话声调方面也持续存在困难：行为和事件相关电位实验的发现
DOI：
10.1017/s027226312000039x
复制
发表时间：
2020
影响因子：
4.1
通讯作者：
DeKeyser, Robert
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Pelzl, Eric;Lau, Ellen F.;Guo, Taomei;DeKeyser, Robert
人们普遍认为，对于非声调语言的成人使用者来说，词汇声调是一项艰巨的学习挑战。虽然对于初级第二语言 (L2) 学习者来说，困难和快速进步都有据可查，但需要对更高级的学习者进行研究，以了解一旦学习者拥有大量词汇，声调感知困难如何影响单词识别。本研究缩小了之前工作中提出的困难，发现高级二语学习者在高度准确的声调识别和很大程度上不准确的声调词词汇决策之间存在分离。我们通过在近乎理想的听力条件下测试性能来研究高级 L2 语调文字处理的“最佳情况”——清晰且孤立地说出单词。在这种情况下，学习者对声调词的词汇判断是否仍然存在困难？如果是这样，它是由词汇表示的质量还是由 L2 处理例程驱动的？高级第二语言和中文母语听众在记录脑电图的同时做出词汇决定。非单词的第一个音节的元音或声调与常见的双音节单词不同。作为一个群体，第二语言学习者在操纵声调时的表现不如操纵元音时的准确度。随后的分析表明，即使在学习者在离线书面词汇测试中表现出正确且自信的语气识别的项目子集中，情况也是如此。事件相关电位结果表明，对于 L1 中的两种非单词条件都有 N400 效应，但在 L2 中只有元音 N400 效应，声调响应介于真实单词和元音非单词之间。这些结果证明了大多数第二语言学习者在使用声调进行在线单词识别方面一直存在困难，并表明它是由与第二语言词汇表示和处理例程相关的因素共同驱动的。我们认为，这种声调非单词困难对学习者具有现实意义：它可能会导致他们的心理词典中出现许多无声调单词表征，并且可能会影响他们学习新声调单词的效率。
Lexical tones are widely believed to be a formidable learning challenge for adult speakers of nontonal languages. While difficulties—as well as rapid improvements—are well documented for beginning second language (L2) learners, research with more advanced learners is needed to understand how tone perception difficulties impact word recognition once learners have a substantial vocabulary. The present study narrows in on difficulties suggested in previous work, which found a dissociation in advanced L2 learners between highly accurate tone identification and largely inaccurate lexical decision for tone words. We investigate a “best-case scenario” for advanced L2 tone word processing by testing performance in nearly ideal listening conditions—with words spoken clearly and in isolation. Under such conditions, do learners still have difficulty in lexical decision for tone words? If so, is it driven by the quality of lexical representations or by L2 processing routines? Advanced L2 and native Chinese listeners made lexical decisions while an electroencephalogram was recorded. Nonwords had a first syllable with either a vowel or tone that differed from that of a common disyllabic word. As a group, L2 learners performed less accurately when tones were manipulated than when vowels were manipulated. Subsequent analyses showed that this was the case even in the subset of items for which learners showed correct and confident tone identification in an offline written vocabulary test. Event-related potential results indicated N400 effects for both nonword conditions in L1, but only vowel N400 effects in L2, with tone responses intermediate between those of real words and vowel nonwords. These results are evidence of the persistent difficulty most L2 learners have in using tones for online word recognition, and indicate it is driven by a confluence of factors related to both L2 lexical representations and processing routines. We suggest that this tone nonword difficulty has real-world implications for learners: It may result in many toneless word representations in their mental lexicons, and is likely to affect the efficiency with which they can learn new tone words.