The Effect of Musical Aptitude: Perceiving and Producing Mandarin Lexical Tones By Non-Native Speakers of Chinese

Abstract

This study explores the effect of musical aptitude as a combination of innate musical aptitude and learned/trained musical aptitude in tonal perception and tonal production by non-native speakers of Chinese. The study aims to discover whether the musical aptitude of non-native speakers of Chinese helps in their perception and production of Mandarin lexical tones at different stages of learning. Mandarin uses tones to lexically distinguish word meanings, and therefore learning these tones is essential to communication in the language. A number of studies have found that those learning Mandarin as a foreign language have difficulty in perceiving and producing Mandarin lexical tones (Klein, Zatorre, Mikner & Zhao, 2001; Wang et al., 2001a; 2003; Lee et al., 2009). In order to tackle this problem and therefore improve Mandarin learners’ learning, researchers have attempted to detect the source of this difficulty. Seven factors were identified, three linguistic factors and four sociolinguistic factors. The former included the categorical nature of tone, the phonetic cues for tone, and the context-dependent nature of tone sandhi; the latter factors included the learners’ language experience in the form of bilingualism, the learner’s age, foreign language anxiety and the impact of gender (Chao, 1968; Brown, 1980; Hassler et al., 1985; Xu, 1997; Peretz & Coltheart, 2003; Wee, 2008). Among the seven factors, the phonetic cues of Mandarin lexical tones and learners’ learning experience in the form of bilingualism remained underspecified in prior studies, and hence became two of the research aims in this study. The findings of the small body of research into another underspecified factor affecting learners’ perception and production of Mandarin lexical tones, learners’ musical aptitude, have been inconsistent: some investigators found little or no relationship between musical aptitude and L2 learning of tone (e.g. Peoppel, 2001; Anvari et al., 2002), while other investigators have found such a relationship to exist (e.g. Zatorre et al., 2002; Slev & Miyake, 2006; Wong et al., 2007). In order to provide more conclusive evidence in regard to the three above mentioned underspecified factors affecting learners’ perception and production of Mandarin lexical tones, the current study provides a more rigorous and precise research design than those adopted in previous studies. During the first stage of the longitudinal study forty-five non-native speakers of Chinese enrolled in the Chinese Stage I course at the University of Auckland were administered a questionnaire, and then tested using an innate MA test, a Mandarin lexical tone listening test (for perception), and a Mandarin lexical tone speaking test (for production). The eleven participants who continued into the later stage of the study again took each of these tests twelve weeks later at the end of their first semester of study. A comparison of the findings of the tests revealed that musical aptitude, defined as a combination of innate musical aptitude and learned/trained musical aptitude, did help non-native speakers of Chinese in their perception and production of Mandarin lexical tones in the early stage of their learning. Particularly, pitch in musical aptitude provided the most advantage in learners’ tonal perception, and melody in musical aptitude provided the most advantage in their tonal production. Concurrently, in addition to musical aptitude, learners’ language experience in form of bilingualism also played a role in their tonal perception and production. However, the findings also revealed that as learners’ tonal training in the formal classroom setting increased, the impact of observed musical aptitude on learners’ tonal perception and production became less over time. These findings overall indicate that while musical aptitude may help non-native speakers of Chinese in their perception and production of Mandarin lexical tones during the early stage of their learning, it may not necessarily be as important during the later stages of their learning. This thesis concludes with important insights and significant theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical contributions from this research on the relationship between musical aptitude and Mandarin tones.