To what extent are young beginner learners of Chinese aware of their own pronunciation errors?

Set within the context of teaching and learning Chinese at two secondary schools in the North of England and adopting a case study research design, the aim of this study is to examine the extent to which 20 young beginner learners of Chinese are aware of their own pronunciation errors. Distinguishing between implicit and explicit levels of awareness, as well as between ‘online’ awareness levels during the process of L2 production and more general awareness which can be applied retrospectively, data collection instruments included speaking tasks, dictation exercises and stimulated recall interviews with the focus of analysis on learners’ explanations of any perceived pronunciation errors.

All learners demonstrated low levels of awareness of their own pronunciation errors both during and after speech production while learners who were more intelligible were generally more aware of their own pronunciation errors. The majority of findings were interpreted in terms of indicating a need for more explicit forms of instruction although the need to provide a healthy balance of implicit forms of instruction in order to cater for more incidental learning was also recognised. In light of the case study nature of the research design, the pedagogical suggestions were framed with reference to the learners who participated in this study. However, it is hoped that they will also be useful for wider application within the context of teaching Chinese as an L2 to young beginners in Anglophone settings.

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