THE ROLE OF 'FOCUS OF ATTENTION” ON THELEARNING OF NON-NATIVE SPEECH SOUNDS:ENGLISH SPEAKERS LEARNING OF MANDARIN CHINESE TONES

[摘要] Focus of attention (FOA) has been demonstrated to affect motor learning and performance of many motor skills. FOA refers to the performer’s focus while performing the task. The purpose of this dissertation was to assess the role of FOA in the speech domain. The research asked whether external or internal FOA would individually or differentially facilitate the learning of Mandarin Chinese tones by native English speakers. As a secondary question and experimental control, this study also examined whether the four tones were produced with the same accuracy. Forty-two females, between the ages of 18 and 24 were randomly assigned to one of three groups: external FOA (EFOA), internal FOA (IFOA) and control (C). During the acquisition phase, the groups were instructed to either focus on the sound produced (EFOA), the vibration in the voice box (IFOA), or no related FOA instructions (control). Participants were required to repeat the Mandarin words after an auditory model. To assess learning, the participants repeated the practiced words in a retention test, and repeated similar but unpracticed words during a transfer test. The data was collected in two sessions. The dependent variables were the root mean squared error (acoustic measure) and percentage of correctly perceived tones (perceptual measure). There was a significant difference among the four Mandarin Chinese tones for the three groups (Tones 1 and 4 were produced with significantly higher accuracy than Tones 2 and 3) before acquisition phase. There was, however, no significant difference among the three FOA groups on the dependent variables. The results contradict the FOA effects in the literature derived from limb motor learning and oral-nonspeech learning experiments. This study represents the first attempt to test the FOA in the speech domain. As such, it is premature to draw firm conclusions about the role of FOA in speech motor learning based on these results. The discussion focuses on factors that might have led to the current results. Because FOA represents a potential factor that might affect speech motor learning, future research is warranted to study the effect of FOA in the speech domain.

[发布机构] the University of Pittsburgh