Thai Students Of Chinese Monosyllabic Tone In The Acquisition Process Of The Experimental Analysis

This thesis focuses on Thai learners'performance of Chinese tones in monosyllabic words. The objectives of this study are twofold:to identify Thai learners'problems in listening and producing Chinese tones, and to identify possible causes of these problems. Sixty-seven participants of this study were divided into three groups (high, mid, and low), based on their experience with the Chinese language.The results of the listening task showed that a number of the errors made belong to tones 2 and 3, with tone 2 recorded as the most erroneous. Thai learners also had less difficulty with tone 1, and the least difficulty with tone 4. Based on these data, Thai learners'performance on the listening task indicated a gradation of increasing difficulty in the acquisition of Chinese tones. That is, tone 4 is the least problematic, followed by tones 1,3, and 2. The Thai learners'production task as compared with the baseline data produced by native speakers revealed that, tone 1 produced by Thai learners was different from the target. That is, it was produced with a relatively lower pitch. Thais'production of tone 2 showed a substantial initial drop in pitch before a continuous rise, and thus made Thai learners'production of tone 2 similar to the native speakers'production of tone 3. Thai learners'tone 3 also deviated from the native speakers. The pitch produced by the participants in the low and mid groups did not rise sharply, but instead gradually. The high group participants had a drop in pitch, similar to the native speakers'production, however, did not rise in pitch as highly as the native speakers. Moreover, in comparison with the target, the transition point where the drop began to rise was relatively late. Finally, tone 4 pitch pattern of Thai learners across the three groups seemed to be generally similar to the target. However, one deviation was recognized. The native speakers produced this tone with a sudden drop in pitch, whereas the Thais with a delayed drop in pitch.