THE PERFORMANCES OF NON-NATIVE CHINESE LEARNERS IN RECOGNIZING THE CHINESE CONSONANTS AND THEIR PHONOLOGICAL ERRORS
Abstract
This paper investigates the performances of non-native Chinese learners studying in one of the Chinese national primary school located in Kuala Lumpur in perceiving and recognizing the consonants used to form the Chinese syllables. The quantitative research method is applied for this study. 50 non-Chinese learners from different language backgrounds and educational standards were selected as the target respondents to participate in the Test of Chinese Consonants. The answer scripts from the respondents were analysed using the SPSS software. The feedbacks from the respondents in perceiving the Chinese consonants and their performances in recognizing the accurate consonants used to form the Chinese syllable were good. The findings showed that the non-native Chinese learners were able to recognize the consonants used to form the Chinese syllables and their manners of utterance even though these consonants do not exist in the Malay sound system. The phonological errors made by the respondents only arose when Chinese consonants that have similar sounds to the consonants in Malay sound system. The feedbacks from the respondents also showed that they were able to distinguish the manners of utterance for the aspirated and unaspirated consonants. They were seldom confused between the Malay sound system voiced and voiceless consonants with the aspirated and unaspirated consonants in the Chinese sound system. The majority of respondents obtained excellent result and good score in answering the Test of Chinese consonants; their performances in recognizing and perceiving the accurate consonants in the Chinese syllables indicated that they did not face serious difficulty in recognizing all types of consonants in Chinese language included the retroflex, apico-dental and alveolo palatal consonants. The research outcome of this study showed that non-native Chinese learners from the Chinese national primary school achieved the same proficiency as native Chinese learners in perceiving and recognizing the Chinese consonants contained in the Chinese syllables. The complexity of the manners for uttering different types of the Chinese consonants did not hinder the perception of the non-native Chinese learners in learning and mastering the Chinese consonants accurately.References
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