JALT2025 - Tokyo

Comprehensibility of L2 Chinese sentence speech (Japanese learners)

Oct 31, 2025, 4:35 PM

30m

National Olympics Memorial Youth Center / 国立オリンピック記念青少年総合センター

Research-oriented Presentation (30-minutes) Japanese and Other Language Teaching & Learning Room 407

Speaker

Sichang Gao (Shanghai International Studies University/Kobe City University of Foreign Studies)

Description

This study examined how phonetic errors, task types, and language proficiency affect Chinese L2 comprehensibility. Fifty-nine Japanese university learners performed sentence-reading and question-answering tasks, rated on a 9-point scale by native Chinese speakers. A general linear model showed that tonal errors, segmental errors, and rhythm did not impact comprehensibility, while intonation and sentence segmentation did. A linear mixed-effects model revealed higher comprehensibility in reading tasks and increased comprehensibility with proficiency.

Summary

This study examined how phonetic errors, task types, and language proficiency affect Chinese L2 comprehensibility. Fifty-nine Japanese university learners performed sentence-reading and question-answering tasks, rated on a 9-point scale by native Chinese speakers. A general linear model showed that tonal errors, segmental errors, and rhythm did not impact comprehensibility, while intonation and sentence segmentation did. A linear mixed-effects model revealed higher comprehensibility in reading tasks and increased comprehensibility with proficiency.