Bias analysis and teaching emphasis in Chinese Tone Acquisition by Thai Students from zero starting point

Abstract

As is well known, Chinese is a tonal language. The acquisition of Chinese phonetics serves as the foundation for learning Chinese as a second language. Tonal distinctions in Chinese carry significant semantic differences, making the acquisition of Chinese tones a focal point and challenge in learning Chinese phonetics. Although Thai, like Chinese, is also a tonal language, the tone values in these two languages are not entirely the same. For Thai students, whose mother tongue is a tonal language, they need to relearn a set of pitch patterns different from their native tone system when acquiring Chinese tones, inevitably leading to pronunciation errors. For Thai students, failure to acquire Chinese tones accurately will result in the issue of "Thai accent in Chinese." This article, based on previous research findings, combines the author's years of experience in teaching Chinese as a foreign language and research on Thai phonetics. It utilizes methods such as literature analysis, comparative analysis, experiential summary, and experimental research. Taking Thai students at the elementary level as the research subjects, it analyzes the similarities and differences between Chinese and Thai tones in terms of tone values and tone categories. It applies error analysis theory to identify the main pronunciation errors that Thai students encounter when learning Chinese tones. Finally, based on the identified focal points and challenges, it proposes some key aspects in teaching Chinese tones.