Thai Learners’ Listening Skills in the Accent Discrimination of Japanese Words: A Comparison of Those That Have Had Accent Learning and Practice Experience with Those That Have Not

Abstract

This paper had two objectives. The first was to analyze the difficulties in the perception of the Japanese pitch accents of Thai learners of Japanese. The second was to clarify whether the knowledge of accents and experience of listening practice could accelerate the acquisition of the pitch accent or not by using an accent perception test modified from the “Tokyo Accent Perception Test” created by Kawatsu Motoi et al. (2003). The target group of this study was first-year students in the Faculty of Humanities at Kasetsart University. The study focuses on the differences between the students that have had accent learning and practice experience and those that have not. Seventy-four students participated in this study and the results were as follows.
1. The Thai learners were able to perceive accents with an affirmative intonation better than accents with an interrogative intonation.
2. The accuracy of the accent perception decreased with the increase in the length of the words.
3. The penultimate accent (the second from the last syllable) was the most difficult accent pattern for the participants to identify, especially in the interrogative intonation.
4. Prior knowledge of the accent system and practice enhanced the students’ listening skills regarding accent discrimination. Especially the Heiban type, the Atamadaka type, and the Nakadaka Type in the affirmative intonation showed a high accuracy rate at more than
80%.