Listening Difficulties in Mandarin Tone Identification among Non-Chinese Language Education Students

Abstract

Tones are an essential feature of Mandarin Chinese because differences in tone can distinguish word meanings. However, learners from non-tonal language backgrounds often experience difficulties in identifying tones. This study aims to describe the profile of difficulties in listening to Mandarin tones among second semester Non-Chinese Language Education Students at Ma Chung University. A mixed methods approach was employed involving 16 second semester non-Chinese Language Education Students at Ma Chung University. Data were collected through a tone identification test covering vocabulary, sentence, and paragraph levels, as well as semi-structured interviews. The results showed that Tone 2 had the highest percentage of identification errors at the vocabulary (50%), sentence (59%), and paragraph (56%) levels. Meanwhile, the neutral tone ranked second, with error rates of 47%, 56%, and 50%, respectively. These findings were supported by the interview results, which revealed that the difficulties were related to distinguishing the contour of Tone 2, recognizing the neutral tone, and maintaining attention to tones while listening to longer utterances. These findings suggest that Mandarin tone instruction should be conducted progressively through listening practice, beginning with the vocabulary level, followed by the sentence and paragraph levels, to help improve learners' tone identification ability.