Accuracy of Japanese pitch accent rises during and after shadowing training

Abstract

We conducted a longitudinal study on the effectiveness of shadowing training for Chinese and Mongolian learners of Japanese. The purpose of the present study was to clarify (1) the effect of longitudinal shadowing training for realization of pitch accent, and (2) to discuss if the difference of effectiveness depends on the learners' proficiency level as well as their first language. 15 Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) learners participated in this study. They are divided into two groups according to their level of Japanese proficiency. Each group was instructed to shadow a dialog ten times without seeing a script for three sessions over a seven week period. The results showed that speech rate and accuracy of pitch accent rose significantly after seven weeks in both groups, but each group was different in the ways of improvement.