Implicit learning is the learning of underlying regularities hidden in the
environment without the learner being conscious of what is being learnt.
First language acquisition in young children is essentially implicit
(Krashen, 1982), but the role of implicit learning in second language
acquisition is debatable.
Previous research on learning of tonal languages focused on perception
and identification of language tones in relatively explicit settings, and
showed that tonal language experience may not help with learning a new
tonal language in an explicit setting (So & Best, 2010; Wang, 2006). Yet,
little research was done on the implicit learning of language tones, and on
whether prior tonal language experience plays a role in such implicit
learning.
In this study, simplified Thai tonal rules were used as a learning target to
investigate if implicit learning of such rules is possible. Implicit learning
performance among native tonal language speakers with no knowledge of
Thai, non?tonal language native speakers who have learnt/have been
learning tonal languages other than Thai, and non?tonal language
speakers with little knowledge of tonal languages were compared.
Results showed that the native tonal language group implicitly learnt the
target, and some trends of learning were found in the tonal language
learner group, but not in the tonal language na?ve group. This advantage
of tonal language experience over the learning of tonal patterns suggested
that tonal language experience can be transferable to the learning of a new
tonal language in implicit settings. This suggested that, rather than being
hindered by their prior linguistic experience, learners with some tonal
language background may benefit from implicit settings when learning a
new tonal language. / published_or_final_version / English / Master / Master of Philosophy
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:HKU/oai:hub.hku.hk:10722/161556 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Lam, Ngo-shan, Alision., 林傲山. |
| Contributors | Leung, JHC, Hutton, CM |
| Publisher | The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) |
| Source Sets | Hong Kong University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | PG_Thesis |
| Source | http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B47869963 |
| Rights | The author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights) and the right to use in future works., Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License |
| Relation | HKU Theses Online (HKUTO) |
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