Effectiveness of a new teaching method based on the verbo-tonal method for Japanese beginners' learning of chinese voice tones

The present study examined the effectiveness for Japanese beginners learning the voice tones of the Chinese language of a newly developed teaching method based on the Verbo-tonal method (VT method) which uses body movements. The hypothesis was that body movements are useful for distinguishing and learning to pronounce 4 different kinds of voice tones, so that with a body-movement based teaching method, beginning learners can do voice-tone learning more effectively and appropriately in a shorter period of time. University undergraduates (N=35) in a basic Chinese class were taught 2 sessions a week, 90 min. per session, using the new teaching method. After 7 weeks. the students were given a test. including the task of dictating and pronouncing the voice tone of monosyllables and two-syllable words, and completed a survey questionnaire. The constructive method for hypothesis testing was Used. The results revealed that the subjects obtained high scores on almost all tasks. The results from the questionnaires also supported the hypothesis.