Learning Chinese pronunciation from a Ã¢â‚¬Å“talking headÃ¢â‚¬Â - Revision history

Liuying@pitt.edu: /* Findings */

2008-03-12T15:02:05Z

Findings

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:02, 12 March 2008
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	The analysis on finals showed significant condition effect (χ2 (2)=7.39, p=0.025). Further pairwise comparisons showed that synthetic Baldi is significantly better than audio only condition (χ2(1)=7.36, p=0.0067). Least square mean were listed in Table 2.		The analysis on finals showed significant condition effect (χ2 (2)=7.39, p=0.025). Further pairwise comparisons showed that synthetic Baldi is significantly better than audio only condition (χ2(1)=7.36, p=0.0067). Least square mean were listed in Table 2.

	~~Table 2~~. Least square mean percentages of improvement based on logistic model		Figure. Least square mean percentages of improvement based on logistic model
	*Condition Initials Finals
	*Audio only 53.~~1 34.2~~		[[Image:head1.jpg]]
	*Human face 54.5 39.6
	*Synthetic Baldi 51.5 46.4


	== Explanation ==		== Explanation ==

Liuying at 11:17, 13 June 2007

2007-06-13T11:17:09Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:17, 13 June 2007
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	Table 2. Least square mean percentages of improvement based on logistic model		Table 2. Least square mean percentages of improvement based on logistic model
	* Initials Finals		*Condition Initials Finals
	*Audio only 53.1 34.2		*Audio only 53.1 34.2
	*Human face 54.5 39.6		*Human face 54.5 39.6

Liuying at 11:15, 13 June 2007

2007-06-13T11:15:50Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:15, 13 June 2007
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	----		----
			Summary Table
	*Learning Chinese pronunciation from a “talking head”		*Learning Chinese pronunciation from a “talking head”
	*Researchers: Ying Liu, Dominic Massaro, Susan Dunlap, Suemei Wu, Trevor Chen, Derek Chan, Charles Perfetti		*Researchers: Ying Liu, Dominic Massaro, Susan Dunlap, Suemei Wu, Trevor Chen, Derek Chan, Charles Perfetti
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	Different Chinese syllables listed in Table 1.		Different Chinese syllables listed in Table 1.
	Table 1. The syllables are all tone-1 Mandarin words (pin-yin) except those with the tones indicated in parentheses. UC = unique consonants; NUC = Non-unique consonants; NUS = Non-unique syllables; US = unique syllables; UV = unique vowels		Table 1. The syllables are all tone-1 Mandarin words (pin-yin) except those with the tones indicated in parentheses. UC = unique consonants; NUC = Non-unique consonants; NUS = Non-unique syllables; US = unique syllables; UV = unique vowels
	UC NUC NUS US UV		*UC NUC NUS US UV
	ji Pi bao Ju Ge		*ji Pi bao Ju Ge
	qie Nie dao qu He		*qie Nie dao qu He
	xian Tian gao xu Ke		*xian Tian gao xu Ke
	zhen Fen e(2)		*zhen Fen e(2)
	chuan kuan U(3)		*chuan kuan U(3)
	sha La		*sha La

	== Hypothesis ==		== Hypothesis ==
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	Table 2. Least square mean percentages of improvement based on logistic model		Table 2. Least square mean percentages of improvement based on logistic model
	Initials Finals		* Initials Finals
	Audio only 53.1 34.2		*Audio only 53.1 34.2
	Human face 54.5 39.6		*Human face 54.5 39.6
	Synthetic Baldi 51.5 46.4		*Synthetic Baldi 51.5 46.4

Liuying at 02:56, 7 June 2007

2007-06-07T02:56:29Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:56, 7 June 2007
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	== Abstract ==		== Abstract ==
	In this study, we compared the learning of Chinese pronunciation under three different online instruction methods: audio only, human “talking head”, and computer generated synthetic “talking head”. The learning took place through a web site developed specifically for students learning Chinese in the Chinese Learnlab[http://learnlab.org/learnlabs/chinese/]. Under both “talking head” conditions, the face of the speaker occupied 2/3 of the video screen. When student viewed the human “talking head”, major information came from the shape of the mouth and lip movement accompanied by audio sound. Whereas the synthetic “talking head” is transparent to reveal the internal articulators, which was accompanied by a slower than normal sound to match the “talking head” articulation.		In this study, we compared the learning of Chinese pronunciation under three different online instruction methods: audio only, human “talking head”, and computer generated synthetic “talking head”. The learning took place through a web site developed specifically for students learning Chinese in the Chinese Learnlab[http://learnlab.org/learnlabs/chinese/]. Under both “talking head” conditions, the face of the speaker occupied 2/3 of the video screen. When student viewed the human “talking head”, major information came from the shape of the mouth and lip movement accompanied by audio sound. Whereas the synthetic “talking head” is transparent to reveal the internal articulators, which was accompanied by a slower than normal sound to match the “talking head” articulation. We predict [[multimedia sources]] can lead to [[robust learning]] when the [[cognitive load]] is within limit.

	~~2. A glossary that defines terms used elsewhere in this node but not defined in the nodes that are parents, grandparents, etc. of this node;~~		== Glossary ==

	Visual; audio; video		Visual; audio; video

	~~3. The research~~ question ~~stated as concisely as possible, usually in a single sentence;~~		== Research question ==

	Does visual input of a “talking head” enhance the learning of Chinese pronunciation?		Does visual input of a “talking head” enhance the learning of Chinese pronunciation?

	~~4. A background and significance section that briefly summarizes prior work on the research question and why it is important to answer it;~~		== Background ==

	Multimedia technology has been used in second language learning for many years. The current available technology makes it possible to deliver not only text information, but also auditory and visual information through the Internet. It has been found that multiple-strategies and multiple modalities facilitate learning (Blum and Mitchell, 1998). For example, research in English showed that visual information on the vertical separation between the lips and the degree of lip spreading/rounding help the understanding of spoken language (Massaro and Cohen, 1990; Cohen and Massaro, 1994). So, does a visually presented “talking head” contains both auditory and visual information help Chinese character learning? Especially the robust learning of Chinese pronunciations which contain difficult consonants and tones? The method has not been tested by any well-designed experiment yet. However, based on a study in which we used a real person “talking head” to train true beginners on Chinese character, we believe it is a very effective learning method. Dr. Massaro’s research group is currently working on developing a animated 3D Chinese virtual speaker: Bao (Massaro, Ouni, Cohen, and Clark, In press). They found both the animated video (Baldi) and natural video were perceived better than voice only condition in a perceptual recognition experiment. The above two video conditions performed equally. We will do a comparison study between audio only, Bao and real person talking heads on our Chinese learners.		Multimedia technology has been used in second language learning for many years. The current available technology makes it possible to deliver not only text information, but also auditory and visual information through the Internet. It has been found that multiple-strategies and multiple modalities facilitate learning (Blum and Mitchell, 1998). For example, research in English showed that visual information on the vertical separation between the lips and the degree of lip spreading/rounding help the understanding of spoken language (Massaro and Cohen, 1990; Cohen and Massaro, 1994). So, does a visually presented “talking head” contains both auditory and visual information help Chinese character learning? Especially the robust learning of Chinese pronunciations which contain difficult consonants and tones? The method has not been tested by any well-designed experiment yet. However, based on a study in which we used a real person “talking head” to train true beginners on Chinese character, we believe it is a very effective learning method. Dr. Massaro’s research group is currently working on developing a animated 3D Chinese virtual speaker: Bao (Massaro, Ouni, Cohen, and Clark, In press). They found both the animated video (Baldi) and natural video were perceived better than voice only condition in a perceptual recognition experiment. The above two video conditions performed equally. We will do a comparison study between audio only, Bao and real person talking heads on our Chinese learners.
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	~~3. The dependent~~ variables, which are observable and typically measure competence, motivation, interaction, meta-learning, or some other pedagogically desirable outcome;		== Dependent variables == which are observable and typically measure competence, motivation, interaction, meta-learning, or some other pedagogically desirable outcome;

	Accuracy of pronouncing Chinese syllables (initials and finals).		Accuracy of pronouncing Chinese syllables (initials and finals).

	~~4. The independent~~ variables~~, which are typically include instructional environment, activity or method, and perhaps some student characteristics, such as gender or first language;~~		== Independent variables ==

	Three learning methods: audio only (control), human “talking head”, computer synthesized “talking head”.		Three learning methods: audio only (control), human “talking head”, computer synthesized “talking head”.
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	sha La		sha La

	~~5. The hypothesis, which is a concise statement of the relationship among the variables that answers the research question;~~		== Hypothesis ==

	We predict that visual input can provide more robust learning of pronouncing Chinese sound when using appropriately.		We predict that visual input can provide more robust learning of pronouncing Chinese sound when using appropriately.

	~~6. The findings, which are the results of the study if any are currently available;~~		== Findings ==

	The analysis on finals showed significant condition effect (χ2 (2)=7.39, p=0.025). Further pairwise comparisons showed that synthetic Baldi is significantly better than audio only condition (χ2(1)=7.36, p=0.0067). Least square mean were listed in Table 2.		The analysis on finals showed significant condition effect (χ2 (2)=7.39, p=0.025). Further pairwise comparisons showed that synthetic Baldi is significantly better than audio only condition (χ2(1)=7.36, p=0.0067). Least square mean were listed in Table 2.
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	7. An explanation, which is short (a paragraph or two) and typically mentions unobservable, hypothetical attributes of the students (e.g., the students’ knowledge or motivation) and cognitive or social processes that affect them;		== Explanation ==



	It is difficult to learn to speak a language by just listening to it, especially for a second language learner at beginner’s level. Visual cues provide extra information for reach the goal of speaking “natively”. Imitation is best achieved by understanding how the organs produce the sound. Current findings support that Bao (Chinese Baldi) has significant advantage in teaching Chinese vowel pronunciation than audio alone. The human face falls between the above two methods, because it provides some useful facial information but the internal organs are not transparent. We conclude that visual speech provides significant benefit for learners to improve their pronunciation.		It is difficult to learn to speak a language by just listening to it, especially for a second language learner at beginner’s level. Visual cues provide extra information for reach the goal of speaking “natively”. Imitation is best achieved by understanding how the organs produce the sound. Current findings support that Bao (Chinese Baldi) has significant advantage in teaching Chinese vowel pronunciation than audio alone. The human face falls between the above two methods, because it provides some useful facial information but the internal organs are not transparent. We conclude that visual speech provides significant benefit for learners to improve their pronunciation.

	As a node under coordinative learning cluster, coordination of visual and audio inputs is the cognitive process leads to more robust learning.		As a node under [[coordinative learning]] cluster, [[coordination]] of visual and audio inputs is the cognitive process leads to more [[robust learning]].

	~~8. The descendents, which lists links to descendent nodes of this one, if there are any;~~

			== Descendents ==
	None.		None.

	~~9. A further~~ information section that points to documents using hyper links and/or references in APA format. Each indicates briefly the document's relationship to the node (e.g., whether the document is a paper reporting the node in full detail, a proposal describing the motivation and design of the study in more detail, the node for a similar PSLC research study, etc.).		== Further information ==

	Massaro, D. W., Liu, Y., Chen, T. H., & Perfetti, C. A. (2006). A Multilingual Embodied Conversational Agent for Tutoring Speech and Language Learning. Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Spoken Language Processing (Interspeech 2006 - ICSLP, September, Pittsburgh, PA), 825-828.Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany.		Massaro, D. W., Liu, Y., Chen, T. H., & Perfetti, C. A. (2006). A Multilingual Embodied Conversational Agent for Tutoring Speech and Language Learning. Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Spoken Language Processing (Interspeech 2006 - ICSLP, September, Pittsburgh, PA), 825-828.Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany.

	~~(Updated April 16, 2007)~~

Liuying at 02:42, 7 June 2007

2007-06-07T02:42:32Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:42, 7 June 2007
Line 15:		Line 15:

	== Abstract ==		== Abstract ==
	In this study, we compared the learning of Chinese pronunciation under three different online instruction methods: audio only, human “talking head”, and computer generated synthetic “talking head”. The learning took place through a web site developed specifically for students learning Chinese in the [[Chinese Learnlab]]. Under both “talking head” conditions, the face of the speaker occupied 2/3 of the video screen. When student viewed the human “talking head”, major information came from the shape of the mouth and lip movement accompanied by audio sound. Whereas the synthetic “talking head” is transparent to reveal the internal articulators, which was accompanied by a slower than normal sound to match the “talking head” articulation.		In this study, we compared the learning of Chinese pronunciation under three different online instruction methods: audio only, human “talking head”, and computer generated synthetic “talking head”. The learning took place through a web site developed specifically for students learning Chinese in the Chinese Learnlab[http://learnlab.org/learnlabs/chinese/]. Under both “talking head” conditions, the face of the speaker occupied 2/3 of the video screen. When student viewed the human “talking head”, major information came from the shape of the mouth and lip movement accompanied by audio sound. Whereas the synthetic “talking head” is transparent to reveal the internal articulators, which was accompanied by a slower than normal sound to match the “talking head” articulation.

	2. A glossary that defines terms used elsewhere in this node but not defined in the nodes that are parents, grandparents, etc. of this node;		2. A glossary that defines terms used elsewhere in this node but not defined in the nodes that are parents, grandparents, etc. of this node;

Liuying at 02:41, 7 June 2007

2007-06-07T02:41:08Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:41, 7 June 2007
Line 13:		Line 13:
	*Data in the Data Shop: Yes		*Data in the Data Shop: Yes
	----		----


	~~Node title:~~		== Abstract ==
			In this study, we compared the learning of Chinese pronunciation under three different online instruction methods: audio only, human “talking head”, and computer generated synthetic “talking head”. The learning took place through a web site developed specifically for students learning Chinese in the [[Chinese Learnlab]]. Under both “talking head” conditions, the face of the speaker occupied 2/3 of the video screen. When student viewed the human “talking head”, major information came from the shape of the mouth and lip movement accompanied by audio sound. Whereas the synthetic “talking head” is transparent to reveal the internal articulators, which was accompanied by a slower than normal sound to match the “talking head” articulation.
	~~Researchers: Ying Liu, Dominic Massaro, Susan Dunlap, Suemei Wu, Trevor Chen, Derek Chan, Charles Perfetti~~

	~~1. An abstract that briefly describes the research encompassed by the node;~~

	In this study, we compared the learning of Chinese pronunciation under three different online instruction methods: audio only, human “talking head”, and computer generated synthetic “talking head”. The learning took place through a web site developed specifically for students learning Chinese. Under both “talking head” conditions, the face of the speaker occupied 2/3 of the video screen. When student viewed the human “talking head”, major information came from the shape of the mouth and lip movement accompanied by audio sound. Whereas the synthetic “talking head” is transparent to reveal the internal articulators, which was accompanied by a slower than normal sound to match the “talking head” articulation.

	2. A glossary that defines terms used elsewhere in this node but not defined in the nodes that are parents, grandparents, etc. of this node;		2. A glossary that defines terms used elsewhere in this node but not defined in the nodes that are parents, grandparents, etc. of this node;

Liuying at 02:17, 7 June 2007

2007-06-07T02:17:43Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:17, 7 June 2007
Line 1:		Line 1:
			----
			*Learning Chinese pronunciation from a “talking head”
			*Researchers: Ying Liu, Dominic Massaro, Susan Dunlap, Suemei Wu, Trevor Chen, Derek Chan, Charles Perfetti
			*PIs: Ying Liu, Dominic Massaro, Charles Perfetti,
			*Others who have contributed 160 hours or more:
			*Post-Docs:
			*Graduate Students: Trevor Chen
			*Study Start Date Sep 1, 2005
			*Study End Date Dec 31, 2006
			*LearnLab Site and Courses , CMU Chinese Online
			*Number of Students: 20
			*Total Participant Hours for the study: 40
			*Data in the Data Shop: Yes
			----


	Node title: ~~Learning Chinese pronunciation from a “talking head”~~		Node title:

	Researchers: Ying Liu, Dominic Massaro, Susan Dunlap, Suemei Wu, Trevor Chen, Derek Chan, Charles Perfetti		Researchers: Ying Liu, Dominic Massaro, Susan Dunlap, Suemei Wu, Trevor Chen, Derek Chan, Charles Perfetti

Liuying at 15:32, 16 April 2007

2007-04-16T15:32:38Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:32, 16 April 2007
Line 70:		Line 70:

	Massaro, D. W., Liu, Y., Chen, T. H., & Perfetti, C. A. (2006). A Multilingual Embodied Conversational Agent for Tutoring Speech and Language Learning. Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Spoken Language Processing (Interspeech 2006 - ICSLP, September, Pittsburgh, PA), 825-828.Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany.		Massaro, D. W., Liu, Y., Chen, T. H., & Perfetti, C. A. (2006). A Multilingual Embodied Conversational Agent for Tutoring Speech and Language Learning. Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Spoken Language Processing (Interspeech 2006 - ICSLP, September, Pittsburgh, PA), 825-828.Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany.

			(Updated April 16, 2007)

Liuying at 15:29, 16 April 2007

2007-04-16T15:29:37Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:29, 16 April 2007
Line 25:		Line 25:
	3. The dependent variables, which are observable and typically measure competence, motivation, interaction, meta-learning, or some other pedagogically desirable outcome;		3. The dependent variables, which are observable and typically measure competence, motivation, interaction, meta-learning, or some other pedagogically desirable outcome;

	Accuracy of pronouncing Chinese syllables.		Accuracy of pronouncing Chinese syllables (initials and finals).

	4. The independent variables, which are typically include instructional environment, activity or method, and perhaps some student characteristics, such as gender or first language;		4. The independent variables, which are typically include instructional environment, activity or method, and perhaps some student characteristics, such as gender or first language;

	Three learning methods: audio only (control), human “talking head”, computer synthesized “talking head”.		Three learning methods: audio only (control), human “talking head”, computer synthesized “talking head”.
			Different Chinese syllables listed in Table 1.
			Table 1. The syllables are all tone-1 Mandarin words (pin-yin) except those with the tones indicated in parentheses. UC = unique consonants; NUC = Non-unique consonants; NUS = Non-unique syllables; US = unique syllables; UV = unique vowels
			UC NUC NUS US UV
			ji Pi bao Ju Ge
			qie Nie dao qu He
			xian Tian gao xu Ke
			zhen Fen e(2)
			chuan kuan U(3)
			sha La

	5. The hypothesis, which is a concise statement of the relationship among the variables that answers the research question;		5. The hypothesis, which is a concise statement of the relationship among the variables that answers the research question;
Line 37:		Line 46:
	6. The findings, which are the results of the study if any are currently available;		6. The findings, which are the results of the study if any are currently available;

	~~No advantage for “talking head” and “Bao” was obtained~~, ~~which might due to the power of between subject design~~. ~~We changed the experiment design in this fall by adding a quiz~~ (~~pretest~~) ~~between the audio and video trainings~~. ~~Interaction between conditions and test (pretest vs~~. ~~posttest~~) ~~will be the main effect to test~~.		The analysis on finals showed significant condition effect (χ2 (2)=7.39, p=0.025). Further pairwise comparisons showed that synthetic Baldi is significantly better than audio only condition (χ2(1)=7.36, p=0.0067). Least square mean were listed in Table 2.

			Table 2. Least square mean percentages of improvement based on logistic model
			Initials Finals
			Audio only 53.1 34.2
			Human face 54.5 39.6
			Synthetic Baldi 51.5 46.4



	7. An explanation, which is short (a paragraph or two) and typically mentions unobservable, hypothetical attributes of the students (e.g., the students’ knowledge or motivation) and cognitive or social processes that affect them;		7. An explanation, which is short (a paragraph or two) and typically mentions unobservable, hypothetical attributes of the students (e.g., the students’ knowledge or motivation) and cognitive or social processes that affect them;



	It is difficult to learn to speak a language by just listening to it, especially for a second language learner at beginner’s level. Visual cues ~~can~~ provide extra information for reach the goal of speaking “natively”. Imitation is best achieved by understanding how the organs produce the sound.		It is difficult to learn to speak a language by just listening to it, especially for a second language learner at beginner’s level. Visual cues provide extra information for reach the goal of speaking “natively”. Imitation is best achieved by understanding how the organs produce the sound. Current findings support that Bao (Chinese Baldi) has significant advantage in teaching Chinese vowel pronunciation than audio alone. The human face falls between the above two methods, because it provides some useful facial information but the internal organs are not transparent. We conclude that visual speech provides significant benefit for learners to improve their pronunciation.

	As a node under coordinative learning cluster, coordination of visual and audio inputs is the cognitive process leads to more robust learning.		As a node under coordinative learning cluster, coordination of visual and audio inputs is the cognitive process leads to more robust learning.
Line 55:		Line 69:
	9. A further information section that points to documents using hyper links and/or references in APA format. Each indicates briefly the document's relationship to the node (e.g., whether the document is a paper reporting the node in full detail, a proposal describing the motivation and design of the study in more detail, the node for a similar PSLC research study, etc.).		9. A further information section that points to documents using hyper links and/or references in APA format. Each indicates briefly the document's relationship to the node (e.g., whether the document is a paper reporting the node in full detail, a proposal describing the motivation and design of the study in more detail, the node for a similar PSLC research study, etc.).

	~~www~~.~~pitt~~.~~edu/~liuying/pslc_plan~~.~~doc~~		Massaro, D. W., Liu, Y., Chen, T. H., & Perfetti, C. A. (2006). A Multilingual Embodied Conversational Agent for Tutoring Speech and Language Learning. Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Spoken Language Processing (Interspeech 2006 - ICSLP, September, Pittsburgh, PA), 825-828.Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany.

Julie-Booth at 17:16, 22 January 2007

2007-01-22T17:16:03Z

New page

Node title: Learning Chinese pronunciation from a “talking head”

Researchers: Ying Liu, Dominic Massaro, Susan Dunlap, Suemei Wu, Trevor Chen, Derek Chan, Charles Perfetti

1. An abstract that briefly describes the research encompassed by the node;

In this study, we compared the learning of Chinese pronunciation under three different online instruction methods: audio only, human “talking head”, and computer generated synthetic “talking head”. The learning took place through a web site developed specifically for students learning Chinese. Under both “talking head” conditions, the face of the speaker occupied 2/3 of the video screen. When student viewed the human “talking head”, major information came from the shape of the mouth and lip movement accompanied by audio sound. Whereas the synthetic “talking head” is transparent to reveal the internal articulators, which was accompanied by a slower than normal sound to match the “talking head” articulation.

2. A glossary that defines terms used elsewhere in this node but not defined in the nodes that are parents, grandparents, etc. of this node;

Visual; audio; video

3. The research question stated as concisely as possible, usually in a single sentence;

Does visual input of a “talking head” enhance the learning of Chinese pronunciation?

4. A background and significance section that briefly summarizes prior work on the research question and why it is important to answer it;

Multimedia technology has been used in second language learning for many years. The current available technology makes it possible to deliver not only text information, but also auditory and visual information through the Internet. It has been found that multiple-strategies and multiple modalities facilitate learning (Blum and Mitchell, 1998). For example, research in English showed that visual information on the vertical separation between the lips and the degree of lip spreading/rounding help the understanding of spoken language (Massaro and Cohen, 1990; Cohen and Massaro, 1994). So, does a visually presented “talking head” contains both auditory and visual information help Chinese character learning? Especially the robust learning of Chinese pronunciations which contain difficult consonants and tones? The method has not been tested by any well-designed experiment yet. However, based on a study in which we used a real person “talking head” to train true beginners on Chinese character, we believe it is a very effective learning method. Dr. Massaro’s research group is currently working on developing a animated 3D Chinese virtual speaker: Bao (Massaro, Ouni, Cohen, and Clark, In press). They found both the animated video (Baldi) and natural video were perceived better than voice only condition in a perceptual recognition experiment. The above two video conditions performed equally. We will do a comparison study between audio only, Bao and real person talking heads on our Chinese learners.

3. The dependent variables, which are observable and typically measure competence, motivation, interaction, meta-learning, or some other pedagogically desirable outcome;

Accuracy of pronouncing Chinese syllables.

4. The independent variables, which are typically include instructional environment, activity or method, and perhaps some student characteristics, such as gender or first language;

Three learning methods: audio only (control), human “talking head”, computer synthesized “talking head”.

5. The hypothesis, which is a concise statement of the relationship among the variables that answers the research question;

We predict that visual input can provide more robust learning of pronouncing Chinese sound when using appropriately.

6. The findings, which are the results of the study if any are currently available;

No advantage for “talking head” and “Bao” was obtained, which might due to the power of between subject design. We changed the experiment design in this fall by adding a quiz (pretest) between the audio and video trainings. Interaction between conditions and test (pretest vs. posttest) will be the main effect to test.

7. An explanation, which is short (a paragraph or two) and typically mentions unobservable, hypothetical attributes of the students (e.g., the students’ knowledge or motivation) and cognitive or social processes that affect them;

It is difficult to learn to speak a language by just listening to it, especially for a second language learner at beginner’s level. Visual cues can provide extra information for reach the goal of speaking “natively”. Imitation is best achieved by understanding how the organs produce the sound.

As a node under coordinative learning cluster, coordination of visual and audio inputs is the cognitive process leads to more robust learning.

8. The descendents, which lists links to descendent nodes of this one, if there are any;

None.

9. A further information section that points to documents using hyper links and/or references in APA format. Each indicates briefly the document's relationship to the node (e.g., whether the document is a paper reporting the node in full detail, a proposal describing the motivation and design of the study in more detail, the node for a similar PSLC research study, etc.).

www.pitt.edu/~liuying/pslc_plan.doc

Learning Chinese pronunciation from a Ã¢â‚¬Å“talking headÃ¢â‚¬Â - Revision history