This study aims at examination on the relationship between the perception and production of Mandarin tone by Kazak minor learners from China. The eight-day perceptual training course of Mandarin tone is designed. Perception is assessed by means of identification test. Production data is collected both at pretest and post-test, and evaluated by native speakers of Mandarin Chinese. The results from the perception at pretest and post-test reveal that training Kazak learners to perceive Mandarin tones has been shown to be effective, with identification improvement by 22.7%. The trainees have big difficulties in identifying tone 1. And tone 1 is more incorrectly to be perceived as tone 2 than the reverse, and tone 2 is more incorrectly to be perceived as tone 3, and vice versa. The production results show that, comparing to the pretest, identification of trainees' post-test tone productions improve by 12%, indicating significant tone production improvement after perceptual training. And acoustic analysis of the pretest and post-test productions further indicate the pitch shape and pitch height more resembles the native norm after the perceptual training, but the pitch height is still a bit lower than the native norm. These results are discussed by the means of the relationship between Kazak native speakers' perception and production of Mandarin tone.
['Yali Liu', 'Zihou Meng']
The examination of the relationship between perception and production of Mandarin tone of Kazak students