Speech Production of Mandarin Lexical Tones Among Canadian Elementary Students Enrolled in Mandarin-English Bilingual Schools.

Purpose: This study investigates how Mandarin-English bilingual students in Canada produce Mandarin tones and how this is influenced by factors such as tone complexity, cross-linguistic influences, and speech input.

Method: Participants were 82 students enrolled in a Chinese bilingual program in Western Canada. Students were recruited from Grades 1, 3, and 5 and divided into two groups based on their home language backgrounds: The heritage language group had early and strong input in Mandarin, and the second language (L2) group received mostly English input at home.

Improving Performance of Perovskite Solar Cells by Reducing Energetic Disorder of Hole Transport Polymer.

Polymer hole transport materials offer significant efficiency and stability advantages for p-i-n perovskite solar cells. However, the energetic disorder of amorphous polymer hole transport materials not only limits carrier transport but also impedes contact between the polymer and perovskite, hindering the formation of high crystalline quality perovskites. Herein, a novel low energetic disordered polymer hole transport material, PF8ICz, featuring an indeno[3,2-b]carbazole unit with extended π-conjugation is designed and synthesized.

Acquisition of Mandarin tones by Canadian first graders: Effect of prior exposure to tonal and non-tonal languages.

This study examines the tone productions of school-aged children with and without a tonal language background who are learning Mandarin as a second language (L2) or heritage language in Mandarin-English bilingual schools in Western Canada. Tones are frequently identified as one of the most challenging aspects of phonology for Mandarin L2 learners to acquire. In this study, tone productions of bilingual children from three home language backgrounds, English, Cantonese, and Mandarin Chinese, were compared for transcribed accuracy using mixed effects logistic regression.

A conceptual model of second language pronunciation in communicative contexts: Implications for children's bilingual education.

Second language (L2) pronunciation patterns that differ from those of first language (L1) speakers can affect communication effectiveness. Research on children's L2 pronunciation in bilingual education that involves non-English languages is much needed for the field of language acquisition. Due to limited research in these specific populations and languages, researchers often need to refer to literature on L2 pronunciation in general.

The development of phonological awareness and Pinyin knowledge in Mandarin-speaking school-aged children.

Purpose: The writing of Chinese is non-alphabetic, but children in China learn , a Romanised alphabetic system, to facilitate literacy development. This research investigates how Mandarin phonological awareness (PA) develops, and how it interacts with Pinyin in school-aged Mandarin-speaking children in China.

Method: In Beijing, 182 students in grades two through four (ages ranged between 91 and 135 months) were tested for PA (syllable manipulation and onset-rime oddity tasks) and Pinyin knowledge (Pinyin symbol naming and syllable reading tasks).