Chinese native speakers’ perception of Estonian quantity levels before and after short-term training

Abstract

This study investigated whether short-term targeted language training can improve native Mandarin speakers’ discrimination of Estonian quantity contrasts. 61 L1 Mandarin speakers were asked to complete a pre-test, a training phase, and a post-test where they had to discriminate Estonian quantity contrasts. The sample was divided into a control group and a training group. During the training phase, the training group was asked to discriminate Estonian quantity contrasts with feedback given, while the control group completed a visual perception task. The results proved that being in the training group gave an advantage in discrimination accuracy in the post-test, but no improvement was observed in the control group. The results implied that short-term targeted training can be effective in improving L1 Mandarin speakers’ perception of Estonian quantity categories.