The Effects of Behavior Contract and Shadowing on Chinese Pronunciation and Speaking ability for Adult Chinese Beginners

This study aims to exam the research questions of how behavioral contracts and shadowing affect the pronunciation and speaking of adult Chinese beginners. In this study, the researcher conducted interventions on three adults who did not have any experience in learning Chinese. To examine the research questions, the accuracy of Chinese pronunciation and speech of 3 participants were measured and analyzed through the evaluation sheet using the multiple-baseline design across participants, which consist of baseline, intervention, and maintenance 3 stages. To improve Chinese speaking ability, speaking instruction was conducted through behavioral contracts and shadowing, and it was evaluated using Chinese pronunciation and speaking evaluation papers. As a result of the study, the intervention method using the behavioral contract and shadowing improved Chinese pronunciation and speaking ability, and showed a high retention rate in the maintenance test. Even after the experiment, the study participants were using the learned words and phrases in an appropriate situation, and they expressed the expectation that it would be very helpful in studying Chinese in the future as they gained an overall understanding of Chinese. The results demonstrated that the behavior contract and shadowing method had a positive effect on pronunciation and speaking of the adult Chinese beginners.