Yuan Zhang

Research Interests

-The acquisition of prosody in a second language
-The relationships between music and language

Current Projects

-Can clapping the rhythm of words help L2 pronunciation?

-Classroom training of singing English songs with familiar melodies on L2 pronunciaition and vocabulary learning for Chinese intermediate-low adolescent learners.

-Classroom training of rhythmic and melodic embodied activities on foreign language imitation and L2 pronunciation for Chinese adolescents. 

Publications

Baills, F., Bu, Y., Cheng, Y., Zhang, Y. & Prieto, P. (in press, 2021). "Listening to songs and singing benefit initial stages of L2 pronunciation". Language Learning 

Baills F, Zhang Y, Prieto P. Hand-clapping to the rhythm of newly learned words improves L2 pronunciation: Evidence from Catalan and Chinese learners of French. In: Klessa K, Bachan J, Wagner A, Karpiński M, Śledziński D. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Speech Prosody; 2018 June 13-16; Poznań, Poland. [Lous Tourils]: ISCA; 2018. p. 853-7. DOI: 10.21437/SpeechProsody.2018-172

Zhang, Y., Baills, F., & Prieto, P. (2020). Hand-clapping to the rhythm of newly learned words improves L2 pronunciation: Evidence from training Chinese adolescents with French words. Language Teaching Research, 24(5), pp.666-689. DOI: 10.1177/1362168818806531

Selected Presentations

2021

Zhang, Y., Baills, F., & Prieto, P. (2021). "Does singing familiar songs facilitate L2 pronunciation? Evidence from 3 training sessions with young Chinese learners of English." Poster presentation at the The 30th Conference of the European Second Language Association (EuroSLA 30). Universitat de Barcelona: Barcelona (Spain), June 30 - July 3.

Zhang, Y., Baills, F., & Prieto, P. (2021). "Does singing facilitate the pronunciation of L2? Evidence from a 3-session intervention with young Chinese learners of English." Oral presentation at The 1st International Conference on Tone and Intonation (TAI). University of Southern Denmark: Sonderborg (Denmark), December 6-9.

2020

Zhang, Y., Baills, F., & Prieto, P. (2020). “Hand-clapping performance is related to foreign language imitation skills.” Oral presentation at the Gesture and Speech in Interaction (GESPIN2020). The Department of Speech, Music and Hearing, KTH Royal Institute of Technology: Stockholm (Sweden), September 7-9.

2019

Zhang, Y.,  Baills, F., & Prieto, P. (2019). “Listening to and singing songs facilitate initial stages of L2 pronunciation.” Poster presentation at the XIV International Symposium of Psycholinguistics (ISP). University Rovira i Virgili: Tarragona (Spain), April 10-13.

Zhang, Y.,  Baills, F., & Prieto, P. (2019). “Listening to and singing songs help improve initial stages of L2 pronunciation.” Oral Presentation at L2 Pronunciation Research Workshop: Bridging the Gap between Research and Practice. Universitat de Barcelona: Barcelona (Spain), June 6-7.

Zhang, Y.,  Baills, F., & Prieto, P. (2019). “Listening to and singing songs help improve initial stages of L2 pronunciation.” Oral Presentation at Workshop sobre la prosòdia del català (11a edició). Universitat Pompeu Fabra: Barcelona (Spain), July 15.

Zhang, Y.,  Baills, F., & Prieto, P. (2019). “Hand-clapping to the rhythm of newly learned words improves L2 pronunciation: Evidence from Catalan and Chinese learners of French.” Poster presentation at New Sounds 2019 The 9th International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech. Waseda University: Tokyo (Japan), August 30 - September 1.

2018

Baills, F., Zhang, Y., & Prieto, P. (2018). “Hand-clapping to the rhythm of newly learned words improves L2 pronunciation: Evidence from Catalan and Chinese learners of French.” Poster presentation at the 9th International Conference on Speech Prosody. Adam Mickiewicz University: Poznań (Poland), June 13-16.

2017

Kushch,O., Baills, F., Zhang, Y., Gluhareva, D., & Prieto, P. (2017) Beneficis dels gestos rítmics i les activitats rítmiques en l'ensenyament de la pronúncia. Oral presentation at II Jornades sobre l’ensenyament de la pronunciació del català. Universitat de Barcelona: Barcelona (Spain). Dec. 15.