Chinese Tone Teaching Challenges for Vietnamese Students: Insights on Visualization Tools

Vietnamese students often face significant challenges when learning Chinese tones, largely due to negative transfer from their native language and the limitations of conventional teaching methods. This paper aims to explore the potential application of visualization tools in this context. By conducting a comparative analysis of the tonal systems of Vietnamese and Chinese, the study predicts the main learning difficulties for Vietnamese students, particularly tone confusion and tone sandhi. Based on theories of multimodal learning, cognitive load, and second language acquisition (L2), the paper explains the mechanisms by which visualization tools can enhance tone perception and production. It also offers a classification of these tools. The findings highlight the important value of visualization tools in overcoming persistent obstacles in Chinese tone acquisition, offering practical insights for improving teaching effectiveness in Chinese language education.