Modelling the Mediating Role of Cognitive Load Overload on Listening Anxiety and Mandarin Phonetic Perception among Non-Native Mandarin Learners

Learning Mandarin as a foreign language has become essential for career and academic progress due to rapid economic development of China, international trade dominance, and important strategic framework like the Belt and Road Initiative. However, phonetic often considered as the arduous task for non-native Mandarin learners, especially when interpreting the distinct tonal variations and consonantal contrasts. While existing literature emphasise on pedagogical model, the exact cognitive-affective mechanisms that obstruct auditory processing are still underexplored. For that reason, this concept paper suggests a mediation framework to examine how Cognitive Load Overload mediates the association between Foreign Language Listening Anxiety (FLLA) and Mandarin phonetic perception. Based on Affective Filter Hypothesis (AFH) and Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), this study proposes that increased listening anxiety causes distracting, unrelated thoughts. Consequently, learners encounter greater difficulty in differentiating between Mandarin tones and consonantal contrasts when phonetic processing. A quantitative research design is proposed, utilising an adapted Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale (FLLAS), Leppink’s Cognitive Load Scale to evaluate mental effort post-task, and a computerised Mandarin Phonetic Perception Task. This study attempts to provide Mandarin language educators a practical insight by identifying learners’ cognitive barriers in phonetic learning and enable them to design curricular that reduce anxiety and cognitive load while enhancing oral-aural competency.

Listening Anxiety, Cognitive Load Overload, Mandarin phonetic perception, non-native Mandarin learners

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