Xiaotong Xi

Journal articles

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Hand gestures help learn L2 Mandarin pronunciation and promote greater generalization to untrained items.

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Gao, S., Xi, X., & Li, P. (Online first). Multimodal phonetic training with hand gestures enhances Mandarin pronunciation learning and promotes greater generalization to untrained items. Language and Speech.

Oral narrative interventions have a medium-to-large positive effect on L2 outcomes, with intermediate learners and medium-term interventions benefiting the most.

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Yao, T., Xi, X. , & Prieto, P. (2025). The effects of oral narrative interventions on second language learning: A systematic review and meta-analysis. System, 134: 103835.

How do tonal L1 speakers produce intonation for statements and questions in non-tonal L2, considering the lexical-prosody interplay?

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Li, P. & Xi, X. (2024). Nuclear contours of Spanish statements and questions produced by Mandarin speakers with advanced Spanish proficiency. Phonica, 20, 1–26. [Invited contribution]

Hand gestures that mimic the mouth shape, as opposed to the tongue position, can help the L2 sound production.

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Xi, X., Li, P., & Prieto, P. (2024). Improving L2 vowel production with hand gestures encoding visible articulation: Evidence from picture-naming and paragraph-reading tasks. Language Learning, 74(4), 884–916.

Using hands to touch the tip of the tongue can help the production of L2 English /θ/ and /ð/.

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Ozakin, A. S., Xi, X., Li, P., & Prieto, P. (2023). Thanks or tanks: training with tactile cues improves learners' accuracy of English interdental consonants in an oral reading task. Language Learning and Development, 19(4), 404–419.

Learners who are able to accurately produce hand gestures can improve more on L2 stop production.

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Li, P., Xi, X., Baills, F., & Prieto, P. (2021). Training non-native aspirated plosives with hand gestures: learners' gesture performance matters. Language Cognition and Neuroscience, 36(10), 1313–1328.

Observing hand gestures that are congruent to the phonetic features of target L2 sounds can help learning.

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Xi, X., Li, P., Baills, F., & Prieto, P. (2020). Hand gestures facilitate the acquisition of novel phonemic contrasts when they appropriately mimic target phonetic features. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 63(11), 3571–3585.

Conference proceedings

Xi, X., Zhou, S., & Li, P. (2024). Exploring the role of duration as a prosodic marker for contextual factors in the production of Mandarin positive polar questions. Proceedings of Speech Prosody 2024. https://doi.org/10.21437/SpeechProsody.2024-139
Li, P. & Xi, X. (2024). The perception of Spanish lexical stress by proficient Mandarin learners of Spanish. Proceedings of Speech Prosody 2024. https://doi.org/10.21437/SpeechProsody.2024-72
Xi, X., Li, P., & Prieto, P. (2023). Reducing acoustic overlap of L2 English vowels through gestures encoding lip aperture. In A. Henderson & A. Kirkova-Naskova (Eds.), Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on English Pronunciation: Issues and Practices (pp. 261–270). Université Grenoble-Alpes. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8225191
Xi, X., Li, P., & Prieto, P. (2023). Does visuospatial working memory predict L2 perceptual learning from phonetic training with hand gestures? In R. Skarnitzl & J. Volín (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (pp. 2670–2674). Guarant International.
Xi, X. & Li, P. (2023). Effects of stress and prominence on Spanish stops and lenition in L2 speech of proficient Mandarin learners of Spanish. In R. Skarnitzl & J. Volín (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (pp. 2740–2744). Guarant International.
Li, P. & Xi, X. (2023). Nuclear contours of Spanish echo questions produced by proficient Chinese learners of Spanish: A dynamic analysis. In R. Skarnitzl & J. Volín (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (pp. 2491–2495). Guarant International.
Xi, X. & Li, P. (2022). Spanish Stops And Their Allophones Produced By Proficient Mandarin Learners Of Spanish. Proceedings of the 2022 25th Conference of the Oriental COCOSDA International Committee for the Co-ordination and Standardisation of Speech Databases and Assessment Techniques (O-COCOSDA 2022). https://doi.org/10.1109/O-COCOSDA202257103.2022.9997932
Li, P. & Xi, X. (2022). Spanish lexical stress produced by proficient Mandarin learners of Spanish. Proceedings of ISAPh 2022, 4th International Symposium on Applied Phonetics. https://doi.org/10.21437/ISAPh.2022-8

Book chapters

Xi, X., Li, P, Baills, F., & Prieto, P. (2026). Observing versus producing gesture for the learning of L2 sounds: What gesture performance tells us. In L. M. Morett, & S. Inceoglu (Eds.) Gesture in Second Language Acquisition and Pedagogy. De Gruyter.
Yao, T., Xi, X. , & Prieto, P. (2026). Oral narrative interventions in teaching second language speaking. In H. Nassaji (Ed.) The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching. John Wiley & Sons.
Li, P., Baills, F., Xi, X., & Prieto, P. (2024). Gesture shape and gesture-speech alignment are important during embodied L2 pronunciation training. In A. Brown, & S. W. Eskildsen (Eds.) Multimodality and Multilingual Interaction Across Epistemologies. Routledge.