Citation notation and a spoken change
A practice sheet gives 一次 with ordinary Pinyin yī cì, then asks how 一 is normally realized in connected speech before the fourth-tone syllable 次. One student insists that a spoken change means every ordinary written occurrence of 一 must be respelled with the changed tone. Another changes the second syllable instead. The task is to separate the oral sandhi question from the convention used in ordinary orthography. There is no actual recording, timing target or assessment deduction in this case. A suitable response should identify the affected syllable and explain why a special teaching transcription may differ from a dictionary-style representation without making either convention meaningless. The learner should then listen to a reliable complete phrase and practice the change in context, rather than merely memorize the name of a rule.
1. What happens to 一 in the requested connected-speech example?
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Before the fourth tone in 次, 一 normally has a rising realization, commonly represented yí in a sandhi-focused teaching transcription. The change concerns 一, not 次.
2. Does this force ordinary orthography always to mark sandhi?
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No. Ordinary Pinyin convention and a special transcription of actual connected pronunciation serve different purposes. State the convention requested instead of treating their difference as a contradiction.