Phonological Features of China English

Li, Siqi; Sewell, Andrew

doi:10.1080/13488678.2012.10801331

Cited by 18 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…In regard to the long vowels and diphthongs, English, as a stress-timed language, is characterized by overt durational differences between some of its vowels (Field, 2008), and the longer sounds can present a major challenge for learners from more syllable-timed first languages, such as Mandarin and Cantonese, whose L1 vowels are commonly more equal in length (Chan & Li, 2000; Deterding, 2010; Eastman, 1993). Three of the sounds that are particularly challenging for these learners are the vowels /iː/ and /uː/, and the diphthong /eɪ/ (Chan, 2014; Chan & Li, 2000; Chen, 2015; Deterding, 2010; Li & Sewell, 2012; Luk, 2010). The sounds can cause difficulties in any word or syllable position, but tend to be especially challenging when located centrally in closed syllables (Chan, 2014; Yeldham, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…English voiced fricative consonants /z/, /ð/, /v/ and /ʒ/, especially in syllable-initial position, can also cause major difficulties for Chinese learners of English, who often replace these sounds with others requiring less abdominal effort: /z/ is often replaced, in words such as zoo and Zoe, by /dʒ/, /r/ or /s/; /ð/, in words like they and brother, is commonly replaced by /d/ or /z/; /v/ is often replaced by /w/ or /f/, as in words such as very and value; and /ʒ/, in a word such as usually, is often substituted with /dʒ/, /ʃ/ or /s/ (Chan, 2014;Chan & Li, 2000;Chen, 2015;Deterding, 2006Deterding, , 2010Li & Sewell, 2012;Luk, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Examining the impact of abdominal enhancement techniques to assist Chinese-speaking English learners’ phoneme pronunciation

Yeldham

2020

Language Teaching Research

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Instruction in second language (L2) English phoneme pronunciation almost invariably includes a focus on improving the learners’ use of their articulatory organs to pronounce the relevant sounds. However, the pronunciation of many English sounds also relies on effort from the abdominal region, and under-utilization of this region can often contribute to pronunciation difficulties. For Chinese-speaking learners of English, such relevant sounds include the long vowel and diphthong sounds, particularly the phonemes /iː/, /uː/ and /eɪ/, and also the voiced fricative consonants, /z/, /ð/, /v/ and /ʒ/. Consequently, this study examined the impact of teaching adult Chinese-speaking English learners to enhance the use of their abdomen when pronouncing these sounds. The main focus of the research was a quasi-experimental component, where both an experimental and control group were taught the same way in all aspects, with the only point of difference being that the experimental group was taught the abdominal techniques. Longitudinal multiple-case studies of learners from the experimental group were also employed to examine for any post-course maintenance of the phonemes as well as possible reasons for this. Results from the quasi-experimental component showed that it was advantageous to teach learners the abdominal techniques. Also, there were some discernible trends in the learners’ post-course maintenance of the sounds. This article then discusses pedagogical implications of the study, and provides suggestions for future research of the abdominal techniques.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining the impact of abdominal enhancement techniques to assist Chinese-speaking English learners’ phoneme pronunciation

Yeldham

2020

Language Teaching Research

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“…Therefore, it is essential to improve schoolteachers' pronunciation. Secondly, English learners could listen to English broadcasts and imitate and practice with the broadcast [13]. Besides, English learners should focus on the quality of pronunciation rather than the quantity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contextualizing Local English Pedagogy: Transfer Effects in Northeast Chinese Secondary Students' English Acquisition

Li¹,

Li²

2022

Proceedings of the 2022 5th International Conference on Humanities Education and Social Sciences (ICHESS 2022)

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In second language acquisition, individuals are under the influence of the phonetic system of their mother tongue. This paper studies the phenomenon of negative phonological transfer in the learning of English among Northeastern Chinese children. This paper mainly uses Praat to determine how common for Junior High school students in Jilin to experience negative transfer in their oral English acquisition. We specified the phonemes susceptible to the negative transfer. In conclusion, we discussed the potential improvements in Jilin areas' English teachers' teaching methods to offset the transfer effects. The analysis intends to assist English teachers in the Jilin Region in taking countermeasures to neutralize the negative transfer effects of Dongbei accents on English education.

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“…The /θ/ = [s] utterance was understood less, although still above the experimental means, ranking 11 th for intelligibility and ninth for comprehensibility. Again, the difference could be explained by proximity between L1 Korean and L1 Mandarin speakers' L2 English realisations, with Siqi and Sewell (2012) noting that L1 Mandarin speakers predominantly also realise English /ð/ as [d] and /θ/ as [s]. This supports Jenkins's (2000) assertion that /θ/ and /ð/ realisations are unproblematic, and our data might suggest that shared realisations between L2 English speakers further aided intelligibility as both items were placed above the control utterances and experimental mean.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intelligibility and Comprehensibility of Korean English Speakers’ Phonological Features in Lingua Franca Listening Contexts

Barrass¹,

Baffoe-Djan²,

Rose³

et al. 2020

The Journal of AsiaTEFL

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This study investigated L2 English listeners' intelligibility and comprehensibility ratings of L2 English recordings of L1 Korean speakers' speech. Specifically, it considered which segmentals and features resulting from Korean phonotactics cause a breakdown in Korean speakers' L2 English intelligibility and comprehensibility for Mandarin L1-background L2 English speakers. As Korean speakers use English as a lingua franca primarily with their L1 Mandarin speaking neighbours, recordings of scripted and unscripted speech of Korean university students were sent to L1 Mandarin raters in mainland China and Taiwan, who rated utterances for intelligibility and comprehensibility. Findings showed that the most frequently mistranscribed features were epenthesis (inclusion of extra vowels to separate clustered consonants), substitution of nasals for plosives between vowels and sonorant consonants, and the consonant-vowel combination [wʊ]. Findings also suggest that less problematic features, such as [əʊ], /r/, and the distinction between [ʊ] and [u], are at times aided by similar realisations by L2 listeners.

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Phonological Features of China English

Cited by 18 publications

References 7 publications

Examining the impact of abdominal enhancement techniques to assist Chinese-speaking English learners’ phoneme pronunciation

Examining the impact of abdominal enhancement techniques to assist Chinese-speaking English learners’ phoneme pronunciation

Contextualizing Local English Pedagogy: Transfer Effects in Northeast Chinese Secondary Students' English Acquisition

Intelligibility and Comprehensibility of Korean English Speakers’ Phonological Features in Lingua Franca Listening Contexts

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