On Negative Transfer of Chinese to English Phonetic Learning and Teaching Strategies

Lumei Wei

Abstract： The negative transfer of Chinese to English has been an important topic in the field of second language acquisition for a long time. This paper adopts the questionnaire survey of English pronunciation about primary school students in National Middle School in Tiandeng County and research to understand the students in English pronunciation and put forward some suggestions about the teaching strategies for teachers as follows： the importance of improving teachers' quality； English and Chinese phonetic contrast in teaching； system of learning English phonetic knowledge； the importance of English phonetic imitation in teaching， situation language in practice；creating various communicative activities to improve students’ ability to use language.

Key words： Chinese pronunciation； English phonetics learning； Negative transfer； Teaching strategies

I. Introduction

1.1 Practical and Academic Backgrounds of the Study

With the development of English teaching as a foreign language （EFL） at junior high school， the teaching of the phonetics of English as well as English speaking is also developing quickly. But language transfer has been an important issue in the research field of second language acquisition for a long time which focuses on how to evaluate Chinese on second language acquisition or foreign language learning， how to influence or determine the negative transfer's occurrence， causes， how to control factors of negative transfer in the performance of various levels of language and how to reduce the negative phonetic transfer of Chinese on English learning.

1.2 Objectives and Methodology of the Study

Analysis of National Middle School students' learning difficulties in English pronunciation in Tiandeng County is to find the feasible and effective teaching methods which can overcome the effect of negative transfer of Chinese to English pronunciation.

This paper uses questionnaire， test and data analysis for research and some researchers' theoretical basis to demonstrate.

1.3 Contents and Structure of the Thesis

This thesis consists of five parts， divided according to the main emphasis in each part.

Part One will briefly introduce the practical setting and the theories of this study， the object and objective of the study， the theoretical basis and methodology of the study.

Part Two will survey the general study of first language of negative transfer in second language learning， especially study of EFL phonetic negative transfer in China’s junior high school students’ EFL learning， and summarizes the main achievements and weakness of studies.

Part Three will elaborate on the methodology of the study in terms of its concrete research questions， subjects of study， theoretical bases， methods and procedures， instruments of data collection and statistical analysis.

Part Four will examine the results of the focused phonetic test and the questionnaire survey and find out the different types of the factors relevant to junior high school students’ negative Chinese phonetic transfer in EFL learning.

Part Five will conclude the study by summarizing its findings， pointing out its implications and limitations， and making some suggestions regarding the manipulation of junior high school students’ Chinese phonetic negative transfer in their EFL learning.

II. Literature Review

2.1 Studies of Negative Transfer ofChinese to English Phonetic Learning

Zhao Demei （1995：1） said“ In learning a foreign language， phonetic study is the first and fundamental step in the attempt to master the target language when the learning of a second language takes place in the environment of first language， or the mother tongue”[1].

2.1.1 The Nature of the Negative Transfer

Li Ping （2014） found that phonetic transfer is a psychological concept. Phonetic transfer refers that learners have habit of replacing the sounds in the new language with similar sounds in their mother tongue when learning a new language[2]. Learning a new language depends on the degree of difference between the mother tongue and the new language.

Krashen （1983：148） believes that the so-called transfer is in the process of foreign language acquisition， learners in communication due to lack of knowledge of the target language and turn to the Chinese knowledge [3].

2.1.2 The Manifestations of the Negative Transfer

Odlin （1989） divided the negative transfer effect or Interlingual errors into four categories：underproduction， overproduction， production error， misinterpretation[4].

Underproduction refers to the target language structure that the learners often do not use or use in the language of some native languages. Odlin （1989） thought production error is a mistake in the expression of the learner's target language[5].Because the cultural differences between China and the west influenced by the mother tongue， the learners make incorrect or inconsistent interpretations of the intention of the message sender.

III. Methodologies

3.1 Research Questions and Subjects

The research questions and subjects of the present study are firstly decided according to the general purpose of the study.

3.1.1 Research Questions

The objects of investigation on the research involve 178 students and 31 teachers at National Middle School in Tiandeng County.

In particular， this study will attempt to answer the following related questions：

The purpose in object of teachers is to learn about the teachers’ understanding of their students’ English pronunciation， what factors affect students to learn English phonetic and how to improve the accuracy of English phonetic in teaching.

3.1.2 Subjects of Study

The subjectsof study are selections of 179 junior school students and 31 teachers who are presently teaching the course of English. They are from National Middle School in Tiandeng County， Chongzuo City， Guangxi Province， China. Specifically， the students and the teachers are from first grade， second grade and third grade. But the students from different types of class have similar but different social-cultural，situational， educational， psychological， cognitive， and linguistic backgrounds.

3.2 Research Methods and Instruments

In this method， the data collecting tools are a focused English phonetic test and a questionnaire on the factors related to negative Chinese phonetic transfer； the statistic tool is Word 2010.

3.2.1 Focused English Phonetic Test and Teachers’ Observation

The focused English phonetic test is designed in two main sections： （1） A section for testing negative transfer in the learning of English vowels and consonant. （2） A section for teachers’ views on negative transfer in students’ learning of English vowels and consonant.

3.2.2 Questionnaire on Factors Related toNegative Phonetic Transfer

The questionnaire on the factors related to Chinese phonetic transfer is designed as consisting of altogether two parts. One is that the questionnaire of students includes 7 questions. The other is that the questionnaire of teachers involves 7 questions.

The questionnaire of students：

A part（questions 1-4） forobtaining the students’ personal information， which can study whether the factors on local dialects， age and gender occur the Negative Transfer of Chinese to English Phonetic Learning；

Table 1 3.2.2 the personal information for junior middle school students

Personal information

（2）A part （questions 5） is to get the students’phoneticlevels for English learning；

（3）A part （questions 6-7） is to get the opinions on students that what factors affect the Negative Transfer of Chinese to English Phonetic Learning；

The questionnaire of teachers：

（1）A part（questions 1-2） forobtaining the students’ personal information， which can study whether the factors on local dialects， age or students’phoneticlevels for English learning occur the Negative Transfer of Chinese to English Phonetic Learning；

Table 2 3.2.2 The personal information for junior middle school teachers

（2）A part （questions 3-4） is to get the students’phoneticlevels for English learning by teachers ’observation ；

（3）A part （questions 5） is to get the opinions on teachers that whether exists the Negative Transfer of Chinese Phonetic to English Phonetic Learning；

（4）A part （questions 6） is to get the opinions on teachers that how Chinese Phonetic affects English Phonetic Learning；

（5）A part （questions 7） is to get the opinions on teachers that what factors affect the Negative Transfer of Chinese to English Phonetic Learning；

IV. Results and Discussion

4.1 Phonetic Test Results and Discussion

In this paper， I take the National Middle School in Tiandeng County as an example to study the negative transfer of Chinese phonetics to the unit sounds and consonants in English language.

4.1.1 Vowel Test Results and Discussion

The transfer of Chinese phonetics to vowels in English

Deng Yudan （2011） concluded： "phonemes are the smallest units of language in English. The phonemes are usually divided into two categories， which are vowels and consonants[11].

First， the long and short sounds are not divided. There are 10 single syllable vowels in Putonghua， which have different pronunciation positions with long vowels and short vowels. The negative transfer of Chinese on English learning is that China students read enough long vowels long and short vowels and other words.

Second， the pronunciation of vowels is not in place. The phonetics system of some dialects in China is not one-to-one correspondence with the English pronunciation system. This lack of pronunciation will cause language ambiguity and affect the accurate transmission and effective communication of information in English communication.

V. Conclusion

5.1 Findings of the Study

From the research above， we can find the following major findings.

1. Chinese phonetics occur negative transfer to English phonetics learning.

2. The factors of this negative transfer are related to students’ English phonetic levels and non-English phonetic levels. The non-English phonetic levels include language distance， ageand social cultures.

3. The Manifestations of this negative transfer are vowels and consonants.

4. Most of students’ English phonetic levels are general.

5.2 Limitations

Though the study is finished， it still has some limitations.

（1） It is too single for the study to only have a research instrument. The study will be better if it have more instruments such as interview.

（2） The investigation is not thorough enough.The result of the study only related to the learning styles of the participants.

（3） The research participants are from the two classes in the same grade. It is only 178 students and 31 teachers. It seems too little in terms of the number of the research participant.

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（Guangxi City College Guangxi，Chongzuo 532200）