English Pronunciation Teaching In the Chinese Context Co-presented by 程伟，谢昌香， 陈洁＆陈松青

Part I Phoneme Teaching of EFL In the Chinese Context Presented by 程伟

Major Factors Influencing Pronunciation Teaching and Learning of EFL  Mother tongue transfer exampleexample  Age  Aptitude  Attitude

Important Principles In Phoneme Teaching Make comparison of Chinese and English phonemic systems Arouse Ss’ consciousness of and develop their interest in pronunciation Develop students’ communicative skills instead of simply teaching phonemes

Teaching Method ---the Communicative Way Step1 Description and Analysis  Describe the features of the given phoneme by using diagrams or relevant software and mention its difference from the similar sounds in both Chinese and English. If necessary, make use of its Chinese counterpart to help Ss pronounce the phoneme correctly, especially in the case of vowel teaching

e.g. the presentation of / Ι / Tell Ss that / Ι / is a close front short vowel and make them aware that Chinese i is high- er and more foreword. Ask Ss to pronounce Chinese i first then lower the jaw a bit and retract the tongue a little

Step 2 Listening Discrimination  Let students listen to example words containing the given phoneme in contrast with the similar sound by tape recorder or teacher’s own reading

e.g. Ask Ss to decide if two words spoken by the teacher are the same or different and circle the answer on their work sheet /Ι/ vs./ i: /  1 sleep sleep 1 same different  2 sleep slip 2 same different  3 slip sleep 3 same different  4 slip slip 4 same different  5 sleep slip 5 same different

Step 3 Controlled Practice  Begin to give Ss chances of oral production practice in the controlled situation  e.g. Come up with a dialogue containing many words with the given phoneme or phoneme contrast.Highlight the given phonemes by coloring them so as to focus Ss on the pronunciation of the given phoneme

( Jean and Kim are two sisters who have just visited Disneyland for the first time) Jean: Hasn’t this been a neat trip, Kim? Kim: yes, just think of all the things we’ve seen at Disneyland. Jean: I liked the submarine ride best. Kim: not me. I think seeing Mickey and Minnie was really tops.

Step 4 Guided Practice IIn this phase, Ss are still focused on the given phoneme or the relevant contrast but assume an increasing amount of responsibility for producing language containing the targeted phoneme creatively with a sentence-length utterance

e.g. The game of “Simon says” The leader “Simon “(a student) gives commands and all participants must either act out the command (if it begins with “Simon says”) or ignore it (if the leader doesn’t say “Simon says”).The winner of the game will take role “Simon” in the next round /Ι/: wrist finger chin hip lip / i: /: cheek knee teeth heel feet

Step 5 Communicative Practice  Allow Ss to practice newly acquired pronunciation skills in a more genuinely communicative context and to generate utterance of their own or use language in a truly creative sense

e.g. Role play Provide Ss with a context in which the given phoneme occurs frequently, and ask Ss in pair to adapt a dialogue and act it out Student A: Jean, student Situation: Your physics teacher has called you into his office because he suspects you of cheating on the exam. You explain that you didn’t cheat. The heat was making you feel ill and you needed to take a pill. Student B: Mr. Bean, physics teacher Situation: You’ve called your student Jean into your office because you suspect she was cheating on the exam. You ask her to sit down and explain the situation

TTeachers should be extremely imaginative TThank you

1 Absence of some phonemes Some English phonemes are absent from Chinese e.g. consonant: /θ/, / ð / vowels: /Ι/, / u /

2 Similarity of some phonemes Some English phonemes are seemingly similar to their Chinese counterparts but different in essence e.g. consonants: English /b/ /d/ /g/ (voiced) vs. Chinese /b/ /d/ /g/ (voiceless) vowels: English /u:/ vs. Chinese / u / back