Cross-linguistic Influence In Mongolian Students' English Pure Vowel Acquisition

The present study explored Mongolian students' acquisition of English as a third language through an empirical study on the cross-linguistic influence in their learning of English pure vowels.Based on the theories of third language acquisition abroad and the status quo of EFL in Inner Mongolia,the present study aimed at finding the difference between Mongolian students and Chinese students in their acquisition of English pure vowels and the extent at which the cross-linguistic influence occurs from Mongolian students' L1—Mongol to L3—English and its constraints.Research instruments like phoneme discrimination test on English pure vowels, language background questionnaire and interview were used in the present empirical study to answer the following three research questions:(1) Is there any difference between Mongolian students and Chinese students in their proficiency in the acquisition of English pure vowels?(2) What is the relationship between Mongolian students' proficiency in Mongol pure vowels and English pure vowels?(3) What are the potential factors that affect the cross-linguistic influence from L1 to L3 in Mongolian students' acquisition of English pure vowels? With the premise of the research questions,the participants in the present study were chosen from three classes(two Mongolian classes and one Chinese class) of second-year senior high in the Affiliated Middle School of Inner Mongolian Normal University in Huhhot,and they were involved in the following three research steps.First of all,the participants were tested on their proficiency of English pure vowels with a specially designed phoneme discrimination test.The second step was a survey study in the form of questionnaire,which was designed to collect the information on the participants' language background.A follow-up interview was conducted as a last step to offer detailed information about the research questions by interviewing some of the participants individually.On analyzing the data,independent variable T-tests were employed to compare the two groups' achievement on the vowel discrimination test;and the correlations between the Mongolian subjects' achievement on the correct choice of English words and Mongol words were measured by the Pearson correlation.The results of the study revealed that there is a difference between Mongolian students and Chinese students in their proficiency in the acquisition of English pure vowels.Compared with Chinese students,Mongolian students showed greater proficiency in the acquisition of English pure vowels due to the closer language distance between their L1 Mongol and L3 English.Meanwhile,statistically significant correlations were found between Mongolian students' proficiency in Mongol pure vowels and proficiency in English pure vowels in phoneme discrimination test on the following five vowels:/a:/,/i:/, /(?)/,/(?):/,and/(?)/.The results of the correlation test indicated that though the L1 Mongol of Mongolian students plays an important role in their third language acquisition,the recency of L2 Chinese in their English learning exert influence on the positive cross-linguistic influence in their acquisition of English pure vowels.As a conclusion,the present study emphasized the fact that English is a third language to Mongolian students,and any decision on the TEFL in Inner Mongolia should be based on the characteristics of Mongolian students' third language acquisition,and the cross-linguistic influence involved in it.Moreover,it was suggested that more English textbooks and reference materials for Mongolian students should be compiled in Mongol, to enhance the positive cross-linguistic influence from L1 Mongol to L3 English in their third language acquisition.