The Research On The Phenmenon Of Negative Transfer In Learning English Phonetics

It is well known that China has a vast land with numerous dialects. In different dialectal areas, there exists the influence of negative transfer of reginal variation when the local students acquire English phonetics. According to the theory of the second language acquisition, there exists the phenomenon of transfer between the source language and the target language and the transfer can be divided into two categories: one is the positive transfer which can promote and accelerate the target language learning,while the other is the negative transfer which can hinder and decelerate the target language learning. Because of the universality of negative influence of mother tongue on English phonetics, Chinese students in distinct dialectal areas can't avoid the impact of negative transfer of their local accent when they acquire English pronunciation and intonation. Although some scholars and experts in China have made researches on the influence of negative transfer of various dialects on learning English phonetics, there is no one that makes any research and investigation on the influence of negative transfer of Nan County dialect's phonetics which belongs to Xiang dialect on learning English pronunciation and intonation. In order to improve the phonetic ability of students and the quality of teaching English phonetics in Nan County, it is very necessary for English teachers of Nan County to make a deep research on negative transfer of Nan County dialect and seek out the effective ways of teaching English phonetics.The thesis makes full use of the theory of phonetics and the theory of negative transfer in second language acquisition and deals with negative transfer of Nan County dialect by contrasting and analyzing the differences between English and Nan County dialectal phonetics. Meanwhile, on the basis of theoretical contrast and analysis, the author tries to find out problems and difficult points in handling the influences of negative transfer of Nan County dialect on secondary vocational school students in their course of acquiring English phonetics and proposes effective teaching methods to overcome negative transfer of Nan County dialect by implementing phonetic testing and questionaire etc.The thesis falls into seven parts. Chapter 1 is the introduction, in which the author gives a brief introduction to the negative transfer of Nan County dialect and proposes the feasible teaching methods to overcome it. Chapter 2, enumerates the theories based on phonetics, phonetic teaching,negative transfer in learning a second language and a historical review of researches on negative transfer of dialects to English phonetics in present China. Chapter 3 gives the standard pronunciation of English and Chinese and presents the differences of Nan County dialect compared with Standard Chinese Pronunciation for the purpose of finding out the phonetic problems and mistakes of students in secondary vocational school of Nan County. In Chapter 4, the thesis contrasts and analyzes the pronunciation and intonation of English and Nan County dialect in segmental and suprasegmental levels and makes a thorough research on negative transfer of Nan County dialect to English phonetics. In Chapter 5, the author puts forward teaching methods to overcome negative transfer of Nan County dialect. In Chapter 6, the author tries to prove the feasibility, effectiveness and scientificity of the new teaching methods by conducting experiments. Chapter 7 sums up the whole thesis, drawing the conclusion.