A Study On Pronunciation Learning Strategies Used By College Students In The English Education Program

Pronunciation learning is self-evidently important for English learning, especially for college students in the English education program, as for most of them the future vocation will be English teachers in primary schools or kindergartens. Many researches have studied the teaching and learning of English pronunciation, but few researches studied pronunciation learning from the perspective of learning strategies. However, some studies showed that scientific and effective use of language learning strategies (LLS) ensures the success of language learning. Therefore, English teachers should change their ideas. They should not only impart phonetic knowledge to students, but also pay attention to teaching and training of pronunciation learning strategies (PLS), in order to develop students’ ability of self-directed learning. Students themselves must become aware of the importance of PLS and be adept in using PLS in order to improve English pronunciation effectively.This study investigated the overall use of English PLS employed by the college students in the English education program, the correlation between English PLS and English pronunciation achievement, and the differences in the use of PLS between high achievers and low achieversQuestionnaire survey, pronunciation test, and documentary research are employed in the study.148first-year students in the English education program from QiongTai Teachers college participated in the survey. The collected data was analyzed with SPSS (19.0).There are three findings. First, the students use PLS at a medium frequency. Most of them sometimes use PLS. The most frequently used are affective strategies, while the least used are memory strategies. Second, There does exist obvious correlation between PLS and English pronunciation learning achievement. All the six categories of PLS and pronunciation learning achievement are positively correlated. Social strategies have the most significant and strongest correlation with pronunciation learning achievement. Secondary to social strategies are cognitive strategies. Third, generally high achievers employ PLS more often than low achievers. The greatest difference between high achievers and low achievers is that high achievers use cognitive strategies and social strategies far more often than low achievers.