Effects And Pedagogical Implications Of Pronunciation Characteristics In Changwon, Korea On Chinese Pronunciation Learning

As is known to all, being the physical form of and one of the three elements of language, pronunciation serves as the basis of Chinese learning. Only with a good command of pronunciation can we lay a solid foundation for Chinese learning. People in various parts of the world speaking different languages with distinctive pronunciation features, which impose an effect on Chinese learning. The author had worked and lived in Changwon, Korea for one year from Sept. 2014 to Sept. 2015, and had been greatly exposed to its dialect. Through teaching and observation, the author finds that Chinese learners in Changwon and Seoul display differences in their Chinese learning processes.Standard Korean is a language without tone, while the dialect in Changwon has tones, which contributes greatly to local Chinese learners' tone learning in terms of almost no tone shape error with a slight part of the tone pitch inaccuracy. Besides, concerning initials and finals of Chinese Pinyin, learners' weaknesses in Changwon and Seoul are quite different, the former has difficulty in pronouncing the initial “f”, while the latter “r”. It is hoped that this study will provide some useful guidance for Chinese learners in Changwon.The present study consists of the following four parts. The first chapter deals with the rationale, significance, theoretical background of the study, reviews previous studies conducted by Chinese and Korean scholars respectively, and defines the core concepts such as Standard Korean as well as dialects in Korea. The second chapter addresses the comparative analysis of the pronunciation system. The pronunciation system of Chinese and Korean and the Standard Korean and dialects in Changwon are compared and contrasted in terms of initials, finals and tones. The third chapter tackles two surveys on Chinese learners' pronunciation learning in Seoul and Changwon. One involves Chinese teachers teaching in Korea, and the other is designed for Chinese learners. The fourth chapter concludes the important yet difficult learning points for students in Changwon and provides the pedagogical implications. Firstly, based on the results of the questionnaire, difficult learning points for learners in Changwon are outlined in the following three aspects: initials, finals and tones. Then, teaching suggestions for the aforementioned points are provided accordingly.