A Study Of Vowel Production By College First-Year English Majors

Language is a tool for human beings to communicate thoughts. Clear and understandable pronunciation is a prerequisite for successful linguistic communication. Pronunciation, which plays an extremely important role in learning and daily communication, is one of the three basic elements of English in addition to lexicon and grammar. While vowels pronunciation is the pivot of English pronunciation learning, therefore, if one wants to master English pronunciation, he must pay more attention to vowel production.This thesis attempts to analyze the eleven vowel production of first-year English majors whose native language is Mandarin Chinese. The research has two parts. One part is carried out in the form of a questionnaire, which aims to reveal students'attitude and the extent of recognition on pronunciation learning. The experiment part is about the eleven vowel production of first-year English majors. The experiment materials are obtained through field recording. Through evaluating and systematic analyzing, the author determines the students'extent of mastering vowel production and works out a difficulty scale of eleven vowels. The results of the research are expected to provide a guide for language teachers and English majors, and benefit pronunciation teaching effectively. The results indicate that first-year English majors agree on the importance of pronunciation and hope to improve their pronunciation to a higher level, but their vowel production is lacking accuracy. The students pronounce those vowels that have similar equivalent sounds in Mandarin Chinese better than those that do not have similar equivalent sounds. They pronounce and better than and , but there is an exception, and . Additionally,...