A Preliminary Research On The Current English Pronunciation Teaching And Teaching Strategies In Wuxi Higher Vocational Schools

With the reform of Wuxi Higher Vocational Colleges English Curriculum communicative competence is given priority in English teaching. Pronunciation teaching is considered to play a very important role in improving the communicative competence. However, for some reasons pronunciation teaching has been neglected. English and Chinese belong to different language system. English is stress-timed language and Chinese is a tone language. It is difficult for Chinese English learners to have a good command of English pronunciation and intonation. The problems concerned with are: mispronounce the vowels and consonants; misuse of the rhythm, stress, tones, which result in inefficient communication. Some of these problems are caused by different language systems and some by regional local accent. However, the situation of English pronunciation teaching is being challenged by no appropriate way of helping the English learners to improve their pronunciation and intonation. This paper tries to prove that communicative approach can be used in English pronunciation teaching to effectively improve English learners' communicative competence.There are six parts in all. The introduction states the importance of English pronunciation teaching in TESL or TEFL with both high school and university English teaching syllabi attached. In Chapter one, a survey is made on the current situation of English pronunciation teaching in Wuxi Higher Vocational Colleges by both questionnaires and pronunciation proficiency test. In Chapter two, a historical review of the English pronunciation teaching for English learners is presented. In Chapter three, basic principles of English pronunciation teaching are put forward for the development of the learners' English communicative competence. Communicative approach is emphasized in pronunciation class. In Chapter four, experimental research work is conducted and it is proved that communicative teaching approach is efficient in helping learners better understand and apply pronunciation and intonation rules and improve their communicative competence. In the conclusion principles and strategies for pronunciation teaching are summed up. It is the writer's wish to shade some light on improving English pronunciation teaching for colleagues related and exchange opinions and views for future improvement.