English Pronunciation Problems And Their Possible Causations

Speaking good English is important for all English learners. However, many college students do not have quality English pronunciations. Few researchers have studied how much Chinese college students know about phonetics. The purpose of this study is to identify English pronunciation problems of Chinese college students, the factors that may have caused them, and possible ways to help improve their English pronunciations.Both survey and case study were conducted to collect information. Forty-two college freshmen in Hainan University participated in this study. Among them there were 29 female and 13 male students. The questionnaire instrument had 14 items,11 of them being multiple-choice questions, the other three being open-ended questions. The test included oral questions and a conversation. Both segmental and supra-segmental phonemes were examined, including phonemes, syllables, stresses, words in connected speech, and intonations.Nine hypotheses were developed and tested. Four of them were confirmed, four were rejected, and one was discarded due to insufficient data. Statistically significant relationships were found between participants'English pronunciations and their hometown accents, English matriculation marks, and the qualities of their English teacher's pronunciations in the secondary schools. The author made a number of suggestions about how to help students improve their English pronunciations.