An Analysis On Pronunciation Problems Of Non-English Majors

In this research, we visualize the pronunciation problems of fifty samplesrandomly chosen from non-English majors of Shanghai Normal University by usingPraat~a professional phonetic software. Other two computer softwares Cool Edit andExcel are also covered to extract subjects’ pronunciation error, and generate figuresand tables to ensure the accuracy of the phonetic experiment result. Pronunciationproblems are discussed respectively from different aspects: substitution of vowels andconsonants, adding and missing phonemes, wrong phrasing, stress error, assimilation,liaison, and elision by applying the research method of contrastive analysis and error’analysis between the subjects pronunciation and RP’s. In terms of the pronunciationproblems，the present paper ifnds that the production of some consonants such as/s/，/t/，/b/，/d/，/f’/，/g/，/k/，/m/，/p/，/w/have similar or even the same place ofarticulation with the sounds in Mandarin or their local dialect enjoy a satisfactoryproduction and vowels like/e/,/0/also has a relatively high accuracy; however, thepronunciation of/a/}/o:/5/au?/0i/,/ei/，/3u/，/8/，/r/，/tJ7is the least desirable. Inaddition, this paper also points out subjects’ stress problems in reading English andreflects their shortage of phonetic skills in connected speech. The feedbacks ofquestionnaire from the subjects also disclose the problems during the process of theirsecond language learning and indicate the causes which result in the current situationcome from both internal and external ones. For example，personal interest, motivation,attitude and goals to English study, living environment, mother tongue influence, theeducatio’n theyve received etc which implicates a direction for language researchersto make further study hereafter.At the end of the research, practical and constructive suggestions are given tohelp pronunciation learning and teaching and to conduct further phonetic research.