A Study On Contents And Objectives In Teaching Pronunciation To English Majors-from ESL/EFL To ELF

Along with the development of globalization,the realm of using English has been expanded and the number of English users has also increased very quickly.To some extent,English has become the common property around the world.That is to say,English is a World English and English is a Lingua Franca(ELF).Based on this context,scholars have begun to reflect upon the issue that English pronunciation teaching should shift from the traditional standard English pronunciation to intelligibility.After analyzing domestic documents about the contents and objectives of English pronunciation teaching,the author discovered that the majority of documents still insist on standard Engish pronunciation emphasizing the accuracy of pure pronunciation and neglecting intelligibility.On the contrary,foreign studies have turned to the study on intelligibility in pronunciation.Therefore,with regard to the change of the views on English and its pronunciation,the author attempts to investigate the current situation of contents and objectives of English pronunciation teaching for English majors in universities from three aspects: English syllabuses and teaching textbooks,English majors’ phonetic learning beliefs and behaviors and English teachers’ phonetic teaching beliefs and behaviors.Based on the investigation,this paper also discusses that the contents and objectives of English pronunciation for English majors at universities should shift from ESL/EFL to ELF.So,the present study mainly involves the following questions:Q1.What are current contents and objectives of English pronunciation teaching for English majors in universities?Q1-1.What contents and objectives are revealed in teaching documents and materials for English majors’ pronunciation instruction?Q1-2.What are English students’ and teachers’ phonetic learning and teaching beliefs for English pronunciation learning and teaching?Q1-3.What are English students’ and teachers’ phonetic learning and teaching behaviors for English pronunciation learning and teaching?Q2.According to the views on English pronunciation as well as its teaching,what contents and objectives should be reconstructed for English majors’ pronunciation instruction ?The empirical study reported in this thesis mainly choosed English syllabuses and teaching materials as research objects and English majors and teachers in(CQNU and SISU)as research subjects.And the methods of text analysis,classroom observation,interview,questionnaire survey were used to collect data;SPSS was also employed to process the data.According to the empirical study,it is found that the current English pronunciation instruction for English majors still obeys standard English pronunciation so as to attain the native-like pronunciation.The details are summarized as follows:1)Both English syllabuses for English majors and phonetic teaching materials used in classrooms comply with the native-speakers’ pronunciation.First,in respect of the teaching contents of English syllabuses,the focus is on the training of pure pronunciation;but for suprasegmental features and changes in speech,it just remains on the basic knowledge and patterns without considering the training of communicative competence.It is the same with the requirments of objectives in the syllabuses,the focal points of which are still concerned with the accuracy of pronunciation and the descriptions of which is not so specific or broad.Second,teaching materials also reflect a standard view on English pronunciation teaching that the drills of segmental phonemes compared with suprasegmental phonemes take up considerable parts.2)English majors and English teachers show great preference to standard accents(RP or GA)and are eager to attain the native speakers’ level,but they hold negative attitudes towards English accents,such as Indian accent,Chinese accent and so on.3)English majors and teachers’ phonetic learning and teaching behaviors indicate that all of them prefer to learn standard English.As for English majors,what they always do in and out of class is to correct their pronunciation as well as to imitate native speakers’ accents.And for English teachers,they spend more time instructing learners’ segmental phonemes,instead of suprasegmental phonemes.Based on the above findings,to be in accordance with the development of globalization,the contents and objectives of English pronunciation teaching for English majors in universities should make some shifts:1)The contents of English pronunciation should shift from ESL/EFL to ELF.That is to say,English teachers and English majors should set up global awareness and increase the exposure to different English accents(pronunciation of English varieties).The contents of English pronunciation teaching are not just confined to the accuracy of single phonemes,but focus on the drills of suprasegmental phonemes.2)The objectives of English pronunciation should shift from ESL/EFL to ELF.Due to the changing of language views on English and its prouniciation,the objectives of English pronunciation teaching should shift from “nativeness” to “intelligibility” in order to promote communication with non-native speakers all over the world.