初中英语语音教学的问题与策略研究.docx

初中英语语音教学的问题与策略研究.docx

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初中英语语音教学的问题与策略研究

ProblemsandStrategyofTeachingEnglishPronunciationinJuniorMiddleSchool

Introduction

Englishteachinginourcountrypaystoomuchattentiontotheexaminationandpapermarks.EventheprofessionalswhohavetaughtEnglishforyearsmisunderstandaboutthesubject.OrdinaryEnglishteachersinjuniormiddleschoolwithaheavyexaminationburdend（担子）ontheirshouldersholdthatphonetic（语音的）teachinghasfewmarksinexaminationanditcanonlyhelptolearn,andconsequentlyonlyneedsparealittletimeandenergyinlearningit.ThisisnotagoodideabecausepronunciationlearningisEnglishlearningitself.IthasthesameimportanceaswelearnEnglishgrammar,readingcomprehensioninthewholeprocessofEnglishacquisition（获得）.Itisnotonlytoperfectandstudyphonetics,butalsothepathleadingtomasteringEnglish.ItisausefulweaponandwithitwecanfightandovercomemanydifficultiesinlearningEnglish.IfwemasterandfamiliarwithcorrectandnaturalEnglishpronunciation,wewouldhaveagoodmemoryoftypicalEnglishsentencesandnewwords.SoitisnaturalandnecessaryforstudentswithacorrectandnaturalEnglishpronunciation.

WhyisEnglishpronunciationteachingsoimportantinEnglishlanguageteaching?

Therearefivemainreasonsaboutit.

a）Thesoundisthefirstnatureoflanguage.Languageisatoolofcommunication.Onlythroughvocalorganssendingoutvoices,onlydependingonthesoundsofthelanguage,peoplefinishthegoalofcommunicationwitheachother.Inlinguistics,thedefinitionoflanguageis“asystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommunication”.Ithastwosalientfeatures:

Oneissound;theotherismeaning.Itisthebaseoflanguagelearning.Phoneticsisanessentialpartoflanguagebecauseitgiveslanguageadefiniteform.Languageperformsitsfunctionthroughlanguagesounds.Speechwithoutsoundisimpossible.Lettersonlyservetorepresentspokenwordsinawritingform.Butwordspronouncedorwritteninisolationcannotexpresscompletethoughts.Completethoughtscanonlybeexpressedinsentencesconsistingofwordsputtogetheraccordingtothegrammarrulesofthelanguageandpronouncedwiththeproperintonation.Asameansofcommunicationbywordsofmouth,languageisusedinoralspeechandinbeingreadaloud.Therefore,inordertomakeoneselfeasilyunderstoodwhileexpressingone’sownorotherpeople’sthoughtsinanylanguage,onemustbeabletopronouncesentencesinthatlanguagecorrectly.Onemusthaveagoodpronunciationinordertounderstandotherpeopleeasilywhentheyspeakorreadaloud.Thisisprovedbythewell-knownfactthatthebetterwepronounceaforeignlanguage,theeasierweunderstanditwhenwehearit.

Soateacherofaforeignlanguagemustbeabletoteachthecorrectpronunciationofthatlanguage.Ateacheruntrainedinphoneticsisasuselessasadoctoruntrainedinanatomy（解剖学）.Factsshowthatteachermustrepeatthesoundsmanytimes.Withoutanyknowledgeofpronunciationandintonation,theteachingresultwillbeunsatisfactory.Sooneoftheprincipalaimsofaforeignlanguageteacheristomasterboththepronunciationofthelanguageheorsheisgoingtoteachandthemethodofteachingthispronunciation.Toachievethisaim,heorshemusthaveaclearideaofwhatagoodpronunciationis,whatarethedifficultiesinacquiringit,andhowthesedifficultiescanbeovercome.

b）Phoneticsistheclothesoflanguage.Acquiringthebeautifulandcorrectsoundsofonelanguagehelpsacquirethewordsandlearnthegrammarofit,andalsohelpsimprovetheabilityoflistening,speaking,readingandwriting,especiallyspeakingandlistening.Ithelpstoacquirethepropermannerofexchangingthoughtsandfeelingseffectively.

c）Phoneticsisthematerialexistence存在oflanguage.EnglishpronunciationteachingisthebeginningandfirststepofEnglishteaching,especiallyinjuniormiddleschools.WemusthaveabasicgroundofEnglishlearninginthisperiod.Ifweignoreit,therewouldbemuchtroublesandconfusioninthefutureoflearning.

d）ThereisaquitedifferencebetweenEnglishandChinese.WecansaythatEnglishisakindofhearinglanguage,andourChineseisthelanguagebothhearingandseeing.Inshort.Englishputmuchemphasis着重、强调onsoundssoweshouldfocusonsoundstolearn.

e）Phoneticsisalsothemainelementofstylistics.Tojudgeapieceofwriting,sounds’beautyisanimportantstandard.Ifwecouldnotputthisnotioninstudents’brains,andletthemknowwhatisgoodorbadofthesoundsinEnglish,studentswerelosingoneoftherulestocheckthenatureofEnglishlanguage.Theywouldnothaveknownhowtodistinguishagoodarticlefromabadone.Goodwritingsaretheperfectcombinationofthesoundandmeaning.

Forthereasonsmentionedabove.Wefullyunderstandthatphoneticsisasharpweapontofightlanguage.Correctpronunciationwillkeepcorrecttrackofword’sspellinginbrain.Itisawholeandtotalattack.Itaddsanotherstimulationtomemorizenewwords.Thesound’sstimulationismoreeffectivethanjustwritingnewwordsagainandagain.Learningisunderstandingandmemory.Readingaloudhelpsusunderstandandmemorizemoreeffectively.

Tolearntheirmothertongue,babiesacquirefirstfromsoundsoftheirlanguage.Andtolearnaforeignlanguage,studentsalsoshouldstartfromthisbasis.InEnglish,phoneticshasacloserelationshipwithitswordsspellingandgrammar.Notonlytomastertheskillsoflisteningandspeaking,butalsogrammarandwords,tomasterEnglishlanguagewhollyandtotally,haveweneededphoneticlearning.WeneedtomakestudentsfamiliarwithEnglishsounds.Tomasteralanguage,istomasterthesoundsofthelanguagefirst.WithoutsoundsiswithoutlearningEnglish.

EveryphonemeinEnglishdecidesitsmeaning.Mistakenpronunciationleadstomisunderstanding.Forexample:

sheepandshiparetwodifferentwords,oneis“sheep（羊）”;theotheris“ship（船）”decidedbythelengthofthevowel.“Bed（床）”and“bad（坏）aredecidedbytheopeningheightofmouth.Andtherearewords“eyes”and“ice”;“singing”and“sin”.Ifwepronouncedtheminawrongway,wewouldunderstandthemeaningmistakenly.Pronouncingthewordrightorwronginfluenceswehearothers’wordscorrectlyornot.Thedifficultiesinhearingareoftencausedbyourincorrectpronunciation.Thedifficultiesofhearingsometimesarisefromthatweconfusethedifferencebetweenspokenlanguageandwrittenwords.Weneedtoknowthatthereisdistancebetweenthemandtheformoftheirrecordsisdifferent.Forexample:

“Pickitup”,“Thinkitover”,“Whatdidyoueat?

”and“Youshouldtellus”haveassimilationandelision.Ifwereadaccordingtothewrittenwords,therewouldhaveproblemsofhearing.

Ofcourse,theimportanceofEnglishpronunciationteachingisfarfrommentionedabove.Asakindofspellinglanguage,therearemanyaspectsinEnglishasgrammarsandvocabularygreatlyinfluencedandcontrolledbysounds.DifferentfromChinese,ifwesay,meaningofChineselanguagecanbefoundinreading,andthenmeaningofEnglishcanbefoundinhearing.Englishword“supper”isfromthesoundsoftakingthesoup,andthentherecome“slurp”,“sip”,“slop”,“sloppy”and“slob”.

Accordingtothechangeofsound,wefindsomerulesofhowtheirregularverbschange:

meet\met\met,leave\left\left,andsleep\slept\sleptwhichbelongtoonegroup.Andthenthereisanother:

think\thought\thought,bring\brought\brought.Andmore:

teach\taught\taught,sing\sang\sung,ring\rang\rung,drink\drank\drunk,begin\began\begun,drive\drove\driven,rise\rose\risen,write\wrote\written,andride\roderidden.

Furthermore,rhythmandrimeplaytheirrolesinEnglishlanguage,too.Englishsentenceisbasedontherhythmofstressedandunstressedpattern.Inmanycases,thisrhythmpatterndecidestheformationofEnglishsentence.Englishpeoplesay:

“Wrapitup”or“Wrapupthebook”,notusuallysaying“Wrapupit”or“Wrapthebookup”.Theysay:

“givemethebook”or“giveittome”,theydonotusuallysay:

“Givemeit”.

GraspthecorrectEnglishpronunciationwillhelpusalotinlearninggrammarandmemorizingwordswell.Phoneticshasacloserelationwithgrammar.Thedifferentfunctionofgrammarproducesdifferentreadingsoundsevenofthesamewords.Forexample,theverb“read”playstheroleaspresentindefinitetenseandinfinitivereadas[ri:

d],butaspastindefinitetenseandpastparticipleisreadas[red].Theword“house”asanounreadas[haus],butasaverbreadas[hauz].Therelationbetweenpronouncingandwordformationshowsinprefix.Theword“correct”adds“in”infrontmeanstheopposite.Butwiththechangeofthefirstletterofthewords,theprefixwillchange.SowegotthefollowingEnglishwords:

“imperfect”,“irresponsible”,and“illegal”.

Intonationdevelopsinthesameway.Thesamesentencewithdifferentintonationshowsdifferentfeelingsandattitude.Ifweusetherisingtonetosay:

“What’syourname?

”Itcarriesthemeaningofinformalandpoliteness.Butsayinginthefallingtoneitmeansformalandofficial.Itisunimaginablethatwecommunicateeffectivelywithoutthecorrecttone.SometimesEnglishpeopleuserisingtoneinaspecialquestion.

Teachingpracticesshowthatthestandardofteachingpronunciationdecidesnotonlythestudents’qualityofpronunciation,butalsothewholeprocessoftheirEnglishlearning.Iftheyhaveagoodpronunciation,theprocesswillgosmoothlyandsuccessfully.Ifnot,therewillbelotsofbarriersanddifficultiesintheirlearningafterwards.ManystudentsarefrightenedbyEnglishonlybecausetheyformabadhabitoflearning.Theyignorethesound