A Case Study of Phonetics Teaching to EFL Students获奖科研报告

ACaseStudyofPhoneticsTeachingtoEFLStudents获奖科研报告

Abstract：PhoneticcourseisthefoundationofEFLlearners.However，intheprocessofthetheorystudy，studentsoftenexposedeficiencyinphoneticsstudy.Tolookintotheproblems，weusedquestionnaireinvestigationandinterviewastoolstogivearesearchonthepresentconditionofphoneticsteaching.Theresultshowsthatthestudentshaveenoughunderstandingofthephoneticsstudy，teachershaveseriousteachingattitudeandgoodgraspoftheknowledgeinthesubject.Buttheylackaclearteachinggoal，andtheteachingmethodissimplistic.

Keywords：Phoneticsteaching;phoneticknowledge;teachinggoal

Introduction

AsatraditionalrudimentarycourseforEnglishlearners，Englishphoneticsisthefoundationofimprovingthestudents’listening，speakingandtranslation.ThesyllabusstipulatedclearlythatthegoalofthephoneticcourseistointroducetothestudentstheEnglishphoneticsandintonation，andtointegratelistening，pronunciationandoralexpressiontogetherbydistinguishingsoundsandimprovingskills.However，studentsoftenexposetheirweaknessevendeficiencyintheirbasicphonetics.Inthelightofthisphenomenon，wemadearesearchontheconditionofthefreshmen’sandsophomore’sphoneticsteaching.

IIResearchdesign

2.1Subject

EFLstudentslearningEnglishasadoublemajor，inthethreeclassesofonegradeintheSchoolofforeignlanguagesofShanDongUniversityofTechnology.

2.2Researchinstrument

86piecesofquestionnaireisgivenouttocollectdatafromstudentsand86isreceived.Interviewiscarriedoutontheteacher.

III.Researchresultsanddiscussion

3.1Students’understandingonphoneticsstudy

Studentshaveabundantunderstandingoftheimportanceofthissubject.TheauthorgetstoknowtheinformationthatthestudentsknowthehowsbutnotthewhysoftheproductionofthesoundbeforetheyareenrolledbythecollegesorUniversitiesthroughthetalkswiththem.Thisrevealsthatthestudentsfeelthephoneticscourseisveryimportantandtheyhavegreatdesiretolearnit.

3.2Teachingmethod

ResearchshowsthatmoststudentsthinktheteacherteachestheminEnglish.Intheinterview，twothirdsoftheteachersspeakfranklythattheymostlyuseChinesewhentheyteachthestudents，especiallywhentheyteachthesuprasegmentalanalysis.Thisresulthasrelationshipwiththestudents’Englishproficiency.

3.3Theevaluationofthetextbookandtest

Resultshowsthatthetextbookissuitableforthestudents.Therewasonlyoralexaminationforthepreviousphoneticstest.Thissimplistictestcannotfullyexamthestudents’studyandapplicationofthephoneticknowledgeeffectively.Mostofthestudentsaresatisfiedwiththenewformoftestwhichisthecombinationoforalexaminationandthewrittenexamination.

IV.Interviewwithteachers

4.1Teachingattitudeandteachinggoals

Resultshowstheteacher’sattitudeisserious，theirteachinggoalisclear.Atthesametime，theteachersdon’tagreewiththesimplistictestingforms.Sofar，theresultofthereviewwiththeteachersupportsthehypothesis1andhypothesis2.

4.2Teachingdesignandteachingemphasis

Itcanbeseenthattwothirdsoftheteachersputtheiremphasisontheteachingofpronunciationorcorrectingthestudents’pronunciation.Thoughtheteachersrealizedthatthephoneticsknowledgeshouldbeoneoftheteachinggoals，buttheydidn’tputintopracticeintheirteaching.Theinterviewalsoshowsthatthedegreeofstereoscopicteachingislowinthephoneticsclass，morethanhalfoftheteachersdidn’tcombinethedifferentiationofpronunciationwithinputpractice.

4.3Thesubjectknowledgeandtheteachingcapability

Alltheteachersconfirmthattheyhaveproficientsubjectknowledge，andaresurethattheyhavetaughttheaccordingtothetextbook，andrelatedtoallthephoneticpoint.Theresultoftheinterviewdoesnotcoincidewiththeresultofthequestionnaireresearch，whichshowsthatthestudentsareconfinedbytheirlimitedEnglish;italsoreflectsthattheEnglishteachinginthemiddleschoolisshortoftheenvironmentoftargetlanguage.

V.Conclusion

Thefindingsofthisresearchareasfollows：

1.Theteachershaveseriousteachingattitude，andamplepreparationforlessons.Thestudentsalsohavehighdegreeofsatisfactionwiththeteachingevaluation.

2.Theteachers’understandingoftheteachinggoalsdon’tparallelwiththepractice.Thoughthestudentssaidtheemphasisoftheclassistheteachingandtrainingofphonetics，yettheresearchofthepedagogyandtheresultoftheinterviewwiththeteachersshowsthattheemphasisisputonthecorrectionofpronunciation，theteachingformissimplistic，andtheteacherdidn’tgivethestudentssometrainingthatcombinedwithsomeotherskills.

3.Theteachershavesolidknowledgeinthissubject，andskillfuloperation.Theyhavecertainteachingexperienceandarequitesurethattheyhavetaughtallthephoneticspointinthetextbook.

4.Thestudentshavefullyrecognizedtheimportanceofphoneticsstudy.MoststudentsthinkthatitwillgreatlyhelpthemintheirstudyoforalEnglish，listeningEnglishandvocabularyiftheyhavegood