Relationship between Perception and Production of English Vowels by Chinese English Learners
Relationship between Perception and Production of English Vowels by Chinese English Learners
In previous studies, no consensus has been reached on the existence of significant correlation between perception and production. A large number of empirical studies have been done upon first and second languages from different language families. However, few studies were carried out on the perception-production relation of Chinese English learners. Therefore, in the current study, under the theoretical framework of PAM-L2, 40 subjects with even numbers in two genders, who differ in language proficiency, are invited to participate in the perception experiment and the production experiment, in which discrimination, identification and pronunciation of /ɪ/-/ε/, /ε/-/æ/, /ʊ/-/ʌ/, and /ʌ/-/ɒ/ contrasts are observed. Results reveal that vowel perception of Chinese English learners is neither statistically correlated nor spectrally related to vowel production. Relationship between Perception and Production of English Vowels by Chinese English Learners
As foreign language teaching develops worldwide, scholars in second language (L2) learning and acquisition unanimously found a vague link between “listening” and “speaking”. Spoken proficiency of L2 learners was improved even though they didn’t receive training in pronunciation but increased exposure to native production [1]. Scholars began to consider whether there was a close bond between perception and production. If there was, in L2 education, teachers could not only concentrate their training on production, but also add some training to the perception of L1 sounds. Training of perception could also be applied as a supplementary method in phoniatric training for those who failed to adjust their pronunciation merely by articulation training such as imitation.