A Review of Studies on English Pronunciation Learning Status of Sichuan Dialect Speakers

Abstract

This paper reviews the English pronunciation learning status of Sichuan dialect speakers, including Sichuan dialect speakers English pronunciation problems and the English pronunciation teaching methods in the Sichuan dialect area. By analyzing the characteristics of their pronunciation problems and current teaching methods taken by educators in Sichuan, the author tries to find out the appropriate way to teach Sichuan dialect speakers English phonemes, which is aimed at improving their English pronunciation. There are three main kinds of pronunciation problems in this research: vowels (to have no contrast in long and short vowels, produce some vowels incorrectly as well), consonants (to replace some consonants with other sounds, have no awareness of nasal and lateral, and pronounce some sounds wrongly), and word stress (to ignore and misread the word stress). The author analyzed the cases of these problems and causes and discussed the teaching methods taken by teachers in the Sichuan dialect area. The author also indicates some problems when educators use these methods, like teachers in kindergarten who intend to teach kids knowledge instead of inspiring their interests. In China, most students study Standard Mandarin as their Second Language. When teachers teach students English, they can take advantage of the positive transfer of L2 to help them acquire L3 pronunciation. Hence, how to design the English pronunciation teaching methods based on the Sichuan dialect speakers special situation and improve learning efficiency is very important.