Ananalysisonthefrontvowels’errorsinJuniorMiddleschoolstudents’Englishpronunciation-20

1、 errors in English An analysis on the front vowels Junior Middle school students pronunciation English ， speak it better！ When I was a student ， my teachers always said it to us！ And now， I ama teacher ， I always say it to my students！ But ， how to speak it better ？ The answer is pronunciation. As w

2、e all know， language is the tool of communication ， speaking is the best and convenient way！ Each of us has a mind， a private world filled with thoughts， feelings ， and memories. Speaking to each other is one of the most interesting things that we human beings do. So ， if you want to get the best co

3、mmunication ， you should articulate correctly. It is the basic ！ Then， the science of phonetics appeared. In the year of 1886 ， in London ， The Phonetic Teachers Association was found by the phonetics teachers of Europe countries ， later ， it is changed into International Phonetic Association. The m

4、ost important achievement of the phoneticians is ， in 1888， they published their work International Phonetic Alphabet（IPA）. One symbol one phoneme is the principle of International Phonetic Alphabet （IPA） . There are 44 phonemes in International Phonetic Alphabet （ IPA）. They can be used to represen

5、t the sounds of any language. In English， there are 26 letters. The phonemes include consonants and vowels. The consonants are 24 ， the vowels are 20. The vowels are divided into two groups ： the pure vowels and the diphthongs. In the pure vowels ， there are the front vowels ， the back vowels and th

6、e central vowels. In the diphthongs， there are the closing diphthongs and the centring diphthongs. In this article ， I d like to categorize the errors which the junior middle school students often made in English learning according to my survey about the front vowels. 1. The front vowels In English

7、language ， while the consonant sounds are mostly articulated via closure or obstruction in the vocal tract ， vowel sounds are produced with a relatively free flow of air. They are all typically voiced ， loud. With the majority of single vowel sounds ， the vocal organs remain relatively steady， so th

8、e sounds are clear. the front vowels are the cardinal vowels， the most basic vowels. Because of the tongue tip influenced ， the front vowels sound loud and clear than others， which gives the eye of your speaking. At the same time， if you articulate them exactly ， your English appears a sense of swee

9、tness ， very beautiful and distinctive. In English， there are four front vowels / i： / ， / i/ ， /e/ and /?/. 1.1The general character of the front vowels The tongue tip is close to the lower teeth.The tongue tip is raised to the upper alveolar， but not to touch. The air flow passes through lungs ， t

10、hen the trachea ， and last ， it comes out from mouth， without any block ， no any friction. 1.2The specific property of the front vowels The different position and height of the tongue tip raised to the upper alveolar decide the different phonemes of the front vowels. The tongue position of / i： i e

11、? / is from high to low. The jaw height of / i： i e ?/ is from small to big. FIGUR 1 The tongue position of the front vowels 1.2.1 The front vowel No. 1 /i： / The tongue tip is close to the lower teeth. The front of tongue is raised ， but does not touch the upper alveolar. The lip configuration is f

12、lat. The jaw height is a little ， near to close. FIGURE1.2.1 -1.2.2 The tongue position of No.1 /i： / andNo.2 / 1.2.2 The front vowel No.2 /i/ The tongue tip is close to the lower teeth. The front of tongue is raised less high than/i： /. The lip configuration is flat. The jaw height is bigger than /

13、i ：/ ， near to half-close. 1.2.3 The front vowel No. 3 /e/ The tongue tip is close to the lower teeth. The front of tongue is raised less high than /i/. The jaw height is bigger than /i/ ， near to half-close and half-open. The lip configuration is flat. FIGURE1.2.2 - 1.2.3 NO.2 /i/and NO.3/e/ 1.2.4

14、The front vowel No.4 / ?/ The tongue tip is close to the lower teeth. The front of tongue is raised ， but its tongue position is the lowest in these four sweet vowels. The jaw height is the biggest in these four sweet vowels ， between the half-open and open. The lip figuration is naturally flat. FIG

15、URE1.2.3-1.2.4 The tongue position NO.3 /e/and NO.4/ ? / 2. The statement of testing material and students 2.1 Testing material To test the students pronunciations efficiently and accurately ， I choose a short passage from Junior English （Go for it ！）. This short passage is very good for us to test

16、our front vowels because it includes the four all， and the four phonemes， each appears many times in it ， which will help us find errors easily ！ Please look at the passage following ： In ten years ， I think Ill be a reporter. Ill live in Shanghai ， because I went to Shanghai last year and fell in l

17、ove with it. I think its really a beautiful city.As a reporter ， I think I will meet lots of interesting people. I think I ll live in an apartment with my best friends， because I don t like living alone. Ill have pets. I cant have any pets now because my mother hates them， and our apartment is too s

18、mall. So in ten years， Ill have many different pets. I might even keep a pet parrot ！ Ill probably go skating and swimming every day. During the week I ll look smart ， and probably will wear a suit. On the weekend， I ll be able to dress more casually. I think Ill go to Hong Kong on vacation ， and on

19、e day I might even visit Australia. 2.2 The statements of the students who attended the test. I chose ten students to read the short passage. They are junior students ， aging from 13 14. And they are all from town. Their English level and learning experiences are nearly equal. 3. The pronunciation e

20、rrors which students made on the front vowels in reading the passage 3.1 Problems in Pronouncing the phoneme / i： / In this short passage， the phoneme / i ： / is in these words ： be ， meet， people ， even ，keep and week. In turn ， they should be read bi ：， mi ：t ， pi ：pl ， i ：vn ， ki ： p and wi ：k. B

21、ut in fact ， in my class ， my students always misread them. phoneme words standard pronunciation mispronounces 3.2 Problems in Pronouncing the phoneme / i / In this short passage， the phoneme / i/ is in these words ： in ， think ， reporter ， because ， live ， with ， it ， beautiful ， city ， will ， inte

22、resting ， living ， different ， skating swimming， visit and is. In turn ， they should be read as in ， ink ，rip ：t ，bikz ， liv ，wi ，it ， bju ： tiful ， citi ， wil ，intristi ，livi ， difrnt skeiti ，swimi ， visit and iz. But in fact in my class ， my students always misread them. phoneme Words and letters

23、Standard pronunciation mispronounces 3.3 Problems in Pronouncing the phoneme / e / In this short passage， the phoneme / e/ is in these words： ten ， went ， fell ， best ， friends ， pets ， any ， many ， every ， weekend and dress . In turn ， they should be read as ten ，went ，fel ，best ，frends ， pets ， en

24、i ， meni ， evri ，wi ： kendand dres. But in fact ， in my class ， my students always misread them. phoneme Words and letters Standard pronunciation mispronounces 3.4 Problems in Pronouncing the phoneme / ? / In this short passage ， the phoneme / ?/ is in these words： and ，as， an ，have， parrot and casu

25、ally. In turn ， they should be read as ?nd ， ?z ， h?v ， p?rt and k? juli. But in fact ， in my class ， my students always misread them. phoneme Words and letters Standard pronunciation mispronounces 4. Analyze the target problems From the transcriptions of the students recor ding ， we can find the th

26、ree commonm istakes which students always made. The first is that they always confuse the four phonemes on their tongue position and the jaw height ！ From / i ： / ， /i/ ， /e/ to /， the tongue position of them is from high to low ， the gap is tiny. The jaw height of them is from small to big ， the ga

27、p is also tiny. So ， confusion is easy and accuracy is difficult.The second is that students can t grasp the length of the four vowels .Form /i ：/ ， /i/ ， /e/ to / ， their length is from long to short ， the gap is also tiny. So ， they are confused ！ The third is that the mispronounces / / ， /ei/ and

28、 / appeared. Why did they run away so far ？ I think there are two reasons ， one is mishearing and the other is the influence of the dialect. 5.Solve the target problems Firstly ， we teachers should improve our pronunciations ， especially the front vowels， when your pronunciation is sweet and appeali

29、ng， the students will be aroused to imitate you. They will think I want to say that and I will be that ， and then they will pay attention to learn that. Secondly ， we teachers should choose suitable ways to show the front vowels one by one. During the course， try best to lead our students to feel an

30、d find the tiny differences amongt hem， high or low ， long or short ， small or big ， voiced or voiceless and nervous or relaxed and so on. Thirdly ， to train them and guide them practice more is necessary. After having a hard practice， thinking and feeling until they can show correct production and internalize standa