A Survey on English Phonetics Teaching Strategies in Primary Schools小學(xué)英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)音教學(xué)策略調(diào)查研究

1、 AcknowledgementsI have eternal gratitude to Miss Zhang, my tutor, for her inestimable help and valuable instruction.I also thank those who help me in course of the writing and whose names I cant list here one by one.AbstractPhonetics teaching, which mainly includes phoneme teaching, stress teaching

2、, rhythm teaching, intonation teaching, liaison teaching and so on, is the fundamental part in English teaching. It is not only the first step for students to enter the world of English learning, but also affects whether students have interest in learning English. The study was aimed at investigatin

3、g the current situation of primary school English phonetics teaching, finding and discussing some English phonetics teaching strategies in primary school through making a survey on primary school English teachers. In this study, questionnaire methodology was introduced. After analyzing the questionn

4、aire, the author found that the current situation of primary school English phonetics teaching was not optimistic. Students phonetic ability needed to be strengthened and teachers English phonetics teaching strategies were relatively simple. Teachers could teach phonetics by utilizing imitation stra

5、tegy and combining with songs and chants. Whats more, in order to apply the phonetics teaching strategies into primary school English teaching, it should provide enough and special time for phonetic teaching at first. Then it was necessary to improve teachers literacy and strengthen the teachers pho

6、netic ability and phonetics teaching ability and so on.Key words: primary school; phonetics teaching; strategies摘 要語(yǔ)音教學(xué)內(nèi)容主要包括音素、重音、節(jié)奏、語(yǔ)調(diào)、連讀教學(xué)等，是英語(yǔ)教學(xué)的基礎(chǔ)。它不僅是學(xué)生進(jìn)入英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)的第一步，而且影響著學(xué)生學(xué)習(xí)英語(yǔ)的興趣。 本研究旨在考查小學(xué)英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)音教學(xué)的現(xiàn)狀，并通過(guò)對(duì)小學(xué)英語(yǔ)教師進(jìn)行調(diào)查，尋找和討論一些關(guān)于小學(xué)英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)音教學(xué)策略。本研究主要運(yùn)用了調(diào)查問(wèn)卷研究方法。在分析了調(diào)查問(wèn)卷后，作者發(fā)現(xiàn)小學(xué)英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)音教學(xué)的現(xiàn)狀不容樂(lè)觀，學(xué)生的語(yǔ)音能力需要加強(qiáng)，教師

7、的英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)音教學(xué)策略過(guò)于單一。教師可以使用模仿策略或者結(jié)合歌謠或者小詩(shī)來(lái)進(jìn)行語(yǔ)音教學(xué)。另外，要把語(yǔ)音教學(xué)策略運(yùn)用到英語(yǔ)課堂中，首先要提供充足的專門的語(yǔ)音教學(xué)時(shí)間，也很有必要提高教師的素養(yǎng)和加強(qiáng)教師的語(yǔ)音能力和語(yǔ)音教學(xué)能力。關(guān)鍵詞：小學(xué)；語(yǔ)音教學(xué)；策略ContentsAcknowledgments.IAbstract.II摘 要. III1. Introduction.11.1 Background of the study .11.2 Purpose and Significance of the Study 11.3 Structure of the Paper22. Literature R

8、eview.42.1 Definition of the Related Basic Concepts.42.1.1 The Phonetics4 2.1.2 The English Phonetics Teaching Strategies.52.2 The Theoretical Foundation.52.2.1 Constructivist Teaching Theory5 2.2.2 Learning Motivation Theory62.3 Empirical Studies on English Phonetics Teaching Strategies in Primary

9、Schools 73. Research Methodology103.1 Research Questions103.2 Subjects.103.3 Instrument.103.4 Data Collection.114. Results and Discussion.124.1 Analysis of the Results.124.1.1 Background Information of the Teachers.124.1.2 Teachers Knowledge about Phonetics Teaching .124.1.3 Teachers Attitude toward

10、s English Phonetics Teaching 134.1.4 Measures for English Phonetics Teaching .154.1.5 The Effect of Phonetics Teaching .174.1.6 The difficulties in English phonetics teaching .184.2 Discussion.194.2.1 The Problems Existing in English Phonetics Teaching in Primary Schools.194.2.2 The Suggestions for

11、English Phonetics Teaching Strategies in Primary Schools.205. Conclusion.24 5.1 Research Findings.24 5.2 Research Limitations.25 5.3 Research Suggestions.25References.26Appendixes.27目 錄致 謝I英文摘要II中文摘要III1. 前言11.1研究背景11.2研究目的和意義11.3論文結(jié)構(gòu)22.文獻(xiàn)綜述4 2.1相關(guān)概念的定義4 2.1.1 語(yǔ)音4 2.1.2 英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)音教學(xué)策略5 2.2理論基礎(chǔ)52.2.1 建構(gòu)主義教

12、學(xué)理論52.2.2 學(xué)習(xí)動(dòng)機(jī)理論62.3 小學(xué)英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)音教學(xué)策略的實(shí)證研究73.研究方法10 3.1研究問(wèn)題10 3.2研究對(duì)象10 3.3 調(diào)查工具10 3.4 數(shù)據(jù)收集 114.結(jié)果與討論124.1結(jié)果分析12 4.1.1 教師背景信息12 4.1.2 教師語(yǔ)音知識(shí)的了解程度12 4.1.3 教師語(yǔ)音教學(xué)的態(tài)度13 4.1.4 教師語(yǔ)音教學(xué)的做法15 4.1.5 教師語(yǔ)音教學(xué)的成效17 4.1.6 英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)音教學(xué)的困難18 4.2 討論194.2.1 小學(xué)英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)音教學(xué)存在的問(wèn)題194.2.2小學(xué)英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)音教學(xué)策略的建議205.結(jié)論245.1 研究發(fā)現(xiàn)245.2 研究不足245.3 研究建議25參

13、考文獻(xiàn)26附 錄27VIIA Survey on English Phonetics Teaching Strategies in Primary Schools1. Introduction1.1 Background of the studyThe National English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education (2011 Edition) has pointed out that phonetics teaching is one of the most important part in language teaching.

14、 Furthermore, it requires that one should reach the following aspects when he graduates from primary school: firstly, he can read 26 English letters correctly; secondly, he knows some simple spelling rules; thirdly, he understands that the words and sentences have stress; last but not least, he is c

15、lear that English phonetics includes stress, rhythm, liaison, intonation, etc. Nowadays, more and more experts and scholars realize the importance of phonetic teaching in primary school. They have paid attention to researching the strategies on phonetics teaching. However, the phonetics teaching is

16、influenced by so many kinds of complicated factors that people are unable to control in a short period of time. Therefore, the phonetics teaching in primary school English class is still a weak part. Whats more, the author noticed that some teachers spend more time on vocabulary and grammar teaching

17、 in primary school English classes. As for phonetics teaching, they rarely spend special time on it. Moreover, students have great difficulty in learning the correct pronunciation of English words and memorizing their spelling. A large number of students cannot speak fluent English when they graduat

18、ed from primary school. Therefore, it is necessary to find some effective phonetics strategies to improve the quality of primary school English phonetics teaching.1.2 Purpose and Significance of the Study The British phonetician Gimson believes that: To learn to speak any language, one must know nea

19、rly 100% of its phonetics, but only 50-90% of its grammar and1% of the vocabulary may be enough for him (Gimson A C: 1989, 3). Therefore, it is necessary for primary school English teachers to master the knowledge of phonetics and make clear that how to teach phonetics effectively. Only in this way,

20、 students in primary schools can learn phonetics more efficiently with suitable phonetics learning strategies. At present, although phonetics teaching has attracted a lot of attention from an increasing number of experts and scholars, the application of phonetics teaching strategies is still a weak

21、link in primary school English teaching. Thus, the objectives of the study are to show the necessity of phonetics teaching, analyze the current situation of primary school English teaching and finally propose several effective English phonetics teaching strategies for primary school English teaching

22、. The research will mainly focus on resolving the following questions: firstly, what is the current situation of primary school English phonetics teaching; secondly, what are the strategies of phonetics teaching; thirdly, how can we apply the phonetics teaching strategies into primary school English

23、 teaching. Due to a variety of reasons, it is not easy to change the phenomena of phonetics teaching in primary schools. However, we can manage to strengthen the phonetics teaching on the basis of finishing the teaching objectives and try to help the teachers penetrate the phonetics teaching in prim

24、ary school English teaching effectively. Correct pronunciation can make the communication more smoothly and fluently among people, which means that you do not have to guess each other by pronunciations to understand the meaning (Crystal, 1985). On the road to promoting the application of phonetics t

25、eaching strategies, we hope that students phonetics level will be improved and then can lay a good foundation for their lifelong English learning.1.3 Structure of the Paper This paper consists of five chapters. Chapter one is a general introduction to the background, significance, purpose and struct

26、ure of the thesis. Chapter two, by means of literature research, provides a review of the development course of phonetics teaching abroad and in China and expounds the theories of primary school English phonetics teaching. Chapter three is about the methodology of this study. Research questions, sub

27、jects, the design and implementation of questionnaire and the procedure of data collection are introduced amply in this part. Chapter four mainly analyzes the results of the questionnaire by using descriptive statistics and discusses how the phonetics teaching strategies can be applied into primary

28、school English teaching. Chapter six is the conclusion of this thesis. It summarizes some key points and indicates some limitations of the study as well as the suggestions for further study.2. Literature Review2.1 Definition of the Basic Concepts At first, some basic concepts need to be introduced i

29、n order to understand the whole paper, which involve the definition of phonetics and English Phonetics Teaching Strategy. In the following sections, they will be expounded one by one. 2.1.1 The Phonetics Encyclopedia of Chinese teaching pointed out that the phonetics is the shell of the language sym

30、bol. In the process of verbal communication, people exchange all kinds of information by the means of the phonetics. At this time, the phonetics is a medium, through which people communicate with each other. Without the phonetics, we would live in a soundless world. “The units of phonetics vary in s

31、izes that a sentence, a text message, a word and a syllable all belong to the phonetic units, where the smallest, indecomposable unit is phoneme” (Lao, 1983). The four elements of phonetics are pitch, intensity, pace and timbre. Moreover, phonetics has the physical property, physical attribute, comm

32、unication attribute and so on, while the social attribute is the most essential attribute. Because the phonetics expresses the voice with a certain meaning and phonetics becomes a kind of perceptible language through the combination of words and grammar. “The social attribute is mainly manifested in

33、 two aspects: the fixedness of the combination of sound and meaning, that is, the signifier and meaning of the language are determined by a particular society. For instance, cat and “mao” indicate the same thing, but the English native language called cat and Chinese native language called mao. This

34、 shows the thing that the phonetics represents is determined by the internal conventions of the social members, so the phonetics has social attribute” (Wang, 2011). The English standard phonetics usually refers to the pronunciation that the southeast of British used to pronounce. At the same time, i

35、t widely used in the upper class and news broadcast of British. “We can summarize the RP (received pronunciation) as the pronunciation that the native people can understand” (Wen, 2013).2.1.2 The English Phonetics Teaching StrategiesThe five levels of English teaching methodology are the methodology

36、, approach, strategy, method and technique, while strategy states in the middle. The conceptual level tries to correct the negative and passive dependence of teachers. “English phonetics teaching strategy in primary school is an integral part of the English phonetics teaching design of primary schoo

37、l. It is a strategy that tries to finish English phonetic teaching objectives in the specific language education context and background under the guidance of a certain language teaching theory. Whats more, it also is a teaching plan that attempts to meet the needs of development of primary school st

38、udents in learning English” (Miao, 2007).The English phonetics teaching strategies in primary schools has the following characteristics: firstly, The characteristic of primary school students in learning English is the starting point of English pronunciation teaching strategies; Secondly, The goal o

39、f primary school English teaching is the basis of English phonetics teaching strategy in primary school; thirdly, The English teachers in primary schools should have a certain English phonetic teaching idea; fourthly, Teachers personal teaching characteristics, teaching style and teaching quality di

40、versify the English teaching strategies in primary schools; last but not least, The teaching environment and the cultural background of English - speaking countries influence the English teaching strategies in primary schools.2.2 The Theoretical Foundation2.2.1 Constructivism Teaching Theory Constru

41、ctivism theory is a significant branch of cognitive teaching theory. Constructivism theory regards that everyone constructs their understanding towards the real world through their own experience. “Instead of receiving knowledge simply and passively, learners learning process is an independent const

42、ruction process according to their previous experience” (Qiu, 2015). Constructivism teaching theory stresses that teachers should place great emphasis on learners previous experience and guide students to regard them as the growing point for new knowledge. In addition, teachers should attach importa

43、nce to guiding students to learn the new knowledge on the basis of their previous knowledge. “One representative of Constructivism, Herbart put forward some important suggestions for reforming traditional teaching. From his perspective, teachers should arouse students curiosity and interest in knowl

44、edge at any time in class, stimulating learners learning motivation by exploring problems” (Qiu, 2015). At the same time, teachers should create rational situation which fits teaching and reminds learners of the relationship between the new knowledge and old knowledge and solves some new problems by

45、 using old knowledge. Situation requires that learning situation would better beneficial for students to form their learning content. In some real situation, how do the learners work out practical problems by the means of using their own knowledge, which is a key point to measure whether the student

46、s master learning or not. Besides, learner is the essential part in real learning situation, which accompanies with learning and cooperates with teachers. Constructivism teaching theory plays an important role in English phonetic teaching. It aims to help teachers to construct knowledge and strength

47、en the relationship between the new knowledge and old knowledge in students brain. Thus, teachers can design real situation in English class especially in English phonetic learning class on the basis of Constructivism Teaching theory in primary school. Because of the real English situation, students

48、 in primary schools can speak English bravely. This will enhance teaching enjoyment and stimulate the students intrinsic motivation.2.2.2 Learning Motivation Theory Learning motivation is a kind of power tendency that can inspire and maintain students learning behavior towards the certain goal. It i

49、s a significant element for efficient teaching, and it can affect students learning process and learning effect. Furthermore, “l(fā)earning motivation includes learning needs and learning expectation. Learning needs is a psychological condition that learners want to meet their learning demands owing to

50、their personal sense of learning shortage. Learning expectation is learners subjective estimate that they should attach the target in learning activities. Achievement motivation is an intrinsic power which inspires learners to succeed” (Qiu, 2015). Learning motivation theory is based on the students

51、 own conditions, to explore why the students are confronted with learning disabilities from subjective aspects. In English phonetics teaching, teachers should pay attention to the motivation that would influence students learning enthusiasm and find out the emotional disorders that exist in students

52、 phonetic learning. As known to all, anxiety and frustration are the major emotional disorders that affect students English learning. These emotional disorders can weaken students learning motivation and reduce the learning effect. Therefore, “in the process of phonetic teaching, teachers should fin

53、d out the problems and the negative emotions of the students and reflect on the problems existing in the phonetic teaching in time according to the students physical and mental development. Teachers can teach phonetics in a popular way that will stimulate students interest in phonetic learning” (Wang, 2011). Moreover, teachers should avoid the boring phonetic practice will m