Problems of Chinese Learners of English

Feifei Han, of Sydney Increasingly Chinese students are pur- Problems in segmental aspects are primarily suing their studies abroad in English speaking concerned with the articulation of single countries, such as the USA, the UK, , or combinations of phonemes in and . Despite the fact that they both and . In supraseg- have studied English as a compulsory mental areas, Chinese learners are found to for a number of years and have passed multi- have problems with and . In ple English proficiency tests, many still find it the following paragraphs, these problems are is difficult to communicate well in spoken presented by contrasting the of English. One of the major obstacles for oral Chinese and English. Additionally, possible is undoubtedly English - causes are identified and detailed examples nunciation, which hinders many Chinese stu- are provided to illustrate problematic pro- dents’ ability to be understood by native nunciation. speakers or English learners from other lan- guage backgrounds. Problems with vowels

Foreign (FL) learners’ mis- In comparing the phonological sys- are not random, as a foreign tems of Chinese and English, Chinese and accent produced by learners largely reflects English differ greatly in the number of vow- the phonetic features and intonation character- els. While English has 15 vowels (Ohata, istics of their (L1) (Avery & 2004), Chinese has only 5 vowels (San, Ehrlich, 1992; Ohata, 2004; Swan & Smith, 2007). Because of this difference, Chinese 1987). This article first examines some of the learners need to learn how to pronounce differences between Chinese and English pho- many new vowels when they start to learn nological systems and then summarizes some English. of the English pronunciation problems for Chinese learners. Ideally, this article will help Even when a exists in both TESOL practitioners become aware of the Chinese and English, the sound’s manner of way in which learners’ L1 backgrounds may articulation and is dif- influence their English pronunciation. In par- ferent from that in English. With respect to ticular, it is useful for English teachers with the , consider the Chi- Chinese students to have some knowledge of nese vowel [ ɪ] and English vowels [ ɪː ] and the phonological differences between English [ɪ]. In Chinese, there are no minimal pairs of and Chinese as well as the major problematic the long vowel [ ɪː ] and short vowel [ ɪ], areas in terms of pronunciation. whereas in English the long [ ɪː ] and short [ ɪ] form minimal pairs. This means that the of problems difference for articulating the two vowels changes the of in Chinese learners of English have prob- which the sound appears. Most Chinese lems with English pronunciation both in seg- learners do not distinguish the long [ ɪː ] from mental aspects and in suprasegmental aspects. the short [ ɪ] when they speak English. In-

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stead, they tend to maintain the same length English consonants do not exist in Chinese. when articulating them in different words, This poses difficulties for Chinese learners such as ship / ʃɪː p/ (sheep) and / ʃɪ p/ (ship). It is trying to produce these consonants. As noted also common for Chinese learners to replace by Zhang and Yin (2009), one common strat- both English [ ɪː ] and [ ɪ] with the correspond- egy used by FL learners to produce phonemes ing Chinese vowel, which requires a higher that do not exist in their L1 is to substitute and more frontal position of the for similar phonemes from their L1. Such substi- pronunciation. Hence, this illustrates how the tutions by Chinese learners are frequently ev- location of articulation can be problematic, ident in their English pronunciation of conso- even when a vowel exists in both . nants. A similar problem caused by differing loca- tions of articulation between Chinese vowels For instance, Chinese speakers gener- and English vowels is evident in Chinese ally have trouble with dental [ θ] learners’ pronunciation of the English [ ɑː ] and and [ð] in English as there are no dental frica- [ʌ], which is similar to the Chinese vowel [ ɑ]. tives in (though there are Although the position of articulation for the dental fricatives in other Chinese ). Chinese [ ɑ] is higher compared to English [ ɑː ] Typically, the two dental fricatives [ θ] and and [ ʌ], Chinese learners only try to extend or [ð] are substituted with two similar alveolar reduce the length of the Chinese [ ɑ] to pro- fricatives, [s] and [z]. In order to counter duce [ ɑː ] and [ ʌ] respectively. When Chinese these problems, experienced teachers should learners pronounce the words “cart and cut”, always emphasize the differences between which are minimal pairs, there is often only a dental fricatives [ θ] and [ð] and alveolar fric- difference in the duration of articulation, atives [s] and [z]. whereas English speakers change the tongue’s position to generate the two vowels. Sometimes Chinese learners will pro- duce two English consonants interchangeably Just as English tend to because the two consonants, which form a generate problems for Chinese learners, the , have only one similar conso- can also cause difficulties. For in- nant in Chinese. For example, in Chinese the stance, because of the of [v] only appears as an of monophthongs [ ɑ] and [ ɪ], the [ ɑɪ ] [w], therefore, altering the two does not cre- resulting from [ ɑ] and [ ɪ] also tend to be ate a difference in meaning. In English pro- misarticulated. In fact, Chinese learners often nunciation, Chinese students often mix up the confuse [ ɑɪ ] with [æ] and [ ɛ]. Consequently, English [v] and [w] and consequently articu- native English speakers often find it hard to late “village”, as / ˈwɪlɪdʒ/ or articulate follow Chinese learners when they try to say “window” as / ˈvɪndəʊ/. “bide”, “bad” and “bed”. Likewise, the Eng- lish diphthong [ ɑʊ ] tends to be mixed with Although some English consonants [ɔ:] and [ ɔ]. Therefore, it can be hard to distin- have counterparts in Chinese, the manner of guish Chinese learners’ pronunciation of articulation is very different in the two lan- “house” and “horse”. guages. Chinese learners often attempt to use the Chinese method of articulating the conso- Problems with consonants nants to produce the English consonants. Be- cause of this practice, native English speakers Chinese and English have roughly the always perceive such pronunciation as ac- same numbers of consonants. However, some cented even though it does not influence

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intelligibility. Alveolar glide [ ɾ] is a problem are similar words pronounced as /tə/, /də/, / of this kind. [ ɾ] is a consonant in Chinese kə/, /gə/, /pʊ/, and /bʊ/ in Chinese. Similarly, phonology. When producing Chinese [ ɾ], since the Chinese consonant [l] is only artic- the position of tongue is more forward and ulated at the beginning of a , Chinese flatter compared to the position of tongue students exhibit a tendency to replace final when producing it the English [ ɾ]. The Chi- [l] with a vowel [ ə]. As a result, the nese [ ɾ] can be placed in both initial and final “pool” is often confused with “poor”. positions of a syllable. When it is placed in the final position in English it is a retroflex. Suprasegmental problems When some Chinese learners try to imitate pronunciation, they add Suprasegmental aspects of pronuncia- the retroflex [ ɾ] randomly at the end of a syl- tion deal with , stress, and intonation lable. The added retroflex [ ɾ] moves the pro- in pronunciation (Ohata, 2004). Comparing nunciation of a previous syllable backwards Chinese and , it is evident in the mouth. Consequently, it is common to that the two languages have distinct features hear a Chinese student’s erroneous pronunci- in terms of rhythm, stress, and intonation. ation of “early” as / ˈəɾlɪ/, which in fact does These differences are discussed in turn and not need a retroflex even in American Eng- potential difficulties in pronunciation that lish. result are also discussed.

Phonotactic problems Rhythm problems

Not only do Chinese and English dif- Depending upon the types of rhythm fer in phonemes, but the two languages are presented in pronunciation, a language can also different in terms of the combination of be classified as either stress-timed or syllable phonemes. In Chinese, each syllable com- -timed (Ladefoged, 1982; Ohata, 2004). In a monly starts with a consonant and ends with stress-timed language, the production of a vowel, whereas in English a syllable can stressed takes the majority of time start with a and can end for completing a . On the other hand, with either a vowel or a consonant. Due to in a syllable-timed language, each syllable this phonotactic distinction between the two receives an equal amount of time for produc- languages, Chinese learners face difficulties tion. To be more specific, to articulate an when producing words ending with conso- English sentence, the amount of time for nants. completion of the sentence depends largely on how many stressed syllables are in the Chinese learners tend to add a vowel sentence, as “the intervals between stressed after a stop consonant, such as after [p], [], syllables in are either equal or at least [], [d], [k], and [g], as these consonants only more nearly equal than the intervals between appear in the initial spot in a Chinese sylla- the nucleus of each successive syllable and ble. For instance, Chinese students tend to next” (Matthews, 1997, p. 355). In contrast, pronounce “hot” as /ˈhɔtə /, “good” as / the time taken to generate a Chinese sentence ˈgʊdə /, and “map” as /ˈmæpʊ/. An observa- depends upon the total number of syllables, tion of Chinese students’ pronunciation and all the syllables contribute to the recur- shows a tendency to add [ə] after [t], [d], [k], ring pattern of rhythm in a sentence. Often and [g], whereas they tend to add [ ʊ] follow- one can hear Chinese learners devote equal ing [p] and [b]. This might be because there time to each syllable when speaking English,

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and as a result using a syllable-timed rhythm the intonation of the two languages. Both Chi- to produce English can make speakers sound nese and English use final rising-falling intona- strange to English speakers. tion in sentences such as propositions, impera- tives, and wh-. However, in Chinese Stress problems the final rising-falling intonation is also applied to yes-no questions. In contrast, English uses a Another sharp distinction between final rising intonation in a yes-no . Un- Chinese and English in terms of the supraseg- der the influence of the , Chinese mental aspects of their phonological systems learners normally speak a yes-no question with has to do with and stress in the two lan- rising-falling intonation. Such a situation is guages. Chinese is a tonal language, which especially common among learners at elemen- means that a high-low pitch pattern is associ- tary levels. Under intensive training and drills ated with a Chinese permanently. from English teachers, students are very likely In Mandarin Chinese, the same syllable can to get used to using rising intonation in yes-no be pronounced in four different tones; these questions. However, they sometimes over- tones are the high-level tone, high-rising tone, generalize to include wh-questions as well. In low-rising tone, and high-falling tone. English fact, the most difficult types of questions, in is a stress accent language, which marks a terms of using appropriate intonation, for Chi- stressed syllable by lengthening the vowel in nese learners is alternative questions. Chinese that syllable. A change of stress in a word can learners either use falling intonation for both of even alter the part of speech of that word. The the choices in those questions or speak with of stress in English poses a great chal- rising intonation for the two choices when gen- lenge for Chinese learners of English. Learn- erating alternative questions. Through practical ers tend to ignore stress when first learning training and repeated corrections made by Eng- how to pronounce a new word. Even with a lish instructors, most Chinese learners are able known word, learners generally appear uncer- to overcome this problem and articulate all tain when marking the stress in multi-syllabic types of questions with proper intonation when words. Some Chinese learners try very hard to they reach the intermediate level and above. memorize the stress of a particular word, while unaware that shifting the stress could Implications and conclusion alter the word’s part of speech. For example, Chinese learners often say, “ broke the / The current study presents contrastive ɾɪˈ kɔ:d/” as opposed to “He broke the / analysis of phonological systems between Chi- ˈɾɛ kɔ:d/. In order to overcome difficulties nese and English and detailed examples of po- caused by the differences between a tonal lan- tential problem areas in English pronunciation guage and a stress accent language, teachers among Chinese learners. The above infor- of English learners, such as Chinese speakers, mation is valuable as it helps to raise aware- need to explain the differences explicitly and ness for English instructors of weaknesses in emphasize the importance of stress in English Chinese learners’ pronunciation. Teachers pronunciation. could explain some of the major differences between the phonological systems to students, Intonation problems and they could also utilize the above infor- mation to design teaching materials, classroom Although there are some similarities activities, and practical pronunciation drills to between Chinese and English in terms of into- address these areas (Celce-Murcia, Brinton, & nation contour, differences can be found in Goodwin, 1996; Kelly, 2000).

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To deal with segmental problems, J. (1996). Teaching pronunciation: Refer- such as difficult and problematic phonemes, ence for teachers of English to speakers of teachers could use proverbs to drill students other languages . London: Cambridge Uni- so that learners have ample opportunities to versity Press. practice a few phonemes extensively (e.g. A Chen, Ch., Fan, Ch., & Lin, . (1996). A new friend in n ee d is a friend ind ee d. H aste m akes perspective on teaching English pronunci- waste.) To effectively counter suprasegmen- ation: . Symposium on English tal problems, such as rhyme, teachers could Teaching, retrieved on 20 th , Dec, from use an activity recommended by Dauer 2012, from http://chifenchen.tripod.com/ (1993) --- Rhythmic Grouping: Pausing and papers/paper-2.html Linking. Teachers could select a short pas- Dauer, R. M. (1993). Accurate English: A sage or a few unrelated sentences and ask stu- complete course in pronunciation . New dents to put a “/” in where they think pauses Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. should occur. Then teachers could compare Kelly, G. (2000). How to teach pronunciation. students’ answers and offer more appropriate Essex: Longman. solutions. Finally, teachers could ask students Ladefoged, P. (1982). A course in . to practice the passage or the sentenc- : Harcourt Brace. es by paying attention to pausing. For stress Matthews, P. H. (1997). Concise Oxford dic- problems, teachers could use activities such tionary of linguistics. Oxford: Oxford as listening for stressed words. Teachers can University Press. read out prepared sentences or record- Ohata, K. (2004). Phonological differences ings and ask students to underline stressed between Japanese and English: Several words. Then teachers could ask students to potentially problematic areas of pronunci- read out the sentences themselves by paying ation for Japanese ESL/EFL learners. special attention to stressed words (Chen, Asian EFL Journal, retrieved on 20 th , July, Fan, & Lin, 1996). Teachers should always 2012, from try a of activities to make teaching http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/ English pronunciation interesting, such as december_04_KO.php reading aloud poems, song lyrics and jazz San, D. (2007). The phonology of standard chants. Chinese (2 nd ) . New York: Oxford University Press. It should be pointed out that empha- Swan, M. & Smith, B. (1987). Learner Eng- sizing good pronunciation by no means guar- lish: A teacher’s guide to interference and antees fluent spoken English and effective other problems. Cambridge: Cambridge communication (Ohata, 2004). In order to University Press. maintain fluent communication, learners also Zhang, F. & Yin, P. (2009). A study of pro- need to be equipped with other kinds of nunciation problems of English learners in knowledge and skills, such as , vo- China. Asian Social , 5, 141-146. cabulary, communication strategies, and dis- course knowledge. Feifei Han is currently a PhD candidate in TESOL, at the Faculty of and So- References cial Work, the University of Sydney. She has Avery, P. & Ehrlich, S. (1992). Teaching taught English to Chinese EFL learners at the American English pronunciation. Oxford: university level for several years. Her main Oxford University Press. research interests are foreign language read- Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D., & Goodwin, ing and second .

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