A Study On The Chinese Pronunciation Learning Strategies Of Indonesian Students

The last few years, Chinese learning strategy research has attracted more researchers’ attention. As a branch of second language learning, the study of pronunciation learning strategies is very important. Pronunciation is the material shell of language; its importance is undeniable in the communication. Good pronunciation plays a significant role in promoting Chinese language teaching. It not only helps foreign students’ Chinese language learning, but there are other great impacts on the acquisition of other language skills.There are many researches about second language learning strategies abroad, but late start for Chinese pronunciation learning strategies research, the researches only focused on students from Japan, Korea, Europe, United States and other countries, just few researches involved on the Indonesian students in Chinese pronunciation learning strategies. Therefore, this paper through survey and comparative study the use of Chinese pronunciation learning strategies on Chinese Indonesian students and Indonesian students of four universities in Indonesia, this paper has practical guiding significant for Chinese language teaching.Teaching Chinese as a second language include several aspects such as pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, Chinese characters etc. Pronunciation is the material form of language, the carrier of oral communicate, it is one of the most important manifestations of language. Pronunciation is to master knowledge of the language and verbal skills’ basic, also important guarantee to improve the communicative competence of language. In Chinese teaching, a good pronunciation can help learners’ Chinese learning, let learners become more confident and increase their interest in learning Chinese. As a branch of second language learning, Chinese pronunciation learning is very important.Now Chinese has become one of the international languages, learning Chinese in and abroad of Indonesian students are more and more. Chinese Indonesian students’ ancestral home mostly in China southern Guangdong, Fujian and Hainan area. Affected by mother tongue, Chinese characters and grammar aren’t the biggest problem for Chinese Indonesian students. But the proper Chinese pronunciation is difficult for Chinese Indonesian students and Indonesian students. Indonesian is a non-tonal language, most of voiced initial consonants. They usually spell the Chinese pinyin as Indonesian, and difficult to adjust the tone to rise and fall. A lot of students have learned Chinese one or two years in china, but still have queer tone when they dialogue, sometimes make people do not understand. So, pronunciation teaching has difficulties, but also a focus for Indonesian students.In view of the Chinese as a second language pronunciation learning strategies and acquisition is a blind area, this paper intends to fill this gap. Among the study of second language learning strategies, questionnaires and recordings are the most commonly used form of survey instruments. Through the questionnaire we can make it easier for statistics and analysis, from that we can directly see the authenticity of the first choice of students, also facilitate the use of computer statistical analysis of our results.The questionnaires include four parts:First is basic personal information. Second is Chinese learning condition of Indonesian students, it comprises 5 subjects. Third is the questionnaire and the last is speech test. Students record their speech, include their name, university and grade, then email to the author. The questionnaire based on SILL by oxford(1900) and some thesis from:Liu Xiangyi(2009), Shi Yan(2011), Dong Qinglin(2012) and Xie Qiaoyi(2012), etc. Considered the students’ Chinese level, in order to easier students understanding the questionnaire, it is using two languages, Chinese and Indonesian.This present research is to bridge the gap between pronunciation acquisition and learning strategies in learning Chinese as a foreign language. A self-compile scale is used to investigate the pronunciation learning strategies employed by 74 Indonesian students. Then a comparative analysis is made between learner-groups from backgrounds and pronunciation score, and an exploratory analysis of how the strategies affect the pronunciation score.This thesis includes four chapters. Chapter 1 included the introduction, referring to a topic, research ideas and research methods. Chapter 2 is the design of the survey research, included design process, and the significance of the research questions, experimental study and research tools. Chapter 3 is the result of the survey and analysis of Indonesian students. The last chapter is a summary of survey.The purpose of this research is to explore the use of Chinese pronunciation learning strategies of Chinese-Indonesian students and non-Chinese Indonesian students. Through questionnaire and speech recordings, research the frequencies and differences of the pronunciation learning strategies, the differences pronunciation learning strategies of successful and unsuccessful Chinese pronunciation students, and find which one pronunciation learning strategies that impact the pronunciation score.In this survey had found that, first, above all, Indonesian students most often use memory strategies, followed by the meta-cognitive strategies, social strategies, cognitive strategies and compensation strategies. Second, Chinese Indonesian students frequently use memory strategies, non- Chinese student most often use meta-cognitive strategies. Third, from regression analysis we get the result that, compensation strategies have the greatest impact for pronunciation score. And the last, grade and gender for pronunciation score have no further relevant in this survey.