The Impacts Of Negative Transfers Of L1 (Yi) On English Phonetics Learning

Phonetics is the primary element for any language learning and it is the carrier of language learning.However,for most of Chinese students,pronunciation is very difficult,especially for ethnic students.According to language transfer theory,there does exist transfer phenomena between mother tongue and target language when learning another new language,which not only can benefit the new language learning,but also can be an obstacle.In minority ethnic districts,their mother tongues are the key points to make bad influence to learn English phonetics.Therefore,to make minority students learn English phonetics better,it is necessary to make a deep search for the phonetics between English and Yi language then find out the bad influence for their English learning.On the guide of language transfer theory and third language acquisition,this thesis makes a search for the English phonetics learning of the Yi students from Puge Nationality Junior Middle School,Liangshan Yi Autonomous Region,Sichuan.It applies the phonetics test,literature review,contrast and teaching practice to seek out the relationships between the Li students' English phonetics learning and their Yi phonetics.On the English phonetics research of 53 students,Class 1,Grade 2,Puge Nationality Junior Middle School,the author finds out the following problems when the students learn English phonetics.First,the vowels' pronunciation is influenced or replaced by the similar Yi phonetics,for example /i:/,/e/,/?/,/u/ and /?/ are usually replaced by /?/,/?/,/an/,/?/ and /?/;and they generally pronounce /?/,/?/,/?/,/?/,/?/,/?/ and /?/ instead of the consonants /b/,/d/,/g/,/?/,/e/,/?/ and /?/.Second,the words ending with consonants /t/,/d/,/k/ are usually misread with an /?/.Most of the students do not master the stress of long words and sentences;moreover,they have different problems on intonation,liaison,rhythm and sense group.Aiming at these problems,the reasons bring about the negative transfers from the differences of syllable structure,intonation,rhythm,phonetics system between Yi language and English.Meanwhile,the other factors also contribute to the negative transfers,like environment,psychology,culture and customs.According to the analysis of English negative transfers about Yi phonetics,the author proposes some suggestions to overcome the Yi phonetics' s negative transfers.First of all,minimal pair practice for vowels /i:/,/e/,/?/,/u/ and /?/,in addition to individual practice and learning from games;Next,consonants /b/,/d/,/g/,/?/,/e/,/?/ and /?/ and the words ending with consonants /t/,/d/,/k/ can be reviewed in time through correct pronunciation input,aided multimedia teaching and listening with reading,and reviewing and consolidating on time.Third,teaching stress in reading,which makes the students pay attention to some words' stress when reading and speaking.With the help of contrast practice,the students can make clear of different meanings.To improve intonation,liaison and rhythm,first,ask the students to read them in sentences and focus on the vital parts,which can help them experience different feelings;second,the teacher clarifies various rules and skills of liaison,including such clusters as consonant + vowel,vowel + vowel,r(er)+ vowel,and consonant + semivowel with specific examples one by one.The rhythm requires long-term cultivation and needs to be practiced with many poetry performances,promoting the students' interests.And the author also gives some other suggestions to overcome negative transfers,such as emphasizing pronunciation teaching,improving teachers' qualities,editing their own textbooks,input and output varieties and reciting well-known lines.It is also recommended that the students should compare the Yi and English phonetics practice at the same time,find out the best learning ways,relieve of their mental pressure,make full use of the internet effectively and practice while watching.