A Study On The Correlations Between College English Majors' Phonological Competence And Dictation Ability

Dictation,as a teaching and testing device,has been widely utilized and highly recognized in English teaching in China by authorities concerned(Liu Qi'ang,2006).Meanwhile,its validity has been confirmed by researchers(Oller,1979).Some results of empirical research have shown that dictation ability closely and positively correlates with the overall result of TEM 4(Test for English Majors-Band 4),which means that the higher score the student has in dictation,the higher total score the student gets(Li Shaoshan,2001;Zhang Jianqing,2004;Yan Minggui,2005).In other words,dictation can comprehensively measure the learners'language proficiency.Currently,the studies on dictation can be classified into two sorts.One focuses on its value and function,while the other concentrates on the strategies of how to improve dictation performance.Error analysis and various influential elements are included in such studies,where the phonetic elements are emphasized.However,such studies concern mainly the effect of phonetic knowledge on listening comprehension,while the concept of“phonological competence”is neglected.Phonological competence consists of three major kinds of ability.1)The ability to identify and distinguish meaningful sounds.2)The ability to output senses of rhythm with understandable and acceptable pronunciation.3)The ability to decode written language through reading and oral communication,etc.(Stern,1992).This thesis objectifies listening comprehension via standard dictation,quantifies phonological competence via testing reading aloud,and analyzes the correlation between phonological competence and dictation ability.The results of this study demonstrate that phonological competence is crucial in improving dictation performance.In consideration of the relationship between pronunciation and listening comprehension in a“bottom-up”process of listening,the following three research questions are addressed:1.Is there a correlation between phonological competence and dictation ability?If so,is it positive or negative?2.To what extent can we predict English learners'dictation skills through their phonological competence?3.According to the degree of phonological influence on dictation,what is the working order of the five aspects,namely,phonemes,intonation,sound change,rhythm,and(word/sentence)stress.To find answers to the research questions,an experimental study is conducted in which,two classes of freshmen English majors(Grade 2018)are selected as subjects.Both classes share the same three dictations and pronunciation testing materials from TEM4 of year 2016,2017 and 2018.After the tests and test paper evaluation,eight groups of data are collected and analyzed via SPSS 18.0 for reliability,correlation,independent sample T-tests and linear regression.The conclusions drawn from the data analysis are as follows:1)There is a positive correlation between phonological competence and dictation ability with high coefficient correlation(R=.875/.898>0.8).2)76.6%of possibilities exist that help evaluate the learners'dictation performance via testing their phonological competence(R~2=.766).3)The five elements of phonological competence work in the following influential order:stress,rhythm,sound change,phoneme and intonation.