英语论文网

Chapter One Introduction

Vowels play an important role in almost every sound system in the world.Vowel acquisition is important for second language learners, which influences theirspeech performance to a big degree. Studies on vowel acquisition have beenconducted for a long time from different aspects. This thesis attempts to research theduration(时长), the first formant(F1, 第一共振峰) and the second formant (F2, 第二共振峰) of English vowels produced by Changchun English Learners. And theresults will be compared with those of native speakers so as to find out thesimilarities and differences between these two groups in vowel production. Thischapter will introduce the research background, the purpose and significance of thisresearch, and the structure of the thesis.

1.1 Research Background
The three elements of language include speech sounds, vocabulary, andgrammar, among which speech sounds are the foundation. “Language is animportant tool for human communication. Speech sounds are the material basis oflanguage, so if there were no speech sounds, language would lose the objectiveentity it depends on” (Lin Tao, Wang Lijia, 2013: 1). Therefore, pronunciationacquisition plays an important role in language acquisition. English sound systemmainly consists of vowels and consonants. And vowel exists in all English words, sovowel acquisition directly affects the accuracy of learners’ pronunciation andlanguage communication. Accurate pronunciation is one of the key tasks in secondlanguage (L2) teaching and learning.However, because each language and dialect has its unique speech soundsystem and pronunciation rules, L2 learners’ first language (L1) and their localdialects will interfere with their acquisition of English speech sounds. So learnerswill meet difficulties when they learn an L2. Take Chinese EFL learners for example,as China has a vast territory and a large number of dialects, Chinese EFL learnersfrom different dialectal areas may meet different pronunciation problems in theiracquisition of English pronunciation. Among the problems they might meet, themost common one is that Chinese EFL learners often transfer the Chinesepronunciation habits into English pronunciation, which leads to mistakes in theirEnglish pronunciation.Some studies have proved that transfer really exist in second languageacquisition. Second language learners tend to be affected by their first language,either negatively or positively. And a number of studies have found that the more thelearners expose themselves to the target language, the fewer negative transfers theywould meet.
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1.2 Purpose and Significance of the Research
As has been mentioned above, there are a lot of studies on Chinese EFLlearners’ pronunciation, but there are still some problems. For example, some studiesignore the fact that learners from different dialectal areas may be influenced by theirdialects when they learn a new language, especially in pronunciation. Anotherproblem is that the empirical data are not enough in the study of the phonologicalfeatures of EFL Learners in China. Considering these two deficiencies, this thesisattempts to conduct an acoustic study on the English vowel acquisition ofChangchun English Learners. One aim of this study is to compare the similaritiesand differences between Cc ELs (Changchun English Learners) and ANSs (AmericanNative Speakers) when they produce English vowels. And the other aim is to fi