RQ 2 No significant difference.. Results and Discussion RQ 3: Are the abilities of distinguishing among the two pairs of vowels in perception and production.

RQ 2

No significant difference.

Results and Discussion

RQ 3: Are the abilities of distinguishing among the two pairs of vowels in perception and production interrelated? Can learners adequately pronounce sounds which are not well perceived, or is a good perception a prerequisite to accurate pronunciations?

RQ 3

No significant difference.

RQ 3

The correlation between English perception and production of four vowels is significant. In other words, it is essential to perceive English vowels well if one wants to pronounce English vowels well and so is the other way around.

Results and Discussion

RQ 4: According to the positive transfer, is it easier for Chinese students to distinguish the vowels /ei/ and /ou/ (as opposed to /e/ and /o/) in English because they are more similar to /ei/ and /ou/ in Mandarin?

RQ 4

/ei/ and /e/ in

Group II were

significantly

different.

RQ 4

English tense

vowles /ei/ and

/ou/ were more

difficult to

pronounce than

English lax vowels

/e/ and /o/.

Conclusion

1. The subjects’ English diphthong vowels /ei/ and /ou/ were affected by the subjects’ Mandarin production of diphthong vowels /ei/ and /ou/.

2. There was no significant differences in distinguishing these two pairs of English vowels /e, o/, and /ei, ou/ between people who dominantly spoke Southern Min from those who dominantly spoke Mandarin.

Conclusion

3. The correlation between English perception and production of the four vowels was significant. In other words, it is very likely that if one wants to pronounce the four English vowels well, one needs to perceive the four English vowels. Additionally, if one speaks the language well, it’s very likely that one also perceives the language well.

Conclusion

4. Even though the English tense vowels /ei/ and /ou/ seem to be more similar to the Mandarin vowels /ei/ and /ou/, the English tense vowels /ei/ and /ou/ were more difficult to pronounce than the English lax vowels /e/ and /o/.

Diphthongization is the key difference between tense and lax vowels. If students cannot distinguish both the monophthong and diphthong vowels accurately when speaking and listening, there will be communication confusion and misunderstandings.

A L2 teacher has the sound system knowledge of the learner’s native language, they will be more capable of diagnosing students’ difficulties.

Pedagogical Implications

Based on the findings of this study, most of the subjects failed to perceive and produce some diphthong vowels, so teachers should emphasize minimal pairs in particular and show them the differences.

(ex) pepper / paper hall / hole

Pedagogical Implications

Limitations and Suggestions

The number of the subjects selected could have been larger.

The ages of the members in Group I are two to four years younger than the members of Groups II and III.

Using subjects whose major, mother tongue and daily language is Southern Min, can give a more thorough insight into the interference of first language.

Critique #1

Perception Test

RQ3. The correlation between English

perception and production of the four

vowels was significant.

Great idea for my thesis

Critique #2

Participant

RQ4. English tense vowels /ei/ and /ou/

were more difficult to pronounce than

English lax vowels /e/ and /o/.

Participants from Beijing

Critique #3

Evaluation

Evaluation of the tests done by judges

was too subjective.

Critique #4

Production Test

Mandarin Production Test – reading

English Production Test – listening

Any questions?

Thank you~