2018 Annual Conference of China English Language Education Association (CELEA2018)

156 / 2018-06-29 17:32:04

Identifying Differences in English Rhythm between Chinese Learners of English and English Native Speakers: A Pilot Study

English rhythm,Chinese learner,comparison,temporal variation

Plenary track > 中国特色二语习得研究

This pilot study endeavours to gain a better understanding of second language speech rhythm acquisition by examining differences in English rhythm between Chinese learners of English and English native speakers.
It adopts a hierarchical perspective and explores temporal variations at different prosodic levels. Temporal variations under explored include accentual lengthening, boundary lengthening and vowel reduction, all of which affect the production of proper English rhythm. Comparisons in these three aspects are conducted among higher level proficient group, lower level proficient group and English native speakers.
The results show that overall, English rhythm produced by Chinese learners of English does not present enough shortening or lengthening so as to exhibit temporal variations. At the syllable level, they are inclined to insert unnecessary vowels, cannot utilized vowel reduction easily and may be more likely to attach improper length to individual segments. At the intermediate phrase level and the intonation phrase level, prominent syllables cannot receive enough accentual lengthening. At the boundaries, final lengthening effects are usually replaced by pauses and final lengthenings at different levels do not exhibit enough distinctions in length.
Comparisons among different proficiency groups suggest that significant differences between two proficient groups are found and no significant difference between native speakers and higher proficiency group is found.
Pedagogical implications are provided based on the data and teaching experiences of the author so as to better facilitate English rhythm instructions.