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A Study on English Phonetic Acquisition from the Perspective of Transfer Theory

Chenyu Yang, Xiaoqiu Fu
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21013/jems.v18.n4.p1
Abstract
English, as an international lingual Franca, has become one of the most widely-used languages in the world. Mastering English doesn't just mean getting information from all over the world; it also means communicating and expressing yourself with people from different cultural backgrounds. So far, EFL has received much attention in many counties. As an indispensable part of language acquisition, pronunciation learning should be valued at the beginning of foreign language study, for example, the kindergarten stage. This paper aims to illustrate the negative transfer of the mother tongue on English pronunciation acquisition from the segmental and suprasegmental aspects. Based on the studies and analysis, it hopes to inspire teachers to arouse awareness of the differences between English and Chinese pronunciation among learners, making students acquire native-like pronunciation actively and positively. It’s suggested that EFL learners can their pronunciation and intonation through practice.
Keywords
contrastive analysis; transfer theory; English phonetic acquisition
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