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CHAPTER ONE   INTRODUCTION 

1.1 A General Research Background         
Authentic  English  pronunciation  are  most  difficult  for  Chinese  learners.  The sound  system  of  English  includes  two  parts:  segmentals  and  suprasegmentals.  The former  includes  individual  vowels  and  consonants  while  the  latter  comprises  stress, pitch  contour  or  intonation,  and  rhythm.  Chinese  ESL  learners  practice  more  on  the segmentals.  However,  according  to  (Kang  et  al.  2010),  50%  of  the  oral  fluency  and comprehensibility  can  be  explained  by  the  suprasegmental  features.  Therefore, prosodic  features,  including  length,  accent  and  stress,  tone,  and  intonation  play  an very important role in intelligibility and comprehensibility of English learning.       For Chinese ESL/EFL learners, their prior knowledge and experience of one or more  languages  often  influence  the  way  they  learn  new  language.  The  use  of  the native language (or other language) influences the acquisition of an L2 (or additional language)  is  called  language  transfer  (Gass,  1979).  There  are  abundant  evidence  for transfer in all aspects of language: phonology, syntax, semantics,and pragmatics. It is accepted  by  the  majority  that  the  transfer  in  phonology  is  more  evident  than  that  of other  linguistic  levels  (Ellis,  1994).  According  to  Avery  and  Ehrlich  (1992),  the existence of “foreign accent” is largely influenced by a learner's native language, and the  pronunciation  errors  made  by  ESL  learners  often  reflect  their  sound  inventory, rules  of  combining  sounds,  and  the  stress  and  intonation  patterns  of  their  native language (Swan & Smith, 1987).  
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1.2 The Need for the Study 

Pronunciation  teaching  and  learning  is  also  a  target  in  English  curriculum  in China.  According  to  the  2011  New  English  Curriculum  for  Chinese  Junior  Middle Schools,  drafted  by  the  Education  Ministry  of  the  PRC,  schools  aim  to  develop students’ comprehensive language competence. As a part of the language knowledge and  skills,  pronunciation  plays  a  vital  role  in  student’  comprehensive  language competence.  Junior  middle  school  students  are  supposed  to  achieve  pronunciation objective Level Five after finishing three years of English learning at school.  本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。