The Influence of Local Accents on English Pronunciation

張春杰 張金福

【Abstract】By analyzing the phonological characteristics of Ninglang Yi language and comparing it with English pronunciation， this study discusses the influence of Ninglang Yi language on local English learners phonetic learning. It investigates the present situation of Yi students English learning in Ninglang area by means of questionnaire， collects data， and analyzes the results in SPSSUA. The results will bring some suggestions to the teaching and learning of English in Ninglang Yi nationality area.

【Key words】English Pronunciation Teaching； Yi language； language transfer； second language acquisition

【作者簡介】張春杰，張金福，Yunnan Minzu University。

1. Preface

The formation of a stereotyped Yi language will affect English phonetic learning and lead to language transfer. In English learning， learners are bound to be influenced to some extent by the pronunciation habits of their mother tongue， and often unconsciously bring the pronunciation of their mother tongue into English pronunciation. In the process of teaching， Yi students often send out English pronunciation with national characteristics because of the influence of Yi language. In order to learn English pronunciation well， it is necessary to probe into the similarities and differences between English pronunciation and Yi pronunciation， the present situation of English teaching in Ninglang area， and some problems existing in the teaching process， and to explore effective solutions.

2. Research design and methodology

185 students who participated in the questionnaire were all students from Ninglang Yi language area， of whom 92% were college students and 8% were junior high school students. Questionnaire is the research instrument. The survey was conducted by sharing web links on mobile phones and submitted questionnaires on mobile phones. And all respondents were asked to fill out and submit questionnaires according to their own situations. This method not only saves the time of the respondents， but also facilitates the researchers to collect data. So the researchers chose this method.

Data was collected by the researcher. During the data collection period， the first thing to do is to design the questionnaire， then distribute the questionnaire to collect the questionnaire. By means of computer-based aids， SPPSAU was used to analyze the collected raw data from the questionnaire. Application SPSS to do Frequency Analysis shows the result.

3. Results and suggestions

The answer to the question that when respondents start learning English in middle school or primary school， the data collected showed that 62.16% of them started learning English in middle school， and only 37.84% started learning English in primary school. When asked what time is better to start learning English， and those who think primary school starts better account for 40%， those who think middle school starts better account for 5.95%， those who think preschool starts better account for 54.05%. The ratio to the question of what kind of teachers they think better for teaching English？ Those who think Han teachers are better account for 62.7% ， those who think foreign teachers are better account for 23.24% ， those who think Yi teachers are better account for 14%. When asked whether their spoken English is fluent， fluency accounts for 30%， not fluent account for 70%.

Where the respondents began to learn English， whether the time for learning English was advanced， when they started learning English early， and before that， it was only in middle school that they began to learn English. Now those who start learning English in the third grade of primary schools account for 63.78%， those who start to learn English in the fourth grade of primary account for 16.22%， those who start to learn English in the fifth grade account for 8.11%， those who start to learn English in the sixth grade account for 3.24%. The time to start learning English is not ahead of schedule. In the past， secondary school started learning English， and now it is also until middle school that began to learn English account for 8.65%. The language used by teachers at the beginning of learning English is Yi language and Chinese account for 56.76 % ， 33.51 % only in Chinese and 9.7 % in other languages.

Based on the above research， this paper gives the following suggestions to improve Ninglang English phonetic teaching. We all know that teaching resources and teachers are important guarantee of English teaching， and balancing English teaching conditions is an important measure to ensure Ninglang Yi language area. Improve teaching equipment， To cultivate Yi English teachers who know Yi and Chinese， because Yi English teachers understand the language habits of Yi nationality， and can use Yi language and Chinese to help English teaching， which is easy to communicate with students in education and teaching.

References：

[1]梁繼謙，王潔.Barriers of Oral English Learning for English Majors in China.

[2]楊忠.英語語言學導論（第二版）[M].中國人民大學出版社，2011： 173-176.