Teaching pronunciation to Cantonese-speaking learners of English: Practices and strategies

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Status	已發表Published
	Teaching pronunciation to Cantonese-speaking learners of English: Practices and strategies
	Wong, Matilda
	2021-11
Source Publication	Reflections on the English language teaching and learning in the global diversified world
Publication Place	Taipei
Publisher	Crane Publishing Co. Ltd
Pages	408-418
Abstract	In the process of learning English as a foreign language, Cantonese-speaking learners often encounter difficulties in pronouncing some English sounds accurately. Research studies on L1 and L2 phonological differences have shown that difficulties in L2 pronunciation are often caused by learners’ native language interference in the target language. The present study reports on and evaluates a fourteen-week English pronunciation course for a group of Year-3 Cantonese-speaking students at the University of Macau. Before the start of the course, the students took a pre-test requiring them to read a poem and a prose passage. During the course, they were given four practices to improve their pronunciation. These included: (1) comparing the English and Cantonese phonologies, (2) raising awareness of common pronunciation errors and the rules governing the pronunciation of the problematic sounds, (3) marking meaningful sense groups before reading, and (4) imitating how native speakers read. At the end of the course, in the post-test, the students read aloud the same texts as those given in the pre-test. The pre-test and the post-test were compared to examine the changes in pronunciation that might be due to the consciousness-raising and imitation practices given in the course. To triangulate the findings, the students were asked to fill out a questionnaire to discuss their experiences in the fourteen-week course. The study discusses how effective the consciousness-raising practices are and draws implications for teaching pronunciation.
Keyword	Cantonese-speaking Learners Of English, Common L2 Pronunciation Errors, Consciousness-raising Practices, Learner Strategies
ISBN	978-986-147-963-7
Document Type	Book chapter
Collection	Faculty of Education
Corresponding Author	Wong, Matilda
Affiliation	University of Macau
Recommended Citation GB/T 7714	Wong, Matilda. Teaching pronunciation to Cantonese-speaking learners of English: Practices and strategies[M]. Reflections on the English language teaching and learning in the global diversified world, Taipei:Crane Publishing Co. Ltd, 2021, 408-418.
APA	Wong, Matilda.(2021). Teaching pronunciation to Cantonese-speaking learners of English: Practices and strategies. Reflections on the English language teaching and learning in the global diversified world, 408-418.

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