Volume 30, Issue 2, 2021
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.4054
The Development of English Phonetics in Multimodal Teaching A Pilot Study on the Acquisition of Consonant Clusters by English Majors
Abstract
As there are no consonant clusters in either the onset or the coda position in MC (Mandarin Chinese) syllables, consonant clusters are therefore a notable difficulty for Chinese students of English. The learners modify the complex syllable structures to make them conform to their present level of phonetic ability. Since there is a tendency for MC syllable structure to avoid consonant clusters, these clusters tend to be simplified in the course of pronunciation by Chinese ESL students. The most frequent syllable simplification is consonant deletion?insertion and replacement. The present study compared differences in Chinese-English consonant clusters and syllables, with language transfer theory as the background, in a multimodal teaching method application. Taking place in English phonetics courses of Southwest Forestry University School of Foreign Languages, it gave an account of one-semester phonetic pilot study by collecting first-hand information. The purpose of this study was to explore how to better stimulate students' interest and autonomy in learning phonetics under the guidance of multimodal theory, cultivate students' competency in mastering phonetics, and to reform the traditional teaching method of phonetics. This study verified that compared with the traditional teaching method, the multimodal teaching method is more helpful to improve students' educational engagement, autonomy, and interest in learning-thus improving their phonetic learning ability.
Keywords
multimodal teaching, consonant clusters, language transfer, English majors, the development of English phonetics