Abstract: Poor English pronunciation by Chinese learners can never be neglected for the present situation is not optimistic, even for English majors. This paper chooses senior English majors of Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics as the research objects. With analyzing the results of questionnaires and students’ speech data, the paper summarizes major reasons of problems in pronouncing vowels: lack of counterparts in Chinese, mother tongue transfer, inadequate openness and duration. Finally, feasible suggestions such as visualized comparison are given in the hope of helping students better practice their vowels pronunciation. 

Key words: English; pronunciation; vowel

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 Significance of the Research-1

1.2 Previous Studies-2

2. Research Methodology-3

2.1 Research Design-3

2.2 Data Collection-5

2.3 Data Analysis-7

3. Major Problems in Vowels Pronunciation-9

3.1 The Speech Software―Praat-9

3.2 Major Problems in Vowels and its Reasons-10

3.2.1 Vowel Pair/ i:/ and /i/-10

3.2.2 Vowel Pair /e/ and /ei/-13

3.2.3 Vowel Pair/e/ and /æ/-14

3.2.4 Vowel pair /ʌ/ and /a:/-14

3.2.5 Vowel /ai/-15

4. Suggestions for English Vowel Pronunciation Problems-16

4.1 Providing Basic Knowledge on Speech Sounds-17

4.2 Differentiating between Vowels and Letters-17

4.3 Repeating Difficult Pronunciations-18

4.4 Visualizing Pronunciation-18

5. Conclusion-19

References-20

Appendix Ⅰ-22

Appendix Ⅱ-23

Appendix Ⅲ-24