1.Introduction介绍

根据墨菲（Murphy，2011）的观点，在过去几年中，英语语音模型是否应该出现在ESL（英语作为第二语言）英语课程中一直是一个有争议的问题，因为英语在世界各地被广泛使用。 Murphy（2011）也指出，这个问题已逐渐取决于一个具体问题：是否应该鼓励ESL学习者实现一种特定本土英语发音的目标。确实，语言变异可以被看作是每种语言都具有的共同特征，每种变体都有自己的规则和系统。我认为无论语音模型是什么，ESL学习者都应该掌握一种特定的本土英语。发音或基于了解规则和系统的替代发音。事实上，作为第二语言教学和学习中最具争议的问题之一，发音教学和学习的价值在过去几年中引起了许多学者和研究者的激烈争论。正如Celce-Murcia等人。 （1991）指出，对英语教师发音教学价值的不同看法取决于教师在教英语时应用何种类型的方法。他们解释说，那些采用认知方法和传统语法翻译方法的教师不注重发音，而一些使用直接方法的教师认识到发音教学和学习的重要性。According to Murphy (2011), during the last few years, whether appropriate English phonological models should appear in the ESL (English as Second Language) English class has been a controversial issue since English has been widely used all over the world. Murphy (2011) also points out, this issue has gradually hinged on a specific question: Should ESL learners be encouraged to achieve the goal of one particular native variety of English pronunciation. It is true that linguistic variation can be seen as a common feature that every language has, and each variety has its own rules and systems.I think that no matter what the phonological model is, ESL learners ought to master a particular native variety of English pronunciation or an alternative one based on knowing the rules and systems. In fact, as one of most controversial issues in second language teaching and learning, the value of pronunciation teaching and learning has caused heated debate among a number of scholars and researchers in the past few years. As Celce-Murcia et al. (1991) states, different perspectives on the value of teaching pronunciation from English teachers depends on what types of approaches the teacher apply when teaching English. They explained that those teachers who adopt the cognitive approach and traditional grammar-translation methods do not pay attention to pronunciation while some teachers who use the direct approach realize the importance of pronunciation teaching and learning. Besides, Trammell (1993) demonstrates that pronunciation part in English teaching tend to be less important since the communicative approach appears. Indeed, when applying the communicative approach, both the teacher and the learner ought to focus on reaching the real communication in English instead of taking notice of English pronunciation in class. However, Beebe (1984) believes that not only what people communicate but also how well people communicate are influenced by pronunciation; thus, pronunciation teaching and learning have to be paid great attention to.

1.1 About the Teaching Context关于教学语境

According to Zhao and Campbell (1995), there are about 200 million Chinese using English, and over 50 million middle school students are studying English. It is true that the less emphasis on pronunciation teaching also exists in Chinese English classes. In China, although an increasing number of elementary schools tend to set up English courses, Chinese students’ real English learning experience actually starts from English courses in middle schools. It could be said that every Chinese middle school student would learn and review the most basic thing such as the 26 letter of the alphabet in their first English class in middle schools. That is to say, no matter what and how well the students learn English before entering the middle school, it seems that they have to start from the very beginning. As Liang (2004) points out, no matter what types of the teaching material is, pronunciation teaching seems to be always far behind alphabet teaching, and therefore students could not obtain an opportunity to receive normative and orderly training of pronunciation at the first stage which may not be beneficial for students to cultivate good pronunciation habit as well as to improve English comprehensive application ability. Besides, it is true that the unreasonable layout of the teaching material may result in bad influences on English learning. Liang (2004) lists four consequences, which includes hindering students recognizing and pronouncing new words, making memorizing new words not easy and making students become more independent when studying as well as making students become polarized. For example, under the circumstance of without having the knowledge of English phonetic symbol, the majority of English beginners in China tend to use Chinese phonetic alphabet to help themselves memorize new English words as they think Chinese phonetic alphabet is similar to English phonetic alphabet; however, the truth is that the way to pronounce English alphabet is different from the way to pronounce Chinese alphabet, and thus those English learners are not able to completely recognize and pronounce words accurately. Moreover, Li (2010) also indicates that the current situation of Chinese middle school students’ pronunciation learning is not ideal even may lead to bad influence on students’ further English studying. According to Li’s teaching experience, most Chinese middle school students especially the seventh grade students could not pronounce the words with English phonetic symbol and do not know the corresponding relationship between each alphabet in a word and pronunciation of the word (e.g.most students pronounce “sanks” instead of “thanks” results from they do not know “th” normally pronounce like /θ/ in a word.). Apart from the problem that teaching materials have, there also exists another two factors that may cause less emphasis on pronunciation teaching and learning in English classes in Chinese middle schools. According to Zheng and Lin (2002), one is the lack of sound English education system in China which can be explained as there is no need to pay great attention to pronunciation teaching and learning as pronunciation would not be tested in some important examinations in China, and another one could  be attributed to the teacher’s competence and the student’s motivation.

1.2 Aims of the Project项目目标

It is true that most Chinese middle school students consider English as a subject which is as the same as Chinese and Mathematics; however, English seem to be difficult to learn for some students results from various factors such as the differences between Chinese and English and learning environment as well as students’ self motivation. Pronunciation has always been seen as the neglected part of the teaching and learning of English, however it plays an important role in English learning. It could be said that there do exists problems of pronunciation teaching and learning in Chinese middle school. This project aims at finding out reasons and ways to improve pronunciation teaching in Chinese middle school.

1.3 Organization of the Professional Enquiry专业调查组织

There are mainly four parts in the professional enquiry. In the first part, a literature review of related issues will be demonstrated. It will give the definition of phonology and pronunciation initially. Next, it will talk about pronunciation teaching and learning from five aspects, which includes discussing whether pronunciation should be taught or not, giving the explanation of intelligibility and comprehensibility in terms of pronunciation, revealing the importance of pronunciation teaching and learning and demonstrating the roles of teachers and learners when teaching and learning pronunciation as well as indicating the goals of pronunciation teaching and learning. Moreover, some factors that affect pronunciation learning will be presented. Lastly, there will be a review of different methods and strategies of pronunciation teaching.

In the second part, there will be an analysis of the data I have collected. There are three types of data: the first one is a questionnaire for students which may find out Chinese middle school students’ attitudes towards pronunciation learning; the second one is a questionnaire for teachers which may find out how English pronunciation is taught in Chinese middle schools and Chinese middle school English teachers’ attitudes towards pronunciation teaching; the third one is a recording whichmay reflect common pronunciation mistakes that Chinese middle school students usually make. These data may be of great help to make the current situation of the teaching context become more clearer.

After data and analysis, there will be a reflection. To begin with, on the basis of what have been analyzed in the second part, some methods and strategies of improving pronunciation teaching in Chinese middle schools will be proposed. What is more, the influence that what have been discussed before exert on my own future career will be talk about in the reflection. This part is likely to produce an effect on my career development. 

In the last part, it will come to a conclusion that English pronunciation teaching and learning should not be overlooked anymore, and it is essential to teach pronunciation carefully and thoroughly in Chinese middle schools in order to make students learn English more easier and happier and make the English class more efficient as well. Besides, no matter what the limitation is, unreasonable layout of materials or imperfect education system, Chinese middle school English teachers ought to analyze problems that students have during the process of learning English pronunciation and then find out appropriate ways to fix the problems and also explore some ways to improve pronunciation teaching for the sake of helping students achieve better results of pronunciation learning and assisting students to keep interested in learning English pronunciation.