Influence of Negative Transfer of Mother Tongue on Chinese English Learners’ Pronunciation

Abstract

In our modern society, English is becoming increasingly important. As is known to all, pronunciation is a significant part of a language, which is complex and flexible. Chinese learners with a fluent and native English will benefit a lot. But the fact is that Chinese learners who have learned English as a second language for a long time still have lots of different problems on English pronunciation because of the interference of mother tongue. Therefore, based on language transfer theory, this paper intends to show different English pronunciation problems of learners in several areas—Northwest China, Central China, Northeast China and Southern China. By comparing Chinese and English phoneme families, the reasons of the problems in these areas will be analyzed. This paper aims to alleviate English pronunciation problems in these areas. What’s more, it is expected that this paper will be useful in teaching of English pronunciation.