The role of Chinese pinyin in teaching English phonetics to Chinese EFL high school students

Abstract

With an increasing need for competitive talents to master a dominated foreign language, China has made English as a compulsory subject in its education system since the beginning of the 21st century. Whereas Chinese senior high school students have learned English for more than a decade, many still struggle in English phonetics, even when using tools such as the IPA or phonics. To address this challenge, and based on language transfer theory, this study explores the role of Chinese Pinyin in teaching English phonetics. Drawing on a review of relevant literature, this study applies a contrastive analysis approach to examine similarities between these two languages segmentally and supra-segmentally. It offers constructive strategies for teaching similar concepts as vowels, consonants, syllables, and stress in both English phonetics and Chinese Pinyin. It is expected that this study could provide a theoretical foundation for further experimental research that could validate the practical effectiveness of leveraging Chinese Pinyin in teaching English phonetics.