楚州中學“教師個人專題研究”的研究方案

Perception of English Lexical Stress by Chinese EFL Learners in Senior High School: An Experimental Study

高中生英語單詞重音感知實驗調(diào)查

詹臘梅

Abstract

Stress is an important suprasegmental feature in English; it is the core of intonation, the focus of information, and the carrier of tone and emotion， thus plays an important role in acquisition of English prosody as a second language. English is a stress-timed language, whereas Chinese is a syllable-timed language. Due to this significant prosodic difference between English and Chinese, Chinese EFL learners often have difficulties in acquiring English prosody. So far, lots of studies have been done in the field of L2 English intonation produced by Chinese EFL learners from tertiary levels, however, a parse number of the research at home has ever focused on the perception of lexical stress acquired by junior high school EFL learners (hereafter JHS-EFL learners), who are supposed to be close to the Critical Period in L2 acquisition. Based on the above reasons, the present study intends to address the following research questions:

1) To what extents can Chinese JHS-EFL learners perceive lexical stress correctly?

2) Does syllable structure affect JHS-EFL learners’ perception of lexical stress?

3) Does vowel type affect JHS-EFL learners’ perception of lexical stress?

4) How does Chinese JHS-EFL learners’ perception of lexical stress develop across grades?

5) Does JHS-EFL learners’ perception of lexical stress correlate with their English proficiency?

The subjects of the present study consist of 274 Chinese JHS-EFL learners across three grades (grade7, grade 8 and grade 9). The material of the lexical stress perception experiment includes 152 two-syllable words, 76 three-syllable words, 28 homonyms, 26 non-sense words, and 21 words with the same root. The material of the perception experiment was recorded by a world-renowned English phonetician at the Laboratory of Phonetics in the University of Cambridge, UK. Then the recorded data were segmented and manipulated via recording software Cool Edit Pro2.1 so as to get ready for the treatment for the experiment. The perception experiment was conducted in Hongze Middle School among three grades of JHS-EFL learners during 3 periods of time (all were at the same extra curriculum teaching time in each afternoon). The data were collected in class and analyzed by statistical software SPSS 12.0.

The results of data analysis reveal the following findings:

1. Chinese JHS-EFL learners’ overall correct perception rate (CPR) of all target English lexical stress is 58%. Categorically speaking, the CPRs of lexical stress in non-sense words, two-syllable words, three-syllable words, heteronyms, and words with the same root are 57%, 64%, 50%, 60% and 41% respectively. In the subcategories, for the two-syllable nonsense words, the CPRs of its lexical stress on the first, second are 71% and 61% respectively; for the three-syllable nonsense words, the CPRs of its lexical stress on the first, second, third is 53%, 54% and 49% respectively; for the 2-syllable words, the CPRs of its lexical stress on the first, second syllable are 64 % and 61 % respectively; for the 3-syllable words, the CPRs of its lexical stress on the on the first and second syllable are 51 % and 49% respectively; for the heteronomy, the CPRs of its lexical stress on the first, second syllable are 55% and 65% respectively; for the words with the same root, the CPRs of its lexical stress with the root of photo, able, possible and simple are 39%, 45%, 38% and 42%.

 2. Syllable structure has an effect on the perception of lexical stress by Chinese JHS-EFL learners. For the words with the syllable structure of CV.CV, the correct rate of them is 67%; for the words with the syllable structure of CV.CVC, the correct rate of them is 62%; for the words with the syllable structure of CVC.CVC, the correct rate of them is 65%; And there is a significant difference between them, Sig. =.000, demonstrating the significant influence of syllable structure on Chinese JHS-EFL learners’ perception of target L2 English lexical stress.

3. Vowel types in the stressed syllables have an effect on the perception of lexical stress by Chinese JHS-EFL learners. For the words with the long vowels in the stressed syllables, the correct rate is 60%, that of short vowels is 56%, and there is a significant difference between them (Sig.=.000); For the words with the diphthongs in the stressed syllables, the correct rate is 61%, that of pure vowels is 58%, and there is a significant difference between them (Sig.=.000); For the words with the front, central and back pure vowels in the stressed syllables, the correct rates are 54%, 59% and 63%, and there is a significant difference between them ( Sig.=.000); For the words with the front, central and back diphthongs in the stressed syllables, the correct rates are 61%, 60% and 59%, and there is a significant difference between them (Sig.=.000). These reveal the indispensable role of vowels, such as vowel nature and vowel length, in Chinese JHS-EFL learners’ perception of L2 lexical stress.  

4. The Chinese JHS-EFL learners’ correct perception rate of lexical stress increases with the increase of the levels of grades. The overall correct perception rates of lexical stress across the junior three grades are 53%, 57% and 62% respectively; The correct perception rate of non-sense words by subjects from three grades are respectively 50%, 57% and 63%; The correct perception rate of two-syllable words by subjects from three grades are respectively 60%, 64% and 66%; The correct perception rate of three-syllable words by subjects from three grades are respectively 45%, 48% and 58%; The correct perception rate of heteronyms by subjects from three grades are respectively 56%, 61% and 62%; The correct perception rate of words with the same root by subjects from three grades are respectively 37%, 39% and 48%.

5. Pearson correlation analyses show no significant correlation between Chinese JHS-EFL learners’ correct perception rate of English lexical stress and their English proficiency (r=.042, Sig. =.484>.05), indicating the lag behind nature of Chinese JHS-EFL learners’ L2 lexical stress competence.

The unfavorable part of the results above displays some problems in the study of L2 phonetic acquisition. Firstly, with the increased number of syllables within words, Chinese JHS-EFL learners’ correct perception rate of lexical stress decreased; and the more complex the lexical structure, the lower correct perception rate of the lexical stress. Secondly, both syllable structure and vowel types have a significant effect on Chinese JHS-EFL learner's perception of lexical stress. Thirdly, with the increase of grades and exposure to L2 English, the correct perception rate of lexical stress developed significantly and profoundly, which well demonstrated the substantial role of explicit L2 classroom teaching in junior high school and the learnability of L2 lexical stress. No doubt, these findings shed light into L2 phonetic teaching and learning in classroom contexts in China.  

Key words: lexical stress; Chinese JHS-EFL learners; perception

摘要

重音是英語語言的一個重要超音段特征, 語調(diào)的核心因素,是信息焦點、語氣、情感的直接承載, 在英語韻律學習中扮演很重要的角色。英語是以重音計時的語言,而漢語是以音節(jié)計時的語言。由于英漢韻律之間巨大的差異，英語學習者在英語韻律習得方面存在問題。到目前為止，許多關(guān)于此方面的研究主要涉及大學生層面的英語語調(diào)的產(chǎn)出，然而，很少有研究涉及初中生英語單詞重音感知（此后JHS-EFL 學習者），且他們處于二語習得的關(guān)鍵期?；谝陨显?，本研究旨在解決以下研究問題：

1、初中生單詞重音感知的情況如何？ 

2、音節(jié)結(jié)構(gòu)對初中生單詞重音感知是否有影響？

3、重音節(jié)中的元音類型對初中生單詞重音感知是否有影響？

4、初中生單詞重音感知跨年級發(fā)展的情況如何？

5、初中生單詞重音感知能力和英語水平是否相關(guān)？

本研究涉及三個年級（七、八、九年級）共274個初中生對單詞重音的感知實驗。研究語料囊括152個雙音節(jié)單詞，76個三音節(jié)單詞，28個同形異音詞，26個無意義詞以及21個同根詞。實驗感知材料由世界著名的英國語音學家在英國劍橋大學語音學實驗室錄制而成。然后用錄音軟件Cool Edit Pro2.1對語料進行切分和處理，以為實驗做好準備。感知實驗在洪澤實驗中學三個年級的初中英語學習者中進行，分為三個時間段（都是在每個下午的課余時間）。數(shù)據(jù)收集是在班級進行的，并用SPSS 12.0 統(tǒng)計軟件對其進行分析。

數(shù)據(jù)分析的結(jié)果帶來以下發(fā)現(xiàn)：

1、初中生單詞重音感知情況較差，總體感知正確率為58%，分類而言，無意詞，雙音節(jié)詞，三音節(jié)詞，同形異音詞以及同根詞的感知正確率分別為57%，64%，50%，60%和41%。其中，對于雙音節(jié)的無意義詞而言，重音在第一個和第二個音節(jié)的感知正確率分別為71%和61%； 三音節(jié)的無意義詞，重音在第一個，第二個以及第三個的感知正確率分別為53%，54%和49%； 對于雙音節(jié)詞而言，重音在第一以及第二的分別為64%和61%； 對于三音節(jié)的詞而言，重音在第一以及第二的分別為51%和49%; 對于同形異音詞而言，重音在第一以及第二的分別為55% 和65%；對于同根詞以photo, able, possible和 simple為詞根得感知正確率分別為39%，45%，38%和42%。

2、音節(jié)結(jié)構(gòu)對于初中生單詞重音感知存在影響。對于CV.CV結(jié)構(gòu)的單詞感知正確率為67%，對于CV.CVC結(jié)構(gòu)的單詞感知正確率為62%，對于CVC.CVC結(jié)構(gòu)

的單詞感知正確率為65%，三者之間的Sig.=.000, 表明音節(jié)結(jié)構(gòu)對初中生英語單詞重音感知存在較大影響。

3、重音節(jié)中的元音類型對于初中生單詞重音感知存在影響。對于重音節(jié)中元音類型是長元音的單詞感知正確率為60%，短元音的為56%， 且二者存在顯著差異，p=.000；雙元音的為61%，單元音的為58%, 二者存在顯著差異，Sig.=.000；其中前單元音的為54%，中單元音為63%，后單元音為59%，三者存在顯著差異，Sig.=.000；前雙元音為61%，中雙元音為60%，后雙元音為59%,三者存在顯著差異，Sig.=.000. 這些都證明了元音在初中生英語詞重音感知中扮演舉足輕重的角色，比如元音的性質(zhì)和音長。

4、初中生單詞重音的感知正確率隨著年級的增長而增長。三個年級總體單詞重音感知正確率分別為，53%，57% 和62%；三個年級的無意義詞感知正確率為，50%，57% 和63%；三個年級的雙音節(jié)感知正確率為，60%，64% 和66%三個年級的三音節(jié)感知正確率為，45%，48% 和58%；三個年級的同形異音詞感知正確率為，56%，61% 和62%；三個年級的同根詞感知正確率為，37%，39% 和48%；

5、初中生單詞重音感知與學生的英語成績沒有顯著相關(guān)性。其中單詞重音感知率與三個年級英語成績的Z-score的相關(guān)性結(jié)果為，r=.042，Sig.=.484>.05，無相關(guān)性。表明漢語初中生在英語單詞重音感知方面存在滯后性。

本研究發(fā)現(xiàn)闡明了二語語音習得方面存在的一些問題：第一、隨著單詞音節(jié)數(shù)量的增加學生的感知正確率呈現(xiàn)下降趨勢，而且單詞的結(jié)構(gòu)越復雜學生的感知率越低；第二、音節(jié)結(jié)構(gòu)和重音節(jié)中元音的類型都對學生的單詞重音感知存在影響。第三、隨著年級水平的提高以及學生英語輸入量的提高，學生的感知正確率也有顯著和較為深刻的變化，說明顯性初中二語課堂教學的重要性以及二語詞匯重音的可學習性。毫無疑問，本研究對中國英語單詞重音的教學有著深遠意義。

關(guān)鍵詞：單詞重音;初中生; 感知

The overall correct perception rate of English lexical stress is 58%, and that of categorical words, non-sense words, two-syllable words, three-syllable words, heteronyms and words with the same root is respectively, 57%, 64%, 50%, 60% and 41%. The correct perception rates of two-syllable words with the stress on the first and second syllable are 64% and 61%; and that of three-syllable words with the first and second syllable stress are 51% and 49%; and that of the heteronyms with the stress on the first and second syllable are 55% and 65%. In general, the subjects’ of lexical stress is relatively poor, for the overall correct rate is 58%. Besides, the number of syllables has effects on the perception, because the correct rate of two-syllable words is higher than that of three-syllable words. What’s more, the stress patterns of also plays an important role in the perception of lexical stress, on the whole, the subjects’ perception of words with the stress on the first syllable is better than that of words with the stress on the second syllable, except for the heteronyms. The reason for the subjects’ perception of heteronyms with the stress on the second syllable is better than that of ones with the stress on the first syllable is that all the heteronyms included in this thesis have the weakened vowels in the first syllables when their second syllables are stressed, so it is more easy to perceive the heteronyms with the second-syllable stress. What’s more, the morphological structures of words also affect the perception of lexical stress; on the whole, with morphological structures becoming more and more complex, the subjects’ perception becomes poorer and poorer.

The correct perception rates of words with the syllable structures of CV.CV, CV.CVC and CVC.CVC are respectively 67%, 62% and 65%. And the differences between the correct perception rate of words with these three syllable structures are all significant, F (53, 220) = 11.936, Sig. =.000; F (53, 220) = 21.312, Sig. =.000; F (53, 220) = 17.801, Sig. =.000; To the words with the syllable structure of CV.CV, the correct perception rate of them by three grades, grade7, grade 8 and grade 9, are respectively 63%, 67% and 70%. To the words with the syllable structure of CV.CVC, the correct perception rate of them by, are respectively 58%, 62% and 66%. To the words with the syllable structure of CVC.CVC, the correct perception rate of them by three grades, are respectively 61%, 64% and 69%. In a word, subjects performs best in perceiving words with the syllable structure of CV.CV, then in the words with the syllable structure of CVC.CVC, while relatively poor in the words with the syllable structure of CV.CVC. Possibly, it may because that CV is the universal, unmarked and the basic syllable structure in all languages, and it is considered as the core syllable of language and CVC is the complete structure of syllable. And form the results of the correct perception rate of words with each three syllable structure by three grades subjects, a conclusion can be made there is a growing trend of subjects’ perception as the increase of levels of grades. Besides, no matter through the statistics drawn from One-way ANOVAs of overall correct perception rate of words with these three syllable structures or that of each grade subjects’ correct rate of perception of words with these three syllable structures, it could be summarized that the syllable structures play an important role in the perception of lexical stress.

The overall correct perception rates of words with long and short vowels are 60% and 56% and the difference between them is significant, t=8.468, Sig.=.000; that of words with the pure vowels and diphthongs in the stressed syllables are 58% and 61%. To the words with the pure vowels in stressed syllables, the correct perception rates of words with the front, central and back pure vowels are 54%, 63% and 59%, and the differences between them are all significant, F (64, 209) =18.369, Sig. =.000; F (64, 209) =8.596, Sig. =.000; F (64, 209) =28.590, Sig. =.000. While to the words with the diphthongs in stressed syllables, the correct perception rates of words with the front, central and back diphthongs are 61%, 60% and 59%, and the differences between them are all significant, F (57,216) =17.031, Sig. =.000; F (57,216) =15.390, Sig. =.000; F (57,216) =11.402, Sig.=.000. Generally speaking, subjects do better in the perception of words with the long vowels in the stressed syllables than that of words with the short vowels; and they are better in perceiving words with the diphthongs in the stressed syllables than words with the pure vowels in the stressed syllables. It may because the duration of long vowels and diphthongs is longer than that of short vowels and pure vowels, so subjects can perceive them more easily. To the words with the pure vowels in the stressed syllables, subjects are best in perceiving words with the central pure vowels in the stressed syllables, while to the words with the diphthongs in the stressed syllables, subjects are best in perceiving words with the front diphthongs in the stressed syllables. And form the results of the correct perception rate of words with each type of vowels by three grades subjects, a conclusion can be made there is a growing trend of subjects’ perception as the increase of levels of grades. Besides, by the statistics of the Paired t-tests of correct perception rate of words with the long and short vowels and that of words the pure vowels and diphthongs, from that of One-way ANOVAs of overall correct perception rate of words with each type of pure vowels and diphthongs or that of each grade subjects’ correct rate of perception of words with each kind of pure vowels and diphthongs, it could be summarized that the vowel types play a significant role in the perception of lexical stress.

Overall correct perception rate of lexical stress by subjects from the grade 7, grade 8 and grade 9 are respectively 53%, 57% and 62%, and the differences between the them are all significant, F (53,249) =39.657, Sig. =.000; F (53,249) =47.379, Sig. =.000; F (53,249) =22.408, Sig. =.000. To the non-sense words, correct perception rate of them by subjects from the grade 7, grade 8 and grade 9 are respectively 50%, 57% and 63%; to the two-syllable words, correct perception rate of them by subjects from the grade 7, grade 8 and grade 9 are respectively 60%, 64% and 66%; to the three-syllable words, correct perception rate of them by subjects from the grade 7, grade 8 and grade 9 are respectively 45%, 48% and 58%; to the heteronyms, correct perception rate of them by subjects from the grade 7, grade 8 and grade 9 are respectively 56%, 61% and 62%; to the words with the same root, correct perception rate of them by subjects from the grade 7, grade 8 and grade 9 are respectively 37%, 39% and 48%. No matter from the results of overall correct perception rate of lexical stress by subjects from three grades or that of correct perception rate of each kind of words by subjects from three grades, they all present that there is a growing trend of subjects’ perception of lexical stress as the increase of levels of grades. Besides, to the three-syllable words, the gap of correct perception of them by subjects from grade 9 and the other two grades is relatively bigger; and the same situation also takes place in the words with the same root, which may because these two kinds of words have more syllables than others, thus perception of them may be a bit difficult to the lower grades students.

No matter from the results of the correlation between the overall correct perception rate of English lexical stress and Z-score of English proficiency, or that of the correct perception rate of each kind words and Z-score of English proficiency, or that of the overall correct perception rate of English lexical stress of each three grades and their Z-score of English proficiency, they all show that there is no significant difference between correct perception rate of English lexical stress and the English proficiency. Possibly it is for the reason that the final examination of English of each grade focuses more on reading and writing skills of students.

Two theoretical implications will be presented by the study. On is the L1 transfer, which is greatly shown through the overall perception by Chinese JHS-EFL learners in the English lexical stress. Two aspects can be used to support it. One is that generally the subjects’ perception of words with the stress on the first syllable is better than that of words with the stress on the second syllable. It may be affected by their mother tongue, in which words are mainly stress on the first one. Thus, it is obvious to see that the negative L1 transfer gives rise to the subjects’ better perception in the words with the first-syllable stress. The other is that the syllable structure plays an important role in the Chinese JHS-EFL learners’ perception of English lexical stress. It may because that the syllable structure of Chinese is simple and the main factors affecting the stress of Chinese are tones and semantic features instead of the syllable structure, therefore it might bring barriers to Chinese EFL learners in the acquisition of English lexical stress.

The other is the Input Hypothesis. It could be supported by the findings of the cross-grade development of Chinese JHS-EFL learners’ perception of lexical stress, it shows that the increase of the subjects’ perception abilities with the increase of the levels of grades. For with the increase of learners’ levels of grades, they receive more input of English, so they can do better in perception than before.

The pedagogical implications made by this study are presented as follows: firstly, the overall correct perception rate of Chinese JHS-EFL learners is not very high, which indicates they have problems in the acquisition of the suprasegmental of English and it also suggests that they may have difficulties in the communication, for the stress is the core of intonation and it is also the focus of information and the carriers of tone and emotion. Besides, for the perception and production are reciprocal and the worse perception may bring about the errors in the production. So the teachers should attach high importance to the perception of stress in process of teaching and at the same time try to raise the students’ awareness of stress. Secondly, subjects are relatively poor in the perception of polysyllable words, thus teachers should put more efforts in teaching the stress of polysyllable words. Thirdly, the syllable structures have effects on subjects’ perception of lexical stress, so teachers could introduce the differences between the syllable structures of Chinese and English into students to improve their levels of perception of lexical stress. Fourthly, the vowels also play an important in the subjects’ perception of lexical stress, especially the duration of them; therefore, teachers should strengthen the training of students’ abilities to perceive the duration of vowels in stressed syllables. Finally, the subjects from high grades perform better than those from low ones in the perception of lexical stress, which suggests that the more input may bring better perception, so the teachers should increase the input of English.