Difficulties in Production of Voiceless Interdental Fricative /θ/ Sound for Chinese Learners of English
Abstract
Chinese learners of English have long been known to have significant difficulties with the voiceless fricative /θ/ sound in English. This study focuses on the challenges and errors faced by Chinese learners of English while producing the voiceless interdental fricative sound /θ/, and aims to find out the speakers’ error rate and possible reasons when pronouncing it. In this study, six Chinese adult learners of English were selected as a sample for pronunciation recordings, and the average pronunciation accuracy of /θ/ and the accuracy of each individual were calculated. Next, a short interview is conducted with each of them, containing possible reasons for the mispronunciation. The results of the study showed that the overall average correct pronunciation rate of the six Chinese English learners was only 37%. There was a positive correlation between the learners' long-term exposure to a pure, full English environment and the accuracy of their pronunciation. And the correct position of the tongue during pronunciation determines correct pronunciation.
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