Abstract and Key Words

Abstract: This thesis is a empirical study, whose object is to investigate the importance of teaching pronunciation in primary schools, that is, whether pronunciation plays a positive role for the students in elementary stage when they learn English. The study finds phonetic teaching activities do promote the learning of basic English. And when phonetic teaching is subsequently provided, young learners do improve their attention to listening and speaking.

Key words:teaching pronunciation, primary schools, English learing effect

摘要：本文是关于小学语音教学的重要作用的实证研究，旨在调查语音学习能否促进小学生在基础英语学习阶段的学习。实验证明：教授语音能够促进初学者英语知识的学习，并能增强学生对听说的重视。

关键词：语音教学，小学，英语学习效果

1. Introduction
Pronunciation is the vocal part of human linguistic symbols, which is like the substantial shell of a language (Li Defang, 1993). A language generally consists of three elements, i.e., pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar, among which pronunciation is essential. The three are correlated with each other and intergrated as a whole. In common English teaching, it often refers to the pronunciation of words, phrases and sentences. The study of pronunciation is closely related to the study of grammar, lexicology and so on. Professor Firth noted that “Without pronunciation there can be no morphology of a spoken language, without intonation no syntax.” British linguistist Mac Carthy emphasized that pronunciation comes first. It is worthwhile for a teacher to spend some time on pronunciation teaching. “To speak any language a person must know nearly 100% of its pronunciation, while only 50-90% of its grammar and 1% of the vocabulary may be sufficient,” as Professor A. C. Gimson declared.
With the full-scale launch of primary English-teaching scheme, several problems have come out practically. The excessive one is found in the teaching of pronunciation. The common problems are listed out as following: some primary students cannot read when they meet the new words. Thus, they do not have enough ability to independently say or spell the words. With the increasing vocabulary quantity and deepening content, it exerts great pressure on senior-grade students to learn the language. The lack of essential phonetic knowledge leads to great difficulty in good mastery of English. For instance, some students even use Chinese characters to mark the pronunciation.