Abstract: Mother language transfer has always been a hot topic in the field of linguistics. It is also an important factor in second language acquisition. In this paper, the author expounded the mother language transfer theory from the view of phonetics, employed literature review and questionnaires to analyze the influence of mother language transfer on Chinese students’ phonetic learning, which includes positive transfer and negative transfer. At last, the author proposed countermeasures to deal with negative transfer. The aim is to help students to understand mother language transfer, find appropriate countermeasures to reduce the influence of positive transfer and enhance the efficiency of phonetic learning.

Key words: mother language transfer, English phonetics learning, countermeasures

CONTENTS

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction1

2. Literature Review1

2.1 Definition of Terms and Concepts

2.1.1 Definition of Language Transfer

2.1.2 Definition of Phonetics

2.2 Researches Concerning Phonetic Acquisition

2.2.1 Researches by Foreign Scholars

2.2.2 Researches by Domestic Scholars

3. Study 5

  3.1 Subjects and Instruments

  3.2 Procedure

  3.3 Results and Analysis

4. The Influence of Language Transfer..6

4.1 The Positive Transfer of Influence

4.1.1 Similar Tone

4.1.2 Spelling Rules

4.2 The Negative Transfer of Influence

4.2.1 Vowels and Consonants

4.2.2 Stress

4.2.3 Intonation

4.2.4 Rhythm and Tonal

4.2.5 Length of Sound

4.2.6 Dialect

5. Countermeasures.9

5.1 Cultivating Students’ Awareness of the Difference between L1 and L2

5.2 Comparing English and Chinese Phonetics

  5.3 Using of the Media

5.4 Creating an English Environment 

  5.5 Overcoming Emotional Factors

6. Conclusion 11

Appendix13

Bibliography...14

Acknowledgements 15