关键词: 正音; 元音感知; 元音产出; 元音对

Abstract: This paper details a study on the perception and production of 7 English front vowels and diphthongs by 40 first-year English major students in read-aloud tasks before and after a 15-week pronunciation correction course. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design with a pretest, a posttest and a delayed posttest to compare the subjects’ rates of errors of vowel production in the read-aloud tasks of the three tests.  The results of the subjects’ reading of the three tests, together with their performance in the perception test, show that (1) the pronunciation correction course contributed to the subjects’ marked decrease of the vowel production inaccuracy, but did not guarantee long-term retention of the effect as the accuracy rate of the subjects’ vowel production after about a month’s winter break generally dropped compared with that at the end of the 15-week course; (2) the least improved as well as the most poorly retained vowels were front vowel /i:/ and diphthong /ai/; (3) low achievers demonstrated less improvement in vowel production accuracy, and average retention rate of the pronunciation correction effect; (4) there was no significant correlation between the subjects’ perception and production of the 7 English vowels and diphthongs. Suggestions are proposed for teaching English vowels in classroom settings in China.

Keywords: pronunciation correction; vowel perception; vowel production; paired vowels