The Acquisition of English Grammar and Phonology by Cantonese ESL Learners

Chan’s exploration of the acquisition of English grammar and phonology by Cantonese learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) offers insights into the specific challenges that learners often encounter and posits ways to help them overcome those challenges. Possible sources of the challenges are also examined.

The book covers the basic differences between English and Cantonese grammar as well as those between English and Cantonese phonology. Chan discusses the kinds of grammatical and phonological problems that Cantonese ESL learners often have in their acquisition of English. In terms of grammar, various structures are reviewed, including errors which are clearly due to L1 interference and also those which may not be directly L1-related. Learners’ common misconceptions about relevant concepts are also revealed. In terms of phonology, both speech perception and speech production problems at the segmental and suprasegmental levels are examined. For learner problems which may be the result of L1 interference, a contrastive approach is adopted in analysing the cause and nature of the errors. Chan also offers readers pedagogical insights to target common grammatical problems, including the use of an algorithmic approach, the use of a discovery-based consciousness-raising approach and the use of metalinguistic explanations. As far as the learning of English phonology is concerned, she argues that the training of speech production should go hand-in-hand with that of speech perception. Future research can experiment with the proposed teaching ideas with Cantonese ESL learners and learners of other native languages.

Researchers and ESL teaching professionals will find the insights and research contained within this volume invaluable when encountering or researching Chinese ESL learners.

Alice Yin Wa Chan (PhD) is Associate Professor in the Department of English at City University of Hong Kong. She gained her BA in linguistics from the University of Lancaster, UK, her MPhil in computer speech and language processing from the University of Cambridge, UK, and her PhD in linguistics from the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Before joining CityU, she had taught at different local universities in Hong Kong. She has published in various international journals, and contributed to edited books, professional magazines and conference proceedings. Her research and teaching interests include second language acquisition, English grammar, English phonetics and phonology, and lexicography.

Chan's exploration of the acquisition of English grammar and phonology by Cantonese learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) offers insights into the specific challenges that learners often encounter, and their origins, and posits ways to help them overcome the challenges. Possible sources of the challenges are also examined. The content covers the basic differences between English and Cantonese grammar as well as those between English and Cantonese phonology. Chan discusses the kinds of grammatical and phonological problems that Cantonese ESL learners often have in their acquisition of English. In terms of grammar, various structures are reviewed, including errors which are clearly due to L1 interference and also those which may not be directly L1-related. Learners' common misconceptions about relevant concepts are also revealed. In terms of phonology, both speech perception and speech production problems at the segmental and supra-segmental levels are examined. For learner problems which may be the result of L1 interference, a contrastive approach is adopted in analysing the cause and nature of the errors. Chan also offers readers pedagogical insights to target common grammatical problems, including the use of an algorithmic approach, the use of a discovery-based consciousness-raising approach, and the use of metalinguistic explanations. As far as the learning of English phonology is concerned, she argues that the training of speech production should go hand-in-hand with that of speech perception. Future research can experiment with the proposed teaching ideas with Cantonese ESL learners and learners of other native languages. Researchers and ESL teaching professionals will find the insights and research contained within this volume invaluable when encountering or researching Chinese ESL learners.

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