三、五年级学英语起点和语音发展的实验研究

An Experimental Study of the Relation of Age to the Acquisition of English Pronunciation and Intonation

本研究比较三、五年级起点的学生英语语音语调的发展。研究采用准实验设计,样本包 括198名中国小学三、五年级学生和15名美国小学生。学年结束时,对被试施行朗读测验、单人单 盒磁带录音并将录音带匿名编号、随机混合,由3名英美人以随机顺序各自独立评分。结果表明: 无论是按学校分类、按性别分类、还是按任课教师分类,五年级被试的平均分都显著地高于三年级 被试,且处于最高分数段者也多是五年级被试。

This study compared the acquisition of English pronunciation and intonation by two different groups of pupils. One group started to learn English at Grade 3 and the other at Grade 5. Quasi-experimental design was adopted. The valid sample included 198 Chinese Grade 3 and Grade 5 pupils (99 boys and 99 girls), and 15 American pupils. At the end of the school year, all the subjects were given a read-aloud test and the results were recorded. The mixed recordings were then judged independently by three native English speakers. The results show that the Grade 5 group performed significantly better than the Grade 3 group. No matter how to sub-group the pupils, by school, by sex, or by English teachers, the basic patterns were the same. Furthermore, those pupils who scored the highest were mostly of Grade 5.