论文部分内容阅读
【Abstract】The students have difficulties in English spelling because of their poor knowledge of phonology,morphology and the interference of their mother tongue. This article probes into the English spelling system,and furnishes some solutions to solve the problem.
【Key words】English;Spelling;Students
【中圖分类号】G623.31【文献标识码】B 【文章编号】1001-4128（2011）02-0017-02
In our English teaching practice, we find that the students have difficulties in English spelling. Perhaps this results from the fact that they are short of the knowledge of phonology and morphology. As well,their mother tongue ,Chinese,constantly interfere with them.But,in fact, English spelling is systematic. It is governed by certain rules. In order to imprive the students’ spelling ability , this article centers efforts on the discussion of the English spelling system and makes some proposals .
1 The English Spelling Sysyem
In English learning, our students often say that English spelling is confused. However, considerable research indicates that English spelling is a regular rule-governed system based on pronunciation,syntax and semantics of English. Briefly, the system can be divided into two subsystems: (一) words of one syllable and one morpheme; (二) words of more than one syllable and one morpheme.
1.1Words of One Syllable and One Morpheme
The first subsystem deals with words of one syllable and one morpheme.For most such words ,sound-to-spelling correspondenes can be used to relate speech to writing .For example, /b?d/ is spelled bad : /b/——b, / ? / —— a ,/d/ ——d . Sound-to-spelling correspondences can be applied in the following aspects:
(1). Some correspondences can be prejudged and don’t vary. A sound is usually spelled in only one way.Let’s see some examples:
A./ ? / is always spelled with a .
B./ ? / is spelled with o .
C./ t /is spelled with t .
D./dr / is spelled with dr .
(2).Some correspondences can be prejudged but vary. A sound can be spelled in more than one way, but the different spellings can be determined by rules. Let’s see two examples:
A./ s/ is spelled as c when it is in front of e , i ,y : city , cell , cyst.
/ s/ is mostly spelled with ss at the end of a word: boss , mass , miss .
B./ k/ is spelled with c before a , o , uor a consonant: cat, cold, cute, cross, act.
/ k/is spelled withkbefore e,i,y,:kept,kind,sky.
/ k/is spelled with k at the end of a word after a consonant :talk,mark,rank.
/ k/is spelled with ck at the of a word after a single vowel spelling:sick,back,mock.
The combination /kw/ is spelled with qu:quick,quote,square.
For the sound of /k/,there are at least five major rules for us to predict the spellings on the basis of its position in a word.
(3). Some correspondences can not be prejudged, but they are very common. Let’s see some examples:
A. / i: / is most commonly spelled with ee or ea : see , tea , bee , beat.
B. / f / is often spelled with ph or f : five , phase.
C. / ?: / is usually spelled with er , ir , ur :serve , firm , turn.
( The kind of A often produce homophones: e.g. meet , meat . )
It is not easy for us to prejudge which spelling is correct. However, even though they are unpredictable,the common spellings limit the number of possible ways. Thus the correct spelling of a word can be easily found in a dictionary.
1.2Words of More Than One Syllable and OneMorpheme
The second subsystem deals with words of more than one syllable and one morpheme.The following five points should be remembered in spelling this kind of words.
A. Morphemes that are words can be spelled according to sound-to-spelling correspondence rules described above.e.g. bark, make, creep.
B. In most cases, morphemes that are affixes can be spelled according to their meanings. For example:
The past suffix is spelled ed;
The continuous suffix is spelled ing;
The prefix which means “ half ” is spelled semi;
The prefix which means “ three ” is spelled tri.
The affixes generally have only one form, but have different pronunciations: e.g. ed can be pronounced as /id/, /d/, /t/, such as words, wanted , tried , liked .
C. When morphems that are suffixes are added to a word, we must follow one principle,that is, the original pronunciation of the word can’t be changed. The common ways are to retain the last letter e and double the last consonant in a stressed closed syllable. Let’s see some examples:
change + able = changeable ( The letter e is retained. )
begin + ing = beginning ( The letter n is doubled.)
sun + y = sunny (The letter n is doubled.)
fog +y = foggy (The letter g is doubled. )
D. When morphemes that are prefixes are used before a word,the assimilation may occur at times. The prefixes in common use are as follows:
Before the letters m, b, p, r, l, in- is changed as il-, im-, or ir-. e.g. impossible, illegal, irrelevant
Before the letters g, l, m, n, r, v, dis- is changed as di-. e.g. digress, dilute, divert
Before the letter c, sub- is changed as suc-; before f, suf-; before g, sug-; before m, sum-; before p, sup-; before r, sur-. e..g. succeed, suffer, suggest, summon, suppose, surrender
E. Lots of morphological changes are regular. The common and important inflections are as follows:
(1) For the verb ended with –d or –de, in its noun or adjective form, d is often changed as s. e.g. ascend ——ascension, decide ——decision / decisive, provide ——provision
(2) For the verbs with the endings of –ate, -ete, -ite, -ute, their corresponding nouns are ended with –tion. e.g. activate ——activation,compete——competition, expedite——expedition, institute——institution
(3) For the verbs with the endings of –l and –r, their corresponding nouns are usually ended with –ance or –ence. e.g. excel——excellence, vigil——vigilance, occur——occurrence, confer——conference.
2SomeProposals
A. The teacher should teach his students about the sound-to-spelling correspondences.He ought to explain the English spelling system explicitly .Their better command of this kind of knowledge will help them to solve the spelling problems they meet in their English study. They can be helped a lotby learning the systematic English spellings.
B. Systematic training and appropriate practice are necessary. Systematic training will make them have correct pronunciation and prevent them from the interference of their mother tongue.Enough and appropriate practice helps them grasp these rules.
C. The teacher should master the knowledge of English spelling.He should be knowledgeable in morphology and phonology.Also he should apply correctly his abundant knowledge to his teaching practice. Otherwise, he will not teach his students successfully in English spelling.
D. The teacher should teach his students how to use a dictionary according to the spelling rules. They need to be taught explicitly how to find the spelling of an unknown word in a dictionary. For example, the teacher says the word duckor the students read the word written in pronunciation symbols /d ? k/. Then the students get the possible spelling for the word., ( /d/ is spelled d , / ? / is spelled u in a closed syllable and /k/ is spelled ck or k ). Therefore, the students may start with the most common spelling (here duck or duk) and they can check to see if the word is in the dictionary untill they find the correct one (duck). Through the procedure, students can learn how to use a dictionary as a tool to spell words.
A good command of the English spelling system is certain to help the students spell English words accurately and effectively.The proposals put forth above may be quite useful and helpful. But, English spelling is very complicated and comparatively hard to learn well. Let’s strive together to find more better ways to improve the students’ English spelling ability.
References
［1］ 桂燦昆 。美国英语应用语言学。上海外语教育出版社，1985
［2］ D.A.Wilkins.Linguistics in Language Teaching.Great Britain. ELBS,1978
［3］ 王小萍。 实践英语语音教程。 东北师范大学1986
【Key words】English;Spelling;Students
【中圖分类号】G623.31【文献标识码】B 【文章编号】1001-4128（2011）02-0017-02
In our English teaching practice, we find that the students have difficulties in English spelling. Perhaps this results from the fact that they are short of the knowledge of phonology and morphology. As well,their mother tongue ,Chinese,constantly interfere with them.But,in fact, English spelling is systematic. It is governed by certain rules. In order to imprive the students’ spelling ability , this article centers efforts on the discussion of the English spelling system and makes some proposals .
1 The English Spelling Sysyem
In English learning, our students often say that English spelling is confused. However, considerable research indicates that English spelling is a regular rule-governed system based on pronunciation,syntax and semantics of English. Briefly, the system can be divided into two subsystems: (一) words of one syllable and one morpheme; (二) words of more than one syllable and one morpheme.
1.1Words of One Syllable and One Morpheme
The first subsystem deals with words of one syllable and one morpheme.For most such words ,sound-to-spelling correspondenes can be used to relate speech to writing .For example, /b?d/ is spelled bad : /b/——b, / ? / —— a ,/d/ ——d . Sound-to-spelling correspondences can be applied in the following aspects:
(1). Some correspondences can be prejudged and don’t vary. A sound is usually spelled in only one way.Let’s see some examples:
A./ ? / is always spelled with a .
B./ ? / is spelled with o .
C./ t /is spelled with t .
D./dr / is spelled with dr .
(2).Some correspondences can be prejudged but vary. A sound can be spelled in more than one way, but the different spellings can be determined by rules. Let’s see two examples:
A./ s/ is spelled as c when it is in front of e , i ,y : city , cell , cyst.
/ s/ is mostly spelled with ss at the end of a word: boss , mass , miss .
B./ k/ is spelled with c before a , o , uor a consonant: cat, cold, cute, cross, act.
/ k/is spelled withkbefore e,i,y,:kept,kind,sky.
/ k/is spelled with k at the end of a word after a consonant :talk,mark,rank.
/ k/is spelled with ck at the of a word after a single vowel spelling:sick,back,mock.
The combination /kw/ is spelled with qu:quick,quote,square.
For the sound of /k/,there are at least five major rules for us to predict the spellings on the basis of its position in a word.
(3). Some correspondences can not be prejudged, but they are very common. Let’s see some examples:
A. / i: / is most commonly spelled with ee or ea : see , tea , bee , beat.
B. / f / is often spelled with ph or f : five , phase.
C. / ?: / is usually spelled with er , ir , ur :serve , firm , turn.
( The kind of A often produce homophones: e.g. meet , meat . )
It is not easy for us to prejudge which spelling is correct. However, even though they are unpredictable,the common spellings limit the number of possible ways. Thus the correct spelling of a word can be easily found in a dictionary.
1.2Words of More Than One Syllable and OneMorpheme
The second subsystem deals with words of more than one syllable and one morpheme.The following five points should be remembered in spelling this kind of words.
A. Morphemes that are words can be spelled according to sound-to-spelling correspondence rules described above.e.g. bark, make, creep.
B. In most cases, morphemes that are affixes can be spelled according to their meanings. For example:
The past suffix is spelled ed;
The continuous suffix is spelled ing;
The prefix which means “ half ” is spelled semi;
The prefix which means “ three ” is spelled tri.
The affixes generally have only one form, but have different pronunciations: e.g. ed can be pronounced as /id/, /d/, /t/, such as words, wanted , tried , liked .
C. When morphems that are suffixes are added to a word, we must follow one principle,that is, the original pronunciation of the word can’t be changed. The common ways are to retain the last letter e and double the last consonant in a stressed closed syllable. Let’s see some examples:
change + able = changeable ( The letter e is retained. )
begin + ing = beginning ( The letter n is doubled.)
sun + y = sunny (The letter n is doubled.)
fog +y = foggy (The letter g is doubled. )
D. When morphemes that are prefixes are used before a word,the assimilation may occur at times. The prefixes in common use are as follows:
Before the letters m, b, p, r, l, in- is changed as il-, im-, or ir-. e.g. impossible, illegal, irrelevant
Before the letters g, l, m, n, r, v, dis- is changed as di-. e.g. digress, dilute, divert
Before the letter c, sub- is changed as suc-; before f, suf-; before g, sug-; before m, sum-; before p, sup-; before r, sur-. e..g. succeed, suffer, suggest, summon, suppose, surrender
E. Lots of morphological changes are regular. The common and important inflections are as follows:
(1) For the verb ended with –d or –de, in its noun or adjective form, d is often changed as s. e.g. ascend ——ascension, decide ——decision / decisive, provide ——provision
(2) For the verbs with the endings of –ate, -ete, -ite, -ute, their corresponding nouns are ended with –tion. e.g. activate ——activation,compete——competition, expedite——expedition, institute——institution
(3) For the verbs with the endings of –l and –r, their corresponding nouns are usually ended with –ance or –ence. e.g. excel——excellence, vigil——vigilance, occur——occurrence, confer——conference.
2SomeProposals
A. The teacher should teach his students about the sound-to-spelling correspondences.He ought to explain the English spelling system explicitly .Their better command of this kind of knowledge will help them to solve the spelling problems they meet in their English study. They can be helped a lotby learning the systematic English spellings.
B. Systematic training and appropriate practice are necessary. Systematic training will make them have correct pronunciation and prevent them from the interference of their mother tongue.Enough and appropriate practice helps them grasp these rules.
C. The teacher should master the knowledge of English spelling.He should be knowledgeable in morphology and phonology.Also he should apply correctly his abundant knowledge to his teaching practice. Otherwise, he will not teach his students successfully in English spelling.
D. The teacher should teach his students how to use a dictionary according to the spelling rules. They need to be taught explicitly how to find the spelling of an unknown word in a dictionary. For example, the teacher says the word duckor the students read the word written in pronunciation symbols /d ? k/. Then the students get the possible spelling for the word., ( /d/ is spelled d , / ? / is spelled u in a closed syllable and /k/ is spelled ck or k ). Therefore, the students may start with the most common spelling (here duck or duk) and they can check to see if the word is in the dictionary untill they find the correct one (duck). Through the procedure, students can learn how to use a dictionary as a tool to spell words.
A good command of the English spelling system is certain to help the students spell English words accurately and effectively.The proposals put forth above may be quite useful and helpful. But, English spelling is very complicated and comparatively hard to learn well. Let’s strive together to find more better ways to improve the students’ English spelling ability.
References
［1］ 桂燦昆 。美国英语应用语言学。上海外语教育出版社，1985
［2］ D.A.Wilkins.Linguistics in Language Teaching.Great Britain. ELBS,1978
［3］ 王小萍。 实践英语语音教程。 东北师范大学1986