Proceedings of the 2025 9th International Seminar on Education, Management and Social Sciences (ISEMSS 2025)

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The Impact of Differences in /r/ Pronunciation between GA and RP on Chinese ESL Learners Based on SLA Theory

Authors
Ziliang Zheng1, *
1School of Foreign Languages, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, China
*Corresponding author. Email: 202331103011034@stu.hubu.edu.cn
Corresponding Author
Ziliang Zheng
Available Online 12 September 2025.
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-462-4_20How to use a DOI?
Keywords
SLA Theory; GA; RP; /r/ Pronunciation; ESL Learners
Abstract

This study, grounded in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theory, delves into the effects of the differences in /r/ pronunciation between General American (GA) and Received Pronunciation (RP) on Chinese English as a Second Language (ESL) learners, focusing on two critical aspects: learning preferences and the degree of learning difficulty. Through meticulously designed and implemented questionnaires and pronunciation tests, referencing the standard GA and RP pronunciations from the Cambridge Dictionary, pronunciation data from 100 Chinese university students on 16 words containing /r/ sounds at the beginning, middle, and end were collected. The data were meticulously analyzed using Praat software and statistically processed with SPSS software. The findings clearly reveal that Chinese ESL learners exhibit different learning tendencies when faced with the /r/ pronunciations in GA and RP, influenced by a combination of factors, and encounter varying difficulties in the learning process. These insights provide valuable reference points for optimizing English phonetics teaching, enabling educators to accurately grasp student characteristics and devise more targeted and effective teaching strategies, thereby significantly enhancing students’ English pronunciation skills.

Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 2025 9th International Seminar on Education, Management and Social Sciences (ISEMSS 2025)
Series
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date
12 September 2025
ISBN
978-2-38476-462-4
ISSN
2352-5398
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-462-4_20How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Ziliang Zheng
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/09/12
TI  - The Impact of Differences in /r/ Pronunciation between GA and RP on Chinese ESL Learners Based on SLA Theory
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 9th International Seminar on Education, Management and Social Sciences (ISEMSS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 167
EP  - 178
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-462-4_20
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-462-4_20
ID  - Zheng2025
ER  -