Pronunciation problems that often lose points in TOEFL speaking

#英语# Introduction In the TOEFL official guide, there is a clear standard for the scoring requirements for TOEFL speaking, which is that the pronunciation must be authentic. However, the TOEFL speaking test is a test subject where Chinese candidates tend to lose points. The following is a collection of pronunciation questions that often lose points in TOEFL speaking. Welcome to read!

1. Pronunciation problems that often lose points in TOEFL speaking

1: Vowels are not standard

The pronunciation of each word is inseparable from the vowel phonetic symbols, and Non-standard vowel phonetic symbols will affect the pronunciation of almost all words. Vowels are divided into monophthongs and diphthongs. Problems with monophthongs are common in //, such as palace, family, passion, etc., and the incorrect pronunciation is biased towards /a/. This is due to the early stage of pronunciation enlightenment and not very good pronunciation. Be aware of the difference in pronunciation of these two vowels and the difference in mouth shape. The key to correction also lies in correcting the shape of the mouth. Whether it opens vertically or horizontally is the key.

The problem of diphthongs is also very common. There was a student before who often pronounced place as /ples/. The pronunciation of the diphthong /ei/ is composed of the transition between open and closed accents, / e/ is its open accent, but without a closed accent, it cannot form a complete diphthong pronunciation. Such pronunciation misunderstandings often appear in name, game, take, etc. When such errors occur, I try to ask students to practice the two pronunciations separately and then read them together, and the effect is remarkable.

2: Consonants cannot be distinguished

Most of the consonant phonetic symbols are in pairs, such as /s/ and /z/, /t/ and /d/, which are voiceless consonants and Voiced consonants. A common confusion among students is /θ/ and /δ/, which is the pronunciation of the th letter combination. Common problems are that it is easy to pronounce /θ/ as /s/, such as think, thank, thought, three... and /δ/ as /z/, such as those, that, them... When such problems occur Students often cannot perceive the difference in pronunciation unless they lip sync in front of a mirror. Correction at the beginning is also very difficult, because the inertial thinking has been formed, and it is difficult to change it at once, but you must find the right method, such as the position of the tongue and teeth, and the way of airflow. Only by practicing a lot can you be completely accustomed to and mastered.

Consonant problems are also common in /l/. This pronunciation is very similar to the sound of "le" in Chinese, but it often appears at the end of words in English, which poses a problem for everyone. Some students often pronounce hall as /hr/, which makes them laugh. When /l/ appears at the end of a word, it should be noted that the last sound is similar to the Chinese word "even", rather than the so-called Erhua sound. Common words include mall, conceial, rainfall...

3: Serial pronunciation is stiff

One of the manifestations of English fluency is continuous pronunciation, which often appears in the consonants of the previous word. At the end, add the beginning of the vowel of the next word, like an oval, and pronounce it as aval/nvl/. Students often respond with /n (blank) vl/. This is because they are not used to continuous reading, maybe the teacher I haven't emphasized it in my daily study, maybe because I haven't systematically learned the continuous reading skills. However, in TOEFL speaking, we need to listen. There are many colloquial continuous reading phenomena. If you are not used to continuous reading, it means that you cannot hear the information of continuous reading. Furthermore, answering questions within a limited time also requires continuous reading skills, and continuous reading is a manifestation of improved fluency.

4: Ignore skimming

There is a phonetic phenomenon that is often ignored in TOEFL speaking, which is skimming. When reading a daily expression, we will find that the last letter t of what is silent, not to mention whether it is wrong to pronounce it. If there is no skimming, the pronunciation will be crowded together and make people feel very stiff. , not authentic. Students with this feature can accumulate and imitate in their daily listening, which is the most effective method.

5: There is no distinction between light and heavy sounds.

Many students’ recorded answers sound similar to robot speech, from one level to the next. The point is, many students who speak very fast have this drawback. Often such students want to practice the feeling of light and heavy accents, but they have no idea where to start. They may even develop some strange ways of accentuating the sounds, such as deliberately accentuating them. It is not difficult to find that the stress in English is not simply emphasized, but the pronunciation method of raising it upward.

Raise the pronunciation naturally upward to a tone similar to the first tone of Chinese to highlight the key content. In speaking, clear answers can effectively let the examiner hear your score points and get twice the result with half the effort.

If you can overcome these pronunciation problems during TOEFL speaking practice, then your TOEFL speaking will have no problem with pronunciation and intonation, and your TOEFL speaking will never have a low score again. Embarrassing, I hope this will help everyone improve their TOEFL speaking scores.

2. TOEFL speaking scoring process

The current situation of low scores in TOEFL speaking is mainly caused by the small amount of practice and inappropriate methods. Many Chinese students have misunderstandings about speaking practice and pursue pronunciation one-sidedly. , but have long ignored the importance of logic and grammatical vocabulary to express content.

Of course, beautiful pronunciation can be the icing on the cake, but since the improvement of pronunciation is relatively time-consuming, some students have been exposed to English since childhood. Due to limited conditions, teachers’ pronunciation is not formal and they input wrong pronunciation and intonation. , it will be quite difficult to correct, and there are still a small number of students with congenital physiological organ defects, which will make it difficult to master some phonemes.

Therefore, in order to achieve 23-24 points in a short period of time, Chinese students can put more energy and time on the logic of topic development and the quality of corpus, and then follow up well. Only by reading and imitating, improving your fluency, and constantly polishing your pronunciation and intonation can you get twice the result with half the effort.

The six TOEFL speaking questions can be divided into two types: independent and comprehensive (Task 1 and 2 are independent questions, Task 3, 4, 5 and 6 are comprehensive questions)

When scoring , the candidate’s answer recordings will be automatically divided into three groups after digital noise reduction processing, namely Task1&2, Task3&5 and Task4&6, namely independent tasks (the first group), campus tasks (the second group) and academic tasks (the third group). group); then certified raters will evaluate the candidates' recordings of the three groups of tasks respectively. The scoring level of each question is marked from low to high by weak, limited, fair and good. The total score of the last six questions will be It is converted into a standard score of 0 to 30 points, and the candidate's final score grade for the three sets of questions will also be marked on the electronic score card.

Regarding scoring, the TOEFL official guide OG clearly states that the three scoring criteria for the six major tasks of TOEFL speaking include: expression, language use and topic development ability. There is no priority for these three assessments. accounting for one-third of the total.

Therefore, it is important to try to maximize your strengths and avoid weaknesses, and avoid the most important. For example, if your pronunciation is not perfect, you can use topic expansion, grammar, and vocabulary to make up for it. If your grammar is poor but your pronunciation and intonation are good, you only need to give full play to this advantage and pay attention to logic, details, and topic expansion. The same goes for A good score can be achieved.

In addition to the incorrect pronunciation of these words, there is also the problem of incorrect stress. If the stress of many words is incorrectly placed, the meaning of the word will be changed.

3. Words that are easily mispronounced in TOEFL speaking

1. Mobile English [?m?ba?l] American [?mob?l;?mo?ba?l; ?mo?bil]

adj. movable; maneuverable; changeable; non-fixed; n. moving object

Many friends will pronounce mobile as [mba? l] Note that the stress of mobile is on the first syllable m, not the b. There are three correct ways to pronounce Mobile: [?mob?l]; [?mo?ba?l]; [?mo?bil]. But no matter how you are used to pronouncing it, the stress is on the m.

2. Process English ['pr?ses] American ['prɑs?s]

vt. Processing; processing; n. Process, conduct; method, step; function; program ; move; vi. line up; adj. specially processed (or processed)

Many roast ducks also make the problem of stress on this word. They just read it as [prɑ's?s] and put the stress on it. On c. The correct stress should be on p, not c.

3. Theory English ['θ?r?] American ['θi?ri]

n. Theory; principle; doctrine; speculation

Remember, This word is also pronounced with the stress on the first syllable th. Do not pronounce it as /θi'?ri/. The pronunciation of th is a bit stuttering. You need to bite the tip of the tongue with both teeth before pronouncing it correctly.

4. Advertizing US/'?dv?'ta?z?/UK/'?dv?ta?z?]/

Please note that this word has more syllables. In British pronunciation, there are two stresses, on a and t, but in American pronunciation, only the stress is on a. If you find it really difficult to pronounce, you can use the following two authentic words instead. Ad: Advertising (abbreviation of advertising/advertisement, the simplified version is also commonly used in native speaker spoken English) Commercial: Advertising (noun, very commonly used in American English)

5. Steak: British [ste?k] American [stek] < /p>

n. Steak; steak; fish steak; don’t pronounce it as [st?k]. The pronunciation of ea here is no longer [i], but [e], so when you are not sure about the pronunciation, , be sure to check the dictionary to find out the specific pronunciation. There is also a similar pronunciation of "eak": the pronunciation of "ake" in Cake, Take, and Make is the same.

There is also a word that everyone may know, stake. The pronunciation is exactly the same as steak, but the meaning is completely different.

Stake: British [ste?k] American [stek]

n. Pile, stick; bet; burning; bonus

vt. Funding, support; Tie... on a stake; bet... vi. Bet

n. (Stake) name; (Sweden) Stark

6. Suite [swit]:suite

Note: The pronunciation of "suite" is the same as sweet (sugar), not suit (suit), although the two look similar.

Suit English [sju:t;su:t]American [sut]

vt. Suit; adapt

n. Litigation; plea; suit, Suit; a set of outerwear

vi. Suitable; commensurate

7. Towel: British ['ta?l] American ['ta?l]

n .Towel, hand towel; [paper] paper towel; vt. Wipe with towel; vi. Dry body with towel

Eg: Afterashower, youneedatowel: After taking a shower, you need a towel

This The word looks similar to Tower, but the pronunciation is different:

Tower: British ['ta?] American ['ta?]

n. Tower; tall building; fortress

vi. Towering; beyond

n. (Tower) name; (English) Thor

8. Selfie: [?s?lfi/] Selfie

Many people will pronounce it as [?s?l?fa?] or [?s?l?f?]. Note: "fie" is pronounced /fi/, not /a?/ or /?/. The word selfie may be used when talking about one's hobbies or interests, or when talking about photos.