Contrasts between Igbo and Chinese Consonantal Phonemes and the Pedagogical Implications

Abstract

The paper intends to contrasts the consonantal phonemes of Igbo and Chinese, and the pedagogical implications of Igbo (L1) learning of Chinese (L2) amongst the JSS2 students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University High School, Awka. The two languages under study have their phonological peculiarities, hence, any Igbo learner of Chinese is bound to encounter difficulties and vice versa. In other words due to the phonological differences between Igbo, the mother tongue (MT) and Chinese, the Target Language (TL), the different sound system may create a problem in learning the target language. The data for this paper were collected through both primary and secondary sources. The paper was able to bring out the similarities and differences using the contrastive analysis as a framework. Through a descriptive approach, the two languages are presented, Isolated and described. Through classroom interaction, the pedagogic implications are predicted based on the differences that exist in the sound systems of the two languages. The findings reveal amongst other things that the absence of some of the phonemes in Igbo which are present in Chinese pose learning difficulties for Igbo learners of Chinese. Also, Igbo has the greater number of consonantal phonemes than Chinese, hence Igbo learners will have difficulty in learning Chinese. Certain sounds in Igbo which are absent in Chinese will pose learning problems to the Chinese learners of Igbo. Chinese has aspirated sounds such as /Ph th Kh tSh etc/ which are absent in Igbo, will pose learning problems to the Igbo learners of Chinese. Absence of retroflex sounds in Igbo may lead to error in production. The study concludes by suggestions that language teachers should focus more on those areas of differences in the two languages in the course of teaching, in other to enhance the learning of the target languages ((TL).