Asymmetry Across Stress Patterns: Production and Perception of English Word Stress by Chinese ESL Learners

Abstract The interference of a tonal language poses challenges for Chinese learners of English to acquire word stress. The lack of symmetry between word stress problems in production and perception, and the absence of attention to specific stress patterns in teaching and learning, can reduce the effectiveness of word stress acquisition. The purpose of this paper is twofold: to examine the relationship between English word stress production and perception and to investigate how English word stress production and perception are affected by specific stress patterns. Ninety participants were involved in a production task and a perception task. Test words were selected based on 26 stress patterns in three categories: syllabic structure, phonological similarity, and vowel reduction. The results show that the production and perception of English word stress differ significantly without a strong linear correlation. Although the accuracy of word stress perception was higher than production for the test words in general, the comparative status of production and perception varied across different stress patterns. Specifically, in the syllabic structure category, the highest symmetry rate of word stress assignment in the production and perception for ˈ σ CVCC (e.g., climax, abend), while the symmetry rate for ˈ σo CVV(C) (e.g., abdicate, importune) was the lowest and the most problematic for production. In the phonological similarity category, production and perception of word stress were most symmetrical for words with the suffix “-eous” and the most asymmetrical for words with the suffix “-ese,” which was also the most problematic for production. Identification of vowel reduction was more challenging for /ɒ/ than /æ/ in both production and perception. It is suggested that Chinese ESL teachers prioritize the teaching of stress patterns with low symmetrical relationships to achieve efficient learning outcomes.