The phoneme is the smallest unit or the smallest pronunciation segment that forms the syllable. It is classified from the perspective of tones. When students come to learn Chinese in China, they should know that a syllable can be divided into the smallest units with different features from the view of different tones. All of these smallest units are called “phoneme”.
Let’s take an example, from the perspective of tone, “mɑ” can be divided into two different phonemes, namely “m” and “ɑ”. Most foreign learners who study in Mandarin learning courses know that the phoneme can be classified into consonant and vowel. And the initial consonant in Chinese language is made up of consonant while simple or compound vowel is composed of vowel, or vowel and nasal consonant.
The phoneme teaching can be defined as the language teaching that teach the learners who study Chinese start from single consonant phoneme and vowel phoneme, then the attention should be paid gradually to the teaching of syllables, words, phrases, minor sentences, sentences and conversations.
The teaching should emphasize the accuracy of the phoneme practicing. However, the persistent phonemes training and imitation will cause some limits in teaching. First of all, it will neglect the functionality of language. Students who learn Mandarin should know syllable is the basic unit to express meaning and phoneme is the basic unit of the syllable. Excessive phoneme teaching will separate the whole and part.
Secondly, it will neglect the function of the Chinese Pinyin. In some teaching materials, the point is phoneme but no combination. Even though there is some contents to practice syllable, it only regard it as the means of practicing and consolidating phonemes. It is not good for students who study Mandarin Chinese because it reverses the means and purpose.
That the students who study in China master the phonemes doesn’t mean they acquire the Chinese Pinyin. From the view of function and meaning, we propose to combine the consonants, vowels and tones together as early as possible and explain some words meanings of certain pronunciation. For example, the combination of “b” and “ɑ”, namely, “bā” , meaning “八”.
Since the phoneme is the smallest unit in speech sounds, we should teach from it. And we should combine it together with meaning as soon as possible. It would be better if students learn on the basis of understanding.