<![CDATA[Oral examinations are now part of China’s College Entrance Examination, yet many students lose points due to pronunciation errors that reduce intelligibility, largely stemming from the L1 transfer. High-school instruction seldom targets intelligibility-critical segmental features, partly because these features and their effects are under-researched. To address this gap, researchers analyzed the segmental pronunciation and intelligibility of 55 Grade-10 students in a Chongqing high school. Speech was collected via Voice Memo, annotated by trained raters for segmental errors, and rated for intelligibility; statistical analyses were conducted in IBM SPSS. Results show vowel errors outnumber consonant errors, with certain phonemes (e.g., /iː/, /ɪ/, /θ/) exceeding a 40% error rate. These errors frequently led raters to misidentify words, directly lowering intelligibility scores. Segmental error rates were significantly associated with intelligibility, indicating that targeted training on high-error vowels and consonants can yield measurable gains. The study offers practical guidance for pronunciation instruction, especially in dialect-influenced regions.]]>
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