Perception and Production of Five English Front Vowels by College Students

Ching-Ying Lin

doi:10.5539/elt.v7n9p14

Abstract

This study was to explore whether college students could perceive and produce five English front vowels well or not. It also examined the relationship between English speaking and listening. To be more specific, the study attempted to probe which vowels that learners could be confused easily in speaking and listening. The results revealed that participants perceived the best in /i/-/I/ pair and /e/-/æ/ pair but the worst in /e/-/?/ pair, /?/-/æ/ pair and among /e/-/?/-/æ/ pair. They produced the best in the vowels of /I/ and /?/ but the worst in the vowels of /i/, /e/ and /æ/. Moreover, there was a strong and positive correlation between production and perception of English vowels by college students.

Highlights

Having good pronunciation can make people express message clearly in communication
This study was to explore whether college students could perceive and produce five English front vowels well or not
The statistical results are addressed in accordance with the sequence of the research questions which involve: a) production of English front vowels, b) perception of English front vowels, c) which front vowels confused students in perceiving, and d) relationship between perception and production of English front vowels

Summary

Introduction

Having good pronunciation can make people express message clearly in communication. Good pronunciation allows people understand briefly what the speaker says. In Taiwan, students learn English as a foreign language but they don’t have many opportunities to practice speaking and listening. As a non-native speaker, he or she may feel upset or may be afraid of making mistakes when they communicate with native speakers due to they don’t have enough training in pronunciation. English teachers or foreign language teachers know how important the pronunciation is, little attention has been paid to the students’ learning process of second or foreign language learning. School teachers can’t correct each student’s pronunciation mistakes because there are too many students in one class

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Conclusion