The Availability of Vocal Training for Improvement of Accent and Articulation Defects in Speech Education

Abstract

This study is designed to test the use of vocal training for articulation and accent defects which might be an important trouble while Turkish speaking. For this reason vocal training has been performed on a group of students selected voluntarily form the Erciyes University Turkish teaching profession 3rd class and the difference before and after vocal training accent and articulation defect improvements have been evaluated. To reach this general purpose pre-test and pro-test applications have been tested by “Vitalograph Alpha, Model 6000” portable spirometer device and “Praat vocal analyze program”. Breathe management and thereby the accent factors that effect speaking are evaluated on even if they were improved after a programmed vocal training study over VC, FVC and FEV1 parameters. After voice training FVC (p<0.001) decreased and FEV1 (p<0.001) increased significantly whereas the VC has not changed significantly. Furthermore, with the help of the data obtained from the Praat vocal analyze program the accent and articulation defects have been evaluated over “Türk” and “vazifen” words and the duration of the voice the intensity, amplitude, maximum power frequency and pitch values are analyzed. This analyze revealed that after vocal training when we consider the “Türk” word, the intensity (p<0.05), amplitude (p<0.05), harmonics to noise ratio (p<0.05), duration (p<0.001) increased significantly. When we consider the word “vazifen”, the intensity (p<0.05), amplitude (p<0.001), harmonics to noise ratio (p<0.001) and duration (p<0.001) increased significantly, the pitch significantly decreased (p<0.001).In conclusion, in the students who are having Turkish speaking education, vocal training studies are seen to be useful to improve the articulation and accent defects, which means that it is helpful to state accent expressions and breathe management to express the Turkish words correctly.