English Sound System Research Articles

Common Errors in Pronouncing Minimal Pairs Made by English-Majored Freshmen at Ba Ria – Vung Tau University, Vietnam

In the current globalization era, English increasingly becomes the most desirable language to be mastered. The act of producing correct pronunciation is considered as the crucial aspect contributing to the communication competence in English since mispronunciation will certainly lead to misunderstanding in communication. However, in fact, there is a significant difference in the sound system of English and Vietnamese language, which makes many Vietnamese learners encounter problems of pronouncing some sounds in English, especially the minimal pairs. In order to achieve the aim of discovering pronunciation errors of minimal pairs in English, 58 freshmen of English department at Ba Ria-Vung Tau University participated in this investigation by completing the questionnaire and recording the pronunciation of seven common pairs of word containing minimal pairs including /tʃ/ - /dʒ/; /s/ - /ʃ/; /s/ - /z/; /b/ - /p/; - /dʒ/; /t/ - /θ/ and /z/ - /ð/. The result shows the students are unable to differentiate the sounds of those minimal pairs; and the primary causes for this problem are the learners' mother tongue interference, and their limited exposure of English language. In addition, some recommendations in the light of findings are presented in this paper.

The Impact of Multilingualism on Productive Language Skills: Modelling Some Saudi Multilingual Learners

The issue of whether a learner in multilingual education can achieve the same level of proficiency in two or more languages other than the native language is a problematic one. This study aims at investigating the impact of learning two languages other than the native language on the learners’ speaking and writing skills. To attain this aim, the researchers collected the scores of twenty-six multilingual Saudi learners on writing and speaking tests in the academic year 2020-2021. A qualitative and quantitative mixed research design is adopted to measure the performance of multilingual learners in the two languages: English and French. The results showed that there are statistically significant differences between the scores of the Writing Test (WT) in English and French in favor of the English Writing Test because the p-value (0.012) is less than (0.05). It is attributed to the fact that the learners’ mental faculty cannot be loaded with more than two writing systems. The results also showed that there are statistically significant differences between the scores of the Speaking Test (ST) in English and French because the level of significance (0.009) is less than (α = 0.05). It is attributed to the fact that the English sound system, because of rapid historical changes, becomes much easier for Saudi students than other phonological systems. The balanced students represent 26.9% of the total group of students. The study concludes that balancing between more than two languages is a little bit difficult as one language should dominate over the others.

Testing English Speakers’ Perception of Arabic Contrasts

This paper presents the results of an experiment conducted to investigate how adult native speakers of English perceive some Arabic contrasts within Brown’s Phonological Interference Model (PIM) (1998, 2000), based on the theory of Feature Geometry. Three Arabic pairs of contrasts were chosen for the experiment: the contrast /b – d/ consisting of consonants present in both English and Arabic; the contrast /x – ?/ consisting of consonants that are non-native to English but are distinguished by the features [dorsal, voice, continuant] which are available in the English feature geometry; and finally the contrast /h – ?/, of which only the former exists in English, whereas the latter is non-native to English and is distinguished by the feature [RTR], which is unavailable in the English feature geometry, thereby rendering /?/ completely alien to the English sound system. The experiment consisted of an AX Discrimination task where subjects heard two sounds and were asked to decide whether they were the same or different. Three groups participated in the experiment: an Arabic L1 control group, an English L1 group, and finally an Arabic L2 group. The results of the experiment confirm Brown’s findings in a similar experiment with Japanese and Chinese speakers’ perception of English.

An Analysis of Students’ Difficulties in Pronouncing English Dipthong at The Twelve Grade of SMA Negeri 8 Jambi City

This research was aimed to find out the students difficulties and factor causes students difficult to pronounce English diphthongs at the Twelve Grade of SMA Negeri 8 Kota Jambi. The research methodology of this study was quantitative descriptive research which involved population and sample. The total population of this research was the XII IPS 5 students of SMAN 8 Kota Jambi, which consisted of 42 students. In collecting the data, this research gave test and interview at the class. The result of the research showed that the twelve grade students of SMA Negeri 8 Kota Jambi got difficulties in pronouncing English diphthongs sounds. The students’ difficulties in pronouncing diphthongs are producing sound (/ʌʊ/, /eə/, and /ɪə/). The highest percentage of the students score was 95,23% and the lowest was 15,23%. Where the mean score of the students test was 10 with a poor categories and percentage of students score test were /ʌʊ/ 15,23%, /eə/ 16,19%, and /ɪə/ 17,14%. The factors of students’ difficulties in pronouncing English fricative consonant are; the influence of students mother language, the lack of students knowledge about English sound system and the unsuccessful in using borrowed English words.

The Capability in Pronouncing the English Final Consonant Clusters by the English Department Students, Faculty of Humanities, Udayana University

This study attempts to describe the ability of the English Department students, Faculty of Humanities, Udayana University in pronouncing English final consonant clusters. Consonant clusters are groups of consonants that can occur initia lly (onset) and finally (coda) in the syllable structure. The features of consonant clusters in each language are highly dependent on the language itself. In English, the number of consonants at the beginning of a syllable can be up to three such as: structure /strʌktʃə/, spring /sprIŋ/, while the number of consonants that forms a cluster in the coda can be up to four as in sixths /siksθs/, texts /teksθs/. While, Consonant clusters in Indonesian and Balinese as the mother tongue of students are very limited in number and only exist initially in the words. This difference, obviously, creates problems for students in pronouncing English words containing these consonant clusters The knowledge of the English sound system is taught in the English phonetic and phonemic course in the fifth semester at the English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Udayana University. This study examined the ability to pronounce consonant clusters by the second semester students who have not taken English Phonetic and Phonemic courses to be compared with student s who have taken the course, so that it can be seen to what extent the course can change students’ performance in pronouncing the consonant clusters. This research is descriptive qualitative research, supported by quantitative data. The research population was 20 second semester students and 20 sixth semester students randomly taken. The research instrument was a list of English words containing consonant clusters and questionnaires. The data collection technique was done through recording, and the data were analyzed descriptive qualitatively and presented formally and informally.

An Analysis of Students’ Difficulties in Pronouncing English Fricative Consonant at the Eleventh Grade of SMA Negeri 1 Kota Jambi

This research was aimed to find out the students’ difficulties and factor causes students difficult to pronounce English fricative consonant at the Eleventh Grade of SMA Negeri 1 Kota Jambi. The research methodology of this study was quantitative descriptive research which involved population and sample. The total population of this research was the XI MIPA 1 students of SMAN 1 Kota Jambi, which consisted of 36 students. In collecting the data, the researcher gave test and interview at the class. The result of the research showed that the eleventh grade students of SMA Negeri 1 Kota Jambi got difficulties in pronouncing English fricative consonant sounds of dental and labiodental. The students’ difficulties in pronouncing fricative consonant are producing sound (/q/, /ð/, and /v/). The highest percentage of the students score was 95% and the lowest was 15%. Where the mean score of the students’ test was 42,28% with a fair categories and percentage of students score test were /θ/ 76,11%, sound /ð/ 77,78%, /f/ 5%, and sound /v/ 57,22%. The factors of students’ difficulties in pronouncing English fricative consonant are; the influence of students’ mother language, the lack of students’ knowledge about English sound system and the unsuccessful in using borrowed English words.Key Words: Students Difficulties, Pronouncing, Fricative Consonant.

Implementation Of Contrastive Analysis To Overcome The Difficulties of Learning English Pronunciation Sub-Skill

This research was conducted to investigate and understand pronunciation problems, which is the sub-skill of speaking in the first semester students of the UPR FKIP English Education Study Program through contrastive analysis. The purpose of this study was to analyze pronunciation errors in English words and the causes of the errors made by students who were the research subjects. The design used in this study to present the data is descriptive qualitative. The results of data analysis were classified into consonant errors (consonants), vowels (vowels), and vowels (diphthongs) and the causes why these errors occured.
 Based on the results of data analysis, the English segmental sounds that were difficult to pronounce by students of the English Education Study Program semester I in the academic year 2020/2021 were (1) long vowels or tense vowels (i:, u:, ?:, ?:, ?:]; (2) short vowels soundor lax vowels low vowel sound [æ], and neutral vowel (schwa) [?]; (3) the sound of diphthongs (double vowels), namely rising diphthongs [??] and falling diphthongs [??], [e?], and [??]; and (4) fricative consonant sounds [f, v, z, ?, ð, ?, ?].
 The causes of difficulty in learning pronunciation of English segmental sounds are (1) differences in Indonesian and English sound systems and (2) lack of knowledge of the English sound system.

Productive phonological bootstrapping in early EFL of 4th-graders in German primary schools

Abstract It has been suggested that learners can use their phonological knowledge receptively in other linguistic domains, for instance to support lexical acquisition, a process referred to as “phonological bootstrapping” (Christophe et al., 1997). However, research on productive phonological processes in early foreign language acquisition has been rare. The present study addresses this gap and shows that phonology functions as a deliberate productive resource to compensate for lexical limitations in early foreign language acquisition. 184 4th grade students learning English at German primary schools were asked to tell a picture story in English. Findings show that the majority of learners use a strategy we name “productive phonological bootstrapping” to fill lexical gaps by adapting German items to the English sound system. Similar phonological phenomena as in other language contact domains occur in a combination with manipulations based on differences between German and English, suggesting an interplay of universal and language-specific processes.

Varieties of English Accents: A Study of the Degree of Preference and Intelligibility Among Second-Year English Major Students at Maejo University

Thailand is regarded as a country of the expanding circle (EC). The fact that English has become a working language in the asean community makes it vital that Thai students are aware of the varieties of English. The study examined the perception of English majors towards varieties of English pronunciation. Listening tasks spoken by speakers in the expanding circle (EC), the inner circle (IC) and outer circle (OC), were presented to students enrolled in a course on Sound and English Sound System. The students rated accent preference and intelligibility. A semi-structure interview was included for more in-depth information. The results revealed that the variety of English that was perceived as the most favorable accent by the participants was English spoken by speakers from IC. The participants were more aware of varieties of English, especially those spoken by non-native speakers of English. However, English spoken by speakers from the EC was perceived as the most intelligible.

The Differences in Consonantal Pronunciation Between Formal English and Saudi Hijazi English and Their Implications for Oral Intralingual Translation.

Based on Mahboob and Elyas (World Engl 33(1):128-142, 2014), who identified an expanding circle variety of Englishes, known as 'Saudi English', the present paper addresses the consonantal variations between Formal English and a sub-variety of Saudi English, termed as 'Saudi Hijazi English'. The paper presents the specific consonants of Saudi Hijazi English through conducting an interview with five Hijazi linguists to obtain qualitative data concerning the consonants that constitute Saudi Hijazi English sound system. The paper argues that there are eighteen consonants constituting Saudi Hijazi English sound system. This sound system is partly influenced by the sound system of Urban Hijazi dialect only and partly by the sound system of both Urban Hijazi dialect and Modern Standard Arabic together. Finally, the paper claims that the consonantal variations between Formal English and Saudi Hijazi English have certain implications for oral intralingual translation, particularly if the latter is unknown to the formal English speaker.

TEACHING PHONETICS TO ENHANCE PRONUNCIATION IN AN ESL CLASSROOM

This paper highlights the importance of English pronunciation for an ESL learner while speaking the language to a native speaker as well as understanding the context of another English speaker. This paper also throws light upon the importance of phonetics in teaching pronunciation. The researcher attempts to find out the factors affecting English pronunciation of ESL learners by conducting an experiment on Indian university level students as samples. The selection of student sample is done through ‘purposive sampling technique’. Based on the observations obtained from the experiment conducted by the researcher, the necessary methods and techniques that is feasible and adaptable for the learners to enhance their English pronunciation based on CLT (Communicative Language Teaching) theory is suggested. Acquiring native like pronunciation is not a short-term process. A few effective methods like drilling and minimal pair techniques will help language teachers to gradually give the learners an insight about the English sound system and support in the development of spontaneous speaking.

A Comparison between English and Arabic Sound Systems Regarding Places of Articulation

The English sound system differs from Arabic regarding places of articulation. Some of the English consonants do not exist in Arabic and vice versa. However, both languages share common palatal /j/. Arabic speakers find it difficult to pronounce /v/ sound and use /f/ instead. They also substitute /t/ and /d/ for /?/ and /e/. Arab speakers cannot pronounce the flap /s/ but stress the written /tt/. In English, /t/ is an aspirated alveolar but considered non-aspirated denti-alveolar in Arabic. As for /r/, it is always pronounced in Arabic but sometimes deleted in British English. Moreover, /?/ exists in Arabic as a consonant but alternative pronunciation in English.

CREATIVE LEARNING STRATEGY TO IMPROVE STUDENTS' ABILITY IN ENGLISH LEARNING

This study aims to provide an overview of teacher creativity in English pronunciation learning. Pronunciation is one of the hardest parts of learning English. In the English sound system there are many ways of pronunciation for each individual caused by various factors such as regional origin, social environmental influences, and others. Thus, Recitation lessons are quite challenging lessons for the teacher because the teacher must present them with creative learning. Through this creativity, the teacher can guide students to achieve learning goals. Article visualizations:

Web-based audiovisual phonetic table program application as e-learning of pronunciation practice in undergraduate degree program

Verbal-based learning such as English pronunciation practice requires the existence of an effective e-learning because if it is directly given without any learning media, inaccuracies in pronunciation, spelling, repetition will usually occur in the spoken language. Therefore, this study aims to develop e-learning to be used in the Pronunciation Practice class, Indraprasta PGRI University. This research belongs to Research and Development are: requires an analysis, develops syllabus and teaching materials, creates and develops e-learning, tries and revises the media. Consequently, there is a need to develop module in the classroom into a versatile technology web-based module in the form of Phonetic Table Program. The result is carried out in pronunciation practice classes to find more details on some parts that may still not be detected by the researchers. Thus, the use of technology has become a necessity to assist students in achieving the learning objectives. Therefore, the process of communication in learning will attract more students’ interest and provide facilities to understand the sound system of English as it is equipped with buttons to practice presented by nonnative speakers. Non-native speakers’ selection are based on the consideration that they quickly adapt helping other students who are less fluent in English.

Mentoring teachers in systematic phonics instruction: effectiveness of an intensive year-long program for kindergarten through 3rd grade teachers and their students

Teaching systematic phonics effectively to beginning readers requires specialized knowledge and training which many primary grade teachers lack. The current study examined effects of a year-long mentoring program to improve teachers’ knowledge and effectiveness in teaching phonics and the extent that it improved students’ achievement in reading and spelling. Teachers in urban, lower SES schools completed a 45 h course followed by 90 h of in-school training. Mentors (N = 29) worked with kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade teachers (N = 69) twice a week for 30 weeks during the year. Each visit included a 45 min prep period plus 45 min of modeling and feedback in the classroom. Mentors taught teachers how to provide systematic phonics instruction to their students (N = 1,336). Monthly ratings by mentors revealed that teachers improved their phonics teaching skills with many reaching the highest ratings by May. Teachers who were non-native speakers of English took a bit longer to learn the English sound system for letters, mainly because they lacked sufficient knowledge of English sounds and had to learn them. Given the increasing diversity of the teacher work force, future research is needed to study this difficulty, its solution, and impact on students. Teachers’ agreement with principles of phonics instruction remained strong or increased from fall to spring. Students’ reading and spelling skills showed large gains during the year and far exceeded effect sizes from comparable data sources. Students met grade-level expectations at the end of kindergarten and first grade but fell short in second and third grades. General education students outperformed bilingual/ELL and special needs students although all subgroups made large gains. Findings reveal the effectiveness of an intensive mentoring model of professional development applied to a subject that is difficult to teach and to a student population known for lower reading achievement. Findings point to the need for better pre-service teacher preparation coupled with appropriate curricula and PD from districts in order to improve students’ reading achievement.

Prospective Freshman English Teachers’ Knowledge of the English Sound System

Foreign language teachers use the spoken form of the target language when they teach. One of their professional responsibilities while teaching is to form a good model of pronunciation for their students. In Turkey, English is the primary foreign language taught in all educational institutions. Prospective English teachers in the English Teacher Education departments in Faculties of Education are the products of that system, and they come to their universities having been taught English for years. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge of the English sound system prospective teachers had acquired before they started their university studies. Statistical analyses showed that the students had serious problems with regard to the sound system of English and that a two-semester first year course would, by itself, not be able to compensate for the significant lack of knowledge the students had. Suggestions as to how to tackle with the problem are presented.

LITERACY AND PEDAGOGY “ THE ENGLISH VOWEL TRANSCRIPTION SYSTEMS AND THE NIGERIAN L2 LEARNER OF ENGLISH

The paper investigated the implications of the transcription systems of the English vowels for the Nigerian learner of English. It did a comparative analysis of some transcription systems of the English vowels. It found that many of the scholars of English phonetics tend to write out the symbols of the English sounds in different forms, largely dependent on their regional background. This, it was observed, usually leads to a multiplicity of symbols to represent the same sound. The paper noted that this usually causes confusion for the Nigerian L2 learner of English. It therefore suggested that an attempt should be made to create a uniform format of vowel representations in English to help the Nigerian EL2 learner have a better and easier mastery of the English sound system.

From introduction to phonemic symbols to development of transcription skills: A case study in the English Department at University of Tuzla

Abstract The present study portrays some of the key aspects of connected speech in English, as adopted by 42 native Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian-speaking undergraduate students of English in the English Department, University of Tuzla, in the academic year 2013/2014. More specifically, the study shows how successfully these students developed their transcription skills in English, particularly when it comes to the use of diacritics for dental, velarised, and syllabic consonants of English, as well as for aspirated and unreleased (unexploded) English plosives. In addition, the study focuses on the coalescent type of assimilation. Connected speech (also known as rapid, relaxed, casual, or fluent speech) is characterised by a number of phonetic phenomena. The paper also analyses the level to which students enrolled in the English Department in Tuzla have developed a sense of elementary terms in this field, an understanding of the English sound system, and generally speaking, to what extent they developed their broad and narrow transcription skills.

The Influence of Chinese Stress on English Pronunciation Teaching and Learning

Stress is one of the key suprasegmentals in English sound system. It plays an important role in intelligibility and comprehensibility. However, stress often poses problems for Chinese EFL Learners. Chinese learners of English often misplace the stress in English words and sentences which subsequently may interrupt the flow of communication and lead to unintelligibility. Therefore, the correct placement of stress is a main concern in EFL speech intelligibility and training, and it is particularly important for Chinese learners of English because they have a drastically different stress system in their native language. There is evidence to suggest that the transfer of native language sound systems is one of the major reasons for foreign language pronunciation errors. This paper examines the differences between Chinese and English stress. Based on such contrastive analysis of English and Chinese stress, experiments are conducted to investigate the reasons for Chinese EFL learners’ pronunciation difficulties in English stress, and finally implications for English pronunciation teaching are drawn.

صعوبات مهارة الاستماع والفهم من وجهة نظر طالبات اللغة الانجلیزیة فی کلیة التربیة للبنات بعرعر ’Listening Comprehension skill difficulties as perceived by 1st Year EFL Female Students at Arar College of Education’

تهدف الدراسة الحالية إلى التعرف على الصعوبات التي تتعلق بتعلم مهارة الاستماع والفهم والتي تواجه طالبات المستوى الأول في قسم اللغة الانجليزية بکلية التربية للبنات بعرعر .وقد استخدمت الدراسة المنهج الوصفي التحليلي وقد طبقت الدراسة على طالبات السنة الأولى في قسم اللغة الانجليزية, والتي تتکون 96طالبة. وتتلخص مشکلة الدراسة في السؤال التالي: مالصعوبات التي تواجه طالبات السنة الأولى في قسم اللغة الانجليزية في کلية التربية للبنات بعرعر في تعلم مهارة الاستماع والفهم ؟ وقد قامت الباحثة بتصميم استبانة لتحديد أهم الصعوبات التي تواجه الطالبات في تعلم مهارة الاستماع,وتم عرضها على المحکمين واستخدم مقياس ليکرت الرباعي .کما استخدمت الأساليب الإحصائية الآتية ,التکرارات , المتوسطات ,الانحرافات المعيارية ,الترتيب ,النسب المئوية بالإضافة إلى ألفا کرونباخ لقياس ثبات أداة الدراسة . وکانت نتائج الدراسة کالتالي : يوجد صعوبات تواجه الطالبات تتعلق بالآتي : التقنيات التي يستخدمها المعلم في التدريس,صعوبات تتعلق بأصواتالکلمات , ,صعوبات تتعلق بمعاني الکلمات, صعوبات تتعلق بالتذکر و الانتباه صعوبات تتعلق بموضوع المحاضرة , صعوبات تتعلق باستراتيجيات التعلم , صعوبات تتعلق بالنص المسموع ,صعوبات تتعلق بأنشطة الاستماع ,صعوبات تتعلق بالمستمع , صعوبات تتعلق بالبيئة المحيطة بالمستمع,صعوبات تتعلق بالجانب الانفعالي والنفسي للمستمع.وقد توصلت الدراسة إلى التوصيات التالية ينبغي إيلاء الاهتمامبتدريس الاستماع وليس باختباره فقط المزيد من الاهتمام ينبغي أن يکرس لتطوير مهارات الاستماع,ينبغي توفير بيئة مناسبة للطلاب من قبل المعلم ,التأکيد على أهمية استخدام الوسائل التعليمية الحديثة کالکمبيوتر والفيديو ,ضرورة استخدام اللغة الانجليزية کلغة الحوار والتقليل من اللغة العربية مما يعزز اللغة لدى الطلاب , أهمية استخدام العديد من الأنشطة من قبل المعلم للمساهمة في تنمية المهارة کما ينبغي أن تکون ذات صلة باحتياجات الطلاب واهتماماتهم ,تزويد المعلمين بشکل دوري بأحدث الاستراتيجيات والتقنيات المتبعة في التدريس. The present study aims at investigating listening Comprehension skill difficulties as perceived by 1st Year EFL Female Students at Arar College of Education .Subjects of the study consisted of 96 1st year EFL students at Arar College of Education .The problem of the study is stated in the question: What are the difficulties of Listening Comprehension as perceived by 1st year female students at Arar College of Education ?A questionnaire is built to identify listening skill difficulties encounter 1st year students, and Likert four point scale is employed. The following statistical Methods are used, frequencies , percentages, Arithmetic means ,standard deviations, and Alpha Cronbach .Results show that there are difficulties related to the following , teacher's techniques of teaching in teaching Listening skill , English sound system, English words meaning, memory and attention, topic of the lecture , learner's strategies of learning, the listened text, tasks & activities of listening, listener, the environment surrounding the listener, and the emotional and psychological side of the listener .The recommendations of this study included the need to pay more attention to teaching listening, not to testing it, More attention should be devoted to develop listening comprehension skills. Teachers should adopt and select listening activities and techniques relevant to the students needs and characteristics.