An Analysis of English Pronunciation ErrorsMade by Taiwanese Junior College and College Students
田志偉、黃自來
E-mail: 365439@mail.dyu.edu.tw
ABSTRACT
English pronunciation teaching deals with individual sounds of English, sounds in connected speech, word and sentence stress, rhythm and intonation. These components are usually divided into two groups: (1) the segmental features of pronunciation (individual sounds and sound combination) and (2) the suprasegmental features (stress, rhythm and intonation). The major purpose of this study was to examine the pronunciation errors made by EFL college students in Taiwan. Three instruments employed were the self-designed diagnostic pronunciation test, the questionnaire, and the individual interview. The sample consisted sixty college students enrolling in the English programs at two colleges; one is a junior college and the other, a university. They were randomly selected. The statistical analysis of the data collected yielded the following findings. The students had trouble with: 1. Consonants and vowels which are absent in Mandarin Chinese. 2. Long vowels in the closed syllable of a word. 3. Longer consonant clusters that do not occur in Mandarin Chinese. 4. The stress, rhythm, pitch and intonation patterns that are completely different from those of Mandarin Chinese. 5. Segmental features that are neglected by EFL teachers in the classroom. 6. The suprasegmental features that have less emphasized in the classroom. The social factors contributing to the students’ success in pronunciation include: (a) frequent contact with native speakers, (b) positive attitude toward pronunciation learning, (c) teachers acting as scaffolders for students, and (d) the self-access learning center provided. The findings support the principle of the contrastive analysis, error analysis and crosslinguistic transfer of language and cognition that description of areas of difference can be used to predict areas of difficulty for EFL learners. Many valuable insights have been achieved from the study. Hopefully, the findings would be of value to EFL teachers and material developers who would like to improve the communicative skills of their students.
Keywords : English pronunciation errors、causes of pronunciation errors、English pronunciation teaching Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS COVER PAGE ENGLISH SIGNATURE PAGE SIGNATURE PAGE ENGLISH ABSTRACT……
………iv CHINESE ABSTRACT………
……...vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……….viii TABLE OF CONTENTS…...……
………...….…..ix LIST OF FIGURES……….………
…...xiii LIST OF TABLES……….………..………...xiv CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION
……….…...……..……1 1.1 Background and Motivation……….………
…...1 1.2 Significance and Purpose of the Study………...3 1.3 Research Questions………
………...………....4 1.4 Organization of the Study………...……….……..
…5 1.5 Definition of Key Terms………...………....6 1.5.1 EFL………...…
………..……….6 1.5.2 CLT………...……….…..….…6 1.5.3 Washback Effect………...………....…7 1.5.4 Language Transfer………...…
………...…7 1.5.5 Interlanguage……….………..…..…..…8 1.5.6 Interlanguage Errors………...………...…8 1.5.7 Interlingual Errors………..
………..……9 1.5.8 Intralingual Errors………...……….………9 1.5.9 Developmental Errors……
………...………..….……9 CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW………..…
…11 2.1 History of English Pronunciation Teaching………...…..…….…..11 2.1.1 Grammar Translation Method…
………..…...…11 2.1.2 Audiolingual Approach………..……12 2.1.3 The Cognitive Approach………....12 2.1.4 The Communicative Approach…………
………...…...…13 2.2 Factors on the Pronunciation Acquisition………...………14 2.2.1 Age………...…14 2.2.2 Exposure to the Target Language………
………..…….…15 2.2.3 Attitude and Motivation………...………..15 2.2.4 Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis………...………..…...…16 2.2.5 Error Analysis……….
…………16 2.2.6 Interlanguage Hypothesis………...……17 2.2.7 Information Processing Theory
……….…...……..…17 2.3 New Directions in Pronunciation Study………..…18 2.3.1 Punctuation and Intonation……….……18 2.3.2 Chunking in Comprehension and
Production………20 CHAPTER III. AMERICAN ENGLISH SOUND SYSTEMS………21 3.1 American English Vowels……….……21 3.2 American English Consonants………
……….…….……22 3.3 Allophones of Segmental Phonemes………..…………24 3.4 English Syllabic Structure……….…………26 3.5 Stress………
……….………26 3.6 Rhythm……….………27 3.7 Pause
………...………28 3.8 Intonation………
………..………29 3.9 Conclusion………....…………30 CHAPTER IV.
METHODOLOGY……….…..………31 4.1 Design of the Study………
………...…………..31 4.2 Participants………..…31 4.3 Instruments……
………..………32 4.3.1Questionnaire………
……….……….32 4.3.2 Diagnostic Pronunciation Test………..………..32 4.4 Procedure………
…..……….…..33 4.5 Data Collection and Scoring………
….……..33 4.6 Data Analysis………..………...34 CHAPTER V. DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS……….……..…………35 5.1 Means of Error Rate in Pronunciation Test……….…………....………
…35 5.1.1 Means of Error Rate in Segment……….………...…………36 5.1.2 Means of Error Rate in Syllable and World……….……..…………37 5.1.3 Means of Error Rate in Phrase and Clause……..………….…..…………38 5.2 Means of Error Rate in JCS between Males and Females……..……….……..…39 5.2.1 Means of Error Rate in Segment between JCS Males and Females.………39 5.2.2 Means of Error Rate in Syllable and Word between JCS Males and Females………
………...40 5.2.3 Means of Error Rate in Phrase and Clause between JCS Males and Females………...41 5.3 Means of Error Rate between Males and Females in CS………42 5.3.1 Means of Error Rate in Segment between CS Males and Females...………42 5.3.2 Means of Error Rate in Syllable and Word between CS Males and Females………
…...43 5.3.3 Means of Error Rate in Phrase and Clause between CS Males and Females………
………...44 5.3.4 Grades between JCS and CS Students………...…45 5.3.5 Grades between Male and Female Students………..45 5.3.6 Introvert and Extrovert Students’ Independent Sample T Test with Errors………..45 5.4 Responses of the Questionnaire
………..……46 5.4.1 Participants’ Gender………...
…47 5.4.2 Participants’ Personality……….48 5.4.3 Participants’ English Certificates……
………...49 5.5 Questionnaire ……….51 5.5.1 JCS’ Learning Background………51 5.5.2 CS’ Learning Background………
………..……53 5.6 Individual Interviews………...……54 5.7 Conclusion…
………...56 CHAPTER VI. DISCUSSION AND RESULTS………
………60 6.1 Keys to Research Questions……….60 6.2 Pedagogical
Implications………..64 6.3 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Studies…………
………66 6.3.1 Limitations……….66 6.3.2 Suggestions for Further Study………...…….66 6.4 Conclusion………
…..67 References………..………..……….…...69 Appendix A Questionnaire (Chinese version).………..74 Appendix B Questionnaire (English version).……….……...76 Appendix C Diagnostic Pronunciation Test Sample…………..…...….…..…….78 Appendix D Basic Phonological System of Mandarin Chinese…………..…….80 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 English Vowels……….………….………
…...……...22 Figure 2 English Consonants………...……..………...……….23 Figure 3 JCS’ Learning Background…...……….…….51 Figure 4 CS’ Learning Background…………....………
……….….53 LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Means of Error Rate in Segment……….….36 Table 2 Means of Error Rate in Syllable and Word………..….37 Table 3 Means of Error Rate in Phrase and Clause…
………..….38 Table 4 Means of Error Rate in Segment between JCS Males and Females…...….39 Table 5 Means of Error Rate in Syllable and Word between JCS Males and Females ………
………...40 Table 6 Means of Error Rate in Phrase and Clause between JCS Males and Females ………
………...41 Table 7 Means of Error Rate in Segment between CS Males and Females……….42 Table 8 Means of Error Rate in Syllable and Word between CS Males and Females ………
………...43 Table 9 Means of Error Rate in Phrase and Clause between CS Males and Females ………...44 Table 10 Independent Sample
T Test of Scores between JCS and CS Students……45 Table 11 Independent Sample T Test of Scores between Male and Female Students ………...45 Table 12 Introvert and Extrovert Students’ Independent Sample T Test with Errors ………
…46 Table 13 Participants’ Gender……….………..47 Table 14 Participants’ Personality…
……….…………48 Table 15 Participants’ English Certificates………...
…49 Table 16 JCS’ Learning Background by Male and Female………...………52 Table 17 CS’ Learning Background by Male and Female………53 Table 18 Mandarin Simple Vowels………...…….
…80 Table 19 Mandarin Consonants………81 REFERENCES
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