Teaching English Pronunciation Skills to the Asian Learner. A Cultural Complexity or Subsumed Piece of Cake?

Article Title

Teaching English Pronunciation Skills to the Asian Learner. A Cultural Complexity or Subsumed Piece of Cake?

Author

Paul Robertson

Bio Data

About the author - Paul Robertson received his Ph.D in 2002. He has lived in Korea since 1997

Introduction:

For the last two decades academics and publishers have propounded theories on pronunciation acquisition and on pronunciation training. For the greater part, they have paid lip service to the critical issue underlying both the aforementioned, namely the culture behind the target of the pronunciation theory. With a broad sweep, all L2 learners were grouped as though there were no differences that could possibly affect the learner. Politzer and McGroarty's 1985 survey, fleetingly cited by Ellis (1996:559) notes the early suggestion that cultural differences are important. Carmichael (2001) identifies the issues that immediately precede the role of pronunciation teaching, whilst Robertson (2002a, 2002b) examines the Korean learner's characteristics and the impact of Confucianism on the Korean learners learning style. Otlowski (1998) leads the future in Asian pronunciation teaching by arguing for pronunciation programs to be included in all L2 students training, and further believes there is optimism for success in the outcomes of such programs.

Yet Dash (2002) researched and analyzed the Korean classroom and found that an English Only policy was seriously flawed. Thus we have a chasm between what some believe is the academically ideal way to proceed in any pronunciation program, and those who consider clearly identifying cultural peculiarities within the target (Asian learning zone) leads to identification of alternate approaches in delivery of pronunciation programs in Asia. However, despite propounding the inclusion of pronunciation programs, (Otlowski, 1998, Kenworthy, 1996) the method of delivery is thrown into doubt by Dash's (2002) findings. This paper will submit, {i} based upon the evidence to date, that pronunciation programs in Asia must and can be delivered successfully by native speakers of English irrespective of their varying levels of educational background. This view is supported by Kenworthy (1996:69) whilst Fromkin and Rodman (1998:349) extend the category to those with near native speech. Secondly, {ii} that the mode of delivery of a pronunciation program must relate to that particular countries culture so as to complement, and not offend, cultural complexities.

Otlowski (2001) notes the oft cited view that little relationship exists between teaching pronunciation in the classroom and attained proficiency in pronunciation, which was supported by research done by Suter (1976, 233) and Suter & Purcell (1980, 286). They concluded that pronunciation practice in class had little effect on the learner's pronunciation skills and moreover, 'that the attainment of accurate pronunciation in a second language is a matter substantially beyond the control of the educators,' Suter & Purcell (1980, 286). The findings were subject to the caveat (as also noted throughout literature in numerous places) that variables

Critique of Kazuya Saito in “The Influence of Explicit Phonetic Instruction on Pronunciation in EFL Settings: The Case of English Vowels and Japanese Learners of English”

by: Tony Anggadha

In his article entitled “The Influence of Explicit Phonetic Instruction on Pronunciation in EFL Settings: The Case of English Vowels and Japanese Learners of English” Kazuya Saito stated that Japanese learners have difficulty in learning English pronunciations, especially in segmental phonology. This is because Japanese learners have to learn many phonemes that do not exist in Japanese but do exist in English. Experiments are made to solve this problem, and the result demonstrated that explicit phonetic instructions enhance learners’ pronunciation of the target language. This result is true and can be accepted. Moreover, most researchers agree that teaching phonetic is more effective through explicit instructions.

Kazuya said that it is important to give attention to pronunciation teaching in English education. He explains two difficulties in teaching pronunciation. First, the class cannot always have native speakers of English as teachers. Second, since teachers are usually non-native speakers of English, they might not be confident, or still not competent enough, to be able to provide students feedback that is very crucial to successful pronunciation teaching. This study emphasizes how explicit phonetic instruction can improve pronunciation teaching in Japan and presents a research-based experiment that provides tangible results in which Japanese learners of English improve their speech production greatly. In addition, this study explores the capabilities of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) in order to make pronunciation teaching more explicit. Ultimately, the present study aims to make a valuable contribution to the field of TEFL, particularly for Japanese learners of English. The pedagogical idea describe in this study may be advanced to other EFL contexts in Asian countries which are similar to that of Japan.

If we see from the subject matter, the research is important to discuss. As Kazuya quoted form Wei, this subject is necessary to discuss because although English has become more disseminated globally the importance of pedagogies for English has increased, pronunciation teaching is still not given enough attention, especially in English education in Asian countries. So, this article is really helps for the development of pronunciation teaching.

Based on my experience, I agree that the differences in phonemes can cause difficulties in learning others language. For instance, when I try to spell ”teuing”, a sundanese word, it is hard for me to spell /eu/ (I do not know what is the correct symbol), because I don not have that phoneme in my daily talk/conversation. I face the same problem when I spell /æ/, because this phoneme does not exist in Indonesian. This result of the study shows that Japanese learners of English have difficulties in spelling phonemes whose phonemic inventories differ considerably from that of English. It is no surprise that they have difficulties in pronouncing English due to the fact that English has many phones that do not exist in Japanese. In fact, Tsujimura notes the segmental differences between English and Japanese both in vowels (English: 12, Japanese: 5) and consonants (English: 24, Japanese: 14). According to Ohata (2004), many Japanese learners of English have difficulties pronouncing certain sounds that don’t exist in Japanese but do in English.

In my point of view, the learners usually change the phonemes which “strange” for them with the closest phoneme of their mother tongue. This opinion is based on Fledge’s study. His inventions states that second language learners usually substitute the closest first language phones for similar ones.

As the conclusion, it is common for English learners have difficulties in learning pronunciation, especially segmental phonemes which do not exist in their first language. As the result, the learners will search for the closest phoneme for the second language phoneme and replace the phoneme.

Chinese Learners and English Plural Forms

       I.            INTRODUCTION

This study is written by Liu Jing, Dr. Evie Tindall and Dr.Deanna Nisbet. Liu Jing is a doctoral fellow in the School of Education at Regent University. She was an assistant professor at Henan University in China. Her present research interests include second language acquisition, learner autonomy in language learning, and technology in language learning. Dr. Evie Tindall is an associate professor who teaches in the TESOL program in the School of Education at Regent University. She is interested in reading and language arts, special populations, and teacher collaboration. She has extensive experience as a teacher, consultant, and conference speaker. Dr. Deanna Nisbet is an assistant professor and director of the TESOL program in the School of Education at Regent University. She has taught at the community college more than 15 years, undergraduate and graduate levels. She worked in the fields of human resource development and marketing. Her areas of expertise include first and second language acquisition and literacy for second language learners.

This study was published in November 2006 by Linguistic Asian EFL journal. It aims to explore the phenomenon of Chinese student who have difficulty with the use of plural forms in English by examining features of Chinese and English that may affect plural formation, highlighting specific areas of challenge for Chinese learners, and presenting an array of recommended instructional resources.

    II.            CONTENT

Learning is influenced by students’ prior knowledge (Brown, 2000). Language transfer, or the incorporation of patterns from the native language into the target language, is a common source of errors among learners of a second or foreign language (Brown, 2000; Lightbown & Spada, 1999). Language transfer often plays a significant role (Lightbown & Spada, 1999).

Jia (2003) reported that one area where language transfer is particularly prevalent among Chinese learners is the formation of English plurals. Grammatically, Chinese is not as complex as English in that it possesses little of what is traditionally known in European languages as inflectional morphology (Norman, 1988). Instead, as Norman further indicates, word order, particles, and prepositions carry most of the grammatical roles in Chinese. In contrast, English is an inflectional language, in which prefixes or suffixes play a significant grammatical role (Fromkin & Rodman, 1998).

·         Aspects of the Chinese Language that Affect the Formation of Plurals in English

According to Chen (1999) Writing system is the earliest reliable records of Chinese date back more than 3000 years ago in the form of oracle bone script. In other words, written Chinese is ideographic, consisting of an individual character or ideogram for every syllable, with each character representing an object or idea rather than a sound. English. Morphological and syntactic structure. English is classified as an Indo-European language, whereas Chinese is of the Sino Tibetan family (Fromkin & Rodman, 1998). Additionally, Chinese grammar is less morphologically complex than English grammar (Li & Thompson, 1981). Chinese characters are invariable in structure and allow no internal changes (Ho, 1997). Thus, grammatical functions and word meaning cannot be indicated through inflectional or derivational changes as in English. Instead, Chinese uses word order or functional words to realize grammatical roles.

In sum, two aspects of the Chinese language that are pertinent to the formation of English plurals are the ideographic writing system and the morphological and syntactic structure of the language. These aspects are markedly different from those of English. Understandably, when Chinese students grapple with the incongruence in these two linguistic systems, problems can arise. Specifically, the use of plural forms presents challenges to many Chinese students learning English

·         Plural Forms in Chinese and English

Chinese plural forms. The Chinese language does not use inflections to realize grammatical functions. Rather, Chinese is highly contextual. For this reason, the formation of plurals involves a certain degree of ambiguity. However, plurals can be formed in two other ways. First, the use of a numeral or a determiner in front of a noun denotes the plural meaning. Second, the addition of the morpheme -men to certain types of words can also indicate the formation of a plural. English plural forms. English addresses plural forms in a number of ways. English is a language in which inflectional morphemes are used to show grammatical relationships (Klammer, Schulz, & Volpe, 2004). English plurals can be formed through (a) the addition of the morpheme –s or –es, (b) the changing of one or more internal vowels, (c) the use of the same form for singular and plural, and (d) the application of the rules of foreign plural nouns to English words.

·         Areas of Challenge

Omission of the morpheme -s/-es. Initially, Chinese learners of English may omit the morpheme -s/-es. To illustrate, phrases such as * three student, * five desk, and *ten apple commonly occur in the beginning and intermediate stages of learning English. Over-generalization of rules. English rules tend to be fraught with exceptions, and this is certainly the case with plural forms. To illustrate, students may use gooses instead of geese, or deers in place of deer. Most English teachers recognize the omission of the morpheme -s/-es and the over-generalization of rules as areas of difficulty faced by many beginning and intermediate students in regard to the use of plural forms. Count and non-count nouns. Simply put, count nouns are those that can be enumerated or counted. Examples include desk, tree, and chair. In a broad sense, the terms count and non-count nouns are conceptualized in the same way in English and Chinese.

·         Recommended Instructional Practices

Many Chinese learners encounter challenges in regard to the formation of English plurals. The following instructional recommendations are a compilation of (a) the results of a survey of instructional practices of experienced ESL/EFL teachers who work closely with Chinese students; (b) literature on second language acquisition, learner autonomy, and teaching methodology for English language learners; and (c) the personal and professional experience of one of the authors as an English language learner and scholar.

1.      Teach key differences in forming plurals between Chinese and English.

To assist Chinese students with the task of mastering English plurals, teachers can acquaint them with information regarding major differences between the way plurals are formed in the two languages. In doing this, teachers should begin with what students know about their native language and then address the differences in plural formation in English.

2. Teach English rules for plural formation.

Another recommendation for teaching plural rules is to categorize words according to the different rules. Finally, the use of a graphic organizer of commonly-known English plural rules can enhance learning and retention.

3. Teach the commonalities and the distinct differences between Chinese and English regarding count and non-count nouns.

Teachers can begin by introducing count and non-count nouns when they present vocabulary. These strategies include (a) the “known to unknown” instructional sequence, (b) the categorizing strategy, (c) practice employing all the language modes, and (d) a graphic organizer (see Table3).

4. Teach students language learning strategies with an emphasis on learning vocabulary.

. These strategies include doing vocabulary exercises, making associations, guessing, using context clues, classifying, memorizing, and consulting a dictionary.

5. Teach students to use a variety of resources when encountering unknown or confusing plural forms. The following three instructional resources are recommended: (a) the self-questioning strategy, (b) the dictionary, and (c) informational technology. To begin, teachers can directly teach the use of the self-questioning strategy. Specifically, this strategy provides students with a systematic problem-solving process to use when encountering unknown or confusing plurals. The self-questioning strategy includes the following three steps.

A second instructional resource for learning about English plural forms is the dictionary. Teachers should focus on teaching students how to be strategic in their use of this resource.

Informational technology is a third instructional resource. This resource provides an abundant array of information for students. Learners can also take advantage of word processing tools on a computer. Specifically, attending to writing on a computer screen supports learning about correct English plural forms. Finally, using the spelling and grammar check at the end of any writing assignment is another means of addressing and correcting problems with plural forms.

6. Teach students to develop their own resources.

Efficient English learners try not to make the same mistake twice. Teachers can encourage students to self-monitor their use of plural forms and record, correct, and categorize their own errors. By doing this, students create their own tailor-made resources. In order to monitor their progress, students should type all the sentences with the errors and categorize the errors in a word document. Students can highlight the corrected area(s), and then at the end of the sentence, put a comment or two in parentheses regarding the error(s).

 III.            CONCLUSION

Prior knowledge of Chinese language patterns may notably influence Chinese learners’ acquisition of English. Language transfer, or the incorporation of forms from the native language into the target language, is one major source of errors among learners of a second or foreign language. One area where language transfer is particularly prevalent among Chinese learners is the formation of English plurals.

 IV.            COMMENT

In my opinion this study is quite good. Beside explore the phenomenon that happen in Chinese learners this study also  provides an overview of the linguistic features of Chinese and English that may affect formation of English plural forms and pinpoints three major sources of difficulty for many Chinese students. In this study the writers have recommended a number of instructional practices which are very crucial to be understood by the teacher. The practices which writers recommended can be used  to develop independent language learners. Specifically, teachers can use the foundational information and the five instructional practices presented in this article to equip Chinese learners to be strategic and resourceful as they address the challenges of English plural forms.

Spoonerisms

The word spoonerism comes from William Archibald Spooner who was famous for making these verbal slips.
Spoonerisms are words or phrases in which letters or syllables get swapped. This often might be happens  in slips of the tongue.
These are some of my collections;

1. Tease my ears (Ease my tears)
2. A lack of pies (A pack of lies)
3. It's roaring with pain (It's pouring with rain)
4. Wave the sails (Save the whales)
5. Chipping the flannel
6. At the lead of spite
7. Hiss and lear
8. Go and shake a tower
9. tips of the slung
10. Prinderella and the Cince
11. Beeping Sleauty
12. The Pea Little Thrigs
13. Goldybear and the Three Locks
14. Ali Theeva and the Forty Babs
15. Cat flap
16. Bad salad
17. Soap in your hole
18. Mean as custard
19. Plaster man
20. Pleating and humming
21. Trim your snow tail
22. Birthington's washday
23. Trail snacks
24. Bottle in front of me
25. Sale of two titties
26. Rental Deceptionist
27. Flock of bats
28. Chewing the doors

COMPLEXS WORD STRESS

1.      COMPLEX WORDS

The words that were described were called “simple”, word;  “simple”  in this context means, “not composed of more than one grammatical unit “ , so that, for example, the word ‘care’ is simple while ‘careful’ and ‘careless’  are complex; ‘carefully’ and ‘carelessness’ are also complex, and composed of three grammatical units each.

Complex word are of two major types: words made from a basic steam word with the addition of an affix, and compound words, which are made of two independent English words (i.e. ‘ice-cream’, armchair’,) Affix words.

Affixes are of two sorts in English.

v  Prefixes

Which come before the stem (e.g. Prefix ‘un-’+stem ‘pleasant’, = ‘unpleasant’)                    

v  Suffixes

Which come after the stem (e.g. stem ‘good’ + suffix ‘-ness’ = ‘goodness’)

Affixes will have one of three possible effects on word stress:

The affix itself receivers the primary stress (e.g. ‘semi + circle’, ‘s3:k!’= semicircle, ‘semIs3:k!’).

The word is stressed just as if the affix was not there (e.g. ‘pleasant’ ‘Pleznt, unpleasant’, ‘^n’Pleznt)

The stress remains on the stem, not the affix, but is  shifted to a different syllable (e.g. ‘magnet’ mǽgnat, ‘magnetic’, mǽg’netik”.

2.      SUFFIXES

A suffix is a letter pattern that is fixed to the end of a word.

We will consentrate on those which are common and productive. That is applied to a considerable number of stems and could be applied to more to make English word. The suffixes are referred to in their spelling form.

Ø  Suffixes carrying primary stress themselves

The primary stress is on the first syllable of the suffix. If the stem consists of more than on syllable there will be a secondary stress on one of the syllables of the stem.

Ex : ‘Japan’     ʤә’pӕn

The primary syllable is on the last syllable, but we add stress-carrying suffix ‘-ese’ the primary stress is on the suffix and the secondary stress is placed not on the second syllable but on the first.

Ex : ‘Japanese’ , ʤӕpә’ni:z

            ‘-ain’                : ‘ entertain’ ,entә’teɪn

            ‘-ee’                 : ‘ refugee’ ,refjʊ’ʤi:

            ‘ –ese’              : ‘ portuguese’ ,pᴐ:ʧә’gi:z

Ø  Suffixes that do not affect stress placement

‘-able’              : ‘comfort’  ‘kʌmfәt ; ‘comfortable’  ‘kʌmfɪәbl

‘-age’               : ‘anchor’  ‘ӕɳkә ; ‘anchorage’ ‘ӕɳkrɪʤ

‘-en’                 : ‘wide’  ‘waɪd’ ; ‘wide’ ‘waɪdn

‘-ful’                : ‘wonder’ ‘wʌndә ; ‘wonderful’  ‘wʌndәfl

‘-ing’                : ‘amaze’  ә’meɪz ; ‘amazing’ ә’meɪzɪɳ

‘-ish’                : ‘devil’  ‘devl ; ‘devilish’ ‘devlɪʃ

This is the rule for adjectives, verbs with stems of stems of more than one syllable always have the stress on the syllable immediately preceding ‘ ish’

Ex :      ‘replenish’       ri’pleniʃ

            ‘demolish’       dɪ’molɪʃ

Ø  Suffixes that influence stress in stem

The primary stress on the last syllable of the stem.

     

      ‘-ial’                 : ‘proverb’  ‘prɒvɜ:b  ; ‘proverbial’  prә’vɜ:biәl

      ‘-ion’               : ‘perfect’   ‘pɜ:fɪkt ; ‘perfection’  pә’fekʃn

      ‘-ious’              : ‘injure’  ‘ɪnʤә ; ‘injurious’  ɪn’ʤʊәriәs

      ‘-ty’                 : ‘tranquil’  ‘trӕɳkwɪl ; ‘tranquillity’  trӕɳ’kwɪlɪti

The suffixes ‘-ance’, ‘-ant’ and ‘-ary’

If the final syllable of the stem contains a long vowel or diphthong, or if it ends with more than one consonant, that syllable receives the stress.

‘-ance’                   : ‘importance’  ɪm’pᴐ:tns

‘-ant’                      : ‘consonant’   ‘kɑnsnәnt

‘-ary’                     : ‘military’  ‘mɪlɪtri

Here is a list of commonly used suffixes. Knowing these suffixes will help you to:

(1) work out the meaning of words

• -able / -ible when added to a verb, mean ‘can be done’; e.g. correctable, edible, unmistakable
• -ise / -ize are used to make verbs from nouns, and mean to change something or to go through a process; e.g. accessorise, apologise, initialise, synchronise
• -ology implies the study of a subject; e.g. biology, sociology, psychology
• -ness is used to make nouns from adjectives, and means to be something; e.g. airsickness, assertiveness, blindness, cleanliness

(2) recognise word class

• -ment (nouns) e.g. development, environment
• -ity (nouns) e.g. responsibility, prosperity, stability, stupidity
• -hood (abstract nouns) e.g. childhood, manhood
• -ship (abstract nouns) e.g. hardship
• -ive (adjectives) e.g. creative, alternative, comprehensive, qualitative
• -less (adjectives) e.g. careless, brainless, clueless, endless
• -al (adjectives and nouns) e.g. comical, cultural, historical, sexual, anal
• -ify (verbs) e.g. amplify, beautify, clarify, dehumidify, intensify

3.      PREFIXES

Stress in words with prefixes is governed by the same rules as those for words without prefixes. That is because the effect of prefixes on stress do not have the comparative regularity, independence and predictability of suffixes, and there is no prefix of one or two syllables that always carries primary stress.

4.      COMPOUND WORDS

Its main characteristic is that it can be analyzed into two (some can be more) English words. As woth the many of the distinctions being made in connection with stress, there are areas of uncertainty. For example; ‘photograph’ may be divided into two words, yet we usually do not regard it as compound, but as an affix words.

Some ways in writing compound words;

1. Written as one word, e.g. armchair, sunflower
2. Separated by hyphen, e.g. gear-change, fruit-cake
3. Separated by a space, e.g. desk lamp, battery charger

The third way causes confusion among the foreign learners because there is no clear dividing line between two-word compounds and pairs of words that simply happen to occur together quite frequently.

A few rules are given although there are not completely reliable. They are as the following;

1.      Words which do not receive primary stress normally have secondary stress. Normally, two-word compounds (two nouns) has the stress on the first element;

Typewriter – ‘taɪpraɪtә                       Suitcase – ‘sju:tkeɪs

Car-ferry – ‘ka:feri                              tea-cup – ‘ti:kΛp

Sunrise – ‘sΛnraɪz                             

2.      Compounds with an adjectival first element and the –ed morpheme at the end receive stress instead on the second element.

(Given in spelling only)

Bad-‘tempered

Half-‘timbered

Heavy-‘handed

3.      Compounds in which the first element is a number in some form also tend to have final stress:

(Given in spelling only)

Three-‘wheeler

Second-‘class

Five-‘finger

4.      Compounds functioning as adverb are usually final-stressed;

(Given in spelling only)

Head-‘first

North-‘East

Down ‘stream

5.       Compounds which function as verbs and have an adverbial first element take stress;

(Given in spelling only)

Down-‘grade

Back-‘pedal

Ill-‘treat

5.      VARIABLE STRESS

Stress pattern is not always fixed and unchanging in English word. Stress position may vary for one of two  reason:either as a result of the stress on the other words occurring next to the word in question , or because not all speakers of RP agree on the placement of stress in some words. The main effect is that the stress on a final –stressed compound tends to move to the preceding syllable if the following word begins with a strongly stressed syllable.

EX:

 bad –’tempered     but      a ‘bad- tempered ’teacher

half-’timbered        but       a ‘half-timbered  ‘teacher

heavy-’handed       but       a ’heavy-handed ‘sentence

The second is not a serious problem, but one that foreign learners should be aware of.  A  well-known example is ‘controversy’, which is pronounced by some speakers as  ‘kantrәv3:si           ’  and by others as kәn’travәsi; it would be quite wrong to say that one version was correct and one incorrect. Other example of different possibilities are ‘ice-cream’, ‘kilometer’ (‘kIlәmi:tә or kI’lamI).

WORD-CLASS PAIRS

There are several dozen pairs of two-syllable words with identical spelling which differ from each other in stress placement, apparently according two word class (noun, verb or adjective). When a pair of prefix-plus-stem word exists ,both them of which are spelt identically, one of which is a verb and the other is the either a noun or an adjective, the stress will be placed on the second syllable of the noun or adjective.

EXAMPLE :

• ‘export ’  ‘ekspƆ:t (N), Ik’spƆ:t (V)
• ‘import’ ‘‘ImpƆ:t (N), Im’pƆ:t (V)
• ‘present’ ‘preznt (N,A), prI’zent (V)
• ‘protest’ ‘prә⋃test (N), prә’test (V)

• ‘subject’  ‘sΛbd3Ikt (N), sәb’d3ekt (V)