Download - PRONUNCIATION DIFFICULTIES ANALYSIS - A CASE STUDY.pdf

8/10/2019 PRONUNCIATION DIFFICULTIES ANALYSIS - A CASE STUDY.pdf

1/9

2005 4

28 2

CELEA Journal Bimonthly

Apr2005

Vol28 No2

PRONUNCIATION DIFFICULTIES ANALYSIS A CASE STUDY

USING NATIVE LANGUAGE LINGUISTIC BACKGROUND

TO UNDERSTAND A CHINESE ENGLISH LEARNER

S

PRONUNCIATION PROBLEMS

Gao L

ili

Wuhan University

Abstract

The present researcha case studyanalyzes the

pronunciation problems encountered b y a Chinese

learner of English on the assu m ption that these

pronunciation errors were systematicand notrandomly made and that these errors reflect

interference fro m the different sound systems

differentrules of co m bining soundsinto w ordsand

different prosodic patterns of the learner

s native

language Data were collected over a prolonged

period of time twelve weeksw hen the present

researcher acted as the subject

s pronunciation tutor

forher International Teaching Assistant Oral Fluency

in the Intensive English Program of West Virginia

University Following the Contrastive Analysis

Hypothesispotential pronunciation difficulties for

the subject were listed by co mparing the English

soundsyste m to that of ChineseSpeech sam ples of

the subject

s pronunciation were taken through oral

readings and spontaneous speechboth recorded

m onthly By using Error Analysisthe subject

s

pronunciation difficulties were diagnosed into seven

typesand threecategories wereused toanalyze these

errors on the basis of her native language linguistic

backgroundThese analyses help to establish a clear

understanding of some characteristic pronunciation

problems the subject has had w hich im pede her

co m prehensibility and oral fluency

IIntroduction

The role of the native language

s NL

influences on thetarget language TLhas been a

controversial topicS o m e scholars have claim ed

that NLinterference isthe m ost im portantfactor

in second language acquisition SLAand mistakes

m ade by L2 learners can be attributed to their

NLsIt is significantto co m pare the structure of

one

s NL with the structure of the TL w hich is

know n as Contrastive AnalysisCAin the L2

pedagogyS o m e scholars have argued that NL

interference is not an im portant factor in SLA

and that learners

difficulties indicate their stage

of language learning and acquisition Error-

m aking is acreative construction process cited

in Odlin1989viiiand anevidence of the

learner

s strategyTono1999w h en building

their co m petence in the TLAs a resultanother

partof L2 pedagogy has been developedw hich is

know n as Error Analysis EAIn recentyearsa

more balanced view on the significance of NL

interference has been acceptedbut interference

fro m NLis still consideredto interact witha hostof otherfactors Odlin 1989viii

The present research is to investigate the

characteristic pronunciation difficulties

encountered by a Chinese learner of English

according to CA and EA to d e m onstrate these

problemsas evidence ofcross-linguistic differences

67


2/9


3/9


4/9

vowels and consonantssubstitutions of one vowel

consonant for anotherproblems with co m bining

sounds into w ords eg with obtrusive vowel

insertion omission of endings and contractions

failure in pronouncing consonant clustersand

problems with prosodic patterns egim proper

application of w ord andsentence stressmisuse oflinking and pausingwrong intonation at the end

of asentence

1Errors were m ade duetothefact that some

of these English sounds do not exist in the Chinese

sound system and due to transference fro m the

Chinese sound system

Exa m ple1In Zhang Ya

s DP recordings

she had pronouncedthink aboutassink about

three tim esShe substituted a voiceless alveolar

fricativesforthe voiceless interdentalfricative

- w hich doesn

t exist in ChineseThe extre m e

difficulty in this sound for heris wellshow n in a

conversation at the end of o ne of the tutoring

programs

ZhangZhSank you for your time and

help

TutorTWhatSankyou or thankyou

Zh OhI a m sorry tapping her headSank you Sank you

Hereshe even can

t hear the distinction

between sand -Not untilthe very end of the

tutoring progra m did Zhang Ya develop a correct

m anner ofarticulatingthetw o sounds

Exa m ple2For the words including a

voiced labiodental fricative vin activities

private and advantage Zhang Ya

s

pronunciations sounded like actiwitiespriwateandadwantageHer confusion about

vand wwas especially extre m e w hen these

tw o sounds happen to be at the beginning of

wordsForinstanceshe saidwestforvest

weryfor verywariousfor various

wisitforvisit

Exa m ple3Zhang Ya had pronounced the

word m annertwice as

m

-

n

-in her DP

recordings When the tutor pointed out the

contrast between -and and told her to

exaggeratethe dropping ofthejaw with she

responded very slowlysaying WellI might

not pronounce this ugly sound well all m y lifeItis

too hard for me to talk in the public with m y

m outh open so wideZhang Septe m ber 2002

Her substitution of -for could also be

found in casualca m pusco m patible

languageactivityandcasually

Exa m ple4In the second sentence of the

DP Zhang Ya readWhere should he live as

Where should he leave Similar difficulties due

to her failure in the distinction between tensevowelsiand lax vowels icould be found in

one of her SSSs

T How areyou today

ZhNotvery wellIhavebeensuffering fro m

a slippingproblem

T Offering her crackers on the table

Would you like so me

Zhputting one cracker into her m outh

Mm m it tests really good

Exa m ple5

T How

syou sleepingIs itbetter

ZhNot reallyI did some weading on bed

white rightafter I wakewokeup at

three o

clock

In the above conversation Zhang Ya

s

pronounced readingrightas weading

w hiteby substituting the semi-vowel wfor

the retroflex r When asked to describe her

family SeeInterview Question 3 Appendixshe

had m entioned the sm allwed m ud wiver red

m ud riverin front of her houseseveral tim es

2Errors were m adedue torulesof co m bining

letters into sound and soundsinto words different

in English fro m that in Chinese

Exa m ple6

T The wordcasualis unfamiliar to you

How do you pronounce itas

k sul

ZhIspell ituh m mfro m theform of

the spelling For new wordsI just

pronounce every letter of the word

follow the spellingyou see like our

Pinyin

Zhang Ya

s similar pronunciation error had

also occurred twice w hen she read sitju

ei

--

nas

situ

ei

--

nWhenever she m et with pronunciation

difficulty due to the discrepancy between English

spellings and sounds shejust pronounce every

letter of the wordfollow the spellingIn

other wordshe unconsciously borrowed the

Chineserules of co m bining sounds into w ords into

English

97

CELEA Journal

60


5/9


6/9


7/9


8/9


9/9