The Spelling Difficulties - Case Study Example

Topic: Spelling Difficulties of Saudi Students Name: Registration No.: Institution: Date of Submission: 1. Context This study has been conducted in Saudi Arabia in the Najran University with the focus on Preparatory Year Program. I have been teaching English for the second language learners. Therefore this has been triggered by my experience with Saudi students who are learning English and in the process demonstrated a number of problems with various components of language in the areas of reading, writing, pronunciation and the use of vocabulary. I realized emphasized that some components in classroom situation but do not touch on teaching. As a result I noted that learners have been forced to come up with various methods of pronunciation that have resulted into obstacles in the act of communication (Brown, 2000). Furthermore, during my teaching experience I noted that students in Saudi learning institutions have put more focus on consonant pronunciation. During the teaching experience, I discovered students were forced to apply the same knowledge obtained to graduate from secondary school and enrol into Preparatory Programs in universities such as Najran University. This study uses data collected from students to provide suggestions on methods of teaching that can ensure students do not face problems about pronunciation in English consonant sounds. This study is because Saudis USE English as a second language and are faced with overlaps because of different phonemes in both languages. In the process of trying to speak a second language, they make sounds that resemble the sounds that exist in their mother tongue. For instance, it has been observed that most Arabs pronounce words such as play as blay and sheep as cheap (Chandler, 2003). Because of this kind of pronunciation, they have been hindered to communicate amongst themselves. In addition, teaching and learning difficulties have been encountered in an effort to teach and learn English as a second language in most learning institutions. This has resulted into the need to find areas of weakness in pronunciation of English consonants so that the right strategy can be used to teach and learn English as a second language and ensure all difficulties are overcome (Ellis, 1997). At the preparatory level, it has been found that students are unable to pronounce certain words correctly. This has been contributed by vases such as the use of a voiceless bilabial plosive /p/ that does not have a counterpart in phonemic system of Arabic language, this makes it not being realized by Saudi students and they tend to replace it with a voiced counterpart /b/ that has a phonemic value in the Arabic phonemic system. 2. Problem This study has been motivated by the previous vowel blindness. This is because the previous studies were more focused on vowels but given the range in characteristics of long and short vowels in Arabic, it has been reasonable to posit that it is possible to process vowels in English differently by Arabic speakers (James, 2001). In order to understand the problem statement, a number of research questions were formulated. The research questions include the following: I. Which are the mispronounced English consonant sounds by Saudi students? II. As short vowels are mostly used Arabic orthography, is there a distinction in processing of short and long vowels of English among Arabic ESL students? III. Which are the vowel spelling errors that are not easily identified and corrected by Arabic ESL learners? Data collection will include the use of survey in which qualitative data collection method will be used. A survey will be conducted among 25 students in the Preparatory English learning stage in the Najra University by ensuring the sample includes students from different parts of Saudi Arabia. A survey will be suitable in this study because it will involve observation of the manner in which students pronounce some consonant sounds so that any difficulties they experience can be observed and commented on. Qualitative study will also be used because it will ensure the opinions of the researcher about the challenges of consonant pronunciation among learners in Saudi are expressed by the researcher. This will result into the ease of understanding consonant words that affect pronunciation of words among ESL in Saudi Arabia. It will also ensure the correct methods of controlling these diffulties are devised that ensure their communication problems are solved.in order to collect data, four words will be selected for each problematic consonant sound in the initial, media and final positions (Tamerler and Ullah 1998). Each participant will be required to read the selected words aloud and their sounds will be recorded. They will also be informed that the sounds they make will be recorded. Data analysis will involve asking English native speakers to identify sounds that are problematic to pronounce in their aural speech recordings and special attention will be paid to the specific consonants sounds within the words. The analysis and data collection will be facilitated by the use of a laptop and microphone to enable recording of the sample consonant speech sounds. 3. Literature Review A number of researches have been conducted on the mistakes committed by students during the process of learning English as a second language in the areas of phonology, morphology and syntax (Ur, 1996). In studies where focus is based on phonology, it has been found that learners experience difficulties in pronouncing English initial consonant clusters that have three members and the last consonant clusters containing four members. The main processes that have been shown to be involved in pronunciation are reduction, substitution and deletion. The mentioned affects the spelling proficiency among learners. Various researches have been conducted on error analysis and English spelling. The main focus of this study is to analyse spelling errors that major in English at the Najran University in Saudi Arabia. The theories of error analysis have mainly focused on comparison of processes and strategies of second language to those of first language acquisition (Brown, 2004). It focuses on finding what is going on in the minds of learners as well as decoding strategies used by learners to generalize and simplify consonants. Studies conducted on phonological errors have shown that these errors are related to stress and intonation (Corder, 1973). Studies conducted on English phonotactics to find pronunciation problems in English as a second language has shown that when a person speaks a second language, it is characterised with declusterization processes. Interlanguage has been considered as a process of compensating for ignorance. In other words, it implies a language that results from the second language and leaners of foreign language that are learning a new language. 3.1. Common learning difficulties faced by Arab English learners Few studies explain difficulties faced by Arabic speakers during English learning pronunciation. Most studies have focused on grammatical, lexical and spelling errors. Researchers who have attempted to analyse difficulties experienced by Arabic speakers during English learning by conducting studies on 13-year-old learners (James, 2001). This has been achieved by collecting and analysing data from students participants in different locations and conditions. The subjects have focused on a number of English courses such as writing, reading, conversations, the use of grammar and phonetics. With regards to consonants, it has been found that participants experience problems with a pair of consonant sounds such as ‘van’ and ‘fan’ and consonant clusters such as ‘grandfather’ which is pronounced as ‘grandifather’. Therefore, the element of constant is one of the problems that learners experience in English spelling (Swan & Smith, 2001). Furthermore, the main consonants that have been found to be problematic for Arab English learners include /p/, /v/, /r/, and /l/. Because of few studies in this area, it is believed that there is still much to be done. On the pronunciation difficulties faced by English learners of Arabic origin and it has been found that Arabic speakers experience difficulties with consonant clusters such as ‘espy’ for ‘spy’. This study will be relevant in the current study in explaining whether Saudi Arabia students face the same problem. Wachowicz & Scott (1999) conducted a study on phonological transfer from Arabic to English with the focus on vowel transfer and consonant clusters. They conducted an analysis on interlingua identifications of epenthesis produced by Arabic learners during the lessons in English as a second language (Wachowicz & Scott, 1999). Therefore the element of consonant transfers is important in determining the spelling difficulties experienced by Saudi Arabia learners and the possible solution for the same. The objective of this study is to identify and analyse consonants that are problematic for English speakers of Arabic origin. 3.2. Influence of Mother Tongue in pronunciation acquisition Divergence of opinions has been seen about the existence of a period of second language acquisition. It has been emphasized that languages learnt differently y children and adults has an impact on development of the brain (Brown, 2000). It has also been claimed that a number of adults are able to achieve native-like pronunciation and the extent of pronunciation is based on an individual characteristics. The fact that variability exists among adult learners shows that it is possible to make use of ESL classroom situations to improve the capability of students to pronounce certain words. This is suggested to be overcome by first identifying the origins of the errors. Those who speak English as their first language have been able to identify Spanish accents, Arabic accents and German accents (Chandler, 2003). This implies that the sound pattern of the first language has an impact on the second language. This results into the conclusion that the native language of the learner determines the nature of foreign accent. In each language, there are inventory phonemes, different rules pertaining to combination of these phonemes into words and a range of stress intonation patterns. Students may also experience difficulties during hearing sounds that they are not aware of in their native language. This is because native language has an impact on the ability to hear English sounds. For instance, teachers have attempted to help students overcome the problem of misspelling by making them repeat the misspelt words. This implies that learners hear the second language through the filter of the native language (Ellis, 1997). It may also seem as if students are unwilling to correct themselves, but actually hearing the word through the sound systems of their mother tongue. Consequently, sounds that are commonly used by learners in their native language are used in pronouncing words rather than the sounds of English produced by the teacher. This theory is referred to as the theory of contrastive analysis and provides an explanation for language errors for English learners as a second language. There has also been a general agreement among scholars that native language contributes significantly towards second language acquisition. They explain that an individual’s past experience of his or her first language plays a significant role in acquisition of the second language, particularly if the language is acquired during puberty (James, 2001). Those who acquire a second language in adulthood develop phonological systems that apply their mother tongue in pronunciation of the second language. This can be used to explain the reason why most Saudi Arabian students have difficulties in speaking English in learning institutions because most of them speak Arabic as their first language. This is an illustration that the theory of contrastive analysis hold true for ESL learners in most learning institutions in Saudi Arabia. 4. Evaluation of strengths and weaknesses of alternative Research Perspectives There are a number of alternative research perspectives that have been used to address the problem of pronunciation among students in Arabian learning institutions who learn English as a second language. An example of alternative research perspective is the qualitative research. The strength of this research perspective with respect to understanding the spelling problems of Arabic learners of English as a second language is that it involves the use of narrative explanation of events rather than giving the outcome of the topic under study (Swan, & Smith, 2001). Thus, through explanation, it is possible to understand the contributing factors to misspelling problems of Arabic students who learn English as a second language. Another strength of this research perspective is that it results into an increase in individual understanding of others through in-depth analysis and ensures the reality is explained and understood. This ensures the condition of misspelling English words when speaking in English is easily understood compared to the use of other research perspectives. In addition, through this perspective, it is possible to collect information in naturalistic condition and a proper explanation is provided on why a phenomenon occurs. However, the weakness of this research perspective is that it does not look into the educational system as being problematic but as institutions that attempt to be explored so that a definition of problems can be reached. It also involves ethnocentricity and results into production of information in a reflexive manner. Another limitation of this research perspective is that it focuses on content and narrative reports that contain too much fluff that does not provide enough evidence (Tamerler and Ullah 1998). Thus, in the process of using qualitative research to understand pronunciation problems among Arab English learners, there is the possibility that the researcher can too much narrative and no supporting explanation which affects the reliability of the evidence. In addition, this perspective of research focuses on a small part of the population and cannot include a broader range of information in its process of analysing information. Finally, this perspective has the weakness of contributing to distorted evidence as a result of personal opinions rather than the exact findings from the study (Ur, 1996). Thus, in the process of using qualitative research to explain the problem of misspelling among Arab students in English classes, there is the possibility that the researcher can use personal opinions that affect the outcome of the findings. Another research perspective is the use of quantitative research. An example of the strength of this research perspective is that it ensures the researcher has no capacity to influence its outcome. For instance, in the process of understanding misspelling weaknesses among Arabic students in English classes, the responses from the research cannot be affected by outside researchers (Corder, 1973). Another strenghth of this research perspective is that it contributes significantly towards published data and due to its ubiquity, rules, processes, regulations and designs, the researcher is guided to find the exact information that enable clarification of the research problem. Thus, in the process of trying to understand the contributing factors to misspelling of English words by Arabic students, this research perspective ensures there is consistency in the procedure for studies that are regarded as quasi-experimental or casual-comparative. It is also possible to use this research strategy to measure different constructs that can be used in a number of social settings while also ensuring reliability and validity. However, there are a number of weaknesses of this research perspective with respect to understanding the topic of misspelling English words among Arab students. For instance, it involves the use of statistical information to come up with a report on the topic under research (James, 2001). Consequently, in the process of trying to understand the topic of misspelling among Arab English students, it will not be possible to get a better understanding of the relationship between the problem and the report provided. It will not be possible to understand the contributing factors to the problem of misspelling English words. 5. References Brown, H. D. 2000. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. New York, Longman,Inc. Brown, H.D. 2004. Principles of language learning and teaching. (4th.ed.). New York:Longman Chandler, J. 2003. The efficacy of various kinds of error feedback for improvement in theaccuracy and fluency of L2 student writing. Journal of Second Language Writing,12(3), 267-296. Corder, S.P. 1973. Introducing Applied Linguistics, Penguin Books. Ellis, R. 1997.Second Language Acquisition. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Hyland, K. 2003. Second language writing. New York: Cambridge University Press. James, C. 2001. Errors in language learning and use: exploring error analysis. Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.Keshavars, M.H. Swan, M. & Smith, B. 2001. Learner English: A teacher ’s guide to interference and other  problems. Cambridge University Press. UK. Tamerler C, Ullah M. 1998. Effect of pH on physiology of Metarhizium anisopliae for  production of swainsonine. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 168 (1): 17-23 Ur, P. 1996. A course in language teaching. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Wachowicz, K. A., & Scott, B. 1999.“Software that Listens: It’s not a Question of Whether, It’s a Question of How”. CALICO Journal, 16 (3), 253-276. Read More