English as Second Language - Relationship between Pronunciation and Comprehension - Research Paper Example

Direct Research on ESL Problems INTRODCUTION The objectives of the study are to: 1. Find how individual’s performance varies with pronounciation. 2. Find the effects of pronounciation on individual’s performance in the selected Saudi Arabia persons 3. Determine whether good pronounciation practices increase the level of comprehension 4. Find out the relationship between pronounciation and comprehension in individuals 5. Find the effective measures which can be used to increase good pronounciation Research questions This research paper was guided by the following questions: 1. How does the system of pronounciation improve the quality of understanding? 2. Is there any relationship between pronounciation and comprehensiom and if yes, what kind of relationship is it? 3. How can this research be used in other learning centers to ensure that institutions abide by the learning principles? 4. How does the system of pronounciation improve the indiviuals performance? Significance of the study The findings of this study may be significant to teachers of ESL since they will be able to maintain the required level of pronounciation in their institutions so as to ensure the true reflection of the leaners performance in the schools. Limitations of the study Every research comes along with its own challenges and this one too may face limitations since it depends on the truth and validity of the used resources. In this research paper information is obtained through inteviewing a non- native English speaker. The limitations of this study is that the data used might have been inflated or might not be reflecting the true accounts of the non-native english speakers and as a result wrong conclusions will be made about the persons comprehension capabilities. However, the researcher intends to overcome this by assuming that the collected data reflects the actual information about the speakers. Assumption of the study The researcher will base the study on the following assumptions: 1. All the information or data collected from the sources is reliable and true 2. The teaching of ESL has the relevant information about pronounciation and its implications on performance. 3. The of teachers characteristics form the selected areas are similar. Research Aims and Methodology I undertook to study one second language speaker of English to analyze his or her speaking and reading for problems with pronunciation and comprehension. Of several volunteers, I selected a Saudi Arabian gentleman in his twenties. He has been in Australia for nearly one and a half years, but his language level is still fairly low. He is having trouble learning and is concerned. He does not like to speak on the phone or with strangers, especially native speakers. He feels that he does better with second language speakers, so he does not practice much with native speakers. His writing is adequate, but his reading level is low and he feels like he needs more vocabulary. He wants to learn more words, and to make his pronunciation better so he will be understood. In order to study his speech patterns and identify his problems I recorded a short interview with the subject and also recorded him reading a short passage, which he had not read previously. I then listened carefully to the tape and identified the problems he had with both speaking and reading. The chart of identified problems can be found in Appendix A and the transcript is in Appendix B Analysis of Potential Problems with Arabic Language Group Speakers This speaker had significant problems speaking, because he is still translating and he makes meaningless sounds while he thinks, which interrupts the flow and creates a difficulty with listening to him. I am certain he does not know he does this. It may be a reaction to have been interrupted when he stopped to think when he first started to learn English. His reading is very hesitant, and his comprehension of longer words is very low. The respondent’s native language is Arabic, and there are considerable differences between it and English. The alphabet is totally different and is written right to left. There is also a cultural difference in how writing and speaking is constructed. The Arabic way of explaining things is to give the details first and then the conclusion, according to several Arabic speakers I interviewed about the language. Therefore, there is a problem with remembering the topic sentence in English, since it is seen as a detail. The vowels in English cause Arabic speakers problems, because there are many more in English. Consonant clusters and English fricatives are also difficult, as they do not exist in Arabic .Word stress is regular in Arabic, so it is difficult for an Arabic speaker to learn the variety of stresses and the rules governing them in English (Language differences ). It is also a problem to get speakers of Arabic to learn to understand or use the elision which produces our reduced speech in English, resulting in the bunching up of words into one sound. So speakers of Arabic often sound very clipped in their speaking as they make a glottal stop before vowels (Language differences ).This also makes it difficult for them to learn to blend and link words. There is almost no shared vocabulary and very few English words formed from Arabic, so the Arabic learner has to learn a whole new vocabulary, and needs this for comprehension. Analysis of Tape This Saudi Arabian speaker has learned little after being in an English environment for one year and five months. He is in his late twenties or early thirties. I would expect more progress if he has had lessons. His speech when talking is very hesitant, and the volume varies greatly as he encounters difficulties expressing himself. He has some problems with pronouncing the phonemes when he talks, but this does not represent a significant barrier to communication while speaking. However, when he reads, the problem is increased considerably by his problems with comprehension. The respondent does not link words properly, which contributes to his problems of pacing and rhythm. He does not blend final consonants with initial vowels of following words. He also uses little intonation while reading, making it difficult to judge whether he is reading a question or a statement, and where one sentence ends and another begins. He does not put the word stress on the proper syllable as he struggles with pronunciation. He speaks slowly with a lot of hesitations, which he fills in with nonsense sound, such as uh and ummm. This makes it even harder to understand him, and it is a barrier to listening. Sentence stress is almost missing completely as he struggles with the words, even when he is simply speaking. Word stress is often placed where he begins to translate internally rather than where it is. In reading there is no stress, except where he is translating or when he has extreme problems pronouncing or understanding the words. The respondent’s speaking would be clear enough if he left out the nonsense sounds and if he could keep a more steady volume. His speaking pace is controlled by his internal translation and his reading pace, which is worse, is controlled by his comprehension and his struggles with pronunciation. However, the constant uh and ums disappear when he reads. These represent thinking and translation time, possibly unconsciously to prevent interruption while he thinks. He might actually benefit from writing what he wants to say first and then reading it. His pronunciation problems are not severe until he attempts three syllable words, but his problem with thinking in his native language and translating and his lack of comprehension of the reading are real problems. He says that he prefers second language people to converse with as they speak more slowly. However, it has been my experience that educated native speakers, especially teachers or people who deal with the public and media people speak at the same pace as normal, but they leave larger spaces between the phrases, which provide processing time for the listener. While speaking slowly does not actually increase comprehension effectively, leaving big spaces between phrases does. I do not think that conversing with second language speakers is helping the respondent’s pronunciation or stress patterns and pace. These have little connection with actual stress patterns in speech. His habit of making sounds between his words and phrases when he speaks may discourage listeners from making conversation with him, as it interferes with comprehension may disturb the listener’s thinking patterns, especially second language listeners. He probably does not even realize that he does this, as he spoke about being misunderstood by native speakers, and he seemed to connect with the idea that Americans tend to interrupt silence in the reading. Perhaps he needs to hear a recording of himself. He may be surprised at how difficult it is to understand the recording. This respondent would probably benefit from listening to recordings of printed works and then reading aloud into a recorder so he can correct his mistakes. He also needs to be taught linking and pace. Phonetics might help and saying words back to front would also be a good exercise to help him master multisyllabic words. He can be understood, but I think he needs a great deal more practice. Practice with a mirror in front of the television, or even better a recording of television, would be very good practice for him. He would benefit from recording his own pronunciation while imitation a newscaster. The respondent’s comprehension is very low when reading. He needs practice and a little study of prefixes, suffixes and root words to help him learn to extract meaning. His native language has little resemblance to English or its antecedents from which it derives. His cultural methodology of word arrangement by importance is also quite different, and it causes him to miss words and syllables on the ends. The patterns of stress, tones and pace are totally different in Arabic, and the alphabet bears no resemblance to English. There is almost no shared vocabulary between the two languages, and no common ancestor to the linguistic group. Some practice with creating multisyllabic words from prefixes, suffixes and roots and in extrapolating their meaning from these clues would be helpful. He can get the chart from the Purdue OWL for prefixes and suffixes to help him. He also needs some help in extracting the meaning from context, especially since this would tend to move him closer to thinking in English. Some pronunciation practice with prefixes and suffixes and words which use them on a scale of increasing difficulty and complication would help him to master both pronouncing and understanding these words. One thing I would suggest to help this learner acquire more vocabulary is to read a lot. I suggest that targeted subject reading instead of general reading would be easier, since the major words are repeated in non-fiction on targeted subjects ESL students use English to expand their existing knowledge bases (Kasper, 1998), as they are presented with interdisciplinary material in a meaningful, contextualized form in which the primary focus is on the acquisition of content area information (Kasper, 2000, p. viii) . He can use the Internet to search for topics of interest and then use the translation features of the browsers to check his comprehension. The Internet supports the development of reading skills by creating a functional learning environment through access to a broad range of interesting, relevant, and interdisciplinary textual material that engages students in meaningful and authentic language processing (Shea, 1996). Therefore he would acquire more confidence in his reading ability while expanding his vocabulary. Some reading of materials which have audiobooks might also be helpful if he reads along with listening. He will begin to acquire a sense of the rhythm and stress patterns in English in this way. One last exercise I suggest for him is to read new articles of global interest in English and make notes on what he hears. Then he should read or listen to the same topics in Arabic and see how well he does. Again, subject targeted language is a little easier, due to repeated words. He can do this on a regular basis and then he will begin to raise his comprehension without trying to memorize dictionaries. APPENDIX A Diagnostic Chart Particular Traits Measured Specific Problems Found Notes Phoneme Pronunciation Vowels i and e in diphthongs or in words where both are pronounced, vowels are all broad. Written vowels often mispronounced. Vowels contribute to accent, but do not obscure understanding, middle vowel syllables are dropped Phoneme Pronunciation Consonants v, s, y, r, can and can’t are the same, d , th V is pronounced as f or w, final s is dropped, initial y is not pronounced, r is rolled as in Spanish, but speaker is not Hispanic Final ed is dropped and final th is dropped Linking between words Linking not done for the most part, especially when reading His consonants would be much clearer if he could link the final consonants with the initial vowel of the next word Word stress stressed syllables are not correctly used Rhythm is very close to the native language unless reading, where it is simply two or three words as the speaker is able to read them. Sentence stress Sentence stress is almost missing entirely Speaker stresses when he has trouble reading or pronouncing the words. He makes little difference between questions and statement and seldom signals the end of a sentence tonally or pauses for it. Clarity The reader’s speech is not perfectly clear, but with close attention it can be understood. His reading is less comprehensible, as he drops syllables and repeats initial sounds when struggling either with pronunciation or meaning. He repeats a lot, especially when reading. If he cannot pronounce or understand a word he will repeat the beginning several times and trail off at the end of the word. Volume Volume is low when he has a problem, making it even harder to understand him Volume actually varies as he thinks and encounters difficulties. Pace No discernable pace Pace is controlled by whether he can say the words or read them. Pausing Speaker does not pause much, as he fills in with Uh and mmmm This is actually quite problematic for understanding speech, but disappears when he reads Reading VS conversation Reading pace is worse, and the words are spoken in groups of two or three. Reading level is low. Have trouble reading vowels. Multisyllabic words are a problem. He often drops a syllable. It is actually much harder to understand his reading, even though he takes extra care with consonants. Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton D., Goodwin., J. (1996) Teaching Pronunciation. Cambridge University Press. Kang, Y. (2003) Perceptual similarity in loanword adaptation: English postvocalic word-final stops. Phonology 20. pp. 219–273. Cambridge University Press. Kim, J., Wang, C., Peabody, M., Seneff, S. (2004) An Interactive English Pronunciation Dictionary for Korean Learners. Online Document. http://people.csail.mit.edu/wangc//papers/icslp04-pron.pdf Clement Laroy, (1995). Pronunciation. Oxford University Press Read More