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Importance of correct pronunciation in spoken english: Dimension of second language learners' perspective
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate how learners perceive pronunciation and its importance in spoken English. The motivation for the study is the increasing unpopularity of the aspect of pronunciation in the ESL context which has caused lack of measures in improving learners' pronunciation skill despite being quite a concern among professionals in job environments that demands intelligible spoken English. The study specifically looked into the dimensions of students' perceptions towards accurate English pronunciation. The study employed survey questionnaires as data collection tool and the data were analysed statistically using SPSS and factor analysis. Based on the findings, four dimensions emerged in their perception for the importance of correct pronunciation in spoken English: 1) their awareness towards the importance of correct pronunciation; 2) concern on its accuracy; 3) level of achievement on their performance; and 4) the affinity for the effort to improve their English pronunciation in general. Overall, the findings suggested that the respondents have clear understanding of the concern for correct pronunciation in spoken English.
... The significance of pronunciation in the acquisition of foreign languages has been emphasized in numerous studies [1]- [4]. Scholars underscore the significance of precise pronunciation in augmenting the efficacy of communication [3], [4] and fostering favorable impressions among recipients [1]. ...
... The significance of pronunciation in the acquisition of foreign languages has been emphasized in numerous studies [1]- [4]. Scholars underscore the significance of precise pronunciation in augmenting the efficacy of communication [3], [4] and fostering favorable impressions among recipients [1]. The recognition of the significance of pronunciation in attaining fluency and self-assurance is even acknowledged by the learners [1]. ...
... Scholars underscore the significance of precise pronunciation in augmenting the efficacy of communication [3], [4] and fostering favorable impressions among recipients [1]. The recognition of the significance of pronunciation in attaining fluency and self-assurance is even acknowledged by the learners [1]. Consequently, it appears that pronunciation is a significant component in the development of effective English abilities. ...
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly dominating several aspects of human existence, including the realm of English pronunciation instruction. Reading progress is an AI-driven application created by Microsoft in Microsoft Teams to aid language learners in honing their pronunciation skills. Nevertheless, there is a scarcity of research accessible about this use. The objective of this research is to examine students’ assessments of the tool’s effectiveness in facilitating the acquisition of English pronunciation. This study used a questionnaire consisting of five questions, created using Google Forms, to collect data from 123 students who are enrolled in different English classes at a university located in northern Vietnam. The focus of the research is on the students’ pronunciation skills. The study results suggest that learners have a favorable opinion of and see reading progress as a valuable tool for honing their pronunciation skills. This outcome enhances the body of research on the implementation of reading progress in the context of teaching English pronunciation in Vietnam and globally. Thus, learners and English instructors may consult and implement it in order to enhance the efficiency of learning and teaching.
... Studies stress the important role of pronunciation in foreign language learning (Bakar & Abdullah, 2015;Lieber, 2024;Nafisa, 2022;Turner, 2024). From various perspectives, researchers emphasize that accurate pronunciation enhances communication effectiveness (Nafisa, 2022;Turner, 2024) and promotes positive perceptions from listeners (Bakar & Abdullah, 2015). ...
... Studies stress the important role of pronunciation in foreign language learning (Bakar & Abdullah, 2015;Lieber, 2024;Nafisa, 2022;Turner, 2024). From various perspectives, researchers emphasize that accurate pronunciation enhances communication effectiveness (Nafisa, 2022;Turner, 2024) and promotes positive perceptions from listeners (Bakar & Abdullah, 2015). Even learners themselves acknowledge the importance of pronunciation to achieve fluency and confidence (Bakar & Abdullah, 2015). ...
... From various perspectives, researchers emphasize that accurate pronunciation enhances communication effectiveness (Nafisa, 2022;Turner, 2024) and promotes positive perceptions from listeners (Bakar & Abdullah, 2015). Even learners themselves acknowledge the importance of pronunciation to achieve fluency and confidence (Bakar & Abdullah, 2015). Therefore, pronunciation seems to be an important factor in developing successful English skills. ...
Artificial intelligence (AI) is taking over many areas of human life, including teaching English pronunciation. Reading Progress is an AI-powered tool in Microsoft Teams developed by Microsoft to assist language learners in practicing pronunciation. However, there is a scarcity of research on this application. This study aims to investigate students’ evaluation on the use of the tool in learning English pronunciation. This research uses an online survey with 123 students when studying various English modules in a university in northern Vietnam. Research results show that Reading Progress is positively evaluated and considered a useful tool to help learners practice pronunciation. This result contributes to providing more research information on the application of Reading Progress in the context of teaching English pronunciation in Vietnam as well as around the world. Thereby, learners and English teachers can refer to and apply in practice, increasing the effectiveness of learning and teaching.
... In essence, mastering pronunciation significantly enriches one's ability to communicate fluently and authentically, thereby fostering meaningful connections in both personal and professional spheres. Pronunciation is an essential element in good communication because the wrong pronunciation will lead to misunderstanding and produce ambiguity in communication (Bakar et al., 2015). For English learners, pronunciation is one crucial aspects that must be owned by the students in order to be able to speak in English better (Yusriati & Hasibuan, 2019); (Arjomad & Yazdanimoghadam, 2015). ...
... From the teacher point of view, the problems of pronunciation were cause by some factors; 1) the teacher less paid attention on pronunciation instruction (Arashnia & Shahrokhi, 2016), 2) lack of material guidance (Gilakjani, 2016), 3) the teacher ignored in teaching pronunciation (Bakar et al., 2015), 4) the teachers are lack of applying teaching strategy, 5) the teacher only focusing on the exercises in the textbooks, 6) the teacher used monotonous strategy in teaching pronunciation (Prahani et al., 2020), and 7) the teachers were lack of pronunciation training, 8) The teacher lack of using technique in teaching pronunciation (Maiza, 2020), 9) the teachers are lack in implementing instructional media (Shooshtari, 2013), and 10) the teachers are lack of applying variety of teaching strategy in teaching pronunciation (Arjomad & Yazdanimoghadam, 2015). ...
The intention of this research is to discover the implementation of Cake in teaching of pronunciation and to uncover the students’ perception toward the use of Cake in teaching of pronunciation. This research applied qualitative descriptive method. The study was conducted at a private vocational school in Cianjur West Java Indonesia in the academic year 2021. The participants consisted of second grade of banking major at the ages between 15-17. Two of them were male and ten were female. This research collected the data through observation and a forced-choice questionnaire format where the participants were asked to choose one of the available selections (Yes or No). As the data were collected, the writer analyzed them. There were six steps in analyzing the observation as well as the questionnaire: (1) preparing the data to be analyzed, (2) reading or viewing all data, (3) coding the data, (4) generalizing the code, (5) creating tables based on the data code, and (6) interpret the data code. Over the observation the writers found a new formula on implementing Cake in helping students’ pronunciation accuracy. This formula then is called MRCP with drilling as the teaching strategy. The results of questionnaire show that Cake was new for the student. It has many features that support students in learning pronunciation. The students were also happy learning using Cake and they felt more confident to speak English after learning using Cake.
... For English language learners, it necessary to give attention to pronunciation aspect. A reasearch finding conducted by Bakar and Abdullah (2015) also indicated that students had possitive attitude towards the importantce of correct pronunciation in spoken English; and it was recomended that teachers enhance leaners' awareness on the importance of acquiring correct pronunciation. Mispronunciation has become the concern in EFL for it may lead to miscommunication, misunderstanding and misperception among participants of communication (Silalahi, 2016). ...
... Due to the onset of communicative approach in language teaching, particularly in relation to the teaching and learning English, teachers have generally place minimal emphasize on the importance of pronunciation (Celce Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwind, 1996 on Bakar & Abdullah, 2015). A study conducted by Yani (2012) found that teachers' incorrect pronunciation affect on young learners' performance for the wrong input given by the teachers. ...
Problems for learners of English as Foreign Language may appear due to the lack of English mastery of the teachers. Since teachers are regarded as input for language learning, it impacts the students’ achievement. Pronunciation is one of the problems faced by both Indonesian teachers and students. When the teachers give the correct pronunciation, it results in the correct pronunciation of the students. On the other hand, the wrong pronunciation of the teachers will impact the students’ incorrect pronunciation. This study is aimed to reveal the early childhood teachers’ ability in pronouncing English vocabulary. The findings of the study are to determine the appropriate treatment which might be needed to overcome the problems. The subject of the study were 40 randomly selected early childhood teachers. The data were collected by testing their vocabulary mastery and pronunciation ability. The result of the study showed that the English mastery of early childhood teachers was needed to be developed for less ability in pronouncing the vocabulary correctly. The questionnaires also implied that the teachers need improvement in dealing with English.
... From the research context, we found that some participants felt shy during the video dubbing process at the initial stage because it was a new method for them. However, they gradually became more familiar and confident with the instructor's guidance and support as they realized the benefits of correct pronunciation coming from using the dubbing technique, which is partly consistent with the findings of Bakar & Abdullah (2015) on participants' perceptions of the importance of correct pronunciation in their research context. ...
This study investigated the effects of video dubbing on EFL learners’ pronunciation as well as explored their attitudes toward the technique at a private school in the Mekong Delta. A quasi-experimental design that followed a pretest-posttest group gathered both qualitative and quantitative data to address these issues. The participants are young EFL learners with A2-level English proficiency. The quantitative data was collected and analyzed through pre- and post-tests to measure the effects of video dubbing on young EFL learners’ pronunciation before and after the treatment. Meanwhile, a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data on participants’ attitudes toward the impact of video dubbing. The findings showed significant improvement in participants’ consonants, vowels, stress, intonation, and overall pronunciation. Besides, the learners expressed positive attitudes toward the technique, pointed out difficulties, and gave relevant suggestions. The implications and limitations of the study are also discussed.
... Levis (2005) introduced the Nativeness Principle and Intelligibility Principle but did not specify the assessment criteria and dimensions for evaluating second language speech according to these principles. Scholars have discussed various assessment criteria related to second language speech in the research, such as pronunciation, segments, prosody, accent, accuracy, comprehensibility, intelligibility, and fluency (Bakar & Abdullah, 2015;Derwing & Munro, 2015;Duijm & Hulstijn, 2018;Lennon, 1990;Stephana de Wolf et al., 2017). Pennington and Rogerson-Revell (2018) proposed two different directions for assessing spoken English in the fields of teaching, research, and testing. ...
The increased adoption of dubbing software, which gives students a chance to imitate native speakers' pronunciation of English, has led to a surge in research on its application in foreign language learning. Some reported effects on students' oral English, particularly in terms of intelligibility and comprehensibility, can be identified. However, the related studies on students' spoken English, in terms of pronunciation, accuracy, and fluency stressed in the Nativeness Principle, are still in their nascent stages. To address this issue, this study adopted an experimental approach to figure out whether dubbing activities affect grade 5 students' English speaking in these three factors. Two classes served as the experimental group (n=104) to learn English speaking with online video dubbing activities for 12 sessions while the other two classes (n- 102) participated as the control group to learn the same content traditionally without the dubbing activities. For pre-tests and post-tests, a 15-item, 3-factor English Speaking Proficiency Questionnaire was adopted (i.e. pronunciation, accuracy, and fluency). The results of ANCOVA showed a significant difference in the overall English- speaking proficiency of students between the two groups (F = 8.291, p = 0.004;
... It is important to practice frequently to achieve near-native and comprehensible foreign language pronunciation. The works of many researchers show that phonetic training is essential in improving foreign language learners' pronunciation (Alzinaidi & Latif, 2019;Bakar & Ridhuan, 2015;Gilakjani, 2012). The studies focusing on the importance of training or exposure to foreign language speech productions can be found in the work of Saito et al. (2022) and Melnik and Peperkamp (2021), whose works focus on the high variability of phonetic training, while Arora et al. (2018) made a point on the importance of exposing foreign language audio to the learners of foreign language and train them how to pronounce the words like a native. ...
Learners of English as a second language (L2) whose first language (L1) is Indonesian tend to struggle to produce aspirated consonants. This study investigates whether the difficulties came from the interference of the L1 for the production of these sounds: [k], [b], [d], [g] in the final positions, and [p] and [t] in the stressed syllable. This study involved two cohorts of English department university students with different levels of fluency in L2 speech production. The L2 learners were asked to pronounce 25 words from a textbook previously used to teach them. The L2 learners were exposed to a British English-speaking speech model, which became a benchmark for the L2 learners’ pronunciation by asking them to imitate the pronunciation. Annotation of data was conducted twice by a second annotator to ensure the objectivity of the scores given to the L2 learners which was analised using paired sample t-test. Findings suggest that the sounds with the lowest success rate of production were [p] in the stressed syllable, [k], and [g] in the final position. The production was unsuccessful because the L2 learners did not have phonological awareness of how the L2 consonant sounds were produced near-natively and were affected by their L1. The lack of awareness led to the failure to produce [p], [k], and [g] sounds because these sounds did not exist in their L1 and interference of the L1 was embed to the L2 speech production. The format analysis results using PRAAT indicate that there is an improvement in the participants’ pronunciation after exposure to the native speaker’s speech sound. The implication of this research is paramount for L2 learners and lecturers in highlighting the importance of targeted instruction and intervention to address the challenges in speech production. Contrasting the phonetic features of L1 and L2 sounds helped the learners to defer interference in their L2 speech production. This study encourages continuous assessment of L2 learners to ensure that they maintain the consistency of speech production to sound near-native.
... Another belief discussed is the significance of pronunciation and there are relevant studies Bakar, and Abdullah (2015) that mention the importance of pronunciation when teaching English. As the researchers claimed the "English lesson should also focus on the teaching of pronunciation and Correction is vital in learning pronunciation" p. 155. ...
This article defines what language is and how significant it is. It exhibits how language is learned throughout life. It elaborates that there are six beliefs related to language learning. The first belief that the study mentions is that language learning is learned by imitation. The article will exhibit the definitions of imitation case and how it is different from practice. It also shows vivid examples of what is meant by imitation and what is meant by practice. Moreover, the article also shows that learning a language could be done through daily routine and it provides clear examples about this matter. The second belief exhibits that younger learners are better learners than adults. The third belief is the appropriate pronunciation of the sounds to speak. Furthermore, the fourth belief the author explains students learn what they are taught. The fifth belief focuses on learners that they should be corrected as soon as they make errors. Finally, the sixth belief is that students can learn both languages and academic content simultaneously. The article elaborates on the sixth belief in detail explaining each one of them individually. It also sheds light on different theories of second language learning which are universal grammar theory, sociocultural theory, and the monitor model theory. The monitor model theory has five different hypotheses which are the acquisition versus learning hypothesis, The monitor hypothesis, the Natural order hypothesis, the Comprehensible input hypothesis, and The Affective Filter Hypothesis. In addition, the author also speaks about Ellis learning principles which are 12 principles but the Author focuses on only seven of them.
... Pronunciation instruction can be facilitated using podcasts, as Almaqrn and Alshabeb (2017) suggested, which can help learners acquire phonemic awareness. Additionally, Abu Bakar and Abdullah (2021) found that learners' self-awareness and effort to improve their pronunciation skills are essential in achieving accurate English pronunciation. ...
This study aimed to identify the level of vowel sound pronunciation difficulties of criminology students in terms of front, central and back vowels, conducted in one of the private institutions in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines. Purposive sampling was used, which included 36 participants. This study utilized a descriptive quantitative design through a pronunciation test using validated reading material composed of 90 words. Findings revealed that the level of vowel sound pronunciation difficulties of the criminology students in terms of the front vowels as shown in
... Furthermore, the participants stressed that the EFL learners' training in pronunciation is vital to their enhancement of spoken English. When pronunciation hampers understanding of any English word, a native speaker can make out the meaning of the word using contextual cues, in contrast to a non-native speaker, who may face communication breakdown (Zulqarnain & Muhammad, 2015). Hughes (2005), Goh and Burns (2012), and Luoma (2004) argued that pronunciation is one of the six common components (fluency, pronunciation, vocabulary, content information, grammar use, and relevant responses to a conversation partner) of any spoken language. ...
This study aimed to explore why some undergraduates at the University of Jeddah struggle with spoken English in personal and professional settings. Employing the explanatory sequential mixed method design, we administered a five-point Likert scale questionnaire to 107 Saudi undergraduate students. This was followed by observing a twenty-student Listening & Speaking class and conducting semi-structured interviews with three serving faculty members at the University of Jeddah. The results indicated that most students experienced difficulties in speaking English in personal and academic contexts. The students' spoken English difficulties could be attributed to the following major factors: limited use of spoken English in everyday personal and professional communication situations lack of linguistic competence, and speaking anxiety. It was also found that there were no significant differences in students' responses based on their year of study, major, and gender. We also suggested strategies and techniques; more precisely, we recommend increasing communication opportunities for students, employing CLT techniques, promoting the use of ICT, and collaborative learning. This study contributes to the current understanding of spoken English problems among Saudi undergraduate students and proposes relevant solutions.
... Researches on teaching pronunciation were close to none till the late 1990's. On the other hand, the interest in improving pronunciation is close to the hearts of the learners who inspire to speak the target language fluently (Abu Bakar & Abdullah, 2015). The strong concern on pronunciation training started to gain researchers' attention in early 2000's (Murphy & Baker, 2015) as well as Saito and Lyster (2012) compiled and studied several pronunciations training oriented classrooms to understand closely what take place during pronunciation-focused activities. ...
The present study is an investigative work to examine learners’ judgements on some proposed error correction methods, in connection with mispronounced English words. Learners are to evaluate the qualities of six different types of correction approaches, in terms of ‘embarrassment’, ‘comprehensibility’ and ‘effectiveness’ through a set of 36 error-correcting-act video clips representing the six correction types. A set of corresponding questionnaire survey in exploring respondents’ insights was administered. Comparisons by their learning experience (year) and environment (institution) were carried out to study any effect on their judgements. The results of the survey conducted on 88 undergraduate students revealed that the respondents seem to share the same pattern of observations despite their learning experience and types of higher institutions. They have concern on the aspect of ‘embarrassment’ in relation to all corrective feedback types except for Repetition and Clarification Requests which are more communicative in their approach.
... In recent years the need for teaching pronunciation in a second language (L2) has gained more attention because having good pronunciation skills in a second language leads people to have effective and efficient communication, gives a positive impression and avoids misunderstandings [1], [2]. ...
The aim of this study is to assess whether a brief training with rhythmic beat gestures helps L2 pronunciation in a reading aloud task with high school students. In a between-subjects pretest-posttest design, a total of 59 high school students were randomly assigned to one of the following two conditions: the beat gesture group and no-beat gesture group. In the beat gesture condition they were asked to first read two short stories aloud without any gestural instruction (pretest) and in the following two texts they were asked to move their hands (training). Students in the no-beat condition (control condition) were asked to read the four texts aloud (pretest and training) without any gestural instruction. Then, in order to see the benefits of gesture, both groups were asked to read a fifth text aloud (posttest) which was more difficult (more complex syntactic structure and longer) than the ones they read in the pretest or the training. Results showed that speakers who were asked to produce beat gestures during the training had better pronunciation measures (specifically accentedness, comprehensibility, and fluency) in the posttest than the ones that were not asked to produce any specific gesture during the training.
This research aims to analyze the sixth semester students’ pronunciation at University of Muhammadiyah Tangerang in Academic Year 2021/ 2022 in relation to English words which having vowels and diphthongs. This research is a kind of a qualitative research which designed through several stages, they are; the process of data collection, analyzing the gaining data, and interpreting the gaining data that has been analyzed. This research has selected 30 students to take part as respondents in this research. Simple random sampling has been used to select those 30 respondents who take part in this research. The results show that, there have been several issues which may be obstacles to students’ pronunciation, especially to English words which having vowels and diphthongs sounds, they are: the effect of the first language, lack of awareness in phonemic symbols, miss-hearing the pronunciation features, and neurobiology of affective. However, in accordance with the issues related to students’ pronunciation, there have been found several solution which may be value to overcome those issues mentioned, they are; creating own habit in English during daily communications, increasing awareness in phonemic symbols, increasing the level of activities in relation to listening which may be value to encourage awareness in hearing various pronunciation features. Keywords: Pronunciation, Vowels, and Diphthongs
Pronunciation is an important aspect of English learning. It is however one of the most abandoned or half taught. This is usually due to perceived difficulty in its teaching and learning. Hence, unfavorable attitudes set in, especially in English as a second language situation. In most cases, due to poor technique and methodology employed by the teachers of English, the students are not encouraged to learn pronunciation like other aspects of the subject. This attitude goes a very long way in determining their communicative competence as poor pronunciation could lead a breakdown in communication. It is thus the responsibility of the teachers to help the students learn. This paper thus advocates and presents some motivational strategies that could be employed by the teachers of English to improve the learners’ attitude to learning pronunciation in English as a second language classroom.
The number of Spanish students in Australia is increasing. This growth coincides with a period of revival in the teaching and learning of pronunciation in the foreign language classroom. However, unlike their peers in the UK and especially in the US, no specific materials are available for Australian students. In order to assist them, the first essential step must be examining their attitudes and beliefs, which is necessary to recognise the ways in which they conceive of learning pronunciation and thus shape further work, as the literature has long established. Therefore, we analyse here the results of an anonymous survey distributed among Australian university students of Spanish. The results show positive attitudes and loci of control towards the subject but also reveal the need for strengthening awareness and a number of tensions where action is still needed in order to ensure adequate pedagogical procedure for pronunciation success.
Learners with good English pronunciation are likely to be understood even if they make errors in other areas, whereas learners with bad pronunciation will not be understood, even if their grammar is perfect. Such learners may avoid speaking in English, and experience social isolation, employment difficulties and limited opportunities for further study. We judge people by the way they speak, and so learners with poor pronunciation may be judged as incompetent, uneducated or lacking in knowledge. Yet many learners find pronunciation one of the most difficult aspects of English to acquire, and need explicit help from the teacher. Therefore, some sort of pronunciation instruction in class is necessary. The goals of this paper are to define English pronunciation, review the history of English pronunciation instruction, explain the aim of English pronunciation instruction, elaborate pronunciation and communication, review the previous research about the effectiveness of pronunciation instruction on learners' achievement, and discuss the English pronunciation and the target of comfortable intelligibility.
The starting point of this paper is the recent shift in the use of English, such that non-native speakers (NNSs) using English for international communication now outnumber its native speakers (Crystal 1997; Graddol 1997). This shift, it will be argued, has serious implications for ELT pedagogy. Principal among these is the need for empirically established phonological norms and classroom pronunciation models for English as an International Language (EIL), in which intelligibility for NNS rather than for native speaker (NS) receivers is the primary motivation. Three sets of data drawn from NNS-NNS interaction are provided in order to exemplify the kinds of empirical evidence that are necessary to enable us to make informed claims about phonological intelligibility in EIL, Then follows the author's proposal, based on such evidence, for a revised pronunciation syllabus for EIL, the Lingua Franca Core. This core approach, it is suggested, is better able to promote both intelligibility and regional appropriateness among EIL interlocutors, as well as being more teachable, than either of the two most commonly adopted classroom models, Received Pronunciation and General American. Finally, the importance of developing learners' accommodation skills as an integral part of pronunciation teaching for EIL is discussed.
Given the proliferation of factor analysis applications in the literature, the present article examines the use of factor analysis in current published research across four psychological journals. Notwithstanding ease of analysis due to computers, the appropriate use of factor analysis requires a series of thoughtful researcher judgments. These judgments directly affect results and interpretations. The authors examine across studies (a) the decisions made while conducting exploratory factor analyses (N = 60) and (b) the information reported from the analyses. In doing so, they present a review of the current status of factor analytic practice, including comment on common errors in use and reporting. Recommendations are proffered for future practice as regards analytic decisions and reporting in empirical research.
Although the success of automatic speech recognition (ASR)-based Computer Assisted Pronunciation Training (CAPT) systems is increasing, little is known about the pedagogical effectiveness of these systems. This is particularly regrettable because ASR technology still suffers from limitations that may result in the provision of erroneous feedback, possibly leading to learning breakdowns. To study the effectiveness of ASR-based feedback for improving pronunciation, we developed and tested a CAPT system providing automatic feedback on Dutch phonemes that are problematic for adult learners of Dutch. Thirty immigrants who were studying Dutch were assigned to three groups using either the ASR-based CAPT system with automatic feedback, a CAPT system without feedback, or no CAPT system. Pronunciation quality was assessed for each participant before and after the training by human experts who evaluated overall segmental quality and the quality of the phonemes addressed in the training. The participants' impressions of the CAPT system used were also studied through anonymous questionnaires. The results on global segmental quality show that the group receiving ASR-based feedback made the largest mean improvement, but the groups' mean improvements did not differ significantly. The group receiving ASR-based feedback showed a significantly larger improvement than the no-feedback group in the segmental quality of the problematic phonemes targeted.
For over 30 years, this text has provided students with the information they need to understand and apply multivariate data analysis. Hair, et. al provides an applications-oriented introduction to multivariate analysis for the non-statistician. By reducing heavy statistical research into fundamental concepts, the text explains to students how to understand and make use of the results of specific statistical techniques. In this seventh revision, the organization of the chapters has been greatly simplified. New chapters have been added on structural equations modeling, and all sections have been updated to reflect advances in technology, capability, and mathematical techniques. Statistics and statistical research can provide managers with invaluable data. This textbook teaches them the different kinds of analysis that can be done and how to apply the techniques in the workplace.
According to previous studies, Japanese EFL learners who wish to acquire American or British English pronunciation are reluctant to speak their L1-accented English. In view of this tendency, the present study examined the attitudes of Asian learners toward their L1-accented English. University students from Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia evaluated their English pronunciation by responding to a questionnaire. The results of the survey revealed the extent to which their acceptance of their English accents differs: the Malaysian students highly valued their accented English, while the Japanese and Koreans disapproved of their own varieties of English and indicated their preference for native English pronunciation. In particular, the Japanese participants’ negative attitude toward their Japanese-accented English was found to be the greatest among the three groups. The distinct trend among the groups will be discussed with consideration of the historical and political backgrounds in the societies which might have impacted on the process of constructing L2 learners’ language identity. These backgrounds should have a substantial influence on current educational policy and social actions in each country. Finally, pedagogical implications for English education in Japan will be argued discussed.
Research on second language (L2) phonetic learning indicates that, even in adults, segmental acquisition remains possible through L2 experience. However, the findings of previous cross-sectional studies of vowel and consonant learning have proved difficult to interpret. In this longitudinal investigation of 44 recent arrivals in Canada, productions of 10 English vowels in CVC context were elicited at 2-month intervals and evaluated by trained and untrained listeners. Improved intelligibility was observed, even in the absence of focused instruction on vowels. The results support the proposal that L2 phonetic learning is initially rapid but tends to plateau within a few months. However, this finding is complicated by different learning trajectories across vowels, differential L1 influences, and possible effects of word frequency.
The use of a computer assisted language learning (CALL) to facilitate ESL has a history dating back to the 1950's. With advances in technology CALL based curriculums have become more accessible to educators in the ESL field. CALL based programs are being used to improve reading, comprehension, writing skills and pronunciation skills of students engaged in ESL studies. The focus of this paper will be to gage the effectiveness of CALL based pronunciation exercises with respect to beginner level ESL students. The presentation will analyze the results of CALL based pronunciation exercises conducted with beginner level ESL students at Multimedia University. The presentation will also make some recommendations for the future use of pronunciation exercises for beginner ESL students based on results of the Multimedia University study.
In this paper we examine the perceptions of 100 adult English as a second language (ESL) learners from a variety of first language backgrounds with regard to their pronunciation difficulties and the strategies they employ when they are faced with communication breakdown. The vast majority of pronunciation problems identified by students were segmental, yet their most commonly used strategies when they had not been understood were paraphrase, self-repetition, writing/spelling, and volume adjustment. Their responses were analysed according to first language groups and proficiency levels. Students were also asked to indicate whether their accents were affected by context, and whether or not they felt they had any control over their pronunciation. Those who reported being able to control their accents also recounted how they did so. The findings are discussed with reference to pronunciation instruction and commercially available resources most often used in ESL programs across Canada. The authors make recommendations for second language teachers, drawing on research in both the pronunciation and communicative strategy literatures.
An analytic model comprising the various moves in error correction sequences in second-language classrooms is developed & applied to a database of classroom interaction with a view to relating teachers' corrective feedback with students' responses. The corpus was generated from audiorecordings of four fourth-grade French immersion classrooms (N unspecified) in the Montreal, Canada, area. Error correction sequences are described as consisting of a student error; the teacher's feedback, which may take the form of explicit correction, recast, clarification request, metalinguistic feedback, elicitation, or error repetition; the student's response, which may or may not still need repair; & (sometimes) reinforcement of a correct response by the teacher. An overwhelming tendency for teachers to use recasts as error correction was found, despite their ineffectiveness at eliciting student-generated repair. It was observed that students responded more successfully when the correct form was not supplied for them & there was negotiation of form, ie, with clarification requests, metalinguistics feedback, elicitation, or error repetition.
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