Interlanguage Phonology of EFL Students國中學生英語學習之音韻探討

Advisor: Dr. Raung-fu Chung

Graduate: Mei-lien Chen

碩專一甲 Presentor: 林盈慧

(NA1C0007)

Table of Contents• Introduction• Literature Review • Methodology• Results and Discussion• Conclusion

• Describe the characteristics of second language produced by junior high school students

• The description and analysis are conducted within the framework of interlanguage phonology:consonants, vowels, stress, and intonation

Introduction

Motivation•Probe into the potential explanation of interlanguage phonology from diverse viewpoints: L1 transfer, English developmental processes, Language universals

• Give a new insight into the teaching of English pronunciation and provide some useful suggestions

Introduction

• It is not necessarily true that all aspects of native language will be transferred to the target language in second language acquisition.

• The constraints underlying English consonant cluster reduction will be explored in this study.

Research Perspectives

• Find out some "natural" phonological processes, which belong to neither the L1 nor the L2.

Research Perspectives

• Interlanguage (Larry Selinker, 1972) -The intermediate system between the learner’s

native language and the target language.(1)Language transfer(第一語言的轉移 )(2)Transfer of training(語言訓練的轉移 )(3)Overgeneralization(對第二語言規則的過度概化 )(4)Strategies of second language learning(學習第二語言的策略 )

(5)Strategies of second language communication(溝通的策略 )

Literature Review

• EA and CA have success in predicting and explaining Chinese learners’ pronunciation errors to a certain degree, both are shown to be inadequate for predicting and expaining all errors in L2 speech (Kohler, 1971).

• Nemser (1971) treats the learner’s language as an “approximative system,” which systematically approaches its target language.

• Hsu (1999, in press) reports that about 45 percent of second-grade junior high school students have difficulty perceiving the pair /f/-/θ/.

Literature Review

• Velleman (1998) points out perception and production of /θ/ are highly correlated, since children who produce /θ/ without difficulty usually have little problem in perceiving /θ/.

• There are four levels of pitch movement in English intonation: low, normal, high, extra-high pitch. (Prator &Robinett, 1985)

Literature Review

• Subjects - 40 second-grade students in junior high

schools in Taiwan: (Questionnaire)

Methodology

School Location Amount

Ren-ay(仁愛 ) Taipei 9

Ching-wen(景文 ) Taipei 10

Tai-shan(泰山 ), Taipei 7

Tsuo-ing (左營 ) , Kaohsiung 5

Chung-cheng(中正 ) Kaohsiung 9

1. Which language is the one that you speak most often at home?(multiple choices)(1) Southern Min (2)Mandarin Chinese (3) Hakka (4) others

2. Which language is the one that you speak most often at school? (multiple choices)(1) Southern Min (2)Mandarin Chinese (3) Hakka (4) others

Questionnaire

• Instruments - English textbooks One reading text & one dialogue (Appendix 1 &

Appendix 2)

Methodology

Appendix 1 & Appendix 2

Data CollectionReading record (by themselves)

Hand back their tapes

Transcribe data into the phonetic notation

Compared to two educated American native speakers

• Analysis part:- segments & phonological processes-prosodic features stress & intonation

• Interpretation perspectives:- the interference of Mandarin- developmental process- markedness relation from language typology

Data Analysis

• Conducted by a young female (graduated from California University):

listen to the tapes assess in stress and intonation

rate a scale in intonation (Appendix 3)

Evaluation

Appendix 3

• Phonetic Aspect -consonants into three processes: substitution, deletion, omission

Example: from [frɑm] [frɑn]

Results

• Consonants (Table 4.1)

- position of the phoneme within the word (word-initial, word-medial, and word-final positions)

- error rate result : word-initial consonants lowest

word- final sounds highest Stop (/p, b, t, d, k, g/) lowest

Fricatives (/v, θ, ʒ, z/) highest

- the interdentals and palatals pose more troubles (/θ, ð/) (/ tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ, j/)

Results

Table 4 .1

• Substitution (1)television [ˋtɛlə͵vɪʒən] [ˋtɛlə͵vɪdʒən]/ [ˋtɛlə͵vɪʃən] (2) with  [wɪθ]  [wɪs] /  [wɪf](3) thin [θɪn] [sɪn] / [dɪn] / [fɪn](4) brother [ˋbrʌðɚ]  [ˋbrʌdɚ] / [ˋbrʌlɚ] (5) some [sʌm]  [sʌn] (40%) (6) have [hæv] [hæfə] / [hævə] (7) school [skul] [skuɔ](8) Chinese [ˋtʃaɪˋniz] [ˋtʃaɪˋnis](9) cook [khʊk] [kʊk](10) sports[spɔrts] [sphɔrs]

Results

• Epenthesis(1) had  [hæd]   [hædə](2) dog [dɔg] [dɔgə]

Results

• Deletion(1) year [jɪr] [ɪr](2) before [bɪˋfor] [bɪˋfo](3) ball  [bɔl]  [bɔ]

Results

• Vowels (Table 4.2)- the absence of the distinction between tense and lax vowels and the shortening of diphthongs(1) road [rod]  [rɔd]

(2) gave[gev] [gɛvə]

(3) live[lɪv] [livə] 

(4) class [klæs]   [klɛs]

(5) blocks [blɑks]  [blʌks] 

Results

Table 4.2

• The lack of English phonological knowledge

• Tend to pronounce a certain sound instead of English consonants which don’t appear in Chinese.

• Inability to perceive voicing contrast like native speakers may imply that Chinese learners cannot produce native-like voicing contrast. (English developmental processes) (Table 4.3)

Results

Table 4.3

塞擦音

阻音

1. Subjects prefer cluster reduction to epenthesis. (Table 4.4)

2. Final consonant clusters are more subject to reduction than medial and initial ones (Table 4.6

3. The reduction of consonant clusters is not random, but shows a predictable pattern

Discussion

Table 4.6

• Intonation

Result

Result

Result

Conclusion-- Intonation & stress 1. Tend to read word by word, and separate words through the use of pauses (dull and choppy)

2. Try to say each word with clear articulation

3. The failure to blend words or syllables within thought groups

Result

1. Many errors produced by the participants are similar to those made by children acquiring English as their first language

2. The sound/ spelling relationships in teaching pronunciation should be emphasized.

Conclusion

1. Only take mandarin into consideration in the investigation of interlanguage.

2. The variability and difficulty in the evaluation of English stress and intonation, since the intonation of each sentence cannot be always fixed.

Limitation

Expect to investigate the diachronic development of second language acquisition.

Suggestion

Thank you

碩專一甲 Presentor: 林盈慧

(NA1C0007)

Table 4.4 Amounts of error production of clusters of liquid plus another consonant