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PROPOSAL FOR MPhil (linguistics)

EMPLOYING INTERACTIVE PHONEMIC CHARTS TO
TEACH SEGMENTAL ASPECTS OF PRONUNCIATION
TO ESL LEARNERS At INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

By

Name: Farrukh Nawaz

(Roll No. 0000002250)

Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics

Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), H-8, Islamabad,
Pakistan
**********
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CAP Computer-Aided (Assisted) Pronunciation

CALL Computer Assistant Language Learning

TEFL Teaching English as a Foreign Language

ELT English Language Teaching

L1 First Language or Mother Tongue

ESL English as a Second Language

BS Bachelors of Science

NUML National University of Modern Languages

RP Received Pronunciation

IPA International Phonetic Alphabet

Swf Small web format

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TABLE OF CONTENT
Abstract .......................................................................................................................................4

1.1 Introduction .....................................................................................................................5

1.2 Statement of the problem..................................................................................................5

1.3 Research Question.............................................................................................................6

1.4 Delimitation of the Study..................................................................................................6

1.5 Objective of Study............................................................................................................6

1.6 Significance of the Study..................................................................................................6

1.7 Hypothesis.........................................................................................................................9

2 Literature Review...................................................................................................................9

2.1 Native Language..............................................................................................................10

2.2 Exposure to L2................................................................................................................11

2.3 Standard English or Received Pronunciation..................................................................11

2.4 Cap and Modes of Teaching Pronunciation.....................................................................12

3 Research Methodology.........................................................................................................13

3.1 Research Model...............................................................................................................13

3.2 Research Design...............................................................................................................14

3.3 Population........................................................................................................................14

3.4 Data Collection................................................................................................................14

4 Data Collection and Analysis.................................................................................................14

5 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………...15
References …………………………………………………………………………………….16
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ABSTRACT

The present study will aim at determining the effectiveness of phonemic charts for

improving segmental aspects pronunciation of matriculation students of F.G. Sir Syed

College, the Mall, Rawalpindi.. The quantitative data will be collected through pre-test

and post-test. The findings of the research will show if teaching through Phonemic charts

are a great way to enhance students’ ability to master native like pronunciation.

Keywords: Phonemic Charts and Pronunciation

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1. INTRODUCTION

Pronunciation is a set of habits of producing sounds. The habit of producing a sound is

acquired by repeating it over and over again and by being corrected when it is a pronounced

wrongly. The mispronunciations of words by non-native speakers reflect the cultural of territorial

accents and dialect. The non-native speaker put more effort in his/her mother tongue rules, stress

and intonation on 2nd language. The mother tongue influence remains prevailed while learning 2 nd

language. The rules and pattern of mother tongue always stand as a stubborn in learning 2 nd

language. Lack of emphasis on pronunciation may be due to a general lack of fervor on the part

of the second language acquisition, researchers, second language teachers and the students that

pronunciation.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Some of the most important reasons why English pronunciation is believed to be so

difficult are:

a. There are some sounds in English that probably don’t exist in your own language – for

instance, English has 20 vowels and diphthongs (many languages only have 5).

b. There is no simple relationship between spellings and sounds in English.

c. English is a ‘stress-timed’ language – words and sentences have strong and weak parts.

This is different to many other languages throughout the world where parts of words and

words themselves may be given the same stress in a sentence. .

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d. When English is spoken quickly, words are linked smoothly together and sometimes

sounds even disappear altogether (this is called assimilation and elision). This means it

can be hard to understand, as well as speak English.

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The research study shall try to answer the following main question

1. How useful can interactive phonemic charts be for improving segmental pronunciation

learning of Intermediate level students?

1.4 DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY

a. The study will be delimited to teaching and assessment of only segmental aspect of

pronunciation of English language to students of Intermediate level at F.G. Sir Syed

College, the Mall, Rawalpindi.

1.5 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

a. To investigate the usefulness of interactive phonemic charts in improving segmental

pronunciation learning of HSSC English students in public institutions.

b. To assess the effectiveness of phonemic charts in the classroom at Intermediate level

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

Pronunciation is probably one of the hardest skills in English to learn. It takes a lot of

time and effort to improve your pronunciation. Some non-native speakers live for a long time in
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an English-speaking country but still have poor pronunciation. Other speakers seem to pick up

English pronunciation with little effort, and some may do so without visiting an English-

speaking country at all! Nobody knows quite well why this happens. Perhaps it is because some

speakers have a better ‘ear’ for languages than others? But age and previous language learning

are also thought to be factors, as well as having a sense of ‘musicality’. And of course, you are

likely to improve your pronunciation more quickly if you are doing plenty of listening and

speaking. This is why it is so crucial that you speak as much English as you can outside the

classroom.

Having said this, it is certainly not necessary to have native-speaker-like pronunciation.

Your accent is part of you and your culture and there is no need to lose it entirely. In fact, you

probably wouldn’t want to. The real key to having good pronunciation is what we call

‘comfortable intelligibility’. In other words, the person or people listening to you should be able

to understand what you are saying with minimal strain. This is something completely different

from losing your accent entirely. In Pakistani Schools less work is being done on Pronunciation.

The main focus in teaching English is on writing and reading. Pronunciation is the basic tool in

learning English. Electronic Media can also help in that matter as English is spoken with

standard pronunciation whether this is some news channels like BBC, CNN, FOX and DOWN

TV etc.

To ensure better teaching of pronunciation of English, teachers need to make use of

technology by employing innovative and interactive software catching interest of the students in

learning pronunciation. Also, they need to assess the students’ pronunciation achievement and

progress by means of software to ensure reliability, authenticity and objectivity. This study will

evaluate this need in students of matriculation level in public institute.


. In the table below, you can see what the main problems are in pronouncing English and how
you might be able to improve.
Area of difficulty Implications of this particular
area
1. Pronunciation of There may be confusion between
individual sounds minimal pairs (e.g. bed/bad,
ship/sheep) and this may
compromise meaning.
2. Word stress Sometimes words ‘shift’ their
stress so word stress can actually
change the meaning of the word
(e.g. record (v)/record (n))
3. Sentence stress Sometimes emphasizing different
words suggests different
contrasting information (e.g. how
does the meaning change when
different words of the following
sentence are stressed : ‘Mary saw
a red car driven by a young man
with brown hair’)
4. Rhythm Rhythm is important to maintain
the flow of the language. English
is a stress-timed language.
Problems with this are not so
likely to affect comprehension but
getting the rhythm right does help
the listener to follow your
argument..
5. Intonation Getting the right intonation is
important to convey the right
attitude – i.e. high start for
questions, tentatively and wide
pitch variation to show greater
enthusiasm.
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How to improve
Use lists to practice repeating
minimal pairs
Use tongue twisters to practice
special sounds.
Practice the sounds of English by
using the phonemic chart.
Check your dictionary in advance
of a seminar or presentation to
make sure you know where the
stress falls on long words. Repeat
the words.
An demonstration of how word
stress appears in the dictionary can
be seen here
Try to exaggerate (make even
stronger) the stress on key words –
this may sound unusual to you, but
will probably sound perfectly
natural to the listener.
Practice reading poems, limericks,
etc out loud to get a sense of how
English rhythm works.
Vary your voice more and try not
to speak in a monotone.
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1.7 HYPOTHESIS

The study hypothesizes that segmental factors of pronunciation can better be taught to

students of Intermediate level by using interactive phonemic charts.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

Pronunciation training is quite significant as Smith (1981) emphasized that basic

knowledge and conscious enhancement are vital in English as a foreign language (EFL)

classroom in the light of Krashen’s (1985) point of view that pronunciation is acquired like

learning mother tongue (L1). Moreover, instruction and teaching are very significant for teaching

pronunciation (Spada, 1997). On the other hand, Suter (1976) didn’t find positive results of

teaching pronunciation on learners. Another researcher named Action (1984) conducted a

programme on correlation of pronoun and personality. It was applied on those people whose

pronunciation has become very weak. It couldn’t be proved successful. Derwing, Munro and

Wiebe (1998) related that instruction and teaching produced positive results in improvement of

pronunciation.

With ever increasing demand of speaking with correct pronunciation leads to think about

induction of pronunciation programmes in EFL. Lu (2002) pointed out that major reason of poor

pronunciation is unawareness of English phonemes. Phonetic chart of Henry Sweet is not being

taught in Hong Kong schools. In Pakistani English textbooks of 9 th class has introduced IPA

chart in first lesson. On the same grounds, Fraser (1999) indicated that EFL teachers didn’t get
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professional training of pronunciation and use of phonemic symbols of IPA chart. Obviously,

such untrained teachers are reluctant to teach pronunciation. If proper training is given to all EFL

teachers, even then they’ll producedifferent sounds especially for vowels. Hence, best technique

is to teach English phonetic chart with interactive phonemic chart.

Avery & Ehrlich (1992) devised two approaches: firstly, the EFL learner must know

about aspects of pronunciation. Secondly, the learners must practice those aspects of

pronunciation. Thus, it is a way of knowing and exhibiting the learnt skill. In addition to it,

learners must be motivated to correct their pronunciation after listening to their recorded voices

and comparison with interactive phonemic chart.

Gilbert (1984) and others elaborated that teaching pronunciation has two levels

i. Micro Level Skill: It is based on accuracy. Learners are taught segmental (a

study of sounds of phonemic chart) and suprasegmental features (teaching of stress pattern,

intonation patterns, rhythm of voice). Study in hand is confined to segmental features.

ii. Macro Level Skill: It focuses on fluency.

Several factors affecting pronunciation learning have been put forward by many

researchers and these factors are reviewed in the following.

2.1 NATIVE LANGUAGE

First of all, the native language of learners is one of the factors that affecting

the pronunciation learning. It is reasonable to believe that the L2 accuracy of the non-native

speakers is dependent on their LI to some degree. According to Sutter (1976), LI background is

regarded as the most important factor of L2 foreign accent of all the 20 variables. Therefore,

mother tongue has a great influence on pronunciation learning. It is showed in some studies that
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the more differences that the native and target language have, the more difficult pronunciation of

target language will be.

2.2 EXPOSURE TO L2

Exposure to L2 is also regarded as a factor that affecting pronunciation learning. Learners

who have more chance to contact with the target language seem to have a better pronunciation

than those who have no language environment. It is a quite a common belief that learners can

have a better pronunciation if they live in the countries which speak the target language.

However, many studies prove that this belief is not always true. For example, to learn the

English pronunciation it is not necessary to live in an English-speaking country, because the

most important factor deciding the pronunciation learning is whether the learners can grasp the

chance to contact with the target language. Moreover, it is a crucial point that learners should

have the desire to join in the native speakers in all aspects, such as, be familiar with and accept

their culture and customs. If the learners only contact with their own language group, it seems

hard for them to improve their pronunciation level even though they live in the target-language-

speaking country.

2.3 STANDARD ENGLISH OR RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION

There was great debate that which English pronunciation must be adopted as a standard

variety to be followed by non-native speakers. Harmer (2005) mentioned that a lot of grammar,

pronunciation and vocabulary items have been introduced in the world. Therefore, it was

necessary to decide a sample and standard pronunciation for learners. Graddol et.al. (2005)

informed that nowadays more than 60 varieties of English are being practiced in the world.
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Another view is that; some countries have English as their official language. We can’t call their

English as a Standard English. Furthermore, pronunciation of British and American English are

also different. Trudgill (2000) elaborated that how English language was standardized by

collecting manuscripts and dialects of London writers, clerks, writers and scholars. Extending the

same fact, Fisher (1996) informed that mostly written copies of clerks were compiled to set

standard of English. Language of elite class of Londoners was declared Standard English.

Undoubtedly, there are also some varieties in Standard English. Sole Standard English accent is

named Received

Pronunciation and it was spoken by those upper or elite class people who can send their

sons to high standard heaven kissing fee public schools. In American English, General American

English (GA) is called Standard American English. Summing up, Dziubalska – Kolaczyk (2005)

mentioned that Standard English is widely learnt, taught, understood and used in written as well

as oral communications by non-natives round the globe.

Contrary to RP, Crystal (2010) posited that when a non-native walk in streets of England,

he/she will find many other varieties of English language and non-native will be bamboozled that

which is correct English. So it is irrational to teach only RP in language classroom. Farrell and

Martin (2009) support Crystal’s stance that teaching only RP causes negativity because non-

native learner remains unaware of other linguistic varieties of English.

2.4 CAP and MODES OF TEACHING PRONUNCIATION

Computer-assisted pronunciation (CAP) is the use of digitized speech for improving

language pronunciation (AbuSeileek, 2009). Raux and Kawahara (2002) reported that recent

computer-assisted pronunciation learning focuses on two major areas: evaluation of the learner’s
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current pronunciation and instruction of the different aspects of pronunciation such as stress and

intonation, both of which can be enhanced with the use of Praat as an instructional tool.

Computer-aided pronunciation instruction offers many advantages that are not usually available

in conventional contexts. For example, Neri, Cucchiarini, and Strik (2002) pointed out that

digitized pronunciation software allows students to individually access unlimited and realistic L2

input through different channels and provides individualized feedback automatically and

instantaneously.

There are two modes of pronunciation teaching

1. Bottom-Up Approach: is concerned with the articulation of individual sounds or

phonemes and works up towards stress, rhythm, tone and intonation. According to Dalton and

Seidlhofer (1994), the bottom-up approach takes on the idea that if the segmentals (vowels,

consonants and diphthongs etc.) are taught first, the suprasegmentals will subsequently be

acquired without the need of formal instruction.

2. Top-Down Approach: starts with patterns of intonation and brings separate

sounds or phonemes into sharper focus as and when required. Dalton and Seidlhofer (1994)

opine that this approach assumes that once the suprasegmentals features are in place, the

necessary segmental discriminations will follow accordingly.

The bottom-up approach and the top-down approach respectively correspond to the

traditional approach and the research-based approach propounded by Scarcella and Oxford

(1994). While the traditional approach is concerned with isolated sounds and native like

pronunciation, the research-based approach deals with suprasegmental features and targets at

communication.
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3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 RESEARCH MODEL

The research model will be quantitative, as the validity of the hypothesis and answer to

research question will be dependent on the statistical data acquired through scores of pre- and

post-tests of experimental and controlled groups.

3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN

Only quantitative research paradigm will be proposed for the purpose of this research.

3.3 POPULATION

The study will take 2 groups of students consisting of 20 students each. The researcher

will investigate the usefulness of interactive phonemic charts on students of Intermediate class,

as IPA symbols will be introduced. Experimental group will be taught segmental pronunciation

through phonemic charts whereas the controlled group will be taught pronunciation using the

exercises and activities designed by the textbook.

3.4 DATA COLLECTION

Data will be collected through personal distribution of objective type Pronunciation

Performa. Some instructions will be given on the spot.

4. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

The goal will be to provide assistance for the students who are having difficulty in

pronouncing particular sounds: vowels and consonants that are segmental pronunciation features
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which fall under the bottom-up approach. The particular sounds that students have trouble in

pronouncing differ as their language backgrounds vary.

The study will take 2 groups of students consisting of 20 students each. The researcher

will investigate the usefulness of interactive phonemic charts on students of Intermediate class,

as IPA symbols will be introduced. Experimental group will be taught segmental pronunciation

through phonemic charts whereas the controlled group will be taught pronunciation using the

exercises and activities designed by the textbook.

Pre-test and post-test will be used for collecting of the data. They will be implemented on

both the controlled and the experimental group. Raw scores from the assessments will be

collected and analysed. Statistical calculations of mean and percentage will be derived from pre

and post-test of control and experimental group. A comparative analysis will show the difference

in the scores.

5. CONCLUSION

After the collection of the data and analysis, findings of the research will be presented along with

suggestions and future recommendations.

Appendices
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REFERENCES

AbuSeileek, A. F. (2009). Computer-assisted pronunciation instruction: learners’ preferences

and its effect on EFL stress acquisition. Retrieved March 3, 2015 from http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa

Alessi, S.M, &Trollip, S.R. (1991). Computer-based instruction: Methods and development.
Boston: Allyan and Bacon.

Crystal, David. Should English be taught as a “global” language? Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 18.
04. 2010. Accessed August 4, 2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLYk4vKBdUo/

Dalton, C., &Seidlhofer, S. (1994). Pronunciation. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Fraser, H 1999, ‘ESL pronunciation teaching: Could it be more effective?,’ Australian Language
Matters, vol. 7, no.4, pp.7-8.

Gagne, R. Wagner, W. & Rojas, A. (1981). Planning and authoring computer-assisted instruction
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Gelvanovsky, G. V. (2002). Effective pronunciation teaching: principles, factors, and

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Gilbert, J 1984, Clear speech. Pronunciation and listening comprehension in American English.
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Hsieh, L. (2000). Teaching English pronunciation at the elementary school: An experimental

study. Proceedings of the ninth conference on English teaching and learning in the republic of
China. Taipei: Crane.

Lin, Y.C., &Kuo, F.L. (2000). The effect of two instructional methods in teaching pronunciation
to EFL Adult learners in Taiwan: A case study. Proceedings of the tenth conference on English
teaching and learning in the republic of China. Taipei: Crane. P. 186-201

Lu, D 2002, ‘Phonetic symbols: A necessary stepping stone for ESL learners’, English Teaching
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Morley, J (1994). A multidimensional curriculum design for speech pronunciation instruction. In

J. Morley (Ed.), Pronunciation pedagogy and theory: New views, new directions.
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Morley, J. (1998). Trippingly on the tongue: Putting serious speech/pronunciation instruction

back in the TESOL equation. ESL Magazine. January/ February, pp. 20-23.
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Scarcella, R. & Oxford, R. L. (1994). Second language pronunciation: state of the art in
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