The relationship between the perception and production of the english contrast pair

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE - - THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF THE ENGLISH CONTRAST PAIR /t~/ AND /d2/ AMONG SOUTHERN VIETNAMESE SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH Submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By PHAM THI THUY TRANG Supervised by LE HOANG DUNG, PHD HO CHI MINH CITY, MAY 2011 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I certify that this thesis entitled “THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF THE ENGLISH CONTRAST PAIR /t~/ AND /d2/ AMONG SOUTHERN VIETNAMESE SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH” is my own work This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution Ho Chi Minh City, May 2011 Phạm Thị Thùy Trang i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the following people who have made writing this thesis possible for me: First of all, I would like to express my wholehearted thanks to my thesis supervisor, Le Hoang Dung, PHD at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, HCMC for his enthusiastic and valuable guidance and for his patient and sympathetic attitudes towards me Without his assistance and ongoing encouragement, this thesis could not have been completed He has given me constant support during my thesis completion I would also like to thank my teacher, Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, PHD at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, HCMC for her ongoing encouragement and support during my master course Gratitude is also offered to my friend, Nguyen Dang Khoa, graduate student at Australia National University for sending me valuable and precious materials without which I could not have written the thesis Thanks are also due to the Board of Directors at the Pedagogy University Language Center, Thanh Nien Language Center and Vietnam-Australia Language School, who gave me conditions to conduct my surveys and experiments for the thesis I owe many thanks to my friends and my colleagues for their support, encouragement and assistance in data collection And, lastly, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my dear husband, Duong Anh Tuan, for his loving care, support and encouragement that has helped me so much in completing this thesis ii ABSTRACT Although the recently-gained insights into the nature of second language acquisition have proved quite beneficial to learners of English, these breakthroughs have not borne many implications to Vietnamese adult learners, especially in the field of pronunciation training This can partially be attributed to the lesser significance adult learners embrace as compared to children or young learners Additionally, as agreed by many researchers, phonology acquisition is considered as the least universal aspect of language and mostly affected by the interaction of L1 and L2 Thus, the present pronunciation training approach does not prove sufficient for Vietnamese adult learners In this context, this thesis attempted to explore the effects of refining perceptual abilities on improving the pronunciation of English non-native contrast pairs among Vietnamese adults In the study, it was found that L2 perception plays an important role in language production and acts as a mediator between language input and output The result of the study suggests that, although high perceptual ability does not always guarantee highly intelligible sound production, it is a prerequisite for pronunciation improvement, at least to adult learners, whose L1 skills and knowledge has deeply inculcated in their L2 reflection While the parallel correlation of speech perception and production may not be guaranteed, there exists a strong relationship between these two processes Based on the findings, some suggestions were made with the hope to integrate the new teaching approach into the textbooks The suggestions are on how teachers deal with pronunciation teaching in the classroom and how syllabus designers can allocate the materials in Vietnam situation for the learners to get the most from the current textbooks iii TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY .i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .iv LIST OF TABLES AND ABBREVIATIONS .ix TABLES ix ABBREVIATIONS ix LIST OF FIGURES AND CHARTS .x Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 1.3 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 1.3.1 The practice of pronunciation teaching to adult learners in HCMC .4 1.3.2 Propositions on the relationship of speech perception on speech production .6 1.4 PURPOSES OF THE STUDY 1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 1.7 DEFINITIONS OF TERMS 1.7.1 Phonological contrast 1.7.2 Phoneme, phone, consonant and vowel 1.7.3 Phonemic perception 1.8 ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW 11 2.1 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPEECH PERCEPTION AND SPEECH PRODUCTION .11 2.1.1 Propositions concerning perception-production relationship 11 2.1.2 Empirical evidence of perception-production relationship 13 iv 2.1.2.1 Evidence from Spanish speakers of English 14 2.1.2.2 Evidence from adult learners of French .16 2.1.2.3 Evidence from bilinguals of Asian languages 17 2.1.3 Counter-evidence of perception-production relationship 21 2.1.3.1 Counter-evidence from Swedish and Finnish learners of English 21 2.1.3.2 Counter-evidence from Japanese speakers 22 2.1.4 Discussion 23 2.2 THE NATURE OF L2 SPEECH PERCEPTION 24 2.2.1 Speech Learning Model .24 2.2.2 Perceptual Assimilation Model 26 2.2.3 Feature Competition Model 27 2.2.4 Summary 28 2.3 COMPARISON OF ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE SOUND SYSTEM .29 2.3.1 Differences in syllable composition 29 2.3.2 Differences in distinctive features .30 2.3.3 The contrast pair /t~/ and /d2/ 32 2.4 HIGH-VARIABILITY METHOD – THE ELICITATION PROCEDURES FOR ENHANCING PHONETIC PERCEPTION 33 2.5 PRINCIPAL FACTORS INFLUENCING THE PROCESS OF SPEECH ACQUISITION36 2.5.1 Native L1 transference .36 2.5.2 Exposure to the second language .37 2.5.3 Motivation 38 2.6 SUMMARY 38 Chapter METHODOLOGY 40 3.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS .40 3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN .40 3.2.1 Research participants 40 3.2.2 The speakers .42 3.2.3 Research procedure 43 v 3.2.3.1 The stimuli appraisal 44 3.2.3.2 Experimental teaching 45 3.2.3.3 The collection of perception data 46 3.2.3.4 The collection of production data 49 3.2.3.5 The treatment of perception and production data 49 3.2.3.6 The assessment of production data 50 3.2.3.7 The treatment of the assessment data 52 3.3 SUMMARY 52 Chapter DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 53 4.1 DATA ANALYSIS 53 4.1.1 The analysis of perceptual training outcomes .53 4.1.2 The analysis of native listeners’ preference judgement of the subjects’ production 57 4.1.3 The analysis of native listeners’ identification of minimal pairs 59 4.1.4 The relationship between the perception and production of /t~/ and /d2/ 60 4.2 FINDINGS 65 4.3 SUMMARY 67 Chapter RECOMMENDATIONS AND .69 CONCLUSION 69 5.1 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TEACHERS OF ENGLISH 69 5.1.1 Teacher should apply a balanced focus on both speech perception and motor skill in pronunciation training 69 5.1.2 Teachers should follow a systematic procedure in teaching pronunciation 70 5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SYLLABUS DESIGNERS 72 5.2.1 The syllabus should provide more time allotment for the pronunciation training .72 5.2.2 Syllabus designers should take into consideration the specific influence of L1 on L2 acquisition 73 5.2.3 Syllabus designers should recognize the importance of aural input in oral production 73 5.3 LIMITATION 74 5.4 RECOMMENDATION FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 75 vi CONCLUSION 77 REFERENCES 80 APPENDICES .89 APPENDIX SURVEY 89 APPENDIX WORD LIST FOR RECRUITMENT TEST 93 APPENDIX LIST OF UNFAMILIAR WORDS FOR SUBJECTS 95 APPENDIX PERCEPTUAL PRETEST (and POST-TEST) (SPEAKER 4) .96 APPENDIX GENERALIZATION TEST (SPEAKER 6) 98 APEENDIX GENERALIZATION TEST (SPEAKER 1) .100 APPENDIX TRAINING SESSIONS 102 A TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 1) 102 B TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 2) .104 C TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 3) .105 D TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 4) 107 E TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 5) .108 F TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 1) .109 G TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 4) 110 H TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 3) 111 APPENDIX PRODUCTION TEST (Pre-test and Post-test) .112 APPENDIX RESULT OF PERCEPTUAL TRAINING 113 A Pre-training perceptual test result 113 B Post-training perceptual test result – Group A (experimental group) 114 C Post-training perceptual test result – Group B (control group) .115 APPENDIX 10 RESULT OF NATIVE LISTENERS’IDENTIFICATION OF MINIMAL PAIRS 116 A Native listeners’ identification test result - Group A (experimental group) 116 B Native listeners’ identification test result - Group B (control group) 117 vii LIST OF TABLES AND ABBREVIATIONS TABLES Table 2.1 Differences between the Vietnamese and English syllables Table 2.2 Distinctive features specifications of the Vietnamese consonants Table 2.3 Distinctive feature specifications of the English consonants Table 4.1 Perceptual test result at pretest phase Table 4.2 Perceptual test result at posttest phase Table 4.3 The two-way ANOVA test result of perceptual test scores Table 4.4 The T-test result of perceptual test scores Table 4.5 Native listeners’ identification test result Table 4.6 The T-test result of native listeners’ identification of minimal pairs Table 4.7 Individual Vietnamese trainee perception and production accuracy scores at pre-test and at post-test ABBREVIATIONS L1 First language L2 Second language HCMC Ho Chi Minh City ESL English as the Second Language EFL English as the Foreign Language viii LIST OF FIGURES AND CHARTS FIGURES Figure 1.1 Hewlett’s (1990) model of phonetic and phonological processing Figure 4.1 Percent correct perceptual identification performance for the experimental group and the control group at the pretest, post-test and two tests of generalization Figure 4.2 The native speakers’ preference judgement of the subject production Figure 4.3 (a) Vector plot of individual Vietnamese subjects’ perceptual identification accuracy and production identification accuracy from pretest to posttest (Subjects 1-5) Figure 4.3 (b) Vector plot of individual Vietnamese subjects’ perceptual identification accuracy and production identification accuracy from pretest to posttest (Subjects 6-10) CHARTS Chart 3.1 The process of subject selection Chart 3.2 The research procedure ix You will hear sentences Circle the word you hear in each sentence Stay a little bit longer with me, I beseech/besiege you The sudden movement jarred/ chard his injured ribs Wow! What a surprise! He’s a real catcher/ cadger Could you please spell the word “Jane / chain” ? Grill the pepper until the skin has the color of the char/ jar 103 B TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 2) Listen carefully to these words chaw jaw cho chawed jawed cho chawing jawing cho chaws jaws cho cheer jeer chia cheered jeered chia cheering jeering chia cheers jeers chia cheese G's chi You will hear English words, one by one, on the tape Circle the word you hear among three choices You will have seconds to make up your mind before going on to the next item cheers jeers chawing jawing cheered jeered cheese G’s cheering jeering chawed jawed chaws jaws You will hear sentences Circle the word you hear in each sentence The people at the back cheered/jeered when the speaker appeared When he ended the speech, everyone shouted out “Cheese/ G’s” I can’t remember whether she said ‘chaw/ jaw’ or ‘chaw/jaw’ She couldn’t stop cheering/jeering as the people passed by 104 C TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 3) Listen carefully to these words cherries jerries che cherry Jerry che chess Jess chệt chest jest chết chests jests chết chew Jew chu chews Jews chu Chilean Gillian chi chill gill chi You will hear English words, one by one, on the tape Circle the word you hear among three choices You will have seconds to make up your mind before going on to the next item chill gill chest Jest cherry Jerry chews Jews chests jests Chiean Gillian chew jew cherries jerries You will hear sentences Circle the word you hear in each sentence Some Chilean/Gillian would like to meet Dr Brown right away I only said it in my chest/ jest – you’re actually not fat I can feel the chill/ gill in my hand I like that cherry/ Jerry so much I wish I could touch it 105 Can you spell the word chews/ Jews? 106 D TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 4) Listen carefully to these words chills gills chịu choice Joyce chơi choke joke chốc chipping gypping chíp chips gyps chíp chive jive chai chives jives chai You will hear English words, one by one, on the tape Circle the word you hear among three choices You will have seconds to make up your mind before going on to the next item choice Joyce chips gyps chives jives 4.choke joke chills gills chipping gypping chive jive You will hear sentences Circle the word you hear in each sentence Don’t you ever think back about that choke/joke? It’s awful My father taught me how to the chives/ jives Polly fell and knocked a real chip/ gyp Actually, I don’t have any choice/ Joyce now I must buy one After you fetch the fish, please chill/ gill it 107 E TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 5) Listen carefully to these words choked joked chốc choker joker chốt chokers jokers chốt chokes jokes chốc choking joking chốc chug jug chật chugs jugs chật chump jump chum You will hear English words, one by one, on the tape Circle the word you hear among three choices You will have seconds to make up your mind before going on to the next item choking joking choked joked chug jug chump jump chokers jokers chokes jokes chugs jugs choker joker You will hear sentences Circle the word you hear in each sentence His story really gave me a choke/ joke! We heard the chug/ jug of a boat in the distance He made a real chump/jump! Surprise ? I received a valuable choker/joker 108 F TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 1) Listen carefully to these words chumps jumps chum chunk junk chân chunks junks chân etch edge cha etches edges chia etching edging chờ etchings edgings h age chây You will hear English words, one by one, on the tape Circle the word you hear among three choices You will have seconds to make up your mind before going on to the next item etching edging chunks junks etches edges chumps jumps chunk junk h age etchings edgings etch edge You will hear sentences Circle the word you hear in each sentence The cupboard was full of chunk/ junk His face was etched/ edged with pain He did mention something about the chumps/ jumps Did he say ‘H/ age’ ? 109 G TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 4) Listen carefully to these words hatches Hadjis chán H's ages chây larch large chang leach liege chít leaches lieges chít lecher ledger chén lechers ledgers chân lunch lunge chậm lunches lunges chậm You will hear English words, one by one, on the tape Circle the word you hear among three choices You will have seconds to make up your mind before going on to the next item leach liege lunch lunge lecher ledger lunches lunges larch large lechers ledgers H’s ages leaches lieges You will hear sentences Circle the word you hear in each sentence The line moved forward for lunch/ lunge Can you spell the word ‘leach/ liege’ ? It’s such a larch/ large tree! Did the advertisement say something about the H’s/ Ages? 110 H TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 3) Listen carefully to these words lunching lunging chân March Marge cháp match Madge châm rich ridge chích riches ridges chích search serge chết searches surges chết searching surging chất You will hear English words, one by one, on the tape Circle the word you hear among three choices You will have seconds to make up your mind before going on to the next item lunching lunging rich ridge search surge searching surging match Madge march Marge riches ridges searches surges You will hear sentences Circle the word you hear in each sentence What did they with the riches/ ridges? What you think about March/Marge? The team went for a real search/ surge I’m lunching/ lunging with Peter 111 APPENDIX PRODUCTION TEST (Pre-test and Post-test) search age chin char large searched H surged joke 10 jar 11 surge 12 larch 13 H’s 14 searching 15 jeer 16 surging 17 choke 18 gin 19 ages 20 cheer 112 APPENDIX RESULT OF PERCEPTUAL TRAINING A Pre-training perceptual test result GROUP A GROUP B St Gender Age Scores (out of Student 24) Gender Age Scores (out of 24) Female 30 17 (70.8%) Female 34 16 (66.7%) Female 28 15 (62.5%) Female 21 10 (41.7%) Female 22 10 (41.7%) Female 24 11 (45.8%) Female 25 11 (45.8%) Female 28 17 (70.8%) Female 27 13 (54.2%) Female 26 14 (58.3%) Female 20 14 (58.3%) Male 33 13 (54.2%) Male 35 (37.5%) Male 31 14 (58.3%) Male 20 16 (66.7%) Male 27 (33.3%) Male 32 16 (66.7%) Male 22 13 (54.2%) 10 Male 29 15 (62.5%) 10 Male 24 16 (66.7%) 11 Male 30 12 (50%) Mean: 13.6 (56.7%) Mean: 13.1 (54.5%) SD (standard deviation): 2.757 SD: 2.734 113 B Post-training perceptual test result – Group A (experimental group) Student Gender Age Identification Generalization Generalization Total test (out of test (out of test (out of (out of 72) 24) 24) 24) Female 30 22 (91.7%) 21 (87.5%) 22 (91.7%) 65 (90.3%) Female 28 17 (70.8%) 18 (75%) 19 (79.2%) 54 (75%) Female 22 17 (70.8%) 16 (66.7%) 15 (62.5%) 48 (66.7%) Female 25 16 (66.7%) 17 (70.8%) 15 (62.5%) 48 (66.7%) Female 27 16 (66.7%) 15 (62.5%) 15 (62.5%) 46 (63.9%) Female 20 19 (79.2%) 18 (75%) 19 (79.2%) 56 (77.8%) Male 35 13 (54.2%) 11 (45.8%) 12 (50%) 36 (50%) Male 20 20 (83.3%) 19 (79.2%) 19 (79.2%) 58 (80.1%) Male 32 18 (75%) 18 (75%) 20 (83.3%) 56 (77.8%) 10 Male 29 19 (79.2%) 20 (83.3%) 19 (79.2%) 58 (80.1%) Mean: 17.7 Mean: (73.75%) (72.1%) SD: 2.497 SD: 2.83 114 17.3 Mean: 17.5 Mean: 52.5 (72.9%) (72.9%) SD: 3.064 C Post-training perceptual test result – Group B (control group) Student Gender Age Identification Generalization Generalization Total test (out of test (out of test (out of (out of 72) 24) 24) 24) Female 34 15 (62.5%) 13 (54.2%) 15 (62.5%) 43 (59.7%) Female 21 11 (45.8%) 12 (50%) 10 (41.7%) 33 (45.8%) Female 24 13 (54.2%) 11 (45.8%) 12 (50%) 36 (50%) Female 28 15 (66.7%) 16 (66.7%) 14 (58.3%) 45 (62.5%) Female 26 13 (54.2%) 12 (50%) 14 (58.3%) 39 (54.2%) Male 33 15 (66.7%) 15 (66.7%) 13 (54.2%) 43 (59.7%) Male 31 14 (58.3%) 16 (66.7%) 16 (66.7%) 46 (63.9%) Male 27 12 (50%) 10 (41.7%) 12 (50%) 34 (47.2%) Male 22 12 (50%) (37.5%) 11 (45.8%) 32 (44.4%) 10 Male 24 17 (70.8%) 15 (66.7%) 13 (54.2%) 45 (62.5%) 11 Male 30 11 (45.8%) (37.5%) 10 (41.7%) 30 (41.2%) Mean: 13.45 Mean: (56.1%) (52.1%) SD: 1.916 SD: 2.659 115 12.5 Mean: 12.7 Mean: 38.7 (52.9%) (53.8%) SD: 1.954 APPENDIX 10 RESULT OF NATIVE LISTENERS’IDENTIFICATION OF MINIMAL PAIRS A Native listeners’ identification test result - Group A (experimental group) Student Gender Age Pre-test (out of 20) Female 30 12 (60%) 18 (90%) Female 28 10 (50%) (45%) Female 22 10 (50%) 15 (75%) Female 25 12 (60%) 17 (85%) Female 27 (45%) 10 (50%) Female 20 11 (55%) 14 (70%) Male 35 (40%) 12 (60%) Male 20 12 (60%) 16 (80%) Male 32 11 (55%) 12 (60%) 10 Male 29 10 (50%) 10 (50%) Mean: 10.5 (52.5%) Mean: 13.3 (66.5%) 116 Post-test (out of 20) B Native listeners’ identification test result - Group B (control group) Student Gender Age Pre-test (out of 20) Post-test (out of 20) Female 34 14 (70%) 13 (65%) Female 21 (45%) 11 (55%) Female 24 10 (50%) 11 (55%) Female 28 15 (75%) 13 (65%) Female 26 (40%) 10 (50%) Male 33 11 (55%) 11 (55%) Male 31 12 (60%) (45%) Male 27 (35%) 12 (60%) Male 22 (45%) (45%) 10 Male 24 13 (65%) 15 (75%) 11 Male 30 10 (50%) (40%) 117 ... Might there be a positive relationship between the perception and production of /t~/ and /d2/? 1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY If the relationship between the perception and production of the contrast. ..STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I certify that this thesis entitled ? ?THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF THE ENGLISH CONTRAST PAIR /t~/ AND /d2/ AMONG SOUTHERN VIETNAMESE SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH? ??... INTRODUCTION This thesis reports the result of an experiment conducted to investigate the relationship between the perception and production of the English contrast pair /t~/ and /d2/ among Southern adult