Factors affecting the effects of pronunciation tea- 123docz.net

According to Kenworthy (1987, p.4-9), factors such as the native language, the age factor, amount of exposure, phonetic ability, attitude and identity, motivation and concern for good have great influence on pronunciation learning as well as the effects of pronunciation teaching.

1.5.1. The native language

The native language plays an important role in the precise acquisition of pronunciation in a new language. It is a significant factor to account for foreign accents and influences the pronunciation of the target language. It often relates to interference from the mother tongue, and to cause errors in aspiration, stress and intonation in the target language.

River (1968) points out that all learners had experienced difficulties in understanding what foreigners said. This not because of their lack of knowledge of vocabulary, language structures and grammar but the sounds they produce seem peculiar and the voice they rose and fell in unexpected places.

Most teachers‟ experiences and research study show that learners‟ first language plays a major influence on the sound system of another language (Nation &

Newton, 2009). That is to say, every language in the world has different varieties and different accents.

When beginning to acquire a new language, the learner generally tries to employ existing phonological categories from the native language. That is to say, if a

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particular sound does not exist in the native language can therefore make a difficulty for learners to find a similar sound in their mother tongue. As if a sound does not exist in native language, but the place of articulation or the manner of articulation of the sound is quite different between two languages, it is also the difficult for learners.

Many researchers attempt to find the difference in processing of the target language pronunciation by comparing the sound systems between the target language and learners‟ native language .The result showed that the more different the sound systems have, the more difficulties the learners have to face, but not mean impossible. In short if a learner‟s native language has the similar sound with the target language, it is easier for his/her learning .

1.5.2. The age factor

It is commonly assumed that people can pronounce a foreign language like a native if they start learning it as a child and vice versa even though the adults have a good knowledge of English or they live in the countries where the language is a native one. This leads to a question that whether there is an age-related limit on the mastery of pronunciation. There have been many studies on this question and the results are conflicting because these studies have assessed pronunciation in different ways and it is extremely difficult to control other factors which may be involved such as ability, motivation or opportunity to use and to hear the language.

1.5.3. Amount of exposure

Another factor is the amount of exposure to English the learner receives. Some people view this as a matter of whether the learner is living in an English-speaking country or not. This means that the learner surrounded by English will have more advantages than who is not living in an English-speaking environment. However, it is difficult to get an accurate picture of how much exposure to English a learner has received, and of what kind. Moreover, it is not merely exposure that matters, but how the learners respond to the opportunities to listen and use English. Based on some recent studies, it seems that amount of exposure is not a necessary factor but a contributory factor for the development of pronunciation skills.

1.5.4. Phonetic ability

Some people have better ear capacity for foreign language than some other people, so they are able to discriminate between the two sounds more accurately than the other and able to imitate sounds better. These abilities are innate, so this factor seems to be out of the teacher's control. What the teacher can do is to investigate the abilities of the learners and provide a variety of tasks so that something will suit the needs and ability of each learner.

1.5.5. Attitudes and personalities

It has been claimed that factors such as a person‟s „sense of identity‟ and feelings of „group affiliation‟ are strong determiners of the acquisition of accurate pronunciation of a foreign language. In many studies of attitude and motivation in language learning, it has been shown that those learners who show positive feelings towards the speakers of the new language tend to develop more accurate, native-like accents.

1.5.6. Motivation

It cannot be denied that motivation is an important factor which determines the people's participation in every activity especially in language learning. Motivation makes people more active in learning. The more motivated the people are, the greater the cognitive process is. The learner's attitude towards the language they are learning or going to learn also affects the process of learning pronunciation. Their positive attitudes will help students a lot in learning this language, including learning its pronunciation.

Factors affecting the effects of pronunciation teaching

Studies on the effects of different teaching methods

General description and classification of English consonants