A STUDY ON THE PERCEPTION OF ENGLISH INITIAL

CONSONANT SOUNDS

BY

MS. PANAPORN PHOSRITHONG

AN INDEPENDENT STUDY PAPER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL

FULFILLMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

MASTER OF ARTS IN CAREER ENGLISH FOR

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION

LANGUAGE INSTITUTE

THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY

ACADEMIC YEAR 2017

COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY

Ref. code: 25605921040225HZM

A STUDY ON THE PERCEPTION OF ENGLISH INITIAL

CONSONANT SOUNDS

BY

MS. PANAPORN PHOSRITHONG

AN INDEPENDENT STUDY PAPER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL

FULFILLMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

MASTER OF ARTS IN CAREER ENGLISH FOR

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION

LANGUAGE INSTITUTE

THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY

ACADEMIC YEAR 2017

COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY

Ref. code: 25605921040225HZM

i

Independent Study Paper Title A STUDY ON THE PERCEPTION OF

ENGLISH INITIAL CONSONANT SOUNDS

Author Miss Panaporn Phosrithong

Degree Master of Arts

Major Field/Faculty/University Career English for International Communication

Language Institute

Thammasat University

Independent Study Paper Advisor Assistant Professor Watjana Suriyatham, Ed.D.

Academic Years 2017

ABSTRACT

This research aims to study – firstly, the abilities to perceive the English

consonantal initial sounds which are /r/, /l/, /Ɵ/, /ð/, /v/, /w/, /s/, /z/, /tʃ/, and /ʃ/ –

secondly, to find out the perception scores by CEIC student in a listening test – lastly,

to explore what are the most problematic sounds for CEIC students. The participants

in this research were randomly chosen from CEIC students in four classrooms at

Language Institute, Thammasat University. In addition, there were, in total, 50

participants (including 10 males and 40 females) who completed the questionnaire

and the perception test.

The questionnaire and perception test were used as the instruments of this

research. The questionnaire was designed for collecting specific information, which

comprised the participants’ backgrounds, perception awareness of English consonant

sounds and the problematic sounds for the participants respectively. The perception

test was created to measure the ability to perceive the English initial consonant sounds

by a listening test which consisted of two parts – Part A, in which the participants

were assigned to select the words that they heard from their minimal pairs and Part B,

in which the participants were required to write the word that they heard. The target

words in this study focused on the consonants /r/, /l/, /Ɵ/, /ð/, /v/, /w/, /s/, /z/, /tʃ/, and

/ʃ/ in initial position.

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The findings of the study showed that the participants could distinguish the

differences between ten English initial consonant sounds /r/_/l/, /Ɵ/_/ð/, /v/_/w/,

/s/_/z/, and /tʃ/_/ʃ/ similarly well (mean score = 3.85). The results from the perception

test indicated that the participants can perceive the English initial consonant sounds

when they were required to listen and circle the word that they heard rather than they

were required to listen and write the words they heard. On the other hand, the results

revealed that the sound /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ were the most problematic sounds among the

students.

Keywords: perception, English consonants, Initial position, problematic sound

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank everyone who had a role in the accomplishment of my

present study as follows:

Firstly, I am obligated to my advisor, Asst. Prof. Dr. Watchana Suriyatham for

the dedication and encouragement through the whole time that I had been working on

my study.

Secondly, I would like to thank my family, especially my mother, for her

financial support and also understanding that I had to dedicate my last semester to

completing this present study and I rarely spent time with my family.

Thirdly, I would like to thank my CEIC colleagues, Jin, Asma, and Lookyee

for always listening to my problems while we were working on independent study

research. In addition, I also would like to express gratefulness to everyone willing to

participate in this study.

Finally, I would like to thank Ms. Thitinun Ngamsanguan and her husband,

Mr. Louis Saul Osmon, as a native speaker, for recording the listening test used in this

study, as well as Miss Kasamaporn Ubonyaem for grammatical corrections.

Ms.Panaporn Phosrithong

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ABSTRACT i

ACKNOWlEDGEMENTS iii

LIST OF TABLES vii

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background of the Study 1

1.2 Research Questions of the Study 2

1.3 Research Objectives 2

1.4 Deffinitions of Terms 2

1.5 Scope of the Study 3

1.6 Significance of the Study 3

1.7 Organization of the Study 3

1.8 Statement of Problem 4

CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 5

2.1 The Consonant Sounds in English 5

2.2 The Concept of the Perceptions on Learning a Second Lanuguage by Non -

Native Speakers. 6

2.3 The Factors that Affect Learning Pronunciation of Non- Native Language 6

2.4 Relevant Studies 7

2.4.1 Studies concerning the problems in English consonants of EFL

leaners 7

2.4.2 Studies concerning the Problematic English consonants by Thai

Students 8

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CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 10

3.1 Participants 10

3.2 Instruments 10

3.2.1 Questionnaire 10

3.2.2 Perception test 10

3.3 Data Collection Procedures 12

3.4 Data Analysis 13

3.4.1 Questionnaire 13

3.4.2 Perception tests 13

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS 15

4.1 Student’s Perception on English Initail Consonant Sounds inMinimal

Pairs 15

4.2 Perception Scores by Students. 17

4.3 Problematic Sounds for Students 21

CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS 23

5.1 Summary of the Study 23

5.1.1 Objective of the study. 23

5.1.2 Participants, Materials, and Procedures 23

5.2 Summary of the Findings 24

5.2.1 Do CEIC students know the difference of English initial consonant

sounds in minimal pairs? 24

5.2.2 What is the perception score in the listening test by students? 24

5.2.3 What are the most problematic sounds for EFL learners? 24

5.3 Discussion of the Findings 25

5.3.1 Students’ perception to discriminate English initial consonant

sounds in minimal pairs. 25

5.3.2 The perception scores by students 26

5.3.3 The problematic sounds for students. 27

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5.4 Conclusions 27

5.5 Recommendations 27

REFERENCES 29

APPENDICES 32

APPENDIX A THAI QUESTIONNAIRE 32

APPENDIX C PERCEPTION TEST 35

BIOGRAPHY 37

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LIST OF TABLES

Tables Page

3.1 Target Words in Listening Test: Part A 11

3.2 Target Words in Listening Test: Part B 12

4.1 Level of Perception on English Initial Consonant

Sounds 16

4.2 Students’ Overall Perception Score 18

4.3 Mean Score of English Initial Consonant Sound

According to the Perception Test 18

4.4 Overall Perception Score by Individual Participants 19

4.5 Total Mean Perception Score of Each English

Consonant Sound 21

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

The majority of EFL learners have problems about pronunciations due to the

differences of the sound systems between their mother language and the target

language. In Thailand, the learning of pronunciation has not been provided in the

classroom, resulting in Thai students’ lack of training about English pronunciation.

They cannot produce some English consonants such as /ch/, /sh/, /Ɵ/, /ð/, /r/, /l/, /s/,

/z/, /v/ and /w/, as these sounds do not exist in Thai. As mentioned, they might not

know the the pronunciation of English consonant sounds that do not exist in the Thai

language in the same way.

According to the sound production /r/ and /l/ study among Thai students at

Wall Street Institute, the results found that most students substituted /r/ with /l/ in the

initial and medial positions. Male students tend to omit /r/ in initial and medial

position while the female subjects were more likely to mispronounce /l/ and

substituted it with the /l/ sound in the same position. In addition, some high

proficiency subjects replaced /r/ with /l/ in the initial position and medial positions

with greater frequency than the lower proficiency subjects (Suasanguansak, 2013).

In the same study, Manoyen (2011) found that the phoneme /l/ is usually

substituted for /r/ in word-initial position, while most students can produce /l/ in the

initial position.

In a study of pronunciation problems of English learners in China by Zhang

(2009), it was pointed out that a particular sound that does not exist in the native

language is difficult for the ESL to produce. Sometimes they try to substitute those

sounds with similar sounds from their mother language such as consonants /ð/ and

/Ɵ/, /v/ and /f/.

According to Mohammad Hussein Keshavarz (2017), who studied

pronunciation problems of HAUSA speaking learners of English, and the phonetic

features of HAUSA /f/ which significantly differs from English /f/, HAUSA

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speakers have difficulties with the English labio-dental fricatives /f/ and /v/, they

substitute the existing bilabial plosives /p/ and /b/ in their native language.

As stated in Ukachoke (2008), students cannot distinguish the difference

between the sounds /f/-/v/ because those sounds are different in voicing quality. The

phonology of target language contrast in a native language is crucial in pronunciation.

Thus, non-native speakers acquire the ability to discriminate the /f/-/v/ contrast in

their native language acquisition.

Khamkhien (2010) claimed that teachers should provide teaching methods and

learning activities to motivate students to be aware of their pronunciation problems,

and also encourage students to have an opportunity to use English in real situations.

The researcher designed the pretest to make sure that Thai students can

perceive the English initial consonants /ch/,/sh/,/Ɵ/./ð,//r/, /l/, /s/, /z/, /v/ and /w/ in

their minimal pairs. The present study also studies perception scores in the listening

test by the students and explores what the most problematic sounds for CEIC students

are as well.

1.2 Research Questions of the Study

Three research questions are addressed in this study;

1.2.1 Do CEIC student know how to differentiate the English initial consonant

sounds /r/-/l/, /Ɵ/-/d/,/ð/-/t/,/v/-/w/, /s/-/z/and /tʃ- /ʃ/ in minimal pair?

1.2.2 What is the perception score in the listening test by students?

1.2.3 What are the most problematic sounds for the students?

1.3 Research Objectives

There are two research objectives which are addressed in this study.

1.3.1 To study students’ awareness to discriminate English initial consonant

sounds /r/-/l/, /Ɵ/-/d/,/ð/-/t/,/v/-/w/, /s/-/z/and /tʃ- /ʃ/ in minimal pair.

1.3.2 To study perception scores by CEIC students in a listening test.

1.3.3 To explore what are the most problematic sounds for the students.

1.4 Definitions of Terms

The terms mentioned in the study are defined as follows:

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1.4.1 Perception of initial consonant sounds means awareness and

understanding of initial consonant sounds.

1.4.2 Minimal pair means a pair of words that differ from a single phoneme,

and have distinct meanings, for example, bat-pad, and Rot-Lot.

1.4.3 Consonant minimal pair means a pair of words that differ in consonant

sound and have distinct meanings. For example, in this study, minimal consonant

pairs include red-led, sue-zoo, thin-tin, then-den, vet-wet, and chip-ship.

1.4.4 Listening practice means a test to examine participants’ ability to

distinguish initial consonants in minimal pairs.

1.4.5 CEIC students refers to graduate students in The Master of Arts Career

English For International Communication program at Language Institute, Thammasat

University.

1.5 Scope of the Study

The scope of this study is to focus on ten English consonant sounds in the

initial position, which are /r/,/l/, /Ɵ/,/ð/,/v/,/w/, /s/,/z/and /tʃ/, /ʃ/ as those sounds are

difficult for Thai students to distinguish. The target participants will be fifty students

in CEIC. The study is useful for Thai students to help them be aware of their

pronunciation problems and it will help teachers to understand the problem of

learning as well as teaching pronunciation in the future.

1.6 Significance of the Study

This study is significant in many aspects.

1.6.1 The teachers and students will pay more attention to the importance of

English pronunciation to improve their speaking and listening skills.

1.6.2 The findings of this study will provide the information that it is useful

for curriculum committees to improve course syllabi to be more proper as well as

match with students needs.

1.6.3 The result from this study will provide insightful information that

concerns the problematic sounds among Thai EFL learners.

1.7 Organization of the Study

This study is divided into five chapters as follows:

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1.7.1 Chapter one presents the background of the study, research questions,

research objectives, definitions of terms, the scope of the study, the significance of the

study, the organization of the study as well as the state of the problem.

1.7.2 Chapter two includes the review of literature of this research, the

consonant sounds in English, the concept of perception of the second language by the

non-native speaker, the factors that affect learning pronunciation, and related research

studies.

1.7.3 Chapter three explains the methodology of this research study, the target

participants, instruments, data collection as well as data analysis.

1.7.4 Chapter four explains the results of the research study.

1.7.5 Chapter five is the discussion, conclusion, and recommendations for the

future research.

1.8 Statement of Problem

Students in CEIC come from different backgrounds. Some of them may have

learning experience abroad, and some of them do not. However, when they learn in

this program, which is an English program, sometimes they have some difficulty with

some words, particularly the words that are similar to pronounce, such as Chalk and

Shock, and they cannot discriminate those sounds. For this reason the researcher

constructed a pretest to study students’ perception on English initial consonant

sounds which focuses on ten consonants as follows; r/,/l/, /Ɵ/,/ð/,/v/,/w/, /s/./z/,/tʃ/

and /ʃ/.

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CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This chapter reviews some literature focused only on concepts of (1) the

sounds in English, (2) the concept of perception of second language by non-native

speakers (3) the factors that affect learning pronunciation (4) related literature review.

2.1 The Consonant Sounds in English

As described in the book “Sound Foundation” Underhill (2017) described that

there are two meaning of consonants as follows;

Definition 1: “Consonant sounds are made by restricting or blocking the air

flow in some physical way, and this restriction, or the release of the restriction, is

what gives the consonant its character sound.”

Definition 2: “Consonants, either single or clusters, mark the beginnings and

ends of syllables.” This includes consonants that function at the initial or final

position except /w/ and /j/ because "these sounds can mark the boundaries of syllables

in the same way as the other consonants do, e.g. wet, yet, lower, layer."

In addition, Underhill also divided the consonant into three variables

according to the restriction of the airflow. There are voice or unvoiced, place of

articulation and the manner of articulation.

As cited in Ongsuragz (2008), voice consonants in English language are /b/,

/d/, /g/, /v/, /z/,/Z/./dZ/, /r/, /l/, /m/. /n/, /y/ and /w/ while voiceless consonants are /p/,

/t/, /k/, /f/, /t/, /s/. /∑/, /t∑/ and /h/ . Moreover, the consonants that invoice the

airstream through the oral cavity are called oral consonants while another

characteristic that involves the airstream through the nasal cavity are called nasal

consonants.

According to Praromrat Joitikasthira (1998, p.85), the point of articulators

forming consonant sounds there are lips, the upper teeth, the tongue, the alveolar ridge

and the soft panel. The manner of articulation refers to stop (plosive), affricative,

nasal, and lateral, fricative and glide (semi-vowel).

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2.2 The Concept of the Perceptions on Learning a Second Language by Non -

Native Speakers.

There are many theories trying to explain the acquisition of learning a second

language by non-native speakers as follows.

As cited in Jevring (2015), Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH) by Lado

(1957) tries to prophecy possible areas of difficulty for L2 learner by looking at the

different sounds of native language and non-native language. If the features of L1 are

similar to L2, that would be similar for learners to learn.

Best's Perceptual Assimilation Model (1995) claimed that if the sound in the

second language is close to the sound in the first language, it would be easy for

learners to assimilate that sound. However, if the sounds in the second language and

first language are different, the assimilation of L2 in L1 is difficult to occur.

(Jevring,2015)

In the term of the relation between perception and production in the

acquisition of L2, perceptual research pointed out that the different phonemes of

native languages do significantly influence the perception of the adult learner,

particularly in monolingual speakers (Best, 1995).

2.3 The Factors That Affect Learning Pronunciation of Non- Native Language

Brown(2000) claimed that second language learners meet some difficulties

because the phoneme inventories of L1 affect L2, particularly in adult learners. Thus,

it can make errors for L2 learners.

There are many reasons why EFL learners could not fruitfully learn the target

language. As Kenworthy’s study (1987) mentioned, the factors that influence

pronunciation learning are as follows:

The first language. Since it has significance as the first language of EFL

learners, it influences learning the second language.

Age. Children can learn the second language better than adults because their

brains can remember easily.

Motivation. Some learners have concerns for proper pronunciation. This

concern may reflect a desire to have original pronunciation. If learners are not

concerned about pronunciation, they are not aware if they speak in a native way.

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Moyer supported this factor in 1996 and 1999, describing that the motivation and

desire to sound like a native speaker also influences second language learning. Also,

Gardner and Lambert ( 1972) claimed that motivation could have a significant effect

on acquisition.

Sound substitutions. The learners may substitute a sound which is close to

their native language. If their native sound is not close to enough to the target sound,

the learners will encounter some difficulties. For example, many learners cannot make

the /th/ sound as in ‘thick’, they will substitute the sound /t/ as in ‘tick’ for it.

Language experience. In the same study Siriwisut ( 1994) and Serttikul

( 2005) pointed out that prior learning pronunciation affects pronunciation ability.

Language experience helps learners develop their pronunciation.

2.4 Relevant Studies

2.4.1 Studies concerning the problems in English consonants of EFL

leaners

Elkhair Muhammad Idriss Hassan (2014) conducted a study in pronunciation

problem among students at Sudan University and found that Sudanese students of

English whose language background is Sudanese spoken Arabic, had difficulty with

the pronunciation of consonant sounds such as /z/ and /ð/, /s/ and /Ɵ/, /b/ and /p/, /ʃ/

and /tʃ/ because the differences of the sound system in the two languages are

problematic in learning pronunciation for Sudanese students.

In addition, the researcher found that students cannot distinguish between /s/

sound and /Ɵ/ sound and they always replace /s/ for /Ɵ/. For example, when they were

required to pronounce words such as bath and math they replace the dental /Ɵ/ with

the alveolar /s/. In addition, once they were assigned to pronounce the words such as

bas or mas they also substituted with the other fricatives /z and /ð/.

A study by Youfu and Yalun (2002) entitled “Insights into English

Pronunciation Problems of Thai Students”, found, regarding Thai students’

pronunciation with consonants and vowels (e.g.), words with transcription which

ended with a consonant; word with /r/, usually pronounced as /l/; word with /v/,

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usually pronounced as /f/; and word with /z/, usually pronounced at /s/, or voiceless,

including transcribing English words directly borrowed from English into Thai.

2.4.2 Studies concerning the Problematic English consonants by Thai

Students

A Study of the pronunciation of /ƒ/ and /tƒ/ by third-year students of business

administration primary computer at the Rajamangala University of Technology

Pranakhon by Ongsuragz (2008), found that the cause of problems of pronouncing /ʃ /

and /tʃ/ was that these sound do not exist in the Thai sound system. Therefore, the

student substitute other sounds for /ʃ/ , /tʃ/ in some spelling forms and students could

not discriminate differences between /ʃ/ and /tʃ/ because they did not know the manner

of articulation of both sounds.

Raksayod (2013) who investigated “Sound interference of ‘W’ Affecting the

pronunciation of ‘V’ in English” stated that 60% of respondents had never learned in

a pronunciation course and they used English media such as songs and radio to

improve their listening skill. The participants always omit pronounced /v/ when it

occurs in the initial position when compared with the medial and final position. The

factor that causes their problem is English is not a mother-tongue, lack of using

English in daily life and lack of study in a pronunciation course. The results also show

that most Thai EFL learners make errors with /v/ and put /w/ substitutions.

Phirualee (2013) conducted a study on awareness and viewpoints toward

English pronunciation among MEC student at Thammasat University. Thai EFL

learners cannot pronounce English words or sounds that do not exist in Thai and try to

replace them a close word, for example /v/ to /w/, /z/ to /s/. In addition, Thai does not

have final sounds as English sounds like /l/ and Thai language as a single tone, and

this becomes a listening problem when Thai EFL have to speak with a native speaker.

Pronunciation has an essential role in the conversation; incorrect pronunciation not

only perverts the conversation but also disguises understanding of the listener.

Suasanguansak. (2013) investigated on the pronunciation of /r/ and /l/ in the

beginning, middle and end position among English Thai learners at Wall Street

Institute (SEACON SQUARE CENTER). The different position can cause the

mistake and influence variants, in the study /r/, /l/ pronunciation in the final position

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are problematic. The lower level performed relatively poorer in final position for both

/r/, /l/ while higher level students, on the contrary, typically omit /r/ in the initial and

medial position.

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CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the research methodology of the study including (1)

participants, (2) instruments, (3) data collection procedure, and (4) data analysis.

3.1 Participants

The participants of this study were 50 students of Master of Arts Program in

Career English for International Communication at Language Institute, Thammasat

University. There were 40 female participants and ten male participants.

3.2 Instruments

The research instruments of this study were questionnaires and perception

tests.

3.2.1 Questionnaire

The questionnaire was created as the instrument for collecting the

participants’ background information. It was composed of sex, age, career, TU-GET

score, language experience, students’ awareness to differentiate English initial

consonant sounds as well as what English consonants seem to be the problematic

sounds for students. The questionnaire was typed in Thai to facilitate participants’

responses.

3.2.2 Perception test

The perception test in this study is a listening test. The test aims to measure

students’ ability to differentiate English initial consonant sounds. The perception test

consists of 2 parts;

Part A: Listen and circle the words you hear.

Part B: Listen and write the words you hear.

3.2.1.1 Part A: Listen and Circle the words you hear.

This part is composed of 20 target minimal pairs, together with 5 minimal

pairs as fillers which were added in order so the participants might not be able to

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notice which minimal pairs were the focus of the test. The participants had to circle

the words they heard on the answer sheet. The target phonemes in the test are /r/, /l/,

/v/,/w/,/s/,/z/,/Ɵ/,/ð/./tʃ/,/ʃ/. The correct answer was calculated for the scoring process.

Table.3.1 Target Words in Listening Test in Part A

Phonemes Target words

/r/-/l/ Rain, Lane

Rip, Lip

Lice, Rice

Led, Red

/v/-/w/ Vet, Wet

View, Few

Went, Vent

Wow Vow

/s/-/z/ Sing, Zing

Seal, Zeal

Zoo, Sue

Zip, Sip

/ð/-/d/

There, Dare

Than , Dan

/Ɵ/-/t/ Thank, Tank

Thin, Tin

/tʃ/-/ʃ/ Chip, Ship

Chain, Shane

Sheet, Cheat

Sheep. Cheap

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3.2.1.2 PART B: Listen and write the word you hear.

The participants were required to write the words they heard on the answer

sheet. The word lists were adopted from the many previous studies such as a study of

M.4 students at Chitrada School on perception and production of English /V/ by

Piyada Ukachock and a study of pronunciation of /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ by third-year students of

business administration major computer at Rajamangkala University of Technology

Pra Nakorn, by Issaree Ongsuragz.

Table.3.2. Target Words in Listening Test: Part B

Phonemes Words (Initial Position)

/r/ Read, Rice

/l/ Load, Late

/v/ Vain, Veil

/w/ Wet, West

/s/ Sue, Sip

/z/ Zeed, Zeal

/ð/ Then, Those

/Ɵ/ Thing, Thick

/tʃ/ Chop, Cheat

/ʃ/ Share, Ship

3.3 Data Collection Procedures

The questionnaire and perception tests were piloted with five CEIC students at

Language Institute, Thammasat University. They were asked to do the questionnaire

and perception test at lunchtime in a quiet room to find out if any questions were not

clear to understand and to check the audio. The researcher also investigated to see if

any participants were able to notice the target sounds. After the pilot, the

questionnaire and perception tests were valid for the actual study.

The procedures were as follow:

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1) All words list in perception tests were checked by the expert and were

recorded by native speakers (British English)

2) The researcher had already asked the permission from instructors for

collecting data in the classroom; it was given from 8th to 9th April 2018 at

Language Institute, Thammasat University during the break time.

3) The questionnaires were handed out to students as the participants in the

classroom.

4) The researcher instructed the participants.

5) All participants had to complete the questionnaire individually, and it took

around 5 minutes to finish the questionnaire.

6) After completing the questionnaire, the participants were given oral

instructions to do perception tests. In the listening test as the first part, they

had to circle the word that they heard when a native speaker pronounced

the target words each twice. There are total 20 items for this part, and it

also took around 5 minutes.

7) After completing the listening test, students had to do the writing test, and

they have to write the words they heard which were recorded by a native

speaker. There were in total 20 items; each 3-seconds apart and it also took

around 5 minutes.

3.4 Data Analysis

3.4.1Questionnaire

Statistical Package analyzed the quantitative data from the questionnaires for

the Social Sciences (SPSS) program to calculate the means and standard deviation and

frequency. The information was presented by means of tables to explain students'

awareness to differentiate English initial consonant sounds and frequency tables to

find out what are the English consonants seen to be problematic sounds for CEIC

students.

3.4.2 Perception tests Regarding the qualitative data from the perception tests, each answer paper of

listening tests part A &B was marked to the total score of 20. Finally, the total correct

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score of each sound was significantly calculated to find the mean perception score of

each sound, and the total mean scores of the two parts were calculated together to

explore what are the most problematic sounds for CEIC students.

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CHAPTER 4

RESULTS

Chapter three described the participants of the study, instruments, research

design and data analysis. This chapter presents the result of the study based on the

data gained from the 50 CEIC students at Thammasat University. The results of the

study present research questions stated in Chapter one.

1. Do CEIC student know the difference between the English initial

consonant sounds /r/-/l/, /Ɵ/-/d/,/ð/-/t/,/v/-/w/, /s/-/z/and /tʃ- /ʃ/ in minimal

pair?

2. What is the perception score in the listening test by CEIC students?

3. What are the most problematic sounds for CEIC students?

4.1 Students’ Perception on English Initial Consonant Sounds in Minimal Pairs

To answer research question no.1 Do students know the perception of English

initial consonant sounds? The total mean score of the information from questionnaire

part 2 was compared with the total mean score of the perception test. In the

questionnaire part 2, the participants were asked to rate on a five-point Likert scale

how well they can differentiate the English initial consonant in the minimal pair. The

perception scale and rating interpretation is as follows:

5= Excellent

4= Very well

3= Moderate

2= Not so well

1 = Poor

The data was analyzed the participants’ perception to differentiate the English

initial consonant sounds as follows:

4.21-5.00 = Excellent

3.41 -4.20 = Very well

2.61-3.40 = Moderate

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1.81-2.60 = Not so well

1.00-1.80 = Poor

Table 4.1 presents the awareness of participants' perception to differentiate the

English initial consonant in a minimal pair. The results show overall score ( mean

score = 3.85) . It can be said that the majority of CEIC students think that they can

differentiate the English consonants sounds. However, the overall perception score is

28.40 out of 40 ( as shown in table.4.4) This is to say, yes, CEIC students have the

perception they can discriminate the English initial consonant sounds.

Table 4.1. Level of perception on English initial consonant sounds in minimal pairs

Level of perception

English consonant sounds Excellen

t

Very

well

Mod

erate

Not so

well

Poor

x

S.D.

Lev

el

Minimal pairs

1. You know how to

differentiate /r/ and /l/

sounds.

19 16 13 2 0 4.04 0.90 Very

well

2.You know how to

differentiate /s/and /z/

sounds

19 16 12 3 0 4.02 0.94 Very

well

3.You know how to

differentiate /t/ and /Ɵ/

sounds

14 18 16 2 0 3.88 0.87 Very

well

4.You know how to

differentiate /v/and /f/

sounds

19 24 7 0 0 4.24 0.69 Very

well

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Table 4.1. (Continued)

Level of perception

English consonant sounds Excellen

t

Very

well

Mod

erate

Not so

well

Poor

x

S.D.

Lev

el

5.You know how to

differentiate /v/ and /w/

sounds

6.You know how to

differentiate /tʃ/ and /ʃ/

sounds

15

10

15

13

16

12

4

14

0

1

3.82

3.34

0.96

1.15

Very

Well

Moderate

7.You know how to

differentiate /d/and /,ð/

sounds

13 11 18 8 0 3.58 1.05 Very

well

Total 3.85 0.98 Very

Well

4.2 Perception Scores by Students.

Table 4.2, presents overall the total mean score, min and max of the perception

test parts A & B by the students. For part A, the lowest score is 13 out of 20, the

highest score is 20 whereas the total mean score is 16. 70 out of 20. In part B, the

lowest score is 7 out of 20, the highest score is 16 out of 20 and the total mean score

is 11.80 out of 20. This means that, averagely, the students’ ability to differentiate the

English initial consonants in Part A (listening and choose the word) is higher than Part

B ( listening and writing the words). The total perception score of Part A&B is 28.54

out of 40.

We can interpret students’ perception proficiency at the criteria level follows:

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A = 80% (32 out of 40)

B = 70% (28 out of 40)

C = 60% (24 out of 40)

D = 50% (20 out of 40)

It can be said that overall student's perception to differentiate the English

initial consonants sound is level B, 28.50 out 40 or 70%.

Table 4.2 Students’ Overall perception score

Perception Tests Min ( x ) Max( x ) Average ( x )

Part A (20) 13 20 16.70

Part B (20) 7 16 11.80

Total (4o) 20 36 28.50

Table 4.3. Mean score of English initial consonants sound according to the

perception test.

Phonemes

(initial position)

Perception tests

Part A x (2) Part B x (2)

/r/ 1.94 1.76

/l/ 1.82 0.92

/Ɵ/ 1.94 1.18

/ð/ 1.46 1.66

/v/ 1.88 0.78

/w/ 1.72 1.56

/s/ 1.80 0.96

/z/ 1.88 1.18

/tʃ/ 1.08 0.82

/ʃ/ 1.18 0.98

Total 1.67 1.18

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Table 4.4 Overall perception score by individual participants

Participant no. Part A Part B Total

1 17 13 30

2 16 16 32

3 18 12 30

4 16 14 30

5 18 14 32

6 20 13 33

7 20 12 32

8 15 12 27

9 16 15 31

10 19 13 32

11 19 11 30

12 18 12 30

13 17 10 27

14 15 11 26

15 15 11 26

16 17 9 26

17 16 10 26

18 20 9 29

19 17 10 27

20 16 15 31

21 13 12 25

22 13 11 24

23 17 13 30

24 16 9 25

25 15 9 24

26 13 11 24

27 19 14 33

28 17 13 30

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Tabble4.4 (continued)

Participant no. Part A Part B Total

29 14 7 21

30 17 8 25

31 15 13 28

32 19 14 33

33 16 9 25

34 13 8 21

35 17 11 28

36 19 13 32

37 18 15 34

38 17 15 32

39 17 10 27

40 17 14 31

41 17 12 29

42 14 12 26

43 17 12 29

45 17 15 32

46 19 14 33

47 16 11 27

48 18 14 32

49 14 10 24

50 19 10 29

Total 16.70 11.80 28.50

Table 4.4, shows overall perception score by individual participants

In Part A, there are three students that obtained a full score of 20 items (participants

no.6,7 &18). Those students have learned pronunciation around one year, two

students thought that they were fair at learning pronunciation, while another student

thought that she was good at learning pronunciation.

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For Part B, the highest score is 16 out of 20 (participant no.2) It was obtained

from a student who has learned pronunciation as well. She thought that she was fair at

learning pronunciation and she thought that learning pronunciation is important

because it affects the meaning of communication.

In terms of the relationship between learning pronunciation and their

performance, there are 26 students who have their perception scores higher than the

total mean perception score ( x =28.52), 11 students have learned pronunciation, and

they learned more than 1 Year, 15 students never have learned pronunciation before.

However, the highest total perception score, 34 out of 40 (participant no.37), was not

obtained from a student who has experience with learning pronunciation. The

information from the questionnaire of a student who got the highest score reveals that

she has a high ability in English with a TU-GET score of 800. She thought that

learning pronunciation is important because it helps to improve speaking and listening

skill.

4.3 Problematic Sounds for Students

Once calculating the total means perception score of each sound according to

Part A together with Part B it was found that the most problematic sounds for students

are the sounds /tʃ/ ( x =1.90) and /ʃ/ ( x =2.11) as shown in table 4.5. The

information from the questionnaire also reveals that /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ are the most

problematic sounds for CEIC students.

Table 4.5. Total mean perception score for each English consonant

Phonemes

(initial position) Total x (4)

/r/ 3.70

/l/ 2.74

/Ɵ/ 3.12

/ð/ 3.12

/v/ 2.66

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Table 4.5. (Continued).

Phonemes

(initial position) Total x (4)

/w/ 3.28

/s/ 2.76

/z/ 3.06

/tʃ/ 1.90

/ʃ/ 2.16

Total 2.85

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CHAPTER 5

DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter presents (1) summary of the study, (2) summary of the finding,

(3) discussion of findings, (4) conclusion, and (5) recommendations for further

research.

5.1 Summary of the Study

This part concludes the objectives, participants, materials, and procedures of

the study as follows:

5.1.1 Objective of the study.

The primary objectives of this research were to study students' perception to

discriminate English initial consonant sounds /r/,/l/,/Ɵ/,/ð/,/v/,/w/,/s/,/z/,/tʃ/ and,/ʃ/ in

their minimal pairs and to study perception scores in a listening test by students, as

well as to explore what are the most problematic sounds for CEIC students through

the perception tests.

5.1.2 Participants, Materials, and Procedures

The participants of this study were 50 current students of Master of Arts

Program in Career English for International Communication at Language Institute,

Thammasat University. There were 40 female participants and ten male participants.

The research instruments in this research were a questionnaire and perception

test. The questionnaire was designed for collecting the participants’ background

information. The perception tests were created for measuring the learners’ perception

to distinguish the English initial consonant sounds. It consisted of 2 parts, in the first

part, the participants were assigned to select the word they heard from the minimal

pairs. For the second part, the participants were required to write the words they

heard.

The questionnaire was distributed to the participants by the convenience

sampling method. After collecting the data, the results of the questionnaire were

analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The perception

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tests analyzed the correct number with focus on the target sounds

/r/,/l/,/Ɵ/,/ð/,/v/,/w/,/s/,/z/,/tʃ/ and /ʃ/ at only initial position.

5.2 Summary of the Findings.

The results of the study can be summarized as follows:

5.2.1 Do CEIC students know the difference of English initial consonant

sounds in minimal pairs?

Yes, they know. The results of perception awareness showed that, overall,

students thought that they can distinguish English initial consonants similarly well ( x

= 3.85) and the total mean score of the perception test shows that CEIC students know

the perception of English initial consonants sounds ( x = 28.5 out of 40) at 70%

according to the score criteria.

5.2.2 What is the perception score in the listening test by students?

The perception score reveals that the majority of CEIC students can

discriminate the English initial consonants in minimal pairs in Part A ( x = 16.70)

rather than in Part B ( x = 11.80). There was only one student who obtained the same

score in Part A (16 out of 20 and Part B (16 out of 20), and there were 3 students who

received the full score in Part A (20 out of 20). Overall perception score by CEIC

students is satisfied ( x = 28.50 out of 40)

5.2.3 What are the most problematic sounds for EFL learners?

The results from the test indicate the most problematic sounds for students are

the sounds of /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ because once calculated, the total score of each consonant in

part A together with part B found that students perceive those sound lowest in every

section with mean score of /tʃ/ ( x = 1.90) and /ʃ/ ( x = 2.11) respectively. In

addition, the information collected by the questionnaire shows that students know the

difference of English initial consonant sounds /r/_/l/, /Ɵ/_/ð/, /v/_/w/, /s/_/z/ at very

good levels, except the sounds of /tʃ/_/ʃ/, which held at the moderate level.

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5.3 Discussion of the Findings

5.3.1 Students’ perception to discriminate English initial consonant

sounds in minimal pairs.

The perceptual results of the perception test in this study indicated that the

majority of students know the difference of English initial consonant sounds of /r/_/l/,

/ Ɵ/_/t/, /ð/_/d/, /v/_/w/, /s/_/z/ similarly well while the sounds /tʃ/ -/ʃ/ are difficult for

students to discriminate between the two of those sounds. This is because of the

difference of sound systems in Thai and English and students may not know the voice

quality of English consonant sounds. Sometimes, they cannot discriminate between

voice and voiceless consonant sounds.

However, students perceived English consonant sounds /r/, /l/, /Ɵ/, /ð/, /v/, /w/,

/s/, /z/, /tʃ/, and /ʃ in the listening task part A as satisfied by x = 16.70 out of 20.

Whereas the results in part B indicated that students’ perception of those sounds were

problematic; when they were required to write the word they heard, the results

showed that students substituted the target sound by the sounds that were close in

Thai.

For example, they perceived the sound /ð/as /d/ like “then” as “Den”, /Ɵ/, as

/s/ or /t/ like in the word “Tick” they wrote “Sick” and “Six” and “Tick” as “Thick”.

The result parallels the study concerning pronunciation problems for EFL learners.

Elkhair Muhammad Idriss Hassan (2014) found that students do not know the

distinction between / s/ sound and /Ɵ/ sound and they always substitute /s/ instead of

/Ɵ/.

Sometimes, students cannot discriminate English consonant-initial sounds like

/v/ and /w/, once they have to write the target word. For example, “Veil”, most

students were misspelling by the initial consonant /w/ or /f/ as /v/, and they wrote

“well” The finding supports the study of Raksayod (2013) who found that most Thai

EFL learner learners make errors with /v/ and put /w/ substitutions.

For the sounds /s/ and /z/, they also had some difficulties to differentiate for

those sound like in the words “sip” and “Zip” “Sue” and “zoo” and some of them

confused the difference of those sounds. With the sounds of /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ students had

difficulty to discriminate the sounds /tʃ/ as /ʃ/, and /ʃ/ as /tʃ/ such as in the words

“Sheep” and “Cheap”, this parallels with the study of Ongsuragz (2008), who found

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that the cause of problems of pronouncing /ʃ / and /tʃ/ was that these sound do not

exist in the Thai sound system. Therefore, the students substitute other sounds to

substitute for /ʃ/ , /tʃ/ in some spelling forms and students could not discriminate

differences between /ʃ/, /tʃ/ because they did not know the manner of articulation of

both sounds.

The sounds of /r/ and /l/ seem to be problematic for students as well. When

they were required to listen and write, some students were confused about these

sounds. For instance, once they had to write the target word “Late” and most students

wrote“red” This is similar to the study of Monoyen. (2011) who claimed that when

students had difficulty with strange sounds in their native language, they will

substitute the most equivalent in the native language.

From the overall findings, it can be said that the CEIC students know the

difference of English initial consonants sounds /r/,/l/,/Ɵ/,/ð/,/v/,/w/,/s/,/z/,/tʃ/ and,/ʃ/

and the results of the perception test also support that their perception of English

initial consonant sounds was satisfied. However, the contrast of consonant sounds

between Thai and English make students have some difficulties to perceive English

consonant sounds, especially the sounds /ʃt/ and /ʃ/.

5.3.2 The perception scores by students

According to the result of the perception test, we can divide students into two

groups. The first group is students who can perceive English initial consonant sounds

in listening rather than in writing. Another group is students who can perceive English

initial consonants equally, both listening and writing. The results of the total mean

perception scores by CEIC students present that the majority of students can perceive

English initial consonant sounds when they were required to listen and circle the word

they heard rather than once were asked to listen and write the word they heard. The

difference of phonology in Thai and English significantly influence students when

they have to analyze words they heard from listening tasks Sahatsathatsana (2017).

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5.3.3 The problematic sounds for students.

In the present study, the results presented that students had the most difficult

with the sounds of /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ whose total mean score showed tʃ/ ( x =1.90) and /ʃ/ ( x

=2.11) out of 4. Students also perceive those sounds lowest in every test section.

The results agree with the former study by Ongsuragz (2008) in “A Study of

The Pronunciation of /ʃ/ and /tʃ/ by third-year students of business administration

major computer at Rajamangala University of Technology Pranakhon” which found

that the students could not discriminate differences between /ʃ/ and /tʃ/ because they

did not know how to pronounce them, as well as the sounds ʃ/ and /tʃ/ do not exist in

Thai.

5.4 Conclusions.

The following conclusions can be drawn from the discussion above:

5.4.1 The differences in phoneme inventories between Thai and English affect

the assimilation of Thai students when learning English. For the sounds that are

similar in Thai, students may perceive them readily, but when they encounter

unfamiliar sounds such as /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ students acquire those sounds by substituting the

most similar sounds in native language.

5.4.2 Some students may be unfamiliar with the British English accent that

was used as an instrument in this study as well as some of the word lists were difficult

for the students, like “Zeed” because students rarely use it in daily life.

5.4.3 The quality of loudspeakers in some classrooms was not suitable for the

room’s size. The quality of sound may affect the hearing quality of the students that

depends on their seats position in the classroom.

5.5 Recommendations

Based on the discussions and conclusions the following are recommendations

for further research.

Firstly, the present study focuses on the sounds of /r/, /l/, /Ɵ/, /ð/, /v/, /w/, /s/,

/z/, /tʃ/, and/ʃ/ only in initial position, future research can broadly extend to different

positions, medial or final.

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Secondly for greater validity and reality of the research, the study should

consist of more test words in each sound.

Thirdly, for sound recording, the future study could use the high-quality

recording tools. In this study, the native speaker recorded his voice via the telephone.

This makes the sound quality possibly unclear.

Fourth, Thai learners should be more encouraged to learn English

pronunciation accurately, In this study, most the students have problems with

consonant cluster, particularly the sounds of /tʃ/ and /ʃ/.

Finally, the generality of the results is limited because the participants were

only from CEIC (The Master in Career English for International Communication).

Future studies can choose to study the other fields of the participants.

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APPENDICES

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APPENDIX A

THAI QUESTIONNAIRE

แบบสอบถาม ชุดท่ี…………….

เร่ือง การศึกษาเสียงพยญัชนะในภาษาองักฤษท่ีเป็นปัญหาในหมู่นกัศึกษาปริญญาโท สาขาภาษาองักฤษเชิงอาชีพเพื่อการส่ือสารนานาชาติ สถาบนัภาษา มหาวิทยาลยัธรรมศาสตร์

วัตถุประสงค์ ของแบบสอบถามน้ีจัดท าข้ึนเพ่ือรวบรวมข้อมูล ส าหรับการศึกษาคน้ควา้อิสระของนกัศึกษาปริญญาโท สาขาภาษาองักฤษเชิงอาชีพเพื่อการส่ือสารนานาชาติ สถาบนัภาษามหาวิทยาลยัธรรมศาสตร์

ค าช้ีแจง กรุณาท าเคร่ืองหมาย√หรือเติมค าตอบลงในช่องว่างท่ีก าหนดให ้1. ส่วนท่ี 1 เป็นแบบสอบถามมีทั้งหมด 3 ส่วน 2. ส่วนท่ี 2 เป็นแบบทดสอบมีทั้งหมด 1 ชุด แบ่งเป็น 2 ตอน 3. หากท่านไม่ประสงคท์ าแบบสอบถามกรุณาคืนแบบสอบถามใหก้บัผูเ้ก็บขอ้มุล 4. ขอ้มลูส่วนตวัของท่านจะถกูเก็บเป็นความลบั

___________________________________________________________

ส่วนที่ 1 ข้อมูลทั่วไปของผู้ตอบแบบสอบถาม 1). อาย ุ √ 20-24 √ 25-29 √ 30-34 √ มากกว่า 35 ปีข้ึนไป 2). เพศ √ หญิง √ ชาย

3). อาชีพ √ นกัเรียน √ พนกังานบริษทัเอกชน

√ ขา้ราชการ/พนกังานรัฐวิสาหกจิ √ ธุรกจิส่วนตวั

√ ว่างงาน √ อ่ืนๆ โปรดระบุ.........................................

4). ท่านเคยเรียนการออกเสียงภาษาองักฤษ (English pronunciation) ท่ีเป็นหลกัสูตร/คอร์สในโรงเรียน/มหาวิทยาลยัหรือสถาบนัสอนภาษามาก่อนหรือไม่? ถา้ไม่เคยกรุณาขา้มไปท าขอ้ท่ี 7

√ เคย √ ไม่เคย

5). ท่านเคยเรียนการออกเสียงภาษาองักฤษ (English pronunciation) มานานเท่าไหร่? …….…..……………………………………………………………………………………………

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6). ท่านคิดว่าท่านเรียน (English pronunciation) ไดดี้ระดบัใด?

√ ดีเยีย่ม √ ดีมาก √ พอใช ้ √ ค่อนขา้งไม่ดี √ ไม่ดีเลย

7). ท่านคิดว่าการเรียนออกเสียงภาษาองักฤษ( English Pronunciation ) ส าคญัใช่หรือไม?่ ถา้ส าคญั ส าคญัในแง่มุมใด ( โปรดระบุ)

√ ส าคญั เพราะ……........................................................................... √ ไม่ส าคญั เพราะ……...........................................................................

8). ท่านคิดว่าการเรียนออกเสียงภาษาองักฤษ (English Pronunciation) ท าใหใ้หท้กัษะโดยเฉพาะการพดูและการฟังมีประสิทธิภาพเพ่ิมมากข้ึนใช่หรือไม่?

√ ใช่ √ ไม่ใช่ 9). คะแนน TU-GET……………………………………………………………………………. ส่วนที่ 2 ท่านเข้าใจความแตกต่างของเสียงพยญัชนะต่อไปนีด้ีระดบัใด กรุณาให้คะแนนระดับความเข้าใจของท่าน

พยญัชนะภาษาองักฤษ

5 (เขา้ใจดีอยา่งยิง่)

4 (เขา้ใจอยา่งดี)

3 (เขา้ใจพอใช)้

2 (ค่อนขา้งไม่เขา้ใจ)

1 (ไม่เขา้ใจ)

1. /r/ and /l/ Red, Led

2. /s/ and /z/ Sue. Zoo

3. /t/and /Ɵ/ Tin, Thin

4. /v/ and /f/ Van, Fan

5. /v/ and /w/ Vet, Wet

6. /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ Chip , Ship

Ref. code: 25605921040225HZM

34

พยญัชนะภาษาองักฤษ

5 (เขา้ใจดีอยา่งยิง่)

4 (เขา้ใจอยา่งดี)

3 (เขา้ใจพอใช)้

2 (ค่อนขา้งไม่เขา้ใจ)

1 (ไม่เขา้ใจ)

7./d/ and /ð/ Dare, There,

ส่วนที่ 3 ท่านคดิว่าเสียงใดเป็นปัญหาส าหรับท่าน ( เลอืกตอบได้มากกว่า 1 ข้อ)

√ CH √ R

√ SH √ L

√ V √ S

√ W √ Z

√ TH √ F

Ref. code: 25605921040225HZM

35

APPENDIX B

PERCEPTION TEST

Part A: Listen and circle the word you hear.

1) a. Lane b. Rain

2) a. Tank b. Thank

3) a. Ship b. Chip

4) a. Zing b. Sing

5) a. Tin b. Thin

6) a. Sheet b. Cheat

7) a. Lice b.. Rice

8) a. Vent b. Went

9) a. Chain b. Shane

10) a. Red b. Led

11) a. Vet b. Wet

12) a. Cheap b. Sheep

13) a. Dare b. There

14) a. Sue b. Zoo

15) a. Vow b. Wow

16) a. Lip b. Rip

17) a. Seal b. Zeal

18) a. View b. Few

19) a. Dan b. Than

20) a. Sip b. Zip

Ref. code: 25605921040225HZM

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Part B: Please kindly listen and write the word that you have just heard.

1…….....................……………………………11………………..……………………………… 2……................……………………………….12…………….….……………………………….. 3……………………………………………….13……………….………………………………. 4……………………………………………….14……………………………….……………….. 5………………...……………………………..15….................…………………………………… 6……………………………………………….16………………………………………………….. 7…………….……………………………….....17……………..…………………………………... 8………………..………………………………18………………………………………………… 9………………..………………………..……..19………………………………………………… 10……………..…………………………..……20…………..…………………………………….

Ref. code: 25605921040225HZM

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BIOGRAPHY

Name Ms.Panaporn Phosrithong

Date of Birth May 20, 1989

Educational Attainment

Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts

Southeast Asian Studies Program

Thammasat University (2008-2012)

Work Position Sale Coordinator

Furukawa Sangyo Kaisha (THAILAND)LTD.

Work Experiences 2015-2018

Sale Coordinator

Furukawa Sangyo Kaisha (THAILAND)LTD.

Ref. code: 25605921040225HZM