Chapter 2

How do Japanese students deal with the pronunciation of unknown words?

Graduation Thesis

Presented to

The Faculty of the Department of

English Language and Literature

Notre Dame Seishin University

In Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirement for the Degree

Bachelor of Arts

By

Yu Matsumura

2012

Contents

Abstract1

Chapter One: Introduction

1.1 Introduction2

1.2 Pronunciation3

1.2.1 Features of English pronunciation

1.2.2 Consonants

1.2.3 Vowels

1.2.4 Word Stress

1.2.5 Thought Groups

1.2.6 Prominence

1.2.7 Intonation

1.2.8 Rhythm

1.2.9 Reduced Speech

1.2.10 Linking

1.2.11 Summary

1.3 Japanese peoples difficulties with English pronunciation11

1.3.1 Vowels and consonants

1.3.2 Mora vs. Syllable

1.4 Acquisition of pronunciation14

1.4.1 Critical period

1.4.2 Receptive or Productive

1.4.3 How people deal with the pronunciation of new words

1.5 Research Questions17

1.6 Summary17

Chapter Two: The Experiment

2.1 Introduction18

2.2 The experiment 18

2.2.1 Aim

2.2.2 Method

2.3 Results 22

2.4 Summary 24

Chapter Three: Discussion

3.1 Introduction 25

3.2 Discussion of the results 25

3.3 Summary 30

3.4 Implication 30

3.5 Limitation of the test31

3.6 Further research31

3.7 Conclusion32

References33

Appendices34

1

Abstract

As the world has become globalized, English education has become popular. In the Japan, reading and grammar focused teaching materials are mainly used. However, in this global society, useful communicative English skill is required for Japanese people not just writing and reading skills. However, Japanese peoples Katakana English is the big problem for the foreign listeners and it is said that Japanese peoples pronunciation is one of the worst in the world. This paper reports what method is suitable for Japanese people who are already past their critical period and which subject they should focus on.

In Chapter One, we looked at what it is generally said about learning English pronunciation. Secondly, the structure of English pronunciation and the differences between it and the structure of Japanese pronunciation were shown. From this information, the Japanese peoples difficulties of English pronunciation became clear. Thirdly, how peoples age affects peoples pronunciation skill and two different skills in the pronunciation skill are explained.

In Chapter Two, the experimental data was presented. Three kinds of pronunciation tests were taken by students who are studying English to discover a) the relationship of receptive and productive pronunciation skills and b) the aspects of English pronunciation which are difficult for Japanese people.

In Chapter Three, we discussed the results of the questionnaire in detail also we discussed the research questions. We found out that just using receptive pronunciation using listen and repeating does not work to learn correct pronunciation especially reduced speech.

Chapter One: Introduction

1.1 Introduction

Today, English has to be taught as compulsory education, and the education was started at elementary school as well in 2011 in Japan. Japanese people study English at least for six years. English class in Japan is mainly focused on grammar and vocabulary, and entrance exams for university include only reading and listening tests. Most Japanese people do not worry about their speaking skills.

The reason why English education started in Japan is to know foreign culture and scholarship in the Meiji period not to enter a good university (Suzuki, 2006). Japan has such a long English education history however Japanese people are located 104th out of 113 for speaking in the world on TOEFL IBT (ETS, 2010). Most Asian countries also require English education as compulsory education same as in Japan and English is second language for them. For example, English teachers in Taiwan say that most of Japanese English texts have katakana reading above the words that is bad idea and it has a bad effect on the of learning pronunciation. Japanese people are particular about grammar too much. There are many kinds of English in the world. English is different depend on the speakers and area. Teachers should let the students know that they can tell clearly what they mean, and they have good speaking skill is important. The flexible English skill is required not English focused on grammar too much (Kawasoe, 2005).

As the world is becoming globalized, English is getting popular. In the class, writing, reading, listening and speaking are taught. But which skills are more useful and communicative in that international society? Speaking skill is necessary to communicate with other people, but on the pronunciation test, Japanese people got lowest rank in the world. Japanese people cannot look away from this reality. To learn pronunciation is easy for children but it is hard for adults, but there must be some method to improve Japanese peoples English pronunciation. In this chapter, we will discuss the English pronunciation system and how people acquire pronunciation.

1.2 Pronunciation

1.2.1 Features of English pronunciation

One undergraduate student who is learning in an ESL pronunciation course said, I feel that I am judged by my way of talking English. In other classes, teachers often treat me as inferior or academic disability because of my muttering English. Peoples language skill is judged by their speaking skill in daily life because no one can see their reading test score except themselves. Pronunciation is the language feature that most readily identifies speakers as non-native. It is a filter through which others see them and often discriminate against them (Celce-Murcia, 2001: 117). In Japan, many people cannot speak fluently in English even the people who got high score at TOEIC (Nakata, 2006). To acquire pronunciation of foreign languages is not easy, because the native language affects second languages in some way (Celce-Murcia:122). Basically Japanese and English have different points. For example, Japanese has mora and English syllables. Several pronunciation systems comprise English speech that the listeners can understand smoothly.

1.2.2 Consonants

Consonants are speech sounds made by completely or partly stopping the flow of air being breathed out through the mouth. The English alphabet has twenty- one consonants, B,C,D,F,G,H,J,K,L,M,N,P,Q,R,S,T,V,W,X,Y and Z. These twenty-one letters have twenty-four phonemes. They are in the chart below.

Figure 1: Phonemes of consonants

Manner of Articulation

PLACE OF ARTICULATION

Bilabial

Labiodental

Dental

Alveolar

Palatal

Velar

Glottal

Stop

p

t

k

b

d

Fricative

f

s

h

v

z

Affricative

t

d

Nasal

m

n

Liquid

l

r

Glide

w

y

There are several types and ways to produce each consonant phoneme. The unit of manner of articulation and place of articulation create one sound. How to use mouth and tongue, and each example are shown as below from Celce-Murcia (2001: 134-135).

Manner of articulation and examples

Stop: Air stream is blocked completely before it is released /p/

Fricative: Air stream is compressed and passes through a small opening, creating friction

/z/

Affricative: Combination of stop followed by a fricative /t/

Nasal: Air passed through the nose instead of the mouth /m/

Liquid: air stream moves around the tongue in a relatively unobstructed manner /r/

Glide: Sound is close to a vowel /y/

Place of articulation and example

Bilabial: Two lips together /b/

Labiodental: Lower lip and upper teeth /v/

Dental: tongue tip and inner edge of upper teeth //

Alveolar: Tongue tip on tooth ridge /d/

Palatal: Body of tongue on hard palate //

Velar: Back of tongue on soft palate /g/

Glottal: Throat passage /h/

1.2.3 Vowels

English has five spelling vowels, a, e, i, o and u. These five letters are pronounced with twelve major phonemes. These vowel phonemes are also created by using the jaw and tongue and some lips. The combinations can be seen in Figure 2.

The words High, Mid and Low on the left side in Figure 2 mean where peoples jaw should be placed. When their jaw is High, peoples mouths are almost closed, on the other hand, when their jaw is Low, their mouths are opened wide. The words, Front, Central and Back show where people should put their tongues. Four phonemes in the box at the right top are pronounced with rounded lips.

Figure 2: The International Phonetic Alphabet

(Cube life)

1.2.4 Word Stress

In the cases of multisyllabic words like communication, they can have more than one stressed syllable. Only one of those syllables can have primary stress (). The others has secondary stress () or almost no stress ()

com () mun () i () ca () tion ()

In the one word communication, ca has the primary stress. People should pronounce here most strongly of the five syllables. The others should be pronounced with almost no stress.

1.2.5 Thought Groups

In natura