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English Pronunciation Errors: A Case Study

Abstract:The main goal of this study is oral fluency, that is, the ability to express oneselfintelligibly, reasonably, accurately and without too much hesitation without which

communication breaks down. In pursuit of this intelligibility between speaker andlistener, the case will be observed through formal and informal settings to find outthe deficiencies in the speeches of speakers from in the class under study that callsfor immediate attention. Efforts would be made to highlight the pronunciation errors,give possible reasons why they may be occurring and provide plausible solutions.

IntroductionThe English Language is used as a second language in Malaysia. Even at that, theteaching of English in schools does not start until the age of seven. The language ofinstruction and communication at all levels is the accepted national language - that isBahasa Malaysia. Government businesses are mostly conducted in the native

language. It is observed that circulars are usually written in the native language.Though the language of instruction for English subject is English, students still find itdifficult to use proper pronunciation in the English Language especially wordsunfamiliar to them. This is because some are not proficient in the English Languageand the students have all through their lives been using their native language ineveryday conversation. Some of the students and teachers who can speak Englishrender some pronunciations inaccurately. This could be attributed the influence ofthe sound system of the native language which they use for everything. This ispossible because a learner may encounter sounds in English that are not part of thesound inventory of the learners native language. Thirdly, difficulties may also arisebecause the rules for combing sounds into words are different in the learners native

language. As a result of these difficulties, the native language affects not just theability of the learners to produce English sounds, but also their ability to hear thesounds.

Biological Factors:The students have been exposed to their mother tongue since birth, Hence, theinfluence of the mother tongue can be heard in the pronunciation of certain Englishwords. They tend to pronounce the English words by spelling the words in BahasaMelayu.

Personality Factor:The personality of the learners should not be left out. Extroverts who are out-goingwith the wish to socialize learn to speak better than introverts who are always shy tointeract with others.

Statement of Problem:It has been noticed that students make the following production errors in the use ofthe English Language: Inserting the sound /I/ before the plural morpheme/s/ Generalizing all the past tense morphemes to /ed/

Insistence on the pronunciation of the liquid sound/r/ anywhere it occurs in a word.

8/13/2019 English Pronunciation Errors- CaseStudy(SMKAS)

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Pronunciation of the voiced velar plosive /g/ in word final position even when therealization should be the velar nasal / e/ The pronunciation of the dental sounds / , / as voiced alveolar fricative /z/ Inability to note the silent letters in English

Factors that cause pronunciation problems:

lack of confidence

lack of vocabulary

teachers did not focus on pronunciation due to time constrain

influenced by the surrounding

Ways to overcome:

practise

listening watch English movies, news in English

using audio materials

Focus:Class 2 Darul Khuldi