Sunjung Baer

Pronunciation Doctor: Speech Analysis

Introduction Most people think that adults English pronunciation is affected by their first language, and is already fossilized so it cannot be trained. However, that is a dangerous thought that can generalize second language learners because if teachers or instructors who help them train their pronunciation know how to analyze and diagnose the students pronunciation, pronunciation is surely improved through training. Through the Pronunciation Doctor assignments, we were able to have a chance to analyze the speech samples that we obtained from our tutees from a teacher or a trainers point of view. They were non-native speakers from Thailand, South America, and Korea, and I gave my rating to each tutee based on Segmentals, Suprasegmentals, and intelligibility areas with my analysis and pedagogical suggestions.

Diagnostic Test Description The materials that we used in order to obtain the speech samples for Pronunciation Doctor were story telling, the Prator Diagnostic Passage, and Accent Analysis Sentences. I personally think that all of the materials help us to analyze and diagnose Segmentals, Suprasegmentals, and Intelligibility areas. However, to provide the details about each material, story telling is an open speech activity where non-native tutees should tell the story with their own words based on the four pictures that are given. It helped us get some ideas about their daily conversation even if we do not know them or personally have a conversation with them. The Prator Diagnostic Passage is a paragraph that can help us to diagnose the non-native speakers suprasegmental issues that come from word stress, sentence stress, intonation, and stress-timing. Accent Analysis Sentences contain eight sentences that tutees need to read out loud and record, and it helps us to diagnose their segmental issues that come from miss-pronunciation of vowels and consonants.

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Participant 1 Background Information The tutee from Thailand is actually in our class. He was born and raised in Thailand and he has been living in the United States for about three years by attending BYUH. He will be graduating in December of this year, and his major is TESOL. His minor is Psychology, and he took EIL classes when he first came to BYUH. I gave the speaker the following ratings: 8 for segmentals, 8 for suprasegmentals, and 8 for intelligibility. Segmental Issues Consonant The speakers vowel pronunciation was good, but he had several problems with his consonant pronunciation. The first problem that I noticed is he is having a hard time pronouncing the /r/ sound clearly. For example, when he was pronouncing the words orange and agree, his /r/ sound is in the middle of the /l/ and /r/ sound. I thought that since he is Asian, and most Asians are not good at pronouncing /r/ and /l/ sound clearly, he was in the same class as others. In order to test my assumption, I listened to his recording more. I finally found he can pronounce /r/ clearly when it comes at the beginning or end of words, such as sister and record, and with the /l/ sound, he can pronounce it clearly no matter where the sound is located in the word. However, he cannot pronounce them clearly when an /r/ sound comes in the middle of the word, and I finally came up with the conclusion that he is having a hard time switching from other sounds to the /r/ sound and it makes the /r/ sound to be unclear. (Actually, I thought about maybe it is a consonant cluster problem, but I am not sure about this because he cannot pronounce clearly any words that contain the /r/ sound in the middle). Another thing that I noticed with his pronunciation is he does not pronounce /t/ as a flap sound but pronounces /t/ strongly and consistently when he is

Sunjung Baer pronouncing some words like potato, better, and seventy. Thus, his English sounds closer to British English rather than American English and I assumed that he learned British English when he was in Thailand. If he sometimes uses a flap sound and sometimes does not, it can be a problem because he is studying at a university in the United States, but since he is using his British accent consistently and English is an international language, I do not think that it will affect his intelligibility even though he is here at BYUH. Suprasegmental Issues Intonation English is an intonation language. Depending on the sentences, the intonation is different. However, the speaker rarely has intonation and speaks very flatly while reading and story telling. For example, the sentence, would you look for my cookbook? is supposed to go up at the end because it is a Yes/No question. However, when he was reading the sentence, it sounded like would you look for my cookbook? I was wondering if his daily conversation would be better because as a non-native speaker, I understand that reading out loud makes us to be more nervous, and it leads to the point that our intonation gets sloppy. After having several conversations with him, I found out even though he sounds a little bit better, his intonation is still flat. Even though intonation does not affect the intelligibility, it changes the meaning of the sentences. Thus, I strongly want to recommend to him to work on his intonation. Intelligibility His major problem that affects his intelligibility, which is his /r/ sound pronunciation seems retainable because he has an idea about how to pronounce it but just has difficulty with switching from other sounds to the /r/ sound. Thus, I gave him 8 out of 10, which is a pretty high score. Also, as I mentioned before, since intonation can change the meaning of the sentences, I want to work on his intonation even though it does not affect his intelligibility.

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Pedagogical Suggestions In order to improve his /r/ sound pronunciation, I think he needs to know the shape the mouth makes and the tongue movement when pronouncing this sound, and listen and repeat the example words a lot of times so that he can be familiar with the mouth and tongue movement for switching the sound smoothly. Thus, if it is allowed, I really want to visit the Language Center with him and use Pronunciation Power there. Pronunciation Power has a lot of example words that he can listen to and repeat and shows the movement of the mouth and tongue really clearly, so I think it will be better for him to understand the movement. For improving the intonation, first, I will explain the basic rules of intonation, such as falling intonation for WH- questions, and rising intonation for Yes/No questions. Then, I will provide some example sentences for him, and while reading them for him, I will exaggerate the appropriate intonation for each sentence so that he can be aware of it. I will also use hand gestures to show him the rising and falling intonation clearly. Finally, I will ask him to repeat after me with exaggerated intonation and hand gestures for the sentences. Participant 2 Background Information The tutee is from Columbia, South America, so she has a Spanish background. Her first language is Spanish, she started to learn English in high school, and she just got to BYUH in April 2012. She is a freshman, living in the dorms, and she is in EIL courses. I gave the speaker the following ratings: 6 for segmentals, 8.5 for suprasegmentals, and 7 for intelligibility. Segmental Issues Consonant The tutee is having difficulty to pronounce consonants correctly in English because her pronunciation is strongly affected from her first language.

Sunjung Baer The first problem is she always attaches an // sound in front of the /s/ sound, which is a very typical pronunciation problem that Latinos can have. For example, for the pronunciation of the words scream and stand, scream should be pronounced as /skim/, and stand should be pronounced as /stnd/. However, because of the influence of her native language, she pronounces the word scream as /skim/, and the word stand as /stnd/, and it gives her a hard time for her to pronounce the /s/ sound in a correct way. Another problem that she has is that she is pronouncing y /j/ sound as j /d/ when y comes at the beginning of words. For example, the word yesterday should be pronounced as /jestrde/. However, when she pronounced it, she pronounced it as /destrde/, and I think this is another typical pronunciation problem that Spanish speakers can have because they pronounce y as /d/. The wrong consonant pronunciation influence from her first language can distract listeners and lower her intelligibility. Thus, her consonant pronunciation should be re-trained. Suprasegmental Issues Speed When she is reading materials and telling the story, she rarely has suprasegmental issues. However, she talks and reads too fast and it leads her to murmur words and sentences the whole time. There is a possibility that she is naturally a fast talker, but I personally think she intends to talk fast in order to sound like a native English speaker. Most nonnative English speakers think that they will sound like native speakers if they talk fast and murmur the words or sentences because they do not really have knowledge about the aspects of native speakers English pronunciation such as intonation, rhythm, or linking words. I think her speaking speed and murmuring should be retrained because it affects her whole conversation, and her murmuring can cause listeners to be irritated.

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Intelligibility I feel that her consonant pronunciations that are affected by her first language and her speaking speed should be retrained because they make her intelligibility lower. They make her English hard to understand, and listeners will have to concentrate harder to understand her speech. Pedagogical Suggestions In order to work on her consonant /s/ and /j/ sound, I want to use the slogan activity from the book, How to Teach Pronunciation, page 61. For example, I will tell her to create two slogans about any products that she wants to advertise, but by only using the words that start with s and y. After she creates the slogans, I will ask her to read the slogans first, and then I will read the slogans with the correct pronunciation. Then, I will ask her about the differences that she can notice by comparing my pronunciation with her pronunciation. Lastly, I will ask her to pronounce the slogan with the correct pronunciation. I think for non-native speakers, it is important to be aware of their problems with pronunciation in order to improve, and this activity will help her do that. With her speaking speed and murmuring, I will record her speech, and let her listen to it. I will also let her listen to a native speakers recording so that she can be aware of the fact that reading speed and murmuring are not the aspects that make her sound like a native speaker. I will also tell her that it is good to have the desire to be like a native speaker because it can be motivation for non-native speakers to learn English and be part of the culture, but she does not need to speak like a native speaker because English is an international language. Participant 3 Background Information The tutee is myself, and one of my group members recorded my story telling and reading. A brief introduction about myself, I started learning English officially in middle school. However, since my father was good friends with his co-workers from

Sunjung Baer BYU-Provo and he invited them to our house frequently, I was able to have a chance to get a lot of exposure to English earlier. Currently, I am majoring in TESOL, and I will graduate this upcoming April. I am currently living in TVA with my husband who is from Utah. He is a native English speaker, and he cannot speak Korean. Thus, compared to other international students, I have more chances to speak English outside of school. I gave myself the following ratings: 7.5 for segmentals, 8 for suprasegmentals, and 8.5 for intelligibility. Segmental Issues Vowel The first problem that I noticed by listening to my recording is I can pronounce /i/ and /I/ but have difficulty with recognizing which vowels should be pronounced as /i/ or /I/ sounds. For example, the word least should be pronounced as /list/ but I pronounced it as /lIst/. Also, I pronounced, swim /swim/ as /swim/, and slim /slIm/ as /slim/. This is one of the most common mistakes that non-native speakers make, and since it does not affect the intelligibility I am not really worried about it. However, I still want to work on it in order to obtain clear pronunciation for students as a future ESL teacher. Segmental Issues Stress-Timing While telling the story I did not have choppiness in my sentences, but when it came to the reading I became very syllabus-timed. For example, I read the sentence, all of this takes will-power as all

. of . this . takes . will . power. I

personally think that because I am from the southern part of Korea, and the dialect that I use is more stress-timed than standard Korean, I do not really have serious syllable-timing issues when I carry natural conversations. Also, I think about the meaning when I speak, so syllable-timing is less likely to happen. However, while reading out loud, since I knew that the recording was for checking my

Sunjung Baer pronunciation, I focused on pronouncing each word correctly instead of focusing on the meaning of the sentences. Thus, the syllable-timing issue occurred. Intelligibility Since the major problems that I had were not related with intelligibility, I gave myself a little higher points compared to other tutees. However, I could not give the full points to myself because even though the vowel quality and stresstiming are not essential parts for intelligibility, I still need to work on them for personal purposes; the place that I will spend most of my life will be the United States, I will be an ESL teacher, and I will go to graduate school in the United States. Pedagogical Suggestions In order to work on my vowel issue, I need a little help from my husband who is a native speaker. I want to write down on cards at least 10 words that include /i/ and /I/ sounds every week. I will record the shape of my mouth, and pronunciation with the video while reading the words out loud. Then, I will ask my husband to record his voice and the shape of his mouth with the video with a little exaggeration so that I can see the difference between his pronunciation and shape of his mouth and my pronunciation and shape of my mouth. While watching the video I will repeat the words, and after practicing for a week I will ask my husband to evaluate my pronunciation. With the syllable-timing issue for reading materials, I actually read other materials out loud while thinking about the meaning of the sentences (I did not want to read the same materials that I read for the recording because familiarity with the materials can eliminate my issue and it is not helpful for me to observe my pronunciation correctly), I was able to eliminate the syllable-timing issue mostly except when several unknown words appeared at the same time in one sentence. Thus, I think I can eliminate my syllable-timed speech if I think of the meaning while reading, and expand my vocabulary. Participant 4

Sunjung Baer Background Information The tutee is from Korea, her major is Psychology at BYUH, and she will graduate in April 2013. She started learning English when she was in elementary school. Since she was in the BYU Provo ESL program for a year before she came to BYUH, she has been in the United States for about four years. After she came to BYUH, she was in EIL courses for about six months. She is currently living in TVA with her husband, her son, and her grandmother who came to the States to take care of her son. Most of her friends are Korean, and she is not working. Thus, she does not really have a chance or does not have to speak English outside of class. I gave the speaker the following ratings: 6.5 for segmentals, 8 for suprasegmentals, and 7.5 for intelligibility. Segmental Issues Vowels By listening to her speech, the first thing that we can notice with her vowel pronunciation is she is having a hard time distinguishing the sounds /i/ and /I/, which most non-native speakers have problems with. In her case, for example, instead of pronouncing confident in speech as /kanfIdnt In spit/, she pronounced as /kanfidnt In spit/. Through this, we can tell that she knows how to make the /i/ and /I/ sounds differently because she pronounced the words in and speech correctly. However, her problem is even though she can pronounce /i/ and /I/ correctly, she is having a hard time recognizing which vowels should be pronounced as /i/ or /I/. Another thing that we can notice with her vowel pronunciation is she pronounced the word woman /wumn/ as women /wimin/. I assume she does not even know the pronunciation for woman and women are different, and I personally think that this can be a distraction for listeners because it is hard to tell if she is talking about the singular or plural form of the word. This is a very common mistake that Koreans make because we only learn about the difference in spelling not pronunciation.

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Consonant First, we can hear that she is pronouncing all nasal sounds system as //. For example, she pronounces the words and, then, and time as /d/, //, and /taI/. I asked her if she was aware of her pronunciation with those words, and she told me that she always pronounced them correctly, but they do not sound correct when it comes to hearing. She said the reason is she has a nasal inflammation and I agree with her that it affects her English pronunciation with nasal sounds system. I personally think that it might be a distraction for listeners because her // sound is pretty strong and it might also affect her intelligibility because the listeners might think / / is a mispronunciation. Another problem with her consonant pronunciation that I was able to catch was that she does not pronounce the /p/ sound correctly if the /p/ sound is in the middle of the words. For example, she is able to pronounce the /p/ sound clearly when she pronounces the word problem. However, when she pronounces the word shopping, her /p/ sound in the middle of the word closes to an /f/ sound. Through this, I thought of one possible situation; she cannot pronounce the /p/ sound easily when it is in the middle of a word, and from the result when I observed her Korean pronunciation, even though Korean does not have an /f/ sound, where only a /p/ sound exists, she was having a hard time pronouncing the /p/ sound clearly when it is in the middle of a word. I think that it is because of her crooked teeth and it causes her to pronounce the /p/ sound unclearly. Suprasegmental Issues Stress-Timing The speaker does not have a big problem with stress-timing when she was telling the story or having daily conversations with people, but she is having a hard time with it when it comes to reading. Honestly, at first, I thought that it might come from her first language, which is Korean because Korean is a syllable-timed language. However, if her first language is affecting her, I think she would speak

Sunjung Baer with syllable-timing when she tells a story or has daily conversations. Thus, I thought about the moment when I was reading something out loud, and I figured out the other reason that might disturb her speaking. Most non-native speakers try to make the correct and clear sounds when reading out loud, which causes a sole focus on only the pronunciation of each word, not the whole meaning of the sentences. As a result, compared to the daily conversation when needing to think about the meaning of the sentence while speaking, reading out loud sounds choppier. Intelligibility The reason why I only gave a 7.5 to her even though her suprasegmetal is 8 is due to her problem with segmentals. Of course I would help her stress-timing, but since her stress-timing is fine in daily conversation, I think I can just give some tips for reading out loud, such as thinking about the meaning while reading, and not focusing on pronunciation. I would focus more with helping her with pronouncing consonants to improve her intelligibility. Pedagogical Suggestion Since she is able to pronounce the /i/ and /I/ sounds, but does not know how to recognize which vowels should be pronounced as /i/ or /I/, I will bring word cards that contain vocabulary with /i/ and /I/ sounds such as seen, beat, seat, heat, sin, pit, bit, and hit in order to help her to recognize it by pronouncing the words out loud. Also, with the words woman and women, I have already talked to her about this, and she was able to pronounce them correctly. I was right that she did not know that the pronunciations of those two words are different. Thus, I will just check with her again that she still remembers the difference. With her pronunciation of nasal sounds, /n/, /m/, and //, and the plosive sound, /p/, I will help her to pronounce them correctly with the pronunciation chart in our book How to teach pronunciation pages 48 to 52 in order to show the movement of the lips and tongue, and with giving other words as an example.

Sunjung Baer However, I honestly think that it will be hard to fix her pronunciation unless she fixes her nasal inflammation and her teeth.