Task 1 Individual task

Part 1 :

Original text

Najib: UMNO Members Urged To Remain Loyal

UMNO President Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has reminded UMNO members to remain loyal
to the party despite facing various challenges stressing, that any weakness in the party can
undermined its existence. Speaking when opening the limit UMNO division delegates
meeting in Seri Manjung Perak. Datuk Seri Najib pointed out the importance of party
members to stay loyal at all times and not because of the position in the party. He said the
strength of UMNO through the continuous support of members was the reason why UMNO
has remained a dominant party in Malaysia.

68 Malaysian Passports Have Been Revoked

A total of 68 passports belong to Malaysians who are abroad have been revoked due to their
involvement with a Daesh militant group. Deputy Prime Minister Dato Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid
Hamidi noted that the passports been cancelled two weeks ago after Prime Minister Datuk
Seri Najib Tun Razak directed the note. Dato Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid said their involvement in
the militant group was uncovered by intelligence. He stressed that those who had left the
country to go and serve the militant group did not deserve to return home. The deputy
premier added that there will be no compromise with those who had betrayed their country
and people. Meanwhile Dato Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid said the authorities were currently
searching for eight out of the ten grenades in the hands of the militant group which had
launched an attack in the country. Two of the grenades were set off at the Movid restaurant
in Puchong on June 28.

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Voters In Thailand Endorse Military's Proposed Constitution

In its first test at the polls, Thailands military government won overwhelming approval on
Sunday on a new Constitution that aims to reduce the power of political parties and extend
the implements of the military. With 94 per cent of the ballots counted, voters were approving
the militarys proposed Constitution by a wide margin, according to preliminary returns
issued by the election commission. A companion ballot measure that would give the military,
Junta, the authority to fill the senate with its appointees had also easily won way to approval.
Making the announcement and election officially said the gap was wide enough that the
resource would not change. The new constitution would be the countrys 20th in 84 years.
Election officials put the turnout at 54.6 per cent of eligible voters. The constitution was
drafted by a commission, handpicked by the military junta,that seized power in a code in
2014. They claimed it will bring stability, clean politics and an end to the turmoil that has
blighted Thailand of 10 years.

Ibrahimovic Goal Seals Man UTD's Community Shield Win

Zlatan Ibrahimovic's winner ensured that Jose Mourinho's reign at Manchester United got off
to a winning start as the FA Cup holders beat champions Leicester City 2-1 in England's
Community Shield season curtain-raiser at Wembley on Sunday. United Jesse Lingard
scored superb opening goal in the 31st minute after he picked the ball up inside the Leicester
half and slant pass a quartered of attempted blocks before firing a low shot beyond Kasper
Schmeichel. Jamie Vardy equalised the Leicester after 51 minutes when a terrible backpass
from defender Marouane Fellaini, let the striker in own goal and he made no mistake, taking
the ball past David De Gea before scoring from a tight angle. But the trophy went to United
thanks to new signing Ibrahimovic who leapt above Leicester captain Wes Morgan in the
83rd minute to head Antonio Valencia beyond Schmeichel marking his official debut with a
decisive contribution to help deliver the first silverware of the Mourinho era.

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Transcribed words from the news extract (IPA).

In its first test at the polls, Thailands military government won overwhelming
approval on Sunday on a new Constitution that aims to reduce the power of political parties
and extend the implements of the military. With 94 per cent of the ballots counted, voters
were approving the militarys proposed Constitution by a wide margin.

n ts fst test t plz, talndz mltri vnmnt wn vwelm

pruvl l n snde n e nju knsttjunl t e mz tu rdjus pa(r) v pltkl l
ptz nd kstend i mplments v mltri w nanti f(r) psent v blts
kantd vtz w(r) pruv mltriz prpzd knsttjun ba wad mn.

Malaysians as the non- native speaker of the English language, constantly confront
with some pronunciation problem. During the process of learning this second language, we
frequently pronounce the word according to our mother tongue. Therefore, in order to
achieve such standard of the correct pronunciation of the English language, we have to learn
the phonetics. When people pronounced a word in a wrong way it will conveys different
meaning and hinders what the person is trying to say.

Two vowels and two consonants error and reason.

Pronunciation
Right Wrong
Vowels kstend ekstend
vtz votz
pruvl l prubl l
knsttjunl klsttjunl
Consonants
pa(r) (silent /r/) pa(r) (voiced /r/)

The two vowel errors that had been identified from the transcribed news extract are
the words such as extend and voters. Firstly, the word extend, where the speaker
pronounced the /e/ sound instead of /i/ sound which it should be (kstend) like in the
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Next, the word voters where the /o/ is being is
stressed instead of pronouncing it like the vowel dipthong // like the spelling according to
IPA which is vtz.

As Malaysians, it is normal to pronounce the word as its original spelling and this is
also because for Indians or Hindi native, they tend to face difficulties in remembering the
correct use of the vowel alphabets when pronouncing it based on the IPA British style (Lahiri,
2015). It becomes a habit to pronounce the words in our own fossilized sound system of our

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mother tongue and accent where people can still understand the message that was being
conveyed (Pal, 2013).

Besides that, there are also 3 consonant errors which are the words such as
approval, constitution and power. The word approval sounds wrong when the /v/ sounds
like /b/ sound when pronouncing the word pruvl.l The reason for this error is because the
voiced bilabial /b/ is much more stable to pronounce by the local newscaster than the voiced
labiodental /v/.

Moreover, the error that can be detected when pronouncing the word constitution
(knsttjunl ) is when the /n/ sounds like /l/ thus it seems as if though the newscaster is
saying colstitution. This is because as Indians, they are more towards pronouncing the /l/
sounds more often as the tongue body is higher, the tip of the tongue will be pressed against
between the area of the soft palate and alveolar ridge.

Moreover, the word power seemed wrong when the silent /r/ sound is being
pronounced. This is due to the cultural background of the newscaster which in Hindi, the /r/
sound is the same level of pronunciation as the /t/ (tap) in American English which they
always follow. Therefore, when the British /r/ is always silent, the Indian learners still
pronounce the silent /r/ (Hayeck, n.d).

One consonant sound that may be difficult for the pupils to pronounce is the . For
example, the words such as thank, thick, think and bath. This is due to differentiate the
sound of and such as the words this, that and then according to the IPA. The consonant
which is the voiceless interdental fricative is pronounced when the tongue tip is located
between the upper and lower teeth where the airstream is mostly constricted and the
articulation can make its way (Finegan, 2008).

Hence, there must be a classroom activity to enhance further improvement which

focuses on the correct pronunciation of the consonant sound. The name of the activity will be
Say It like Teacher. Firstly, students will be given one picture that represents the sounds of
, for example a picture of teeth alongside its English word and they will also be provided
with dictionaries. Then, the picture will be introduced and pronounced according to the IPA
sound by the teacher. Next, all of the pupils will pronounce the word together with the
teacher. Later on, they will be asked to find the word teeth in the dictionary and a random
pupil will write the IPA spelling of the word on the whiteboard which is ti:.

After that, the consonant will be explained and pronounced by the teacher. The
pupils will be introduced to the sound from the symbol and they will pronounce it that way

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whenever they find it in the dictionary. It is better for them to simply recognise that symbol
will sound like when the tip of the tongue touched the upper and lower teeth. Next, one by
one of the pupils will be asked to pronounce the consonant . Moving on, they will be given 5
more picture alongside the English word such as bath, cloth, thunder, author and thin. Visual
aids help the pupils to understand better on the words that they are learning whereas they
can relate to their surroundings. They will be instructed to find the spelling of the words in the
dictionary according to IPA spelling.

Then, a random of 5 pupils will be chosen to write the spelling on the whiteboard.
After making sure the spellings are all correct, another 5 random pupils will be picked to
pronounce the words. Following this activity, all of them will pronounce the 5 words after the
teacher has said it. Final stage, each and one of them will be asked to pronounce the 5
words and the consonant to keep on improving. Any wrong pronunciation will be corrected
during this session. Finally, they will be shown a video of the words that contain the sounds
of the consonant and they will sing a song for that consonant.

Appendices

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References

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Bornini Lahiri. (2015). English Spelling Errors in Hindi Speaking Children. International
Journal of Language and Applied Linguistics. 1(2): 28-34.

Finegan E. (2008). Language: Its structure and use. United State of America: Thomson
Higher Education.

Hayeck, P. (n.d). Indian pronunciation problems in English. Retrieved from

http://englishspeaklikenative.com/resources/common-pronunciation-problems/indian
pronunciation-problems/

Shruti Pal. (2013). Mother tongue influence on spoken English. Retrieved from
http://conference.pixel-online.net/ICT4LL2013/common/download/Paper_pdf/243
RVS01-FP-Pal-ICT2013.pdf

Szynalski, T. P. (n.d). The sounds of English and the International Phonetic Alphabet.
Retrieved from http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm.