1.0 Introduction on Phonology and Phonetics

Phonology can be defined as the study of how sounds are organized and used in

natural languages. The phonological system of language includes:-

a. An inventory of sounds and their features

b. The rules which specify how sounds interact with each other.

Phonology is one of the several aspects of language. They are related to other

aspects such as phonetics, morphology, syntax and pragmatics.

There are differences between phonology and phonetics. They are shown

in the table below.

Phonetics Phonology

Is the basis for phonological analysis. Is the basis for further work in morphology,

syntax, discourse, and orthography

design.

Analyzes the production of all human Analyzes the sound patterns of a particular

speech sounds, regardless of language language by

determining which phonetic sounds

are significant, and

explaining how these sounds are

interpreted by the native speaker.

A pupils should be mastered the phonology and phonetic rules to avoid making

mispronunciations.

There is the sample’s text with its transcription from varies sources is attached.

Moreover, there is also a list of difficult word have been identified before the subject is

interviewed.

Sample’s text

The Legend of Mat Cincang and Mat Raya

Once upon a time, there lived two giants. They were called Mat Cincang and Mat Raya.

One day, Mat Raya had a grand feast. His daughter was getting married to Mat

Cincang's son. the wedding did not take place. Mat Raya became very angry. He threw

away the wedding ring and it fell on a cape. Today that place is called 'Tanjung Cincin'

or 'The Cape of the Ring'. He threw away all the food. The place where the pot of gravy

landed is called 'Kuah'. The place where the pot of hot water landed is called 'Hot

Springs' or 'Air Hangat'. The two giants turned into mountains of stones. The man who

tried to stop them from fighting changed into a hill. This hill now separates the two

mountains- Gunung Mat Cincang and Gunung Mat Raya.

Adapted from: Langkawi The Land of Legands by Peck Choo et. Al. (2004). English

Year Three TextBook. Bandar Baru Bangi:

Utusan Publication & Distributors Sdn. Bhd.

Transcription A (Internet – http://upodn.com/phun.asp)

ðə lɛdʒənd əv Mat Cincang ænd Mat Raya

wəns əpɑn ə tajm, ðɛr lajvd tu dʒajənts. ðe wər kɒld Mat

Cincang ænd Mat Raya. wən de, Mat Raya hæd ə grænd fist. hɪz

dɒtər wəz gɛtɪŋ mɛrid tu Mat Cincang’s sən. ðə wɛdɪŋ dɪd nɑt tek

ples. Mat Raya bɪkem vɛri æŋgri. hi θru əwe ðə wɛdɪŋ rɪŋ ænd ɪt fɛl

ɑn ə kep. təde ðæt ples ɪz kɒld |tanjung cincin| ɔr ðə kep əv ðə rɪŋ.

hi θru əwe ɒl ðə fud. ðə ples wɛr ðə pɑt əv grevi lændəd ɪz kɒld |

kuah|. ðə ples wɛr ðə pɑt əv hɑt wɒtər lændəd ɪz kɒld hɑt sprɪŋz ɔr |

air hangat|. ðə tu dʒajənts tərnd ɪntu mawntənz əv stonz. ðə mæn

hu trajd tu stɑp ðɛm frəm fajtɪŋ tʃendʒd ɪntu ə hɪl. ðɪs hɪl naw

sɛpərets ðə tu mawntənz- gunung mat cincang ænd gunung mat

raya.

Transcription B ( Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary)

ðə ledʒənd əv Mat Cincang ənd Mat Raya

wʌns əpɑn ə taɪm, ðeə(r) lɪvd tu: dʒaɪənts. ðeɪ wɜ:r kɔ:ld Mat

Cincin ənd Mat Raya. wʌn deɪ, Mat Raya həd ə grænd fi:st. hɪz dɔ:tə(r)

wəz getɪŋ mærid tu: Mat Cincang's sʌn. wedɪŋ dɪd nɒt teɪk pleɪs. Mat

Raya bɪkeɪm veri æŋgri. hi θru: əweɪ ðə wedɪŋ rɪŋ ənd ɪt fel ɒn ə keɪp.

tədeɪ ðæt pleɪs ɪz kɔ:ld 'Tanjung Cincin' ɔ:(r) ðə 'keɪp əv ðə rɪŋ'. hi θru:

əweɪ ɔ:l ðə fu:d. ðə pleɪs weə(r) ðə pɒt əv greɪvi lændɪd ɪz kɔ:ld

'Kuah'. ðə pleɪs weə(r) ðə pɒt əv hɒt wɔ:tə(r) lændɪd ɪz kɔ:ld 'hɒt

sprɪŋz' ɔ:(r) 'Air Hangat'. ðə tu: dʒaɪənts tɜ:nd ɪntə tu: maʊntəns əv

stəʊns. ðə mæn hu: traɪd tu: stɒp ðəm frəm faɪtɪŋ tʃeɪndʒd ɪntə ə

hɪl. ðɪs hɪl naʊ seprəts ðə tu: maʊntəns- Gunung Mat Cincang ənd

Gunung Mat Raya.

List of difficult words found in the text.

No Word Transcription (A) Transcription (B)

1 Once wəns wʌns

2 Giants dʒajənts dʒaɪənts

3 Feast fist fi:st

4 Daughter dɒtər dɔ:tə(r)

5 Married mɛrid mærid

6 Wedding wɛdɪŋ wedɪŋ

7 Cape kep keɪp

8 Threw θru θru:

9 Gravy grevi greɪvi

10 Hot springs hɑt sprɪŋz hɒt sprɪŋz

11 Landed lændəd lændɪd

12 Mountains mawntənz maʊntəns

13 Separates sɛpərets seprəts

14 Pot pɑt pɒt

1.1 Subject’s Background

My subject’s name is Thesigan s/o Parthiben. Here is some information about my

subject. He is 10 years old whom is a pupil of Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil,

Kampung Simi, Ipoh. He is a year four pupil. Thesigan’s father’s name is P.Parthiban

s/o Perumal whom is working as a contractor whereas his mother’s name is Ananthi d/o

Manicham whom is a housewife. They are staying at No. 50, Leboh Bercham Selatan

1/9, Taman Kinta Mas, 31400 Bercham, Ipoh, Perak with his two siblings. First is 18

years old sister and second is 15 years old brother. The language that they commonly

use in their house is their mother tongue that is Tamil.

His favorite subject is Mathematics. Even though, he loves mathematics but he

does not ignore other subjects like English, Tamil, Malay and so on. Therefore, he loves

to read books in order to improve his language. Moreover, he is able to read around 5 to

6 English books per week. According to him, he started to speak or learn English

language when he was six years old and until today he is in the process of learning

English.

1.2 Description of Stimulus Used

This interviewing process is started when the subject with his family came

to my house for Chinese New Year school holidays. For the first time I ask him to read

the text, he refused. He scares of doing any mistakes. Moreover, me myself as a trainee

teacher asking a small boy to read the text. In his thought, I am doing that to identify the

level and ability of him in reading. Then, I explain my task to his parents and they help

me in the way of asking Thesigan to cooperate. I give him ten minutes to read the text

for his own and after he gained self confident, then he started to read the sample’s text

aloud. His clear voice projection helped me to record his reading in the first attempt.

1.3 Data Collection Procedures

After the briefing on this task is given, I started to search for my subject. I have

interviewed many people from Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil Maha Jothi, Sungai

Petani, Kedah. Unfortunately, I never took them as my subject because:-

a. Their voice projection is not clear enough

b. The surrounding is quit noisy which disturbed the interviewing process

c. The recording is not clear

As a alternative way, I make use the Chinese New Year break to get my subject.

With his parents permission and his siblings help; he committed to read the text aloud. I

choose a suitable place with less disturbance (noise) and my subject cooperate with me

in reading the text aloud and clear.

2.0 Data Analysis and Discussion of Findings

The mispronounced words by subject

The Legend of Mat Cincang and Mat Raya

Once upon a time, there lived two giants. They were called Mat Cincang and Mat

Raya. One day, Mat Raya had a grand feast. His daughter was getting married to Mat

Cincang's son. the wedding did not take place. Mat Raya became very angry. He threw

away the wedding ring and it fell on a cape. Today that place is called 'Tanjung Cincin'

or 'The Cape of the Ring'. He threw away all the food. The place where the pot of gravy

landed is called 'Kuah'. The place where the pot of hot water landed is called 'Hot

Springs' or 'Air Hangat'. The two giants turned into mountains of stones. The man who

tried to stop them from fighting changed into a hill. This hill now separates the two

mountains- Gunung Mat Cincang and Gunung Mat Raya.

Analysis of Mispronounced Words by Subject

No Mispronounced

words

Transcription A Transcription B Subject

pronunciation

1 Were wər wɜ:r weə

2 Grand grænd grænd grand

3 Feast fist fi:st fɪs

4 Daughter dɒtər dɔ:tə(r) daʊter

5 Angry æŋgri æŋgri hæŋgri

6 Cape kep keɪp kep

7 Gravy grevi greɪvi greviŋ

8 Giants dʒajənts dʒaɪənts dʒænts

9 Mountains mawntənz maʊntəns maʊntens

10 Separates sɛpərets seprəts speɪt

2.1 Analysis of Three Different Phonemes

No Mispronounced words Analysis of phonemes Type of phoneme

1 Angry hæŋgri Consonant

2 Daughter da ʊ ter Diphthong

3 Mountains maʊntens Vowel

2.2 Error Correction and Justification

No Mispronounced words Analysis of phonemes Actual phonemes

1 Angry hæŋgri æŋgri (without h)

2 Daughter da ʊ ter dɔ : tə(r)

3 Mountains maʊntens maʊntəns

Justification

Mispronounce is one of the common mistake which is done by young to old

peoples while speaking. These mistakes can be overcome by understanding phonology

and phonetic very deeply.

Thesigan, the subject of mine is able to read the given text fluently. Unfortunately

there are some mispronounced and seemed to have difficulties in pronouncing certain

words. The words like ‘gravy’ where is sound it as ‘graving’ and the word ‘them’ where

he sound it as ‘the’ are the mistakes take place when the reader is in rushing. May be

my subject is excited and nervous to the voice recording of him.

However, the mispronounced words as listed above are slightly differ. It is

because the mistakes are occurring in various types of phonemes like vowel, consonant

and also diphthong. The main cause of this problem is my subject’s first language as

well as his mother tongue is Tamil. Tamil also is the language that they commonly used

in their house as a communication tool. Whereas, his second language is Malay and

followed by English language. Therefore, the tendency of my subject in pronouncing

certain English words is slightly poor. It is because, the discrepancy between spelling

and sounds in English and Malay motivated the development of phonetic alphabets in

which one letter corresponds to one sound. Therefore, he tried to spell the word

alphabetically like in Malay pronunciation. For example: while pronouncing the word

‘daughter’ as da ʊ ter instead of dɔ : tə(r). It is because in Malay ‘dau’ sounds as

da ʊ . Same way is also goes to the word ‘mountains’ where he pronounced it as

maʊntens instead of maʊntəns.

On the other hand, as stated by Victoria Fromkin (2007), all English speech

sounds come from the movement of lung air through the vocal tract. The air moves

through the glottis, up the pharynx through the oral cavity and out the mouth or nose.

This is the path in producing a good pronunciation. But when the reader’s main intention

is in finishing the text, the path would not be completed and also they will stress

unnecessarily while pronouncing a word. Therefore, certain sound would not able to

voice as in pronouncing the word ‘separate’ and also certain words will stressed. It will

cause the meaning that the writer trying to convey will not able to reach. For example

the word ‘angry’, is pronounced as hæŋgri instead of pronouncing it as æŋgri.

Besides that, this mispronunciation is also happen because most of the pupils

are illiterate to the rules of phonemes. In other words, the pupils do not expose to the

phonetic rules like, introduced to the phonetic symbols, where does the consonants and

vowels phonemes are produced, where should we stressed in pronouncing a word and

so on. Therefore, my subject does not used to these terms and theory seems he is still

young. This made him to make this kind of mispronunciation. For example while

pronouncing the word ‘angry’, is pronounced as hæŋgri instead of pronouncing it as

æŋgri, the word ‘daughter’ as da ʊ ter instead of dɔ : tə(r) and also the word

‘mountains’ where he pronounced it as maʊntens instead of maʊntəns.

Besides that, my subject does not expose well to the usage of the dictionary. In

his opinion, dictionary is a book where we can find out new words with synonyms and

examples. He ignores the symbols besides the words in dictionary which is looks like

stranger to him. Therefore, he done the mistakes in pronouncing the word ‘mountain’,

‘daughter’ and many other words which is same in spelling but differ while pronouncing.

This situation turns complex, when the teacher of my subject is also pronouncing

certain words wrongly like ‘cape’. As we know that teachers are good guider for every

pupil. Therefore, they will follow the way the teachers pronounce certain words even

though it is wrong. So teacher must be well known and mastered the phonology and

phonetic in order to pronounce English words correctly.

It clearly shows that, these are the factors which lead my subject in

mispronounce certain English words.

3.0 Conclusion and Recommendations

It is so simple to overcome a problem after knowing the factors which is plays an

important role on it. Therefore, the subject should not rush to finish reading a text. Be

calm while reading, learn some important rules in phonemes and make use with the

dictionary.

At the same time, teachers also should play an important role in overcome this

pronunciation problem. Teacher must plan some interesting activities which will engage

the pupil and motivate them in pronouncing English words correctly.

As a basic activity, the teacher may select a simple text and read it aloud and ask

the pupils to follow him or her. This can be repeated twice. In order to evaluate the

activity, we can point a person to read the same text in the class.

3.1 Suggest an Activity to Overcome One Identified Problem

We can an activity with using cue cards. Cue cards are cards with small photos

or pictures stuck on it. It is also known as flashcards with images. The activity to

overcome these problems is depending to the cue cards that we have prepared.

The name of the activity is ‘Lucky You’. This is a pair work activity. As the

preparation for this activity, we need to prepare 30 cue cards for each pair of pupils. The

cue cards should belong to two semantic fields. In simple way, there should be 15

pictures from each. The cue cards are put into a non-transparent bag.

Now, let’s we have a look on how to conduct this activity in classroom. Each pupil

in the pair chooses one of the semantic fields. The first pupil (pupil A) puts his hand in

the bag and takes out a card. If it belongs to the semantic field that the pupil has

chosen, and he or she can pronounce the appropriate word in English, the pupil keeps

the card and continues to play. Let’s say, pupils A took a flashcard with showing a angry

face, when he or she able to pronounce it as æŋgri; he can continue play the game by

taking another card. However, if the word is not from the right group or the pupil does

not pronounce the word correctly, his or her partner has the next turn. Therefore if pupil

A unable to pronounce it as æŋgri but he pronounced it wrongly as hæŋgri. The

automatically goes to pupil B. The person who is the first to collect all the fifteen cards

for his or her semantic field is consider as winner.

Hopefully, this activity will lead the pupils in pronouncing words correctly and

clearly.

3.2 Conclusion

A problem is difficult to overcome when the reason of the problems are hide.

Once we are exposed to the factors or causes of the problem, we can easily overcome

it. Therefore, one should be patient and do not rush to finish reading a text. Be calm

while reading, learn some important rules in phonemes and make use with the

dictionary. Besides that, read a lot and if find difficulties in pronouncing an English

word, do not shy to consult with teacher and always treat dictionary as a friend.

Therefore, one will feel convenient in using it.

At the same time, teachers also should play an important role in overcome this

pronunciation problem. Teacher must master the phonology and phonetics. They also

should able to plan some interesting activities which will engage the pupil and motivate

them in pronouncing English words correctly.

Bibliography

1. Peck Choo et. Al. (2004). English Year Three TextBook. Bandar Baru Bangi:

Utusan Publication & Distributors Sdn. Bhd.

2. Fromkin,V.,Rodman,R., Hyams,N.(2007) An Introduction to Language. 8th ed.

United State of America: Thomson Higher Education

3. Ashby,M., Mclntosh,J., Turnbull,J.,Wehmeier,S.(2005) Oxford Advanced

Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

4. http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org viewed on 14.02.2010

5. http://upodn.com/phun.asp viewed on 16.02.2010

6. http://www.informaworld.com viewed on 24.02.2010

7. http://www.sil.org/linguistics.html viewed on 3.03.2010

8. http://iteslj.org/techniques.html viewed on 7.03.2010

INSTITUT PENDIDIKAN GURU

Kampus

SULTAN ABDUL HALIM

ELE 3103

English for Language Teacher

NAME : ESWARY D/O ARUMUGAM

I.C. NO. : 870611-10-5274

NOMBOR MATRIX : 05107

GROUP : PISMP P5E

NAME OF LECTURER : NORHAKIMAH KHAIESSA BINTI

AHMAD

SUBMISSION DATE : 18 MARCH 2010

Timeline

WEEK ACHIEVEMENT

7 – 13 Feb 2010 Collecting information on Phonology and Phonetics

14 – 20 Feb 2010 Collecting information on Phonology and Phonetics

Searching for the subject

21 -27 Feb 2010 Collecting information on why pupils mispronounce certain words

Interview the subject

28Feb – 6 March Collecting information on reasons for mispronunciation

Analysis subject’s mispronounced words

7 -13 March 2010 Writing report

14 – 17 March 2010 Editing and recheck the report

No Title Page No.

1 1.0 Introduction on Phonology and Phonetics

1.1 Subject’s Background

1.2 Description of Stimulus Used

1.3 Data Collection Procedures

2 2.0 Data Analysis and Discussion of Findings

2.1 Analysis of Three Different Phonemes

2.2 Error Correction and Justification

3 3.0 Conclusion and Recommendations

3.1 Suggest an Activity to Overcome One Identified

Problem

3.2 Conclusion

4 Bibliography

5 Appendixes

Questionnaire Form

1. Name: __________________________ Sex: Boy / Girl

Age : _____________

Name of school : __________________________________________

__________________________________________

Favorite subject: _____________________

How many English books do you read per week? ______________

2. Father’s Name: _______________________________

Father’s occupation : __________________________

3. Mother’s Name: _______________________________

Mother’s occupation: ___________________________

4. No. of siblings: _____________

5. House address: ________________________________________________

_______________________________________________