VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE - - THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF THE ENGLISH CONTRAST PAIR /t~/ AND /d2/ AMONG SOUTHERN VIETNAMESE SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH Submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master‟s degree in TESOL By PHAM THI THUY TRANG Supervised by LE HOANG DUNG, PHD HO CHI MINH CITY, MAY 2011 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I certify that this thesis entitled “THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF THE ENGLISH CONTRAST PAIR /t~/ AND /d2/ AMONG SOUTHERN VIETNAMESE SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH” is my own work This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution Ho Chi Minh City, May 2011 Phạm Thị Thùy Trang i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the following people who have made writing this thesis possible for me: First of all, I would like to express my wholehearted thanks to my thesis supervisor, Le Hoang Dung, PHD at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, HCMC for his enthusiastic and valuable guidance and for his patient and sympathetic attitudes towards me Without his assistance and ongoing encouragement, this thesis could not have been completed He has given me constant support during my thesis completion I would also like to thank my teacher, Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, PHD at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, HCMC for her ongoing encouragement and support during my master course Gratitude is also offered to my friend, Nguyen Dang Khoa, graduate student at Australia National University for sending me valuable and precious materials without which I could not have written the thesis Thanks are also due to the Board of Directors at the Pedagogy University Language Center, Thanh Nien Language Center and Vietnam-Australia Language School, who gave me conditions to conduct my surveys and experiments for the thesis I owe many thanks to my friends and my colleagues for their support, encouragement and assistance in data collection Lastly, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my dear husband, Duong Anh Tuan, for his loving care, support and encouragement that has helped me so much in completing this thesis ii ABSTRACT Although the recently-gained insights into the nature of second language acquisition have proved quite beneficial to learners of English, these breakthroughs have not borne many implications to Vietnamese adult learners, especially in the field of pronunciation training This can partially be attributed to the lesser significance adult learners embrace as compared to children or young learners Additionally, as agreed by many researchers, phonology acquisition is considered as the least universal aspect of language and mostly affected by the interaction of L1 and L2 Thus, the present pronunciation training approach does not prove sufficient for Vietnamese adult learners In this context, this thesis attempted to explore the effects of refining perceptual abilities on improving the pronunciation of English non-native contrast pairs among Vietnamese adults In the study, it was found that L2 perception plays an important role in language production and acts as a mediator between language input and output The result of the study suggests that, although high perceptual ability does not always guarantee highly intelligible sound production, it is a prerequisite for pronunciation improvement, at least to adult learners, whose L1 skills and knowledge has deeply inculcated in their L2 reflection While the parallel correlation of speech perception and production may not be guaranteed, there exists a strong relationship between these two processes Based on the findings, some suggestions were made with the hope to integrate the new teaching approach into the textbooks The suggestions are on how teachers deal with pronunciation teaching in the classroom and how syllabus designers can allocate the materials in Vietnam situation for the learners to get the most from the current textbooks iii TABLE OF CONTENT STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENT iv LIST OF TABLES AND ABBREVIATIONS ix TABLES ix ABBREVIATIONS ix LIST OF FIGURES AND CHARTS x Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 1.3 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 1.3.1 The practice of pronunciation teaching to adult learners in HCMC 1.3.2 Propositions on the relationship of speech perception on speech production 1.4 PURPOSES OF THE STUDY 1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 1.7 DEFINITIONS OF TERMS 1.7.1 Phonological contrast 1.7.2 Phoneme, phone, consonant and vowel 1.7.3 Phonemic perception 10 1.8 ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS 10 Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW 11 iv 2.1 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPEECH PERCEPTION AND SPEECH PRODUCTION 11 2.1.1 Propositions concerning perception-production relationship 11 2.1.2 Empirical evidence of perception-production relationship 13 2.1.2.1 Evidence from Spanish speakers of English 14 2.1.2.2 Evidence from adult learners of French 16 2.1.2.3 Evidence from bilinguals of Asian languages 18 2.1.3 Counter-evidence of perception-production relationship 22 2.1.3.1 Counter-evidence from Swedish and Finnish learners of English 22 2.1.3.2 Counter-evidence from Japanese speakers 23 2.1.4 Discussion 24 2.2 THE NATURE OF L2 SPEECH PERCEPTION 25 2.2.1 Speech Learning Model 25 2.2.2 Perceptual Assimilation Model 27 2.2.3 Feature Competition Model 28 2.2.4 Summary 30 2.3 COMPARISON OF ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE SOUND SYSTEM 31 2.3.1 Differences in syllable composition 31 2.3.2 Differences in distinctive features 32 2.3.3 The contrast pair /t~/ and /d2/ 33 2.4 HIGH-VARIABILITY METHOD – THE ELICITATION PROCEDURES FOR ENHANCING PHONETIC PERCEPTION 34 2.5 PRINCIPAL FACTORS INFLUENCING THE PROCESS OF SPEECH ACQUISITION 37 2.5.1 Native L1 transference 37 2.5.2 Exposure to the second language 39 2.5.3 Motivation 39 v 2.6 SUMMARY 40 Chapter METHODOLOGY 42 3.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 42 3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN 42 3.2.1 Research participants 42 CHART 3.1 The process of subject selection 44 3.2.2 The speakers 45 3.2.3 Research procedure 45 3.2.3.1 The stimuli appraisal 47 3.2.3.2 Experimental teaching 47 3.2.3.3 The collection of perception data 48 3.2.3.4 The collection of production data 51 3.2.3.5 The treatment of perception and production data 52 3.2.3.6 The assessment of production data 52 3.2.3.7 The treatment of the assessment data 54 Chapter DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 56 4.1 DATA ANALYSIS 56 4.1.1 The analysis of perceptual training outcomes 56 4.1.2 The analysis of native listeners‟ preference judgement of the subjects‟ production 60 4.1.3 The analysis of native listeners‟ identification of minimal pairs 63 4.1.4 The relationship between the perception and production of /t~/ and /d2/ 64 4.2 Findings 70 4.3 Summary 72 CHAPTER RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 73 5.1 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TEACHERS OF ENGLISH 73 vi 5.1.1 Teacher should apply a balanced focus on both speech perception and motor skill in pronunciation training 73 5.1.2 Teachers should follow a systematic procedure in teaching pronunciation 74 5.2 Recommendations for syllabus designers 76 5.2.1 The syllabus should provide more time allotment for the pronunciation training 76 5.2.2 Syllabus designers should take into consideration specific influence of L1 on L2 acquisition 77 5.2.3 Syllabus designers should recognize the importance of aural input in oral production 78 5.3 Limitation 78 5.4 Recommendation for future research 79 CONCLUSION 81 REFERENCES 84 APPENDICES 93 APPENDIX SURVEY 93 APPENDIX WORD LIST FOR RECRUITMENT TEST 97 APPENDIX LIST OF UNFAMILIAR WORDS FOR SUBJECTS 98 APPENDIX PERCEPTUAL PRETEST (and POST-TEST) (SPEAKER 4) 99 APPENDIX GENERALIZATION TEST (SPEAKER 6) 100 APEENDIX GENERALIZATION TEST (SPEAKER 1) 101 APPENDIX TRAINING SESSIONS 102 A TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 1) 102 B TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 2) 103 C TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 3) 104 D TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 4) 105 E TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 5) 106 F TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 1) 107 vii G TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 4) 108 H TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 3) 109 APPENDIX PRODUCTION TEST (Pre-test and Post-test) 110 APPENDIX RESULT OF PERCEPTUAL TRAINING 111 A Pre-training perceptual test result 111 B Post-training perceptual test result – Group A (experimental group) 112 C Post-training perceptual test result – Group B (control group) 113 APPENDIX 10 RESULT OF NATIVE LISTENERS‟IDENTIFICATION OF MINIMAL PAIRS 114 A Native listeners‟ identification test result - Group A (experimental group) 114 B Native listeners‟ identification test result - Group B (control group) 115 viii LIST OF TABLES AND ABBREVIATIONS TABLES Table 2.1 Differences between the Vietnamese and English syllables Table 2.2 Distinctive features specifications of the Vietnamese consonants Table 2.3 Distinctive feature specifications of the English consonants Table 4.1 Perceptual test result at pretest phase Table 4.2 Perceptual test result at posttest phase Table 4.3 The two-way ANOVA test result of perceptual test scores Table 4.4 The T-test result of perceptual test scores Table 4.5 Native listeners‟ identification test result Table 4.6 The T-test result of native listeners‟ identification of minimal pairs Table 4.7 Individual Vietnamese trainee perception and production accuracy scores at pre-test and at post-test ABBREVIATIONS L1 First language L2 Second language HCMC Ho Chi Minh City ESL English as the Second Language EFL English as the Foreign Language ix APEENDIX GENERALIZATION TEST (SPEAKER 1) You will hear parts of 12 English words, one by one, on the tape Circle the word you hear among three choices You will have seconds to make up your mind before going on to the next item There will be a five-minute break between Part I and Part II PART 1 chap perker Chelly Jap Fa‟s Cholly cinch purger jelly 10 splotch 11 dolly 12 perching Jap percher jelly chap Jazz jolly singe perker Chelly splodge jolly purging cap purger Kelly cap Chas dolly since percher Kelly splosh Cholly perk PART 13 Kelly 14 cinch 15 perk 16 Chas 17 splodge 18 percher 19 jolly 20 cap 21 splosh 22 purging 23 Jazz 24 singe Chelly since perching Jazz splotch purger dolly Jap splodge perk Fa‟s since jelly singe purging Fa‟s splosh perker Cholly chap splotch perching Chas cinch 101 APPENDIX TRAINING SESSIONS A TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 1) Listen carefully to these words beseech besiege beseeches besieges beseeching besieging catch cadge catchers cadgers catching cadging chain Jain chard jarred char jar chanh chịu cho chọn chật chan cha chặt You will hear English words, one by one, on the tape Circle the word you hear among three choices You will have seconds to make up your mind before going on to the next item beseeching catch catchers catching beseeches beseech chain char chard besieging cadge cadgers cadging besieges besiege Jain jar jarred You will hear sentences Circle the word you hear in each sentence Stay a little bit longer with me, I beseech/besiege you The sudden movement jarred/ chard his injured ribs Wow! What a surprise! He‟s a real catcher/ cadger Could you please spell the word “Jane / chain” ? Grill the pepper until the skin has the color of the char/ jar 102 B TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 2) Listen carefully to these words chaw jaw chawed jawed chawing jawing chaws jaws cheer jeer cheered jeered cheering jeering cheers jeers cheese G's cho cho cho cho chia chia chia chia chi You will hear English words, one by one, on the tape Circle the word you hear among three choices You will have seconds to make up your mind before going on to the next item cheers jeers chawing jawing cheered jeered cheese G‟s cheering jeering chawed jawed chaws jaws You will hear sentences Circle the word you hear in each sentence The people at the back cheered/jeered when the speaker appeared When he ended the speech, everyone shouted out “Cheese/ G’s” I can‟t remember whether she said „chaw/ jaw‟ or „chaw/jaw‟ She couldn‟t stop cheering/jeering as the people passed by 103 C TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 3) Listen carefully to these words cherries jerries cherry Jerry chess Jess chest jest chests jests chew Jew chews Jews Chilean Gillian chill gill che che chệt chết chết chu chu chi chi You will hear English words, one by one, on the tape Circle the word you hear among three choices You will have seconds to make up your mind before going on to the next item chill gill chest Jest cherry Jerry chews Jews chests jests Chiean Gillian chew jew cherries jerries You will hear sentences Circle the word you hear in each sentence Some Chilean/Gillian would like to meet Dr Brown right away I only said it in my chest/ jest – you‟re actually not fat I can feel the chill/ gill in my hand I like that cherry/ Jerry so much I wish I could touch it Can you spell the word chews/ Jews? 104 D TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 4) Listen carefully to these words chills gills choice Joyce choke joke chipping gypping chips gyps chive jive chives jives chịu chơi chốc chíp chíp chai chai You will hear English words, one by one, on the tape Circle the word you hear among three choices You will have seconds to make up your mind before going on to the next item choice Joyce chips gyps chives jives 4.choke joke chills gills chipping gypping chive jive You will hear sentences Circle the word you hear in each sentence Don‟t you ever think back about that choke/joke? It‟s awful My father taught me how to the chives/ jives Polly fell and knocked a real chip/ gyp Actually, I don‟t have any choice/ Joyce now I must buy one After you fetch the fish, please chill/ gill it 105 E TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 5) Listen carefully to these words choked joked choker joker chokers jokers chokes jokes choking joking chug jug chugs jugs chump jump chốc chốt chốt chật chật chum You will hear English words, one by one, on the tape Circle the word you hear among three choices You will have seconds to make up your mind before going on to the next item choking joking choked joked chug jug chump jump chokers jokers chokes jokes chugs jugs choker joker You will hear sentences Circle the word you hear in each sentence His story really gave me a choke/ joke! We heard the chug/ jug of a boat in the distance He made a real chump/jump! Surprise ? I received a valuable choker/joker 106 F TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 1) Listen carefully to these words chumps chunk chunks etch etches etching etchings h jumps junk junks edge edges edging edgings age chum chân chân cha chia chờ chây You will hear English words, one by one, on the tape Circle the word you hear among three choices You will have seconds to make up your mind before going on to the next item etching edging chunks junks etches edges chumps jumps chunk junk h age etchings edgings etch edge You will hear sentences Circle the word you hear in each sentence The cupboard was full of chunk/ junk His face was etched/ edged with pain He did mention something about the chumps/ jumps Did he say „H/ age‟ ? 107 G TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 4) Listen carefully to these words hatches Hadjis H's ages larch large leach liege leaches lieges lecher ledger lechers ledgers lunch lunge lunches lunges chán chây chang chít chít chén chân chậm chậm You will hear English words, one by one, on the tape Circle the word you hear among three choices You will have seconds to make up your mind before going on to the next item leach liege lunch lunge lecher ledger lunches lunges larch large lechers ledgers H‟s ages leaches lieges You will hear sentences Circle the word you hear in each sentence The line moved forward for lunch/ lunge Can you spell the word „leach/ liege‟ ? It‟s such a larch/ large tree! Did the advertisement say something about the H‟s/ Ages? 108 H TRAINING SESSION (SPEAKER 3) Listen carefully to these words lunching lunging chân March Marge cháp match Madge châm rich ridge chích riches ridges chích search serge chết searches surges chết searching surging chất You will hear English words, one by one, on the tape Circle the word you hear among three choices You will have seconds to make up your mind before going on to the next item lunching lunging rich ridge search surge searching surging match Madge march Marge riches ridges searches surges You will hear sentences Circle the word you hear in each sentence What did they with the riches/ ridges? What you think about March/Marge? The team went for a real search/ surge I‟m lunching/ lunging with Peter 109 APPENDIX PRODUCTION TEST (Pre-test and Post-test) search age chin char large searched H surged joke 10 jar 11 surge 12 larch 13 H‟s 14 searching 15 jeer 16 surging 17 choke 18 gin 19 ages 20 cheer 110 APPENDIX RESULT OF PERCEPTUAL TRAINING A Pre-training perceptual test result GROUP A GROUP B St Gender Age Scores (out of Student 24) Gender Age Scores (out of 24) Female 30 17 (70.8%) Female 34 16 (66.7%) Female 28 15 (62.5%) Female 21 10 (41.7%) Female 22 10 (41.7%) Female 24 11 (45.8%) Female 25 11 (45.8%) Female 28 17 (70.8%) Female 27 13 (54.2%) Female 26 14 (58.3%) Female 20 14 (58.3%) Male 33 13 (54.2%) Male 35 (37.5%) Male 31 14 (58.3%) Male 20 16 (66.7%) Male 27 (33.3%) Male 32 16 (66.7%) Male 22 13 (54.2%) 10 Male 29 15 (62.5%) 10 Male 24 16 (66.7%) 11 Male 30 12 (50%) Mean: 13.6 (56.7%) Mean: 13.1 (54.5%) SD (standard deviation): 2.757 SD: 2.734 111 B Post-training perceptual test result – Group A (experimental group) Student Gender Age Identification Generalization Generalization Total test (out of test (out of test (out of (out of 72) 24) 24) 24) Female 30 22 (91.7%) 21 (87.5%) 22 (91.7%) 65 (90.3%) Female 28 17 (70.8%) 18 (75%) 19 (79.2%) 54 (75%) Female 22 17 (70.8%) 16 (66.7%) 15 (62.5%) 48 (66.7%) Female 25 16 (66.7%) 17 (70.8%) 15 (62.5%) 48 (66.7%) Female 27 16 (66.7%) 15 (62.5%) 15 (62.5%) 46 (63.9%) Female 20 19 (79.2%) 18 (75%) 19 (79.2%) 56 (77.8%) Male 35 13 (54.2%) 11 (45.8%) 12 (50%) 36 (50%) Male 20 20 (83.3%) 19 (79.2%) 19 (79.2%) 58 (80.1%) Male 32 18 (75%) 18 (75%) 20 (83.3%) 56 (77.8%) 10 Male 29 19 (79.2%) 20 (83.3%) 19 (79.2%) 58 (80.1%) Mean: 17.7 Mean: (73.75%) (72.1%) SD: 2.497 SD: 2.83 112 17.3 Mean: 17.5 Mean: 52.5 (72.9%) (72.9%) SD: 3.064 C Post-training perceptual test result – Group B (control group) Student Gender Age Identification Generalization Generalization Total test (out of test (out of test (out of (out of 72) 24) 24) 24) Female 34 15 (62.5%) 13 (54.2%) 15 (62.5%) 43 (59.7%) Female 21 11 (45.8%) 12 (50%) 10 (41.7%) 33 (45.8%) Female 24 13 (54.2%) 11 (45.8%) 12 (50%) 36 (50%) Female 28 15 (66.7%) 16 (66.7%) 14 (58.3%) 45 (62.5%) Female 26 13 (54.2%) 12 (50%) 14 (58.3%) 39 (54.2%) Male 33 15 (66.7%) 15 (66.7%) 13 (54.2%) 43 (59.7%) Male 31 14 (58.3%) 16 (66.7%) 16 (66.7%) 46 (63.9%) Male 27 12 (50%) 10 (41.7%) 12 (50%) 34 (47.2%) Male 22 12 (50%) (37.5%) 11 (45.8%) 32 (44.4%) 10 Male 24 17 (70.8%) 15 (66.7%) 13 (54.2%) 45 (62.5%) 11 Male 30 11 (45.8%) (37.5%) 10 (41.7%) 30 (41.2%) Mean: 13.45 Mean: (56.1%) (52.1%) SD: 1.916 SD: 2.659 113 12.5 Mean: 12.7 Mean: 38.7 (52.9%) (53.8%) SD: 1.954 APPENDIX 10 RESULT OF NATIVE LISTENERS’IDENTIFICATION OF MINIMAL PAIRS A Native listeners’ identification test result - Group A (experimental group) Student Gender Age Pre-test Post-test (out of 20) 20) Female 30 12 (60%) 18 (90%) Female 28 10 (50%) (45%) Female 22 10 (50%) 15 (75%) Female 25 12 (60%) 17 (85%) Female 27 (45%) 10 (50%) Female 20 11 (55%) 14 (70%) Male 35 (40%) 12 (60%) Male 20 12 (60%) 16 (80%) Male 32 11 (55%) 12 (60%) 10 Male 29 10 (50%) 10 (50%) Mean: 10.5 (52.5%) Mean: (66.5%) 114 (out of 13.3 B Native listeners’ identification test result - Group B (control group) Student Gender Age Pre-test (out Post-test (out of 20) of 20) Female 34 14 (70%) 13 (65%) Female 21 (45%) 11 (55%) Female 24 10 (50%) 11 (55%) Female 28 15 (75%) 13 (65%) Female 26 (40%) 10 (50%) Male 33 11 (55%) 11 (55%) Male 31 12 (60%) (45%) Male 27 (35%) 12 (60%) Male 22 (45%) (45%) 10 Male 24 13 (65%) 15 (75%) 11 Male 30 10 (50%) (40%) 115 ...STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I certify that this thesis entitled THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF THE ENGLISH CONTRAST PAIR /t~/ AND /d2/ AMONG SOUTHERN VIETNAMESE SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH ... This thesis reports the result of an experiment conducted to investigate the relationship between the perception and production of the English contrast pair /t~/ and /d2/ among Southern adult Vietnamese. .. 1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY If the relationship between the perception and production of the contrast pair /t~/ and /d2 /among Southern Vietnamese speakers are to be proved, then this result