Preview

The Pronunciation of English by Somali L1 students in Sweden. Testing indications of phonetic transfer through Error Analysis and Contrastive Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
14025 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Pronunciation of English by Somali L1 students in Sweden. Testing indications of phonetic transfer through Error Analysis and Contrastive Analysis
ENGLISH

The Pronunciation of English by Somali L1 students in Sweden
Testing indications of phonetic transfer through Error Analysis and
Contrastive Analysis

Mathias Börjesson, 880412
BA Degree paper, 15 hec
Interdisciplinary Degree Project
Teacher Education Programme LP01
Supervisor: Monika Mondor
Examiner:
Report number:

Departments:

University of Gothenburg/Dept of Languages and Literatures/English

Course:

EN1C03 - English: Advanced Undergraduate Level (linguistic essay) for
General Purposes. Bachelor’s Degree Essay Project (C-level paper)

Semester:

Fall 2013

Title:

The Pronunciation of English by Somali L1 students in Sweden:
Testing indications of phonetic transfer through Error Analysis and
Contrastive Analysis

Author:

Mathias Börjesson

Supervisor:

Monika Mondor

Aim(s):

The main aim of the study is to investigate phonemic errors in relation to transfer seen from a didactic point of view.

Method(s):

This study was based on a mixed method, being both quantitative and qualitative. Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis was used to predict and identify errors. Contrastive Analysis was mainly used to create a pronunciation test on typical Swedish and Somali difficulties. The extent and the occurrence of transfer are investigated in relation to interview findings and the students’ background.

Material(s):

The material consists of 10 Somali L1 students’ results on a pronunciation test and their answers to some interview questions. Four of the students were born in Sweden and six of them were born abroad.

Main results:

The results show that the average Somali L1 student born outside of
Sweden made approximately three times as many errors as the average
Somali L1 student born in Sweden. The errors made by all students are shown to be related to both Somali, Swedish and the Somali-Swedish interlanguage. The results also show that the Somali L1 students born outside of Sweden



References: Barkhuizen, Gary & Ellis, Rod. 2005. Analysing learner language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Benson, Cathy. 2002. “Transfer/Cross-linguistic influence”. ELT Journal Volume 56(1), 68-70. Crystal, David. 1995. The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dalton, Christiane. & Seidlhofer, Barbara. 1994. Pronunciation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dras, Mark & Wong, Sze-Meng. 2009. Contrastive analysis and native language identification. Proceedings of the Australasian Language Technology Association Workshop Volume 7, 5361. Ellis, Rod. 1997. Second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. European Network of Policy Makers for The Evaluation of Education Systems (2004). The assessment of pupils ' skills in English in eight European countries 2002: a European Goh, Li-Lian; Mohamed, Abdul; Wan-Rose, Eliza. 2004. English errors and Chinese learners. Guilford, Jonathon. 1998. English learner interlanguage: What’s wrong with it?. Anglophonia French Journal of English Studies 4, 73–100. Hedge, Tricia. 2000. Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom. Oxford: Oxford university press. Johansson, Stig. & Rönnerdal, Göran. 2005. English Pronunciation: a workbook : British version. Kahin, Mohamed. 1997. Educating Somali Children in Britain. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books Limited. Light, Richard; Warshawsky, Diane. 1974. “Preliminary error analysis: Russians using English”. McKay, Sandra. 2006. Researching second language classrooms. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Mobärg, Mats. 2001. “Basic English Phonetics for Short Courses”. [Course handout]. Retrieved at http://gul.gu.se/public/pp/public_file_archive/archive.html Ohlander, Sölve. 2009. “‘Swedish’ vs. ‘Non-Swedish’. Immigrant Background and Cross-linguistic Influence in the Learning of English as a Foreign Language” Statistics Sweden. 2009. Education in Sweden 2009. Received from http://www.scb.se/statistik/_publikationer/UF0527_2009A01_BR_UF08BR0901.pdf Weinberger, Steven. 2013. Speech Accent Archive. George Mason University. Retrieved from http://accent.gmu.edu

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    The Devil and Tom Walker

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages

    on all four components of language acquisition: reading, writing, listening and speaking, as well as the culture of…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to Fraser, Goswawmi, and Ramsden(2010), the greatest predictor to determine an individual becoming a successful reader is phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is the ability of a student learning to read to recognize sounds, language patterns that are oral and combine these with the sounds of the alphabetic creating a the written word. However, according to Trehearne and Healy (2003) by the time a child becomes a student in kindergarten at least 20% of those entering will struggle with phonological awareness and 10 % will have difficulties in reading.…

    • 249 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This assignment will discuss the variation in spoken language, such as, the difference between accents and dialect. In addition, it will explain how some people adapt their accent and dialect depending on different situations. Furthermore, this paper will also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using accent and dialect and highlights how some people are stereotyped and discriminated by the way they use spoken language.…

    • 606 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Spoken Language Essay

    • 1229 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In this essay I shall explore the ways in which my speech changes according to the context I am in. Most people change the way they speak without knowing it and only realise it when they consciously try to listen for differences in their idiolect, such as their pitch, intonation, pronunciation, speed, lexis and length of their utterances.…

    • 1229 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the first part of the experiment, each child was tested specifically in a fixed order: accent familiarization, pre-accuracy trials, accuracy familiarization, and post-accuracy trials. The children then watched as two speakers, one with a Spanish accent and the other with no accent, labeled trivial items. The participants are asked who they preferred. Next, the one of the speakers starts to occasionally mislabel an item. The participants are again asked who they preferred despite occasional mistakes. Then for the second part of the experiment, children were also tested on accent familiarization, accuracy familiarization, and post-accuracy trials. After, the children listen to 2 speakers of different accents label simple items. The speakers both alternated between correct and incorrect labels.…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Difficulties faced in the Canadian education. According to the data collected from the interviews, it was observed that two of the participants (Nur and Ammar) had the same difficulty in learning the English language. Even though Nur and Ammar both studied English back in their native country they both said that the English they learned is not the same. For example, Ammar said:…

    • 1682 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    One of the main factors that affects our understanding of the language is one’s regional accent. Although most words and phrases will be comprehensible some phonetics may have changed so much that all we can do is hope that the context of what has been said makes sense in order for us to ‘fill in the gaps’.…

    • 1424 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Phonology In Children

    • 1244 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Phonology is a fundamental principle for language in every individual’s life. We are exposed to this principle before and after birth and throughout our lives. Phonology is fundamental to all spoken languages, each language having its own system. Regardless of the types of language spoken to a child, children have difficulties producing meaningful speech because they haven’t grown into their oral structure, in other words, their teeth. Children are developing the ability to produce speech sounds through their ongoing process of practicing and learning how sounds are produced (Hoff, 2013, p.116). Phonological processes enables them to obtain more words, and each child develops “systematic ways in which to alter the sounds of the target language…

    • 1244 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    speech and language

    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages

    2.3 explain how levels of speech and language development vary between children entering early years provision and need to be taken into account during settling in and planning.…

    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    children care

    • 713 Words
    • 3 Pages

    2.3. Explain how levels of speech and language development vary between children entering early years provision and need to be taken into account during settling in and planning…

    • 713 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Phonological Development

    • 294 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Phonological development is the acquisition of knowledge about the sound system of a language. Some important milestones that could be impaired by lead exposure include decreased reaction to sounds, delayed babbling, and an inability to differentiate between sounds. This inability could arise as a result of inattention, a side-effect of lead exposure. Being unable to differentiate between sounds can inhibit word learning and the inability to babble in order to communicate will obstruct the child from advancing to semantic development. Overall, children exposed to lead would have speech production that is delayed and abnormal while perception is limited.…

    • 294 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Most of Somali refugees don’t know the language the feel most comfortable places and jobs where english-speaking skills aren’t necessary according to somali immigrant settlement in small minnesota and wisconsin communities by Zoltan Grossman , ‘’somali refugees the have been working by meat processing plant and (other industries that do not require advance English language) many who don't know the language when they arrive in the United States choose places to live and work a place that the can call…

    • 363 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    English Pronunciation

    • 518 Words
    • 6 Pages

    ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION IN USE Advanced Members: 1. Nguyễn Ngọc Kiều Thanh 2. Võ Minh Trang 3.…

    • 518 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    British Creole

    • 5337 Words
    • 22 Pages

    This paper clarifies the veritable meaning of British Creole since it is not only a Creole but an ethnolect of the Black British community, whereas some people may say that it is a vernacular of British English. The linguist Peter L. Patrick claims that British Creole is the product of contact between the Creole language varieties of migrants from the Caribbean, and vernacular varieties of Urban English English. (Peter L. Patrick 2003: 231) So one could say that British Creole is a compounded variety of the Jamaican Creole Patois, and a British English Vernacular. But what is British Creole in fact? Because there is confusion in terms of its definition since it is a variety which was created in Britain such as any other British English Vernacular and should therefore not be considered as the lingua franca of different speakers, with different languages in order to interact on a regular basis. (Gerard Van Herk 2012:140)…

    • 5337 Words
    • 22 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Describe the key features of the teaching of pronunciation. Explain with examples what some of the difficult issues are for learners from one language background of your choice, and state how you would address these issues in the classroom.…

    • 1691 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays