ATTENTION:
BEFORE YOU READ THE CHAPTER ONE
OF THE PROJECT TOPIC BELOW, PLEASE READ THE INFORMATION BELOW.THANK YOU!
INFORMATION:
YOU CAN GET THE COMPLETE
PROJECT OF THE TOPIC BELOW. THE FULL PROJECT COSTS N5,000 ONLY. THE FULL
INFORMATION ON HOW TO PAY AND GET THE COMPLETE PROJECT IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS
PAGE. OR YOU CAN CALL: 08068231953, 08168759420
PHONOLOGICAL
PROBLEMS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE
ABSTRACT
This study
attempts to find out the phonological problems of Edem Secondary School
students in the English language. In achieving this goal, 61 students out of a
total of 242 students were sampled using descriptive survey design, because it
is aimed at collecting data on features and facts about a given population and
describing it in a systematic manner.
A self-made
competence test (Phonological reading passage) was used as instrument for data
collection.
The findings
reveal that Edem students have phonological problem of using /t/ sound for /q /
sound, /d / sound in place of / ð/ sound and /n/ sound for /l /
sound. Hence
London is pronounced Nondon. In Edem dialect of Igbo it has been discovered
that both /l/ and /n/ are found in their dialect but they cannot make the
distinction between the two.
Again, they
insert vowel sounds in between consonants, and each word with consonant ending
they put a final vowel.
Finally, the
irregularity in English pronunciation affect Edem students greatly.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background
of the Study
Language is
the major tool of communication in human society and speech occupies a major
position in most discussions of language as a communicative medium. One of the
major characteristics of man, according to Mgbodile (1999), is his ability to
use language to send messages about objects, events and situations around him.
Speech is what distinguishes man from other animals. Speech is paramount to any
language and knowledge of the English Language cannot be appreciably good
without effective manipulation of the speech sounds, for linguistics
competence, according to Chukwuma,H and Otagburuagu,E(1997), is based mainly on
oracy. So, the mastery of English is highly connected to the mastery of the
spoken form of it.
From the
early age, a normal child responds to the sounds which his elders use to
communicate with him. In his bid to communicate and get his needs identified
and satisfied, the child begins to imitate the sounds which he has heard from
his elders. His dire need to communicate with the adult community and his
constant hearing and imitation of the language make it possible for him to
acquire his mother tongue or his first language. Ogbuehi
(2003)
asserts that every normal child acquires the sound system and the speech
patterns of his mother tongue in a normal way through imitation of sounds from
adult group.
On the other
hand, learning to speak a second language or foreign language usually involves
some rigours and challenges because the learner has to learn the sound systems
and the prosodic features of the second language against the already firmly
consolidated first language in the mind of the learner. The problem is partly
that some languages are tonal and syllable-timed and others are stress-timed
and various speech sounds have distinctive acoustic properties. The adjustment
to these differences may lead to a mismatch and therefore the learner may
produce sounds that cannot be understood by other users of the same language.
Onuigbo (1990) asserts that learning to speak a second language is
psychologically demanding because the learner already feels comfortable towards
the phonological systems of his native language. Mackey (1965) agrees that a
person who has been using only one language since early childhood has habits
and thoughts which are closely tied to his habits of language, and that
language is a part of his experience. He concludes that in learning a second
language, the learner has to adjust his speech habits to accommodate those of
the target language. This according to Otagburuagu and Okorji (2002) is because
languages have their individual peculiar phonological and phonemic features
which must be mastered and used by the learner for mutual intelligibility with
the native speakers and other users of the language.
Many
learners of a second language cannot make this adjustment successfully. They
approximate the phonological features of the second or target language with
those of their mother tongue. Put in another way, they allow the speech habits
of their mother tongue or their first language to interfere with the speech
habits of the target language. This phenomenon, according to Akindele and
Adegbite (1999), is known in the language register as phonological
interference.
Phonological
interference is a term which refers to a linguistic occurrence in which two
different languages over lap and the linguistic system of one of the languages
is transferred into the other in a process of producing the latter which is the
second or target language. Interference, according to Baldeh (1990) is the
major obstacle in the teaching of the English language and it constitutes a
great problem to the learning of a second language for it can hinder mutual
understanding and intelligibility and consequently affects performance in target
language. This has resulted in the variety of English language in Nigeria
called “Nigerian English”. Mgbodile (1999) is of the view that mother tongue
interference is a great problem to second language learners of English. The
Nigerian child should be taught to perceive and produce correct pronunciation,
stress and intonation in the target language, which in Nigeria is English.
Teaching
correct pronunciation, stress, and intonation to Nigerian children may be
difficult as Nigeria is a multilingual country. William (1990) observes that
teaching English to students that have different mother tongues other than
English is complicated and difficult, and worse still when the learning
environment is multilingual. This problem is compounded when one considers the
fact that for many students, English is not really their second language but
third or even the fourth language. Teaching correct pronunciation, stress and
intonation becomes more complex when in a class, Student „A‟ may have a problem
of distinguishing the /l/ from /r/ sounds, but this may not be the problem of
Student „B‟ whose speech difficulty is with the pronunciation of words like
„live‟ and „leave‟ so that they sound differently. Student „C‟s own difficulty
may be that he cannot help inserting a vowel sound in a consonant cluster. From
the spoken English of many Nigerians, one can identify from which area they
come from. This is because different speech communities have different
phonological and interference problems. Ogbuehi (2003) points out: “Today,
there are many “Shibboleths (speech signs) for identifying people from
different areas of Nigeria”.
In a
contrastive study of English and Nigerian languages, Chukwuma and Otagburuagu
(2002), discovered that the Yorubas realize /v/ as /f/, e.g. ‟very‟ becomes
„fery‟, / z / does not exist in Yoruba so it is substituted with /s/ e.g.
„zeal‟ is pronounced, „seal‟, issue is pronounced „izzue‟. Akindele and
Adegbite (1999), also found out that the absence of English sounds such as the
voiceless bilabial plosive /p/, voiceless and voiced labio-dental fricative /
ѳ/ and /ð/ and the long vowels /I:/, /U:/ and /a:/ in Yoruba, for instance,
make it difficult for Yoruba English bilingual to acquire such sounds. Hence,
Yoruba English bilingual will produce „pat‟ as /kpæt/, „fever‟ as /fifa/, and
„think‟ as
„tink‟. The
obligatory /h/ are also dropped hence, house‟ is wrongly pronounced as “ouse‟
his‟ is wrongly pronounced as “is‟ „hair‟ is wrongly pronounced as „air‟
„honey‟ is wrongly pronounced as „oney‟
In addition,
the Hausa learners of English substitute /v/ for /b/, „very good‟ is pronounced
„bery good‟, /kw/ is substituted for /k/. So, „go‟ is pronounced „kwo‟, „come‟
is pronounced „kwom‟, whereas „problem‟ is
pronounced
as „froblem‟. Some times /v/ is dropped in words like‟government‟ which they
pronounce as „gworment‟
Onuigbo
(1990), observed that a second language learner of English that has Igbo as his
first language can produce „pit‟ with relative ease, but the same learner may
experience some difficulties in producing „split‟ or „spit‟ because these words
have consonant clusters, but the Igbo language has no consonant cluster.
Because of this, the Igbo learners of English insert vowel in the midst of the
consonants. Onuigbo generalizes that Nigerian languages have no consonant
clusters . In the English language, there is a regular occurrence of consonant
clusters unlike the Igbo language that has no cluster but has virtually regular
and unchanging pattern of (consonant vowel, consonant vowel (CVCV). Folorine
(1975) has the same view with Onuigbo that problematic consonant clusters are
the major problem which Igbo students encounter in the pronunciation of words.
In his article, “The Problems of Students‟ English‟, he states that learners‟
problems may be that the learner either leaves out one element of the
problematic cluster or inserts a vowel within the consonant cluster as in
„penalty‟ which they put an additional syllable in the word as shown below
A B C
penalty
/pen∂lti /pena:liti/
grateful
/gretful/ /gretiful/
Group „B‟ is
the correct English pronunciation of the word in column „A‟wheas group „C‟ is
the wrongly pronounced Igbo form of group „A‟.
Ogbuehi, C.U
(2001) points out that the vowel harmony in Igbo words are transferred to the
pronunciation of English words, thereby realizing a final vowel pronounced in
words with consonant ending as in these groups:
7
A
B
C
Ball
/bכ:l/
/Bכ:lu/
Table
/teibl/
/tebulu/
Head
/hed/
/hedi/
Leg
/leg/
/legi/
Group „B‟ is
the correct English pronunciation of the words in column A whereas group „C‟ is
the Igbo version of group „A‟.
Another
outstanding phonological problem according to Ugorji (2007) is that some
English consonant sounds are not present in the Igbo language e.g. /θ/, /ð/ and
/3/. Because of this, the Igbo learners of English substitute /t/ for / θ/, /d/
for /∫/ and /s/. Consequently, Igbos wrongly pronounce these words thus:
A
b
c
thief
/θif/
/tif/
theory
/θiori/
/tiori/
them
/ðem/
/dem/
think
/θink/
/tink/
casual
/Kǽ3ju∂l/
/kǽsu∂l/
Group „B‟ is
the correct English pronunciation of group „A‟ but group „C‟ is the wrong Igbo
pronunciation of group „A‟. Some Igbo speaking areas of Nigeria interchange the
liquid /r/ with the lateral /l/ thus producing such funny pronunciation like
rook instead of look bred instead of blemflom instead of frommaly, instead of
many‟
Also the
long and the short vowel contrast is rarely made in Igbo as in „bed,‟ /bed/ and
„bird‟ /bЗ:d/. These two words are pronounced alike by Igbo learners of
English. The /ǽ/ in „cat‟ and /a: / „cart‟ is also pronounced alike.
HOW TO GET THE FULL PROJECT
WORK
PLEASE, print the following
instructions and information if you will like to order/buy our complete written
material(s).
HOW TO RECEIVE PROJECT
MATERIAL(S)
After paying the appropriate
amount (#5,000) into our bank Account below, send the following information to
08068231953 or 08168759420
(1)
Your project topics
(2)
Email Address
(3)
Payment Name
(4)
Teller Number
We
will send your material(s) after we receive bank alert
BANK ACCOUNTS
Account
Name: AMUTAH DANIEL CHUKWUDI
Account
Number: 0046579864
Bank:
GTBank.
OR
Account
Name: AMUTAH DANIEL CHUKWUDI
Account
Number: 2023350498
Bank:
UBA.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL:
08068231953 or 08168759420
AFFILIATE
Comments
Post a Comment