The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of applying different varieties of English pronunciations in regular English classes in a Korean high school upon students' English listening comprehension and language attitudes. Language attitudes in this study refers to the attitudes students show toward the target language and the people who use the language. In addition to student's affective domains such as confidence and interest, students' attitudes toward the target language and the people using it are one of the key factors in determining the success of language learning.
To incorporate EIL(English as an international language) into English classes and teaching materials, the researcher selected 14 bilinguals who use English as a second language. They re-recorded all the listening scripts in a korean high school English textbook(Neung Ryul, Chan) from chapter 1 to chapter 3. For 5 weeks and 15 class periods, the re-recorded English listening materials were presented to an experimental group of 43 Korean high school students as English input. Meanwhile, another 43 students serving as the control group were provided with the American English pronunciation only which they were familiar with.
At the first and the last class, pre- and post questionnaires were employed to both groups; the former was to collect information on participants' English learning experiences, general understanding of EIL, their preference on different English pronunciations and the nationalities of the speakers. The latter was to investigate the changes in language attitudes and general understanding of EIL, and their affective domains.
Both groups also were involved in pre- and post English listening tests with foreign-accented English pronunciations. After that, those participants were provided a semantic differential scale intending to evaluate their attitudes toward the unfamiliar non-American English pronunciation and its user. Pre- and post English tests include 10 questions each, and 9 statements in the semantic differential scales.
By conducting this research, the researcher posited 4 research questions: first, how was the participants' listening comprehension affected when differentiating the English pronunciations from standard American one? Second, how did Korean learners respond to the unfamiliar non-standard English pronunciations and the users? Is it positive or negative? Third, by having a chance to be exposed to the different English speaker models, did the participants show positive improvement in their language attitudes and the general understanding of EIL? Fourth, how did the participants' affective domain change through the given period of time for exposition.
The data from listening tests, questionnaires and semantic differential scales were all analysed by using SPSS Win 18.0 program. The results of the pre- and post listening tests and the scores of pre- and post semantic differential scales as well as post questionnaire were analysed by using T-tests in order to compare the differences between two groups. The study made use of frequency analysis for pre-questionnaire and technical statistics overall. Factor analysis and Cronbach α were used to validate the semantic differential scale and post questionnaires.
The findings of this study are as follows: the first grade of Korean high school students who have studied English for average 6.2 years do so usually through a commercial English institution(72.3%) or tutoring(34.9%). Only 14.5% of students have had the opportunity to learn English from native English speakers. Most of English input they were exposed to was standard American English(72.3%) and 63.2% of Korean high school learners have difficulty speaking in English. The main reason for the difficulty is the lack of listening competence and the lack of confidence. Furthermore, 49% of the learners agreed with the idea that we are global citizens and English is a world language. But 11.7% of students disagreed with that and 39.2% of students didn't have a clear idea of 'global citizen or world language.'
Korean learners showed negative response to the foreign accented English pronunciation and to the person using it. Their top preference was standard American English and naturally they liked to learn English from American native speakers. Ironically, they had a higher preference for Korean English teachers than other English native speakers from Australia, New Zealand, Philippine, etc. This result showed their strong American norm bounded perception and preference. They had a low evaluation of the English pronunciation, education level, personality, profession of the English bilinguals from Spain and Austria in particular.
However, after 5 weeks of exposition to varieties of English pronunciations in the regular English classes, the experiment group showed significant improvement on their perception of EIL and the varieties of English. Compared with their counterparts, their preference of the non-native English speakers, and their evaluations on the speaker's education level, personality, and profession all showed meaningful changes. This is probably because of the students' realization that English is used not only by native speakers, but also by people from different countries worldwide who are just the same as they are. However, the participants in the experiment group still considered those varieties of English 'the imperfect, non-standard English, or incorrect English.' They consider American-English pronunciation as the standard criterion.
In addition, though the experimental group was exposed to various English pronunciations for 5 weeks, there was no significant difference in listening comprehension levels of both groups between pre and post listening test.
Finally, the results of the post questionnaire indicated that the participants in the experiment group showed more confidence on their English pronunciation and interest in English language as a communicative tool. More than 80% of the participants in the target group showed great interest in different varieties of English as they said 'surprising, new, characteristic, interesting, and fun' though they didn't consider it 'appropriate' or 'correct'.
Several pedagogical implications can be derived from the result of this study.
First, as Alptekin(2002) pointed out, rather than a monolingual native English speaker, successful bilinguals who have intercultural insights and knowledge as well as second language learning experiences could be a meaningful language model to the learners in EFL context. Students can relate themselves to not only their own language but to the English as their realistic second language. Second, it is important for students to be prepared for heterogeneous and multicultural society or deterritorialized and hybrid society(Kramsch, 2005) by equipping themselves with openness and positive attitude towards the people from different countries. In the same line with Kubota(1998), including varieties of English and literatures from the Outer and Expanding Circles would help teachers and students develop respect and appreciation of non-Western languages and cultures.
Third, since learning a second language often requires creating a new identity in the new language, making the students aware of this presents for them an avenue for appropriating English to create new meanings and identities rather than simply modeling the inner circle varieties, developing negative affective feelings or a sense of inferiority in the learning process.
Finally, suggestions for the follow-up researches are as follows: English teaching curriculum in broad and specific ways need to incorporate EIL components. This could be realized through using the teaching materials such as the one used in this research, but it would also be possible to include them in English tests(Jenkins, 2006) or making criteria for performance assessment (Young & Walsh, 2010). Furthermore, more systematic and controlled way of experiment with this topic is required. EIL related issue and its application in actual English teaching practice is still quite new in Korea. Also, almost all of the listening materials in Korean English textbooks show exclusive use of American English speakers and thus, include only standard American English pronunciations. To broaden students' world view and understanding of EIL, teacher's creative adaption of the material at the local level would make a great change.
，韩语论文网站，韩语论文范文 |
