This study is intended to analyze errors that Chinese-speaking learners of Korean make frequently when pronouncing lax, fortis and aspirated consonants in the initial sound of the first syllable. Based on the analysis result, this study focuses on fin...
This study is intended to analyze errors that Chinese-speaking learners of Korean make frequently when pronouncing lax, fortis and aspirated consonants in the initial sound of the first syllable. Based on the analysis result, this study focuses on finding an effective educational approach to ensure that these Chinese learners gain accurate listening and pronunciation abilities.
First, in this study designed for effective pronunciation education, considering that the instructors and learners may have different opinions of the same questions, a survey targeting Korean instructors and Chinese learners was conducted to understand the actual state of education sites. The survey showed that these learners were not sufficiently educated despite the fact that they felt the need for the necessity of pronunciation education. Additionally, it was found there was a difference in the way each party perceives pronunciation education.
Second, a listening experiment and an oral production experiment were carried out to check the pronunciation of learners, as pronunciation is closely related not only to speaking but also to listening. Under the hypothesis that poor listening ability leads to inaccurate oral production ability, exam s with identical questions were used to determine the relationship between listening ability and oral production ability.
According to the listening experiment, learners at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels correctly answered 62.4%, 68.2%, and 71.8% of the time, respectively, indicating that the longer the learning term, the more improved the listening ability becomes. However, variability among individual learners was identified, meaning that pronunciation education should be continued not only for beginning-level classes but also for intermediate and advanced-level classes. The percentage of correct answers was high in the order of tensed, aspirated, and lax consonants. Thus, the lax consonants were found to be the most difficult to listen. The result of an analysis of the errors showed that many learners misheard the lax consonants as aspirated, showing that Chinese-speaking Korean learners feel that it is difficult to differentiate lax consonants from aspirated consonants. The issue of whether or not final consonants exist was found not to have high relevancy in this experiment.
According to the oral production experiment, learners at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels correctly answered 58.6%, 65.6%, and 67.5% of the time, respectively, indicating that the longer the learning term, the more improved the oral production ability becomes. However, variability among individual learners was identified, meaning that pronunciation education should be continued not only for beginning-level classes but also for intermediate and advanced-level classes. The percentage of correct answers was high in the order of aspirated, tensed, and lax consonants. Thus, the lax consonants were found to be the most difficult to pronounce. The result of an analysis of the errors showed that many learners mispronounced the lax consonants as aspirated, showing that Chinese-speaking Korean learners feel that it is difficult to differentiate lax consonants from aspirated consonants. The issue of whether or not final consonants exist was found not to have high relevancy in this experiment.
The results of the two experiments were compared to understand the relationship between listening and oral production abilities. The results of the two experiments did not appear to be directly proportional. However, given that the Chinese learners of Korean language have difficulty finding a difference in the pronunciation of the ‘ㅅ’ and ‘ㅈ’ consonants, the two results were almost in the direct proportion. Therefore, listening and oral production are considered to be closely related to each other.
The consonant system of the Korean and Chinese languages were compared to each other to determine the causes of errors in listening and oral production. Regarding plosive consonants, the Chinese language has only a phonological contrast between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, while the Korean language has phonological contrasts among lax, tensed and aspirated consonants. The aspirates of Chinese are similar to the aspirated consonants of the Korean language, and the unaspirated consonants of Chinese are similar to the tensed consonants of Korean. However, the aspirates in the Chinese language have a breathed sound in the middle of the lax and aspirated consonants of Korean. Therefore, it is difficult for Chinese learners to pronounce the lax sound in the Korean language.
Third, based on the causes of the errors, an educational approach in the five steps of ‘Introduction → Presentation → Practice → Application → Follow up’ was prepared. The approach was applied to the site and results and effects were then reviewed.
According to the listening experiment, prior to the application of the educational approach, the percentage of correct answers was 71.6%, but this increased by 11.6% to 83.2% after the application of the proposed method. Regarding the word ranking of correct answers, the tensed consonants ranked first, followed by the aspirated and lax consonants both before and after the application of the educational approach. Nonetheless, the Chinese learners continued to have the most difficulty to pronounce the lax consonants. However, the lax, aspirated, and tensed consonants showed an increase of 14.5%, 14.1%, and 10.3%, respectively, in terms of the correct answer percentage, thus indicating that the applied pronunciation education was effective.
According to the oral production experiment, prior to the application of the educational approach, the percentage of correct answers was 64.4%, but this increased by 19.2% to 83.6% after the application of the proposed method. Regarding the word ranking of correct answers, the aspirated consonants ranked first, followed by the tensed and lax consonants both before and after the application of the educational approach. Nonetheless, the Chinese learners continued to have the most difficulty to pronounce the lax consonants. However, the lax, aspirated, and tensed consonants showed an increase of 42.5%, 4.7%, and 3.2%, respectively, in terms of the correct answer percentage, thus indicating that the applied pronunciation education was effective.
Inaccurate pronunciation not only causes trouble in communication but also affects other areas of learning by a language learner. Therefore, pronunciation education in the Korean language needs to be emphasized. In addition, pronunciation ability is not necessarily proportional to the learning time. Considering this, pronunciation education should be provided consistently and systematically, not only to beginners but also to intermediate and advanced learners. It is necessary to continue to conduct practical experiments for each language area.
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