Pronunciation in learning a foreign language is arguably so important that it is seemingly what is all about mastering a language. On the grounds that Korean language pronunciation education is considered important in educating Korean language as a s...
Pronunciation in learning a foreign language is arguably so important that it is seemingly what is all about mastering a language. On the grounds that Korean language pronunciation education is considered important in educating Korean language as a second language, this study pertains to the education on pronunciation of final consonants in Korean language, which is one of the difficulties Chinese beginner learners of Korean language have due to the differences in phonological systems between their mother tongue and Korean language. Also, the present study discusses problems related to the difficulty aforesaid and seeks effective and integrative methods of education on final consonant pronunciation for learners from China in preparation for the author to teach those learners in the future.
For the purpose of this study, existing study trends on Korean language pronunciation education for Chinese learners were reviewed in chapter 1.
In chapter 2, a contrastive analytical approach was taken to find out the difficulties Chinese learners are faced with and errors they make in pronouncing final consonants in Korean language due to the differences in consonant phonemes and syllable structures between Korean and Chinese languages.
Based on what is aforesaid, chapter 3 examines the facts and aspects of Korean final consonant pronunciation among Chinese beginner learners, introduces a recording experiment to verify the problems raised by previous studies and analyzes the results from the experiment. Consequently, Chinese learners do not understand the unique aspects of the final consonants in Korean stop sounds and make lots of errors. The final consonants of nasal sounds in Korean language are similar to the nasal sound end in Chinese language, but learners do not recognize the differences between the two, leading to making errors. Also, they were found to pronounce Korean liquid sounds in such a manner that they do Chinese ‘兒(er)’ sound, which sounds awkward and erroneous to native Korean speakers. Further, statistical classification of error rates found in Korean final consonants pronounced by Chinese learners based on types of final consonants, seven kinds of final consonants and several other methods produced reference data applicable to determining the orders of teaching the final consonant pronunciation.
In chapter 4, through pronunciation experiments, the causes of each error type made by Chinese learners were analyzed in detail to actively seek solutions for those problems. Simply put , the analyzed causes and solutions are as follows:
Firstly, as Chinese language does not allow stop sounds at the end of syllables, Chinese learners make errors by discarding the pronunciation of Korean final consonants they feel hard. To shoot this trouble, Chinese learners need to be taught to perceive that Korean plosive sounds are pronounced at initial sounds with three steps such as ‘approach, or lip shut) - continuation(hold, or keeping shut) - and opening(release, or lip opening),’ but at final consonants the final step 'opening' is omitted.
Secondly, as Chinese language allows [n] and [ŋ] for nasal sound ends by which Chinese people learning Korean language as a second language are influenced, they make errors by confusing those sounds with /ㄴ/ and /ㅇ/ in Korean final consonants. To solve this problem, it is necessary to explain to those learners that Korean nasal final consonants and Chinese nasal sound ends have subtle differences and diversified practices make them tell the differences and correct errors.
Thirdly, the error that Korean liquid sounds are pronounced just like Chinese ‘兒(er)’ sound could be solved by explaining the articulation places and methods in detail to allow them to perceive the differences between the two phonemes and to correct the errors through practice.
Finally, the rules of phonological changes in Korean language are very complicated to Chinese learners and happen frequently among them, and particularly the changes in the pronunciation of final consonants due to consonant assimilation lead them to feel confused in understanding and distinguishing the actual pronunciation of the final consonants in Korean language. To deal with this problem, it seems helpful to present the table of consonant strength in Korean language, which cannot be emphasized too much in practical education on Korean language pronunciation.
Accordingly, chapter 5 presents desirable orders of teaching pronunciation of Korean final consonants and of presenting vocabularies based on the statistical results gained in chapter 3. Also, this chapter suggests multi-class-oriented teaching plans in addition to education on Korean language culture by putting the solutions for the errors analyzed in chapter 4 into practice at each stage of pronunciation class.
These efforts made in this study are possibly meaningful in the sense that the study results provided reference data for determining the orders of presenting pronunciation education and for teaching the methods of pronouncing Korean final consonants in practical Korean language pronunciation education. Plus, the trouble-shooting methods presented in this study through detailed analyses of error types made by Chinese learners in pronouncing Korean final consonants will be helpful for Korean language teachers who cannot speak Chinese language to understand and correct the causes of errors found in Chinese learners while teaching them.
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