The seventh national curriculum of South Korea places great emphasis on comprehensible English pronunciation. In accordance with the emphasis on comprehensible pronunciation, “intelligibility” is stressed. However, “nativeness” rather than “... The seventh national curriculum of South Korea places great emphasis on comprehensible English pronunciation. In accordance with the emphasis on comprehensible pronunciation, “intelligibility” is stressed. However, “nativeness” rather than “intelligibility” is emphasized in Korean English classrooms. Moreover, it is also true that the research on intelligibility is quite limited. The present study examines which types of errors Korean middle school English learners make most frequently in English pronunciation, and then determines what type of pronunciation error is the most problematic. It also investigates the relationship between the test scores of intelligibility and those of nativeness in pronunciation, and those between pronunciation and perception. To do so, 29 male and 21 female third grade middle school students in Seoul participated in the study. Tests on English pronunciation and perception were administrated to assess their English pronunciation and perception abilities. Students read sentences from the pronunciation ability tests, and what they read were recorded. The recordings were graded twice: in terms of intelligibility and nativeness. For the perception ability test, students listened to two recorded words and chose which one of the two they thought was correct. The results of the present study are as follows. First, the results of the pronunciation test showed that the syllable structure section got the highest nativeness scores, followed in order by the segmental, suprasegmental, and phonological rule sections. Students had more difficulty in pronouncing suprasegmentals than segmentals, which is a result of their native language phonological system and lack of explicit education on suprasegmentals in school. Secondly, the results of the pronunciation test showed that the syllable structure section had the highest intelligibility scores, followed in order by the suprasegmental, segmental, and phonological rule sections. While the syllable structure section and the phonological rule section maintained the same ranking, the ranking of the suprasegmental section and segmental section changed. The suprasegmental section had relatively higher intelligibility scores and relatively lower nativeness scores. That is, even though students did not pronounce suprasementals like a native English speaker, the evaluators were able to understand the target pronunciation. Thirdly, the analysis of the correlation between the nativeness scores and the intelligibility scores showed the coefficient of correlation was 0.76, which means a strong correlation. This result is consistent with the empirical support provided by previous studies (Anderson-Hsieh & Koehler, 1988, 1992; Lee, 2000; Major et al, 2002). The coefficient of correlation was highest in the segmental section (r=0.83), followed by the phonological rule section (r=0.81), the suprasegmental section (r=0.67), and the syllable structure section (r=0.65). These results are consistent with the previous study done by Fayer and Kransinski (1987), which proved the coefficient of correlation between the nativeness scores and the intelligibility scores is stronger in the segmental section than in the suprasegmental section. However, as for which section the correlation is stronger, a definite conclusion has not been reached among researchers. Lastly, the comparison of mean scores of pronunciation according to the perception scores showed that there was a statistically meaningful difference in pronunciation scores only in the segmental section and the suprasegmental section. The result implies that it is necessary to improve the perception ability in the segmental and suprasegmental sections to enhance intelligibility. The present study presented the types of errors Korean middle school students make and analyzed their pronunciation in terms of nativeness and intelligibility. It provided empirical evidence to support the suggestion that nativeness and intelligibility have a strong correlation. It also supported the idea that pronunciation and perception of English pronunciation is related in the segmental and suprasegmental sections. Since intelligibility is in the mind of the hearers, it is difficult to improve intelligibility by teaching; therefore, we should try to focus on improving nativeness of pronunciation and the preception ability in the section which shows the closest correlation with intelligibility. The results of this study are expected to be utilized as useful materials for teaching English pronunciation in Korean middle schools. ，韩语毕业论文，韩语论文范文 |
