Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University College of Languages

79 Pages·2015·1.74 MB·English

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University

College of Languages and Translation

Department of English Language and Literature

An Investigation into the Perception and Production of English Vowels by Saudi Female
EFL Students from COLT at IMSIU

By
Shrowg Mohammad Al-Homaidhi

Submitted to the Department of English Language and Literature
of the College of Languages and Translation in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Linguistics
Supervised By

Dr. Mohammad S. Al-Alam

Jumada II, 1436 - April, 2015

STUDENTS' PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF ENGLISH VOWELS I

Acknowledgements
First, praise be to Allah for the accomplishment of this work. I wish to express my
deepest gratitude and appreciation to my academic supervisor and the chairperson of my
committee, Dr. Mohammad Al-Alam, for his wholehearted supervision of this study, and for
his sincere devotion, constant help and advice. Dr Al-Alam’s valuable comments and
suggestions guided me to the right path and kept me on the right track throughout all this
study. Special thanks go to all my family members. I thank the Dean of the College of
Languages and Translation Dr. Mohammad Al-Ahaydib and Dr. Rafik Abd Al-Muti for
participating in my examination committee. Finally, I do thank all the students who agreed to
participate in this study.
STUDENTS' PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF ENGLISH VOWELS II

Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the perception and production of English vowels by
Saudi female EFL students majoring in English at Al-Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic
University. The data was collected from 39 students forming two groups. The first group
included 20 students from levels 1 and 2, and the other group included 19 students from levels
6 and 7. This study started by obtaining students’ information about their experience with
English, testing their ability to perceive and pronounce English vowels. The perception test
included nineteen minimal pairs with differences in the vowels only: for instance, bet versus
bit. The items of the production test included the twenty vowels of English used in familiar
words.
The processing of the results was executed on SPSS to obtain the percentage of correct and
incorrect responses from both groups in the perception and production tests. To find the
correlation between production and perception, an idependent-samples t-test was performed to
find out if the difference between the two groups was significant or not. A paired-samples t-
test was performed for each group to find if the difference between the perception and
production of vowels was significant or not. The findings of the study showed that there were
no significant differences at level (p > 0.05) between the two groups, on the one hand, and
between production and perception of each group, on the other hand. In other words, the results
showed that the perception was correlated with production. This correlation means that good
pronunciation is usually preceded by good perception. The researcher made some
recommendations and gave some pedagogical suggestions regarding the enhancement of the
perception and production of English vowels.
STUDENTS' PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF ENGLISH VOWELS III

دمحم ماملإا ةعماج يف ةمجرتلا و تاغللا ةيلك تابلاط لبق نم ةكرحتملا ةيزيلجنلإا ةغللا تاوصأ قطنو كاردإ نم ققحتلا
ةيبنجأ ةغلك ةيزيلجنلإا ةغللا ملعت متي ثيح ،ةيدوعسلا يف ةيملاسلإا دوعس نب
ةساردلا صخلم
كلذو ،)ةلعلا فورح( ةكرحتملا ةيزيلجنلإا ةغللا تاوصأ قطنو كاردإ ىوتسم نم ققحتلا ةلواحم ىلإ ةساردلا هذه تفده
ةغللا ملعت متي ثيح ،ةيدوعسلا يف ةيملاسلإا دوعس نب دمحم ماملإا ةعماج يف ةيزيلجنلإا ةغللا مسق تابلاط ىلع قيبطتلاب
نم ىلولأا ةعومجملا تنوكتو ،نيتعومجم ىلع نهميسقتب كلذو ،ةبلاط 39 نم تانايبلا عمج مت دقو ،ةيبنجأ ةغلك ةيزيلجنلإا
تأدب دقو ،عباسلاو سداسلا نييوتسملا نم ةبلاط 19 نم ةيناثلا ةعومجملا تنوكتو ،يناثلاو لولأا نييوتسملا نم ةبلاط 20
قطنو كاردإ ىلع نهتردق مييقت مت مث نمو ،ةيزيلجنلإا ةغللا ملعت يف تابلاطلا تاربخ نع تامولعملا عمجب ةساردلا هذه
يتلاو ،طقف ةلعلا فرحأ يف تافلاتخا دوجو عم ايظفل اجوز رشع ةعست ىلع كاردلإا رابتخا لمتشاو .ةكرحتملا تاوصلأا
يف اهمادختسا مت ، اكرحتم ااتوص نيرشع ىلع قطنلا رابتخا تارقف تنمضت نيح يف . bit و bet : لاثملا ليبس ىلع اهنم
.ةيزيلجنلإا ةغللا يف ةعئاش تاملك
باسح يف كلذو ،(SPSS( ـب اراصتخا اهل زمري يتلاو ،ةيعامتجلاا مولعلل ةيئاصحلإا ةمزحلا جمانرب ةثحابلا تمدختسا دقو
دوجو نم ققحتلل ةلواحم يفو .نيرابتخلاا لاك نم ،نيتعومجملا نم ةلصحملا ةئطاخلا تاباجلإاو ،ةحيحصلا تاباجلإا بسن
نييعتل ،)Independent Samples t-test) ةلقتسملا تاعومجملل – ت – رابتخا ءارجإ مت قطنلاو كاردلإا نيب ةقلاع
دقو .لا مأ ةيئاصحإ ةللاد تاذ تاقورفلا هذه تناك اذإ ام ديدحتو ،رابتخإ لكل ثحبلا يتعومجم تاباجإ طسوتم نيب تاقورفلا
تاقورفلا تناك اذإ ام ةفرعمل ؛ةدح ىلع ةعومجم لكل )Paired Samples t-test) ةطبارتملا تانيعلل – ت – رابتخا يرجأ
ةللاد تاذ قورف دوجو مدع ةساردلا جئاتن ترهظأ دق و .لا مأ ةيئاصحإ ةللاد تاذ ةكرحتملا تاوصلأا قطنو كاردإ نيب
ىرخأ ةرابعبو .ىرخأ ةهج نم ةعومجم لك قطنو كاردإ نيبو ،ةهج نم نيتعومجملا نيب )0.05( ىوتسم دنع ةيئاصحإ
تمدق دقو .ديج كاردإ هقبسي ام ابلاغ ديجلا قطنلا نأ ينعت ةقلاعلا هذهو ،كاردلإاب اطبترم ناك قطنلا نأ جئاتنلا ترهظأ
نيملعتملا قطنو كاردإ زيزعت لبس معدتل ؛سيردتلا قئارطب ةقلعتملا تاحرتقملا ضعب و ،تايصوتلا نم اددع ةثحابلا
.ةيزيلجنلإا ةغللا يف ةكرحتملا تاوصلأل
STUDENTS' PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF ENGLISH VOWELS IV

Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE: Introduction 1
1.1 Statement of the Problem 2
1.2 Questions of the Study 3
1.3 Hypothesis of the Study 3
1.4 Purpose of the Study 4
1.5 Significance of the Study 4
1.6 Methodology 5
1.7 Limitations of the Study 5
1.8 Structure of the Study 6
1.9 Definition of Key Terms 6
1.10 Definition of Key Acronyms 6
CHAPTER TWO: Literature Review 8
2.1 Introduction 8
2.2 Theoretical Background 8
2.2.1 Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis 8
2.2.2 Transfer Theory 9
2.2.3 L1 Interference 10
2.3 Pronunciation and Intelligibility Issues 11
2.4 Phonological Implications of Speech Perception and Production 12
2.5 Linguistic Background 14
2.5.1 Vowel Inventory and Acoustic Features of Arabic 15
2.5.2 Vowel Inventory and Acoustic Features of English 16
2.5.3 Contrastive Properties of English and Arabic Vowels 17
2.6 Previous Studies on English Vowels 19
2.7 Conclusions 21
CHAPTER THREE: Methodology 23
STUDENTS' PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF ENGLISH VOWELS V

3.1 Introduction 23
3.2 Design of the Study 23
3.3 Participants 23
3.4 The Instruments of the Study 25
3.4.1 The perception test 26
3.4.2 The production test 26
3.5 Procedure of the Study 27
3.5.1 Procedures of the perception test 27
3.5.2 Procedures of the production test 28
3.6 Data Collection and Analysis 28
3.7 Validity and Reality 29
CHAPTER FOUR: Findings and Analysis 30
4.1 Introduction 30
4.2 Analysis of Demographic Questionnaire 30
4.3 Research question 1 33
4.3.1 Analysis of Group 1 perception test 33
4.3.2 Analysis of Group 2 perception test 35
4.4 Research question 2 39
4.4.1 Analysis of Group 1 production test 39
4.4.2 Analysis of Group 2 production test 40
4.5 Research question 3 44
4.6 Conclusion 45
CHAPTER FIVE: Conclusions, Recommendations, and Suggestions 46
5.1 Introduction 46
5.2 Conclusions 46
5.2.1 Group 1 perception: Levels 1 and 2 47
STUDENTS' PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF ENGLISH VOWELS VI

5.2.2 Group 1 production: Levels 1 and 2 47
5.2.3 Correlation of perception and production: Levels 1 and 2 48
5.2.4 Group 2 perception: Levels 6 and 7 48
5.2.5 Group 2 production: Levels 6 and 7 49
5.2.6 Correlation of perception and production: Levels 6 and 7 49

5.3 Recommendation and pedagogical implications 49
5.4 Suggestions for further research 50
REFERENCES 52
APPENDICES I
STUDENTS' PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF ENGLISH VOWELS VII

List of Tables
Table 2.1. The vowels of Classical Arabic 15
Table 4.1. Ages of all participant 30
Table 4.2. Courses outside the university 31
Table 4.3. Methods tried to improve English 32
Table 4.4. Group 1 – perception of vowels in minimal pairs 33
Table 4.5. Group 2 – perception of vowels in minimal pairs 35
Table 4.6. Perception errors 37

Table 4.7. Independent samples t-test – perception 38

Table 4.8. Group 1 – production 39

Table 4.9. Group 2 – production 40
Table 4.10. Percentages of non-native-like patterns 42
Table 4.11. Independent samples t-test – production 43

Table 4.12. Paired samples t-test (correlation) 44

List of Figures
Figure 2.1: The Vowels of English 16