Segmental error patterns in Finnish-accented English

Research suggests that explicit pronunciation teaching improves second language speech production, but language teachers often lack the relevant knowledge to teach pronunciation. This study examined segmental error patterns in Finnish-accented English and the relationship between segmental errors and foreign accent ratings in two groups differing in amount of second language experience. Our study identified a number of common segmental error patterns in Finnish-accented English, which may guide formal pronunciation instruction. We further found that the sheer number of segmental errors in a sentence affected foreign accent ratings as did the number of vowel errors in a sentence. We speculate that the detrimental effect of vowel errors may be related to the finding that vowel errors resulted in non-English segments more often than consonant errors did. Finally, we found a facilitative effect of second language experience on foreign accent rating that cannot be reduced to number of segmental errors, despite the finding that number of consonant errors was reduced with increased second language experience.

The Effect of Core Vocabulary Extension Program for Children with Inconsistent SSD

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the Core Vocabulary Extension Program for establishing speech sound consistency on speech inconsistency and accuracy of children with inconsistent SSD.Methods: Four children with inconsistent SSD aged 3-5 years who exhibited speech sound inconsistency, phonological error patterns, and articulation problems at the same time participated in this study. The program of this study used a core vocabulary approach and a multi-sensory approach, and parental support was provided at the same time. The experimental design used a multiple probe baseline design, with 3-5 baseline evaluations, 10 treatment evaluations, and 3 maintenance evaluations were performed. Data analysis of dependent variables, mean, trend line slope, standard deviation, immediate effect of treatment, and ratio of non-overlapping data (PND) were analyzed.Results: As a result of the study, inconsistency was reduced and articulation ability was improved. Speech inconsistency improvement was effective in all four participating children, but accuracy improvement was only effective in three children.Conclusion: This study is significant in that it confirmed the therapeutic effect of the Core Vocabulary Extension Program which integrated a multisensory approach and parent coaching based on a core vocabulary approach on speech sound inconsistency and accuracy of children with severe speech sound disorder accompanied by intellectual problems and language disorders. In the future, it is necessary to apply a phonological approach to remove the remaining phonological error patterns after speech consistency is established and to confirm the effectiveness of the phonological approach

The Pronunciation of English Low Vowels by Iraqi EFL Learners: An Intralingual Analysis

Iraqi EFL learners of English are reported to show accented pronunciation on the segmental level, which might affect their speech intelligibility. This study aimed to identify problems encountered by Iraqi EFL learners in the production of English low vowels and account for them from an intralingual perspective. The study also aimed to identify the effect of Iraqis' English language proficiency level on their pronunciation of English low vowels. Thus, learners were divided into beginners and advanced groups to determine differences between them based on their proficiency level in English. A production test was conducted to identify error patterns of twenty Iraqi EFL learners in producing low vowels. Learners’ recordings were acoustically analysed to validate the difficulties identified via the production test. Independent-samples t-tests were conducted to identify any significant differences in performance for the two groups. The results showed that learners encountered problems in the production of low vowels, especially /ɒ/, /æ/ and /ʌ/. The study concluded that these problems are probably ascribed to the complexities of the L2 vowel space, where vowels are close to each other and thus difficult to produce. Significant differences were identified between the two groups in terms of error means. Nonetheless, the comparison between the vowel chart obtained in this study and the charts offered in previous studies revealed that Iraqi EFL learners are still far from attaining approximant pronunciation. This requires reconsidering current texts, methodologies, and techniques used in teaching English pronunciation to allocate more attention to spectral differences among vowels. Keywords Low vowels production; Iraqi EFL learners; intralingual analysis; error patterns; acoustic analysis