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Is listening to the English CD and recording my English effective to improve my pronunciation?
Graduation Thesis
Presented to
the Faculty of the Department of
English Language and Literature
Notre Dame Seishin University
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirement for the Degree
Bachelor of Arts
by
Yuri Suzuki
2018
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Contents Chapter 1 Background to Pronunciation
1.1 Introduction
1.2. Pronunciation
1.2.1 Phonemes- Consonants and vowels
1.2.3 Intonation
1.2.4 Pitch
1.2.5 Accent
1.2.6 Rhythm
1.2.7 Punctuation of syllable
1.3 Change of pronunciation
1.3.1 Linking
1.3.2 Elision
1.3.3 Assimilation
1.3.3.1 Voiced sound
1.3.3.2 Unvoiced sound
1.4 Improving pronunciation by reading aloud
1.4.1 Background
1.4.2 Advantages and disadvantages
1.4.3 Methods
1.4.3.1. Introduction
1.4.3.2 Shadowing
1.4.3.3 Overlapping
1.4.3.4 Repeating
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1.5 Previous research on the benefits of reading aloud on pronunciation
1.5.1 Kawai (2012)
1.6 Research Questions
1.7 Conclusion
Chapter 2: The Data
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The experiment / questionnaire
2.2.1 Introduction to the experiment
2.2.2 Method of experiment
2.2.3 Results of questionnaires
2.2.4 Results of experiment
2.3 Summary
Chapter 3: The Analysis
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Summary of the results
3.2 Discussion of the results
3.3 Research questions
3.4 Implications
3.5. Limitations of the Experiments
3.6. Further research
3.7 Conclusion
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AbstractThis thesis is about the way to improve English pronunciation
for Japanese English learners. It is researched the features of English pronunciation, ways to improve pronunciation like reading aloud.
The aim was to find out if listening to the English CDs and recording our English is effective for improving our pronunciation?
The thesis looked at how some people who practiced their pronunciation and the ways they recommend to record their voice and listen to it again and again so they can improve their pronunciation. They said this way was more effective for people to improve English pronunciation skill, because it can make us notice our weak point in English pronunciation. They said people can correct their incorrect English pronunciation by comparing it with their own English and the correct English they listen to.
The experiment showed that recording our own English and listening to it is effective as judged by other students who learn English. Also, this way is effective, because it makes us notice our weak point and become aware of the correct English pronunciation, and we can pay attention to it so we can move towards speaking like native speaker. It is important to imitate the intonation or speed like native speaker from English CD.
Therefore, listening to the English CDs and recording our own English is effective to improve my pronunciation.
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Chapter 1 Background to Pronunciation
1.1 Introduction
Today, most Japanese students learn English as a second
language at school, because now the world is becoming more
internationalized and the need for communication with foreigners in
English is greater. However, people who have learned English can understand
that it is very difficult to communicate their thoughts in English.
Because of the insufficient training in pronunciation, Japanese people
often don’t make themselves understood and can’t continue the
conversation with foreigners.People generally have many opportunities to make contact
with English through radio, TV, and talking with native speakers, but
actually, people have little need to use English in their daily life in
Japan. So, English is mainly studied in a classroom and it is centered
on the textbook. Therefore, English study in Japan has more writing
than speaking.To understand spoken English and to communicate ideas in
English, naturally enough, people have to learn English
pronunciation and have to try to be close to the pronunciation of
English native speakers as much as possible.
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When we consider pronunciation, there are vowel sounds,
consonants, sound connection, a sound change, rhythm, stress, and
intonation. It is thought that it is the most important to learn these
to master the pronunciation to be understood by native speakers. If
we acquire good pronunciation, we can communicate in English
smoothly. We can also understand the speaker’s feelings and true
meaning. So, does practicing pronunciation improve our ability?
1.2. Pronunciation What are the main features of pronunciation? There are
several aspects of pronunciation. In order to study how something
works it is often useful to break it down into its constituent parts.
The following diagram shows a breakdown of the main features of
pronunciation. In the next section we will look at each aspect in
detail.
VowelsConsonants
Phonemes
Sentence stressWord stress
Suprasegmental features
Intonation Stress
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1.2.1 Phonemes- Consonants and vowels
Phonemes don’t have specific meanings, however, they are
the set of the smallest units of speech in a language that distinguish
one word from another. For example, the word pat has the
phonemes /pæt/. If we change the middle phoneme, we get /put/
put, a different word. If we pronounce /p/ in a slightly different way,
the word doesn’t change, and we still understand that we mean the
same thing. There are many more phonemes in English than in
Japanese. English has 20 vowel sounds and 24 consonants or 44
phonemes. ( /iː/, /ɪ/, /e/,
/æ/, /ʌ/, /ɑː/, /ɒ/, /ɔː/, /ʊ/, /uː/, /ɜː/, /ə/, /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/, /əʊ/, /aʊ,
ɑʊ/, /ɪə/, /eə/, /ʊə/; /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, /ʧ/, /ʤ/, /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/,
/ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /l/, /r/, /w/, /j/) Compared with this, Japanese
has 5 vowel sounds, 16 consonants, and 3 special phonemes making
24 phonemes. (/a/, /i/, /u/, /e/, /o/; /j/, /w/; /k/, /s/, /c/, /t/, /n/, /h/,
/m/, /r/, /g/, /ŋ/, /z/, /d/, /b/, /p/; /N/, /T/, /R/) Therefore, many Japanese
people feel that it’s difficult to pronounce the English words. The set
of phonemes consists of two categories: vowel sounds and
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consonants we are familiar with in the alphabet. We make sounds
with only vowel sounds or one consonants + one vowel.
1.2.3 Intonation
Japanese has a little intonation, so Japanese people can speak
flat, but English has a lot of intonation. The intonation of voice is a
fundamental element in pronunciation to communicate the meaning
of a sentence exactly and well. If we make a mistake how to use the
intonation, the meaning of sentence can change. In this way, the
intonation in sentences expresses the meaning or emotion of
sentence by changing sounds low and high in the middle or at the
end of the sentence. There are two kinds of intonation to raise the
pitch or lower the pitch. To raise the pitch is pronounced with higher
sounds at the end of a sentence, for example, interrogative sentence
like Do you have a pen? On the other hand, lower pitch is
pronounced flat without high sounds, for example, in a declarative
sentence like I have a pen.
1.2.4 Pitch
Pitch is relative loudness that is high and low in languages
sounds when people speak languages. Pitch is important to
represent the intonation of sentences like accent and stress. For
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example, if people are surprised at anything, they raise their voice,
for example, “REALLY? I’m SO SURPRISED it,” with a shifting high
tone.
1.2.5 Accent
Accent is one way of emphasizing the stress in words. We
describe the point in a word or phrase where pitch changes, vowels
lengthen, and volume increase. The greater the pitch change, the
more English speakers have the strong accent. If one position is
heard more remarkably than another position, it is said to have a
stress, or an accent. For example, the word label has strong pitch on
the [ei]. Watanabe (2014) says that accent consists 3 elements,
which is pitch change, duration, and intensity in order of importance.
The position of the accent can represent the parts of speech
like verb, noun, and the meaning. The verb often has a stress in the
first syllable, for example, the verb increase is pronounced inCREase
[inkrí:s]. The noun has a stress in the second syllable and increase is
pronounced INcrease [ínkri:s].
1.2.6 Rhythm and stress timed-language
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English also has rhythm. Rhythm is made from accent, regular
part, pitch, and speed of speaking. For example, the sentence “This
is the malt that lay in the house that Bob built” can be divided into
five as rhythm like “/ this is the / malt that / lay in the / house that /
Bob built /. People pronounce these five parts with the same rhythm.
This is called stress-timed pronunciation
1.2.7 Punctuation of syllable
The syllable is a unit of sound multiple with every syllable
having a single vowel sound. A syllable includes some consonants in
front and/or behind with only one vowel sound. The word silent has
two syllables si・lent. There are two ways to break the syllable, one
is historical origin break and the other one is pronunciation break.
Origin break is the way it is divided in syllables with a central
focus on the vowel which is pronounced where the syllable starts on
the new consonant sound. For example, the word animal is divided a
/ ni / mal.
Pronunciation break is the way to divide it inthe middle in the
case that there are more than two consonants which are
pronounced. For example, the word systematization is divided sys /
te / ma / ti / sa / tion.
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1.3 Change of pronunciation
English has various changes when we pronounce sentences
which we call suprasegmental variations. English is pronounced by
counting the vowel sounds, but, it is pretty difficult to pronounce
accurately. Therefore, English pronunciation often changes due to
linking, elision, assimilation, and elimination.
1.3.1 Linking
Linking is the phenomenon that the end sound of one word
links to the first sound of the next word. Just a little is pronounced
Jus Ta little, where “t” in the word just is linking with “a”. When
consonants come after vowel sounds, two words are usually
pronounced together.
1.3.2 Elision
Elision is the phenomenon that the end consonants of one
word is not pronounced when the joint between the end consonants
of one word and the first sound of next word is the same or similar.
Get to is pronounced Ge to, as “t” is at the end of one word and the
beginning of the next. Sit down changes SI down, “t” and “d” are
similar.
1.3.3 Assimilation
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Assimilation is a phenomenon when the end of word is a
voiced sound and the first sound of next word is an unvoiced sound,
the voiced sound often changes to the unvoiced sound. Of course
[əvkɔ'ɚs] is pronounced [əfkɔ'ɚs] or Used to [júːzd toː] changes to
[ju:stu]. Also when one word ends in unvoiced sound and next word
starts in voiced sound, it changes. For example, South by [sáuθ bái]
is pronounced [sáuð bái ].
1.3.3.1 Voiced sounds
Voiced sounds are pronounced with one’s voice shaking. It is
vowel sounds and voiced consonants.
All vowel sounds are usually voiced sounds and in the
consonant, friction sounds-[v] [z], plosives -[b] [d] [g], and others.
1.3.3.2 Unvoiced sound
Unvoiced sound is pronounced without one’s voice vibrating.
In the consonant, friction sounds-[p][t][ʈ,], plosive sounds-[ʃ][h]
[s], and others.
1.4 Improving pronunciation by reading aloud
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1.4.1 Background
Reading aloud is said to be a basic effective practice method
to improve the pronunciation. Morisawa (2009) said that it’s very
important to pronounce English practically with motor system
training, in which we practically move our mouth and ear, then
pronounce English aloud. So, people should do training to use the
sounds which are a fundamental form of language to get the
practical skills of English.
1.4.2 Advantages and disadvantages
There are some advantages for reading aloud. First, we are
able to listen to the pronunciation, so we can notice at our weak
point of English pronounciation. Moreover, people can get used to
pronouncing English with English pronunciation features like linking.
It is thought that reading aloud is more effective than listening to the
English CD and learning the pronunciation of individual words.
However, on the contrary, reading aloud has some disadvantages
such as the potential for raised anxiety in making the correct English
pronunciation especially in front of others, which reduces the
effectiveness of reading aloud by half. Reading aloud with correct
English pronunciation, the intonation and accent of English is not
learned. This has an influence on listening skills. So, it is important to
be close to native speakers.
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1.4.3 Methods
1.4.3.1. Introduction
There are a lot of methods in the motor system training like
reading or pronouncing aloud. We look at those three methods which
are picked up.
1.4.3.2 Shadowing
In this method students repeat all the same sound that they
heard immediately. Shadowing involves both input and output to
imitate the model sound. The difference from repeating, is that this
training is without some pause. This method is more effective to
improve English pronunciation and intonation like native speaker
than other methods like only reading a book or learning the correct
word pronunciation, by listening to the English CD on which the
native speaker is speaking and imitating their pronunciation because
we naturally learned the correct pronunciation, accent, and
intonation.
1.4.3.3 Overlapping
This is the method in which students read aloud all same
sound of model English as we speak the model pronunciation at
same time. It is more effective to improve the natural English speed
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Rob Waring, 11/27/17,
How do you know? Who said so?
Rob Waring, 11/27/17,
So this is three methods which are ‘more effective’ which is the truth?
Rob Waring, 11/27/17,
But above you said listening to a native is better than a CD
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than other methods like repeating or shadowing. Because people
listen to the correct pronunciation or speed and people have to
imitate those pronunciation and speed.
1.4.3.4 Repeating
This is the method that listening to the model English
sentences or phrases and repeating same English literally. For
example, people pronounce one sentence or paragraph which they
listen to it from CD, after listening.
1.5 Previous research on the benefits of reading aloud on pronunciation
In this section we will look at previous research. There is the person
who reports practically training pronunciation with reading aloud.
1.5.1 Kawai (2012)
“Now, it is recognized for people that making
foreigner understood what they say with their English is
more priority than the accuracy of grammar and
pronunciation in the business scene and diary
conversation. One of the reasons is that people who speak
English and their first language is not English are
increasing all over the world”. (Kawai, 2012)
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Many people would agree with this opinion basically. However,
it is very difficult for Japanese people to reach the level of English to
understand what they say. It is said that it is not easier for native
English speaker to understand Japanese English than Indian English
or Chinese English which we think the accent is strong by the
influence of their first language.
The representative feature of Japlish which is the English
Japanese people speak, is the intonation. The language-Japanese is
flat and doesn’t have much more intonation compared with English.
Also, the vowel sounds “a i u e o” are pronounced equally. For
Japanese people who get used to speaking English, it is good to
speak with strength and weakness of sound consciously, or
exaggeratedly a little.
In this case, it is more difficult to pronounce English weakly
and suitably than speaking with strength and weakness. If people
say “I should have done it yesterday”, in the case of native speaker,
they don’t pronounce [ɑɪ ʃúd hǽv dˈʌn ít]. In reality, they pronounce
[ʃúdəv]. This relaxed way of speaking is connected with good English
pronunciation.
The frequency of sounds is different between Japanese and
English. So, it is said that there are a lot of sounds which Japanese
people can’t understand as a language in English. Japanese people
can’t catch English phrases well, in other words, they can’t hear
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English phrases well. Therefore, Japanese people can’t naturally
speak English well.
The one method which fights such a weakness is “Recording.”
Kawai (2012), who is a journalist, recommends the method
using the recorder to improve his English pronunciation. He got to
speak English fluently and clearly by recording his English and
listening to himself.
He used this for about two hours when commuting, because he
was an office worker. He often choose the digest from the radio,
because it is not like teaching materials. He listened to this many
times and recorded his English on an IC recorder. He said that he
understood his weak points and could correct the mistake in his
pronunciation.
1.6 Research Questions
1. Does pronunciation improve after reading aloud?
2. How many attempts does it take to improve pronunciation?
3. What aspects of pronunciation are improved (or not) by
reading aloud?
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1.7 Conclusion
In Chapter One, we learned that it’s important for us to
improve pronunciation. It is thought English has a lot of features that
were cared correctly for Japanese people. Also, it’s important to get
the hang of linking, assimilation and so on. To improve the pronunciation, people should do practical
training with the ear and mouth system for output and input.Chapter Two presents the data for a questionnaire and an
experiment about improving the pronunciation by recording my
English and comparing correct English. Is this way actually effective?
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Chapter 2: The Data
2.1 Introduction
In Chapter One, we looked at whether recording English after
listening to the English CD and comparing with correct English to
improve the pronunciation is effective or not. Also, we looked at
people’s way to improve their pronunciation and people’s idea about
pronunciation.
This chapter present the data for a questionnaire and an
experiment about pronunciation to see if read aloud practice does
improve pronunciation.
2.2 The experiment / questionnaire
2.2.1 Introduction to the experiment
Chapter One said that the reading aloud and recording
practice is effective. So, this experiment seeks to show if it is true or
not, and shows how effective it is.
2.2.2 Method of experiment
The experiment used the following method. The person who
did the experiment is a fourth grade university student majoring
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English and is the author of this thesis. First, she selected a CD to
model from. The English CD I used is the part p5 in “My Mom, the
Movie Star” (Waring and Jamall, 2007). The transcript is in
Appendices.
1) Subjects
The subjects of this experiment’s judgment and
questionnaire were Okayama Notre Dame Seishin University
English major students and the University students who
graduated from Okayama Saidaiji high school English major ages
21-22.
2) Questionnaire design
Introduction
The subjects were asked two questions*
1. Which ways do you practice pronunciation?
2. Which ways are effective for practicing English pronunciation?
Why?
It is thought that these questions will reveal which method
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people who study English and learn the English pronunciation
practice their pronunciation, and which method they think is
effective. Which ways are effective for practicing English
pronunciation?
3) Experiment design
Introduction
In this section, we look at the way how the experiment was done
by recording aloud and listening to it to see if it is effective to
improve my pronunciation or not. Next were four steps as below.
Four steps
1 Repeating English CD and recording my English I
pronounce in my recording.2 Listening to my English and comparing with English CD
three times3 Reading same sentences after checking my weak points
and improving my pronunciation better again 4 Noting my weak points in memo
First, the experiment was conducted using these 5 times.
It was done about 30 minutes every two days. The recording
day was 3 times in about 2 months. The first recording was
30th April, second recording was 21st May, and final recording
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was 2nd June. The first recording had no training to improve the
pronunciation, only listening to the English CD twice and read
aloud.
Next, the recordings were judged by other people three
times to see if my skill improved or not in reading aloud from
recording my English. The pronunciation was judged with three
categories dividing intonation, sounds, naturalness, and feeling.
4) Procedure
The questionnaire
First, 44 people answered my questions and their ideas about
improving the English pronunciation.
Next, 44 people judged the three recordings I read aloud
and record in the above‐mentioned four items per one record. The
recordings were not in time order. These were the questions.
My pronunciation
Intonation. The question was how was the intonation? This
is judged five grade system from very good to bad.
Sounds. The question was how clear were the sounds? This is
judged same system from clear to terrible.
Naturalness. The question was did she speak with feeling?
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This is judged same system from with emotion to a little flat tone.
Feeling. The question was did she speak naturally? This is
judge same system from vary naturally to unnatural.
2.2.3 Results of the questionnaires
Introduction
The data are from 44 subjects who are studying English now in
their university or have studied English in their high school. There
are many people who can speak English, but sometimes people can’t
understand their English. However, some people speak it well.
Figure 1: The data for how fluently the subjects can speak
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7%
25%
41%
27%
Do you think you are good at speaking English fluently?
very naturally people can understand my Englishsometimes people can't understand not at allother
This data show only 7 percent of the subjects who speak
English very naturally. It was found that the subjects don’t have the
confidence of their pronunciation, however, they learn or learned
English at school. Many subjects think that they are sometimes able
to be understood their English pronounce. Then, which way they
practice English pronunciation. Next figure shows that.
Figure 2: The data for which ways the subjects practice the
pronunciation
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read En
glish book
s
listen
to Eng
lish CDs
read an
d listen
to Eng
lish bo
oks
listen
to th
e Eng
lish so
ngs
sing Eng
lish so
ngs
speak
with nati
ve speak
ers
visit f
oreign
coun
tries o
n a tri
p
go to
homest
ay more
than
1 mon
th
record
your v
oice a
nd liste
n to it
listen
ing to a
CD an
d rep
eating
pronou
ncing
words m
any t
imes
05
10152025303540
Which ways do you practice pronunciation?
Very often Quite often Sometimes Almost never
Most subjects often choose listening to the English songs and
sing it, it is thought that these ways are close to them. Moreover, it
is easy for the subjects in these two ways and they can continue
them with enjoyment. Many subjects sometimes listen to English
CDs or read and listen to English books. It is thought that they do
this training at school. However, almost none of the 44 subjects
never record their voice and listen to it. Definitely, it seem they did
not to hear a recording of their voice themselves and listen to it to
improve pronunciation.
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Figure 3: The data for which ways the subjects think effective
for English pronunciation
read En
glish book
s
listen
to Eng
lish CDs
read an
d listen
to Eng
lish bo
oks
listen
to th
e Eng
lish so
ngs
sing Eng
lish so
ngs
speak
with nati
ve speak
ers
visit f
oreign
coun
tries o
n a tri
p
go to
homest
ay more
than
1 mon
th
record
your v
oice a
nd liste
n to it
listen
ing to a
CD an
d rep
eating
pronou
ncing
words m
any t
imes
05
10152025303540
Which ways are effective for practicing English pronunciation?
Very often Quite often Sometimes Almost never
This data shows us the difference between the ways they did
and the ways they think are effective. Many subjects often listen to
the English songs and sing them to improve pronunciation, but
actually, most of them think that speaking with native speakers is
effective. And going to homestay more than 1 month or visiting
foreign countries on a trip are also thought effective by the subjects.
However, these ways are difficult for them, because some
people don’t have a chance to study abroad.
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From the subject’s idea:
Yume said that she thinks talking with native speakers is
very effective, because native speakers have perfect
pronunciation.
Yu said that it’s effective for her to go abroad many times
because we can touch with real pronunciation. She said
listening to native pronunciation, then repeating it is very
effective way to improve skills.
Also listening to a CD and repeating or pronouncing
words many times are thought effective by them. It is
thought that they think it is effective for both input and
output.
Yurina said that listening to native pronunciation, then
repeating it is a very effective way to improve skills.
Miki said that if we record our voice, we can find our
weak points, and correct them. She thinks repeating
after a CD is effective because we can pronounce almost
correctly after listening to good English. If we record our
voice, can find our weak points, and correct them.
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2.2.3 Results of the experiment
Introduction
The experiment was judged by 44 subjects in four
categories -intonation, sounds, naturalness, and feeling at five
levels grade. Next are figures of these results.
Text 1 is the first record (30th in April)
Figure 4: The data for the subjects judging the Intonation of
Text 1
very good bad0
5
10
15
20
25
1
4
12
21
6
Text 1: Intonation (Judging pronunciation)How was the intonation?
27 subjects judge the intonation of the first recording is close
to bad. More than half of people feel the intonation not good.
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Figure 5: The data for the subjects judging the Sounds of Text
1
clear terrible0
5
10
15
20
25
2
6
1311 12
Text 1: SoundsHow clear were the sounds?
This shows people have varying ideas, however, most subjects
think the sound of the first recording is not clear.
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Figure 6: The data for the subjects judging the Feeling of Text
1
with emotion a little flat tone0
5
10
15
20
25
1
5
1012
16
Text 1: FeelingDid she speak with feeling?
The subjects think the feeling of the first recording a little flat.
They judge the speaker don’t speak with emotion.
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Figure 7: The data for the subjects judging the Naturalness of
Text 1
vary naturally unnatural0
5
10
15
20
25
12.5
9
17
12
Text 1: NaturalnessDid she speak naturally?
The naturalness of the first recording is not good too. They
judge the naturalness unnatural.
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Text 2 was first record (21th in May)
Figure 8: The data for the subjects judging the Intonation of
Text 2
very good bad0
5
10
15
20
25
5
1517
7
0
Text 2: Intonation (Judging pronunciation)How was the intonation?
This shows many subjects think the intonation of second
recording is not bad. About half of them judge it good.
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Figure 9: The data for the subjects judging the Sounds of Text
2
clear terrible0
5
10
15
20
25
5
17 17
5
0
Text 2: SoundsHow clear were the sounds?
This shows many subjects judge the sounds of second
recording is not terrible. Everyone don’t assign the most terrible
grade.
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Figure 10: The data for the subjects judging the Feeling of Text
2
with emotion a little flat tone0
5
10
15
20
25
10
5
18
0 0
Text 2: FeelingDid she speak with feeling?
This data shows most of these subjects judge the feeling of
second recording is not a flat tone, 10 people judge that the speaker
speaks English with emotion.
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Figure 11: The data for the subjects judging the Naturalness of
Text 2
vary naturally unnatural0
5
10
15
20
25
5
15 16
8
0
Text 2: NaturalnessDid she speak naturally?
This show people have scatter idea, however, all 44 people
judge the naturalness of second recording unnatural at worst grade.
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Text 3 was first record (on 12th in June)
Figure 12: The data for the subjects judging the Intonation of
Text 3
very good bad0
5
10
15
20
25
7
21
12
4
0
Text 3: Intonation (Judging pronunciation)How was the intonation?
In this data, 28 subjects judge the intonation of third recording
close to very good.
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Figure 13: The data for the subjects judging the Sounds of Text
3
clear terrible0
5
10
15
20
25
8
1517
4
0
Text 3: SoundsHow clear were the sounds?
This shows the subjects have various ideas, many subjects
judge the sounds of third recording clearer than half grade.
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Figure 14: The data for the subjects judging the Feeling of Text
3
with emotion a little flat tone0
5
10
15
20
2521
19
4
0 0
Text 3: FeelingDid she speak with feeling?
This shows there are no opinions that the feeling of third
recording has very flat tone. Most of the subjects feel that the
speaker speaks English with more emotion more than the first and
second recordings.
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Figure 15: The data for the subjects judging the Naturalness of
Text 3
vary naturally unnatural0
5
10
15
20
25
7
17 17
3
0
Text 3: NaturalnessDid she speak naturally?
This shows a few subjects think the naturalness is unnatural,
but many subjects think the naturalness improved more than in the
first or second recordings.
2.3 Summary
Chapter 2 shows the subject’s idea of English pronunciation
and the effectiveness in recording the voice and listening to it. In
these, it is showed a lot of changes from Text 1 to Text 3. What is the
meaning of this? Next, in Chapter 3, we look at the results in detail.
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Chapter 3: The Analysis
3.1 Introduction
Chapter 1 and 2 show what has been researched about
improving the pronunciation. Chapter 1 shows the change of
pronunciation of English and shows some effective ways to improve
the pronunciation and the effectiveness of the way to record the
voice and listening to it. Chapter 2 shows whether recording the
voice and listening to it is effective way or not.
Then, in Chapter 3, we look at the results compared to Chapter
1 and Chapter 2.
3.2 Summary of the results
In Chapter 1, we look at previous research about improving
pronunciation. English pronunciation has a lot of features, for
example, linking and assimilation. English has more phonemes than
Japanese. Therefore, we especially need to practice the
pronunciation in some ways. Chapter 1 showed various ways to
improve pronunciation by reading aloud, which were shadowing,
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overlapping, and repeating. Also, Chapter 1 showed the idea of the
people who practiced their English pronunciation skill by recording
their voice and listening to it. They said that recording the voice and
listening to it is effective and they improve their skill in this ways.
In Chapter 2, we looked at the questionnaire and experiment.
The subjects who was related in English often listen to and sing
English song to improve the pronunciation, but they think that the
effective way is going abroad and speak English with native
speakers. However, many subjects think recording the voice and
listening to it is effective. In this experiment, the subjects judging
this way is actually effective.
3.2 Discussion of the results
In the questionnaire, the subject often listened to English
songs and songs to improve their pronunciation, however actually,
they think that the effective way to improve English pronunciation is
going abroad to study or speaking with native speaker, so it is
thought it is important to speak English practically. And most of them
never record their voice and listen to it.
The experiment shows recording aloud and listening it was
good for people to learn English pronunciation. However, in this
experiment, it shows recording the voice and listening to it is
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effective to improve the pronunciation for short term. The people
who practice pronunciation by recording in Chapter 1 and I who did
the experiment actually practiced and improved.
Recording my voice and listening to it was a very good way,
because it made me notice my pronunciation’s weak points. By
comparing with the correct English CD, it makes people pay
attention the differences and can correct my incorrect pronunciation.
So, it is thought that the point we should pay attention to is speaking
like native English speaker. Therefore, people who practice the
pronunciation by recording recommend this way. It is good for
English learners to choose the way of that record the voice and
compare with correct English.
The subjects judged all items of the third recording better than
those of the first or second recordings, and many subjects judge all
items of the first recording worst in three recordings, because it is
thought that the speaker, I only listened the English CD twice before
recording my voice the first time. Because of this, the second or third recording was better,
because it is thought the way of recording the voice and listening to
it is effective for pronunciation. Compared with Figure 4 and Figure 12, the changes are clear.
To focus on the intonation, in Figure 4, 27 these subjects judgement
of the first recording was bad. However, in Figure 12, 28 the subjects
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judgement of the third recording better. In this chapter we look at a detailed analysis of these data in
Chapter 2.
3.3 Answering the research questions
1. Does pronunciation improve after reading aloud?
The answer to this question is yes, because reading aloud is
effective to improve pronunciation that is mentioned in the
background. Morisawa said that people have to do the motor system
training like reading aloud-listening, repeating, and shadowing which
is used the mouth and ear system. My data also show this.
2. How many attempts does it take to improve pronunciation?
There are basic three methods in reading aloud. They are
shadowing, overlapping, and repeating. Morisawa (2009) said that
the model English CD is not too long sentences. Also, it is important
to repeat same sentences many times, and it is suitable to use from
20 to 40 minutes at one time.
3. What aspects of pronunciation are improved (or not) by
reading aloud?
Reading aloud is effective to improve the pronunciation,
because it is learned the English intonation, stress, and the like.
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However, if people don’t know the correct pronunciation, it is not so
effective. And it is not so effective to improve the English grammar
skills.
3.4 Implications
In Chapter One, we look at what Morisawa (2009) said about
the way to read aloud, because we can notice the weak point of
pronunciation in listening the English voice oneself by using mouth
and ear system. And Kawai who practically record his voice and
repeat English said the recording way is very effective. We look at if
it is truly effective or not in Chapter two.
The answer to this question: “If the recording way is very
effective or not?” is Yes, because, in the experiment, I practiced my
English pronunciation by recording it. Compared with Text 1 and Text
2-3, many subjects determined that my pronunciation improved in
the short term for four features like intonation, sounds, feeling, and
naturalness.
In my research, it found that the way of listening to English by
recording themselves and comparing with correct English is
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effective, because it shows us the one’s weak points and many
incorrect pronunciation words that it was learned with mistakes. Therefore it can correct my weak point and correct word
pronunciation. Also it can help me learn the English pronunciation
features like linking. It always makes me imitate the pronunciation of
native speaker from CD and conversation with native speakers now.So I now recommended people to record aloud and listen to it
to improve English pronunciation in the same way as Kawai and
Morisawa.
3.5. Limitations of the Experiments
There are several limitations with this study. Firstly, most of the
subjects were female university students. Secondly, most of the
subjects were only 18-22 year olds. Finally, the experiment was with
only Japanese.
3.5. Further research
The experiment this time was short term, therefore it should
be done for a longer period. How much more effective would it be to
record the voice and listen to it for long term? And which ways would
be the most effective way to improve English pronunciation,
including many ways, we don’t know.
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3.6. Conclusion
In Chapter One, we looked at that Morisawa said the way to
read aloud is effective, because we can notice the weak point of
pronunciation listening to the English voice oneself. And Kawai who
recorded his voice and repeated his English said the recording way
was very effective. We looked at if it is truly effective or not in
Chapter two.
The answer to the question: “If the recording way is very
effective or not?” is Yes, because, in the experiment, it showed my
English pronunciation by recording way improved. Compared with
Text 1 and Text 2-3, many subjects determined that my
pronunciation improved in the short term for four features like
intonation, sounds, feeling, and naturalness.
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References
Book names and journal names are in italics and have capitals at
the start of each word > Family name, initial, date, Title, Journal or
Book
Books – みるみる英語力がアップする音読パッケージトレーニング
Yosuke, Morisawa. 2009. Thesis Writing. Bere Printed
Press. pp. 8-37.
Articles – the Journal name is italic
Howard, K. 2001. Language Education in Japan. English
Language Teacher’s Journal, 3 (1): 15-41.
Weller, P. 2003. The Japanese Classroom. In Thomason, P.
and T. Rogers (Eds.). Life In Japan, Geneva Press. pp. 23-
45.
For web articles where you don’t know the author, give the name
of the site title and the exact location of the file and the date you
accessed it,
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BBC News, The parsing of texts into meanings.
www.bbc.co.uk/langauge/parsing.htm. Accessed August 14,
2016
If you know the author, write this way.
Smith, P. The parsing of texts into meanings.
www.bbc.co.uk/langauge/parsing.htm. Accessed August 14,
2016
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Appendices
Background questions
I agree that these data can be used for research.
Agree
Reject
Do you think you are good at speaking English fluently?
Very naturally
People can understand my English
Sometimes people can't understand
Not at all
Other
Which ways do you practice pronunciation?
Which ways are effective for practicing English pronunciation?
Read English books
Listen to English CDs
Read and listen to English books
Listen to the English songs
Sing English songs
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Speak with native speakers
Visit foreign countries on a trip
Go to homestay more than 1 month
Record your voice and listen to it
Listening to a CD and repeating
Pronouncing words many times
Judging pronunciation
I practiced my English pronunciation in the record.
Please judge my pronunciation from Text1 to Text3.
Intonation: How was the intonation?
Very good- Bad
Sounds: How clear were the sounds?
Clear- terrible
Feeling: Did she speak with feeling?
With emotion- a little flat tone
Naturalness: Did she speak naturally?
Vary naturally- unnatural
“My Mom, the Movie Star” (Waring and Jamall, 2007) P5
Kerry and Gemma were talking, “Today is April Fool’s Day.
So what can we do to trick Mr. Harris?” asked Kerry. Gemma
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said, “Here’s an idea. Anita Hamilton looks a little like my
Mom, right? And her family name was Hamilton before she
got married, too.” “Yes, she does, a little,” said Kerry. “So?
What are you thinking?” “Well, Mr. Harris doesn’t know my
Mom,” said Gemma. “I’ll tell Mr. Harris that my Mom was
the famous Anita Hamilton. It’ll be fun.” “That’s a great
idea. You’re good at jokes,” said Kerry. “Your mom used to
be an actress when she was younger, didn’t she? Her name
is Anita, too, isn’t it?” “Yes, but my Mom’s name is Anitta,
not Anita,” replied Gemma. “He’ll never know if it’s true or
not. This will be really great.”
47