Chichkova T.V.
Some Peculiarities of Speech
Production and Interference in SLL
Second Language learners’ grammatical competence
includes knowledge of syntax, phonology and semantics which allows them to put
words in the right sequence, to pronounce and comprehend words and to derive
meaning from what other people say.
Second language learners need both grammatical
and communicative competence to function in a new language surrounding. It is
teachers who can help students to gain both kinds of competence. But second
language learners’ speech production, their pronunciation can show signs of
interference or mispronunciation.
Thus pronunciation can be one of the most
difficult parts of acquiring a second language. Pronunciation problems
interfere with the students’ communicative intelligibility. This interference
can be the result of phoneme substitution, overgeneralization, developmental
errors and lack of ability to verbalize phonemes.
In some cases students and teachers should not be
concerned about the interference or mispronunciations. “However, if we agree
that intelligible pronunciation is an essential component of communicative
competence, we can see that to achieve intelligibility, many learners need
individual guidance and a chance to work specifically on the production of
troublesome sounds.’ (Armington, p. 27).
Foreign language learners tend to unconsciously
identify or categorize some sounds of the target language as being the same as
in their mother tongue. This interference in the form of phoneme substitution
occurs when the speaker inappropriately transfers the knowledge of his/her own
language to a foreign one.
“The intralingual errors are those originating
within the structure of English itself. Complex rule-learning behavior is
typically characterized by overgeneralization, incomplete application of rules,
and failure to learn conditions for rule application. When the complexity of
English structures encourages such
learning problems, all learners, regardless of background language, tend to
commit similar errors.’ (Robinett, p. 274).
An example of overgeneralization would be the pronunciation of the ending ‘-ed’ as in
“wanted” or “promised” overgeneralized in the ending “-ed” added to base words
with silent “e” such as “timed” or “smiled”.
It is obvious that when a student is speaking
with peers, they are more likely to have the mother tongue interference because
the language production is less guarded and more quickly produced. There are
more signs of interference if nervous emotions are present. In a calm learning
situation the learner concentrates on careful, correct articulation of isolated
sounds or sound sequences.
The errors similar to those made by children
learning English as a first language are called developmental errors as they
are not the result of students’ mother tongue interference. Adult learners can
also make developmental mistakes similar to children when they make false
hypotheses about the target language. An example of developmental interference
is the pronunciation of the plural ‘s’, whether to use /s/ versus /z/.
Another cause of phoneme interference is the fact
that many languages have phonemes that second language learners are no longer
able to make. Very young babies have been observed as making the necessary
sounds for multiple languages. As the babies grew older and were not reinforced
with the phonemes absent in their mother tongue, they no longer produced the
unnecessary phonemes. The speech organs lose their ability to produce such
sounds. In this situation, the second language students must relearn how to
pronounce them.
All forms of interference are important and must
be taken into consideration if teachers expect students to speak the second
language like natives. If the goal is to help students to be understood then
mispronunciations in their speech should be aided. If teachers help students in
comprehending what they read, then mispronunciations that interfere with
semantics should be assisted. Introducing new ideas to keep students’ interest
teachers might allow pronunciation mistakes during students’ communication as
interest is a strong driving force at any stage.
But this doesn’t mean that pronunciation cannot
be dealt with. At least five minutes of the lesson can be regularly spared for
short, regular speech practices involving isolation and comparison of sounds.
- Use physical responses to practice words
associated with action.
“The cognitive process of language acquisition is synchronized with and
partially facilitated by the movements of the body.” (Richard-Amato, h. 116).
- Use choral, or chant reading to read aloud and
in unison. Clap syllables.
- Have students practice sounds in varied
placement of the words, such as beginning, middle and end. Then discuss
probability of sounds being pronounced differently depending on placement.
- Practice reading and voicing sounds each day
before the reading lesson.
- Play games that develop word and sound skills.
- Have the students write their ideas before
speaking in front of the class.
- Teach from the smallest known chunks of words
to larger unknown ones.
- Start with base words and then add prefixes and
suffixes.
- Use songs in the classroom. Read the lyrics
with the students and discuss how the syllables of the words are pronounced to
the beat or rhythm of the music.
Mispronunciation may or may not cause a problem
with communication. Teachers must decide which interferences are causing
problems for the students and try to find remedial strategies best suited for
them. With careful preparation and integration, teaching correct pronunciation
can play a role in supporting the learners’ self esteem and overall
communicative power.
Bibliography:
1.
Armington, Susan. “Teaching
Pronunciation at the Microlevel: Using Keywords from Student Speech.” TESOL
Journal. Winter 1993/ 1994.
2.
Robinett, Betty Wallace &
Schachter, Jacquelyn. Second language Learning.
3.
Richard-Amato, Patricia A. Making It
Happen. Addison-Wesley Publishing Group. 1996.