The subject that we have picked is a male.

The task requires the subject to

read aloud a particular passage and his reading is recorded using a mobile phone.
His oral reading which occurs to be the data is being transcribed and identification of
pronunciation problem is studied. The discussion of the factors affecting his
pronunciation is being analyzed.
It appears that the subject comes from the east coast of Malaysia. He is in the
early 20s. He reads Islamic Education at a College of Education. Studying his
background, the fact is he is from a religiously educated family. Malay language has
been the tool of communication at home with a very thick accent of Kelantan.
Based on his reading, it could be interpreted that he succumbs many problems
in his pronunciation of English. The most prominent problem is on the orthographic
consonant /s/. To be sure, the consonant /s/ in the words, as, was and yards is
pronounced as /s/ when it should be pronounced as /z/. This proves that the subject
is transferring the fixed pronunciation of consonant /s/ in the first language as /s/ to
the second language (Spolsky, 1999).
The other problem in his pronunciation is the incorrect pronunciation of
vowel /i:/. The words like early, gradually, and shaping are being pronounced
wrongly. The vowel /i:/ in these words should be enunciated longer than vowel /i/.
This difficulty reflects the result of the absence of long vowels in the first language of
the speaker, Malay Language (Wan Aslynn Salwani, 2007).
The subject happens to have problem with the vowel / / too. In due course,
the vowel // in the words avenue and rapped is pronounced as /e/ only. This
problem occurs because of the absence of such diphthong in the first language which
affects the speakers speech when he encounters such words (Spolsky, 1999).
The next problem that subject faces is the difficulty in pronouncing
consonant //. The consonant // in the words the and them is pronounced as /t/
only. It is understood that the sound of // could be referred to the spelling of th. The
error provide us the fact that this phoneme exists in the English language, however it
is not available in Malay Language (Wan Aslynn Salwani, 2007).
Also, the subject suffers a difficulty to pronounce final consonant /t/. To the end
of pronouncing the word, went, the consonant /t/ tends to be silenced and

disappeared. The speaker is confused whether to pronounce the consonant /t/ or not
(Roach, 2000).
In addition, the subject finds a problem to pronounce diphthong / /. Word like
moment, and that contain // sound are pronounced as / :/. As a matter of fact, this
problem shows the fact that the pronunciation of these words has been deeply
entrenched in the English Language spoken by Malaysian (Wan Aslynn Salwani,
2007).
To add up, pronouncing consonant /r/ is being believed to be another problem
to the subject. Consonant /r/ in these words and that are morning and yards is
silent as they are not pronounced when the full word is uttered (Yule, 2006).
In retrospect, certain words especially words consisted of two syllables such
as chicken, behind and approach, and even three syllables such as avenue, require
primary stress at one of the syllables, usually the final syllable (Roach, 2000). The
uncertainty of syllable can be clearly traced as the first language, Malay Language
does not emphasize stress, but the second language, English Language prioritizes
stress in a speech (Wan Aslynn Salwani, 2007).
Upon further reflection, there are many factors that contribute to the difficulty of
the subject to pronounce English words. The first factor is exposure. When the factor
of exposure is being discussed, it is very much about the exposure that the subject
gets to the target language. It may come in the form of the daily interaction as well as
formal classes of language learning. One acquires language primarily from the input
one receives and one must receives large amount of comprehensible input before
one is required to speak the language (Brown, 2001).
The subject gets little meaningful exposure to the target language. This
discrepancy inhibits his English pronunciation acquisition. Learning a new language
and speaking it is especially difficult for foreign language learners because effective
oral communication requires the ability to use the language appropriately in a variety
of interactions.
Another factor is age. The fact is one needs to begin learning a language
before age 7 in order to develop native-like pronunciation (Yule, 2006). Adults will find
pronunciation more difficult to copy than children do. There is a biological period of

acquiring a language which ends at the age of 12. After that period, it becomes
extremely difficult to attain the complete mastery of a second language especially
pronunciation. The subject does not utilize the formal English classes he had
received during school years to fully develop his English language competency.
The use of target language can affect ones pronunciation skill development.
Those who are outgoing and confident and get involved with native speakers are
reliable to practice second language (Spolsky, 1999). On the other hand, the subject
feels uncomfortable when speaking English. Sometimes, he feels stupid pronouncing
weird sounds. These unavoidable perceptions make him futile and impossible to
have native-like pronunciation.
The next factor is attitude. According to Schumann (1986), acculturation refers
to the learners openness to a target culture as well as a desire to be socially
integrated in the target culture. Meaning to say, one will fully acquire the language to
an extent they acculturate. The willingness of one to acculturate is showing ones
attitude towards learning and appreciating a language. The degree of acculturation
shows the social and psychological contact between members of a particular group
and members of the target group. The more opportunities will result for the group to
acquire and use English. On the contrary, the subject is less interacting with the
native speakers thus resulting in obstruction of correct English pronunciation.
The subjects motivation also affects his English pronunciation. His motivation
for learning the language and the cultural group that he is in and he spends time with
determine whether the subject will develop native-like pronunciation (Brown, 2001).
Having a personal or professional goal for learning English could influence the need
and desire for correct English pronunciation. This skill is important for selfdevelopment. However, the subject learns English as to pass examination all this
while, not to develop competent language skills.
Learning a foreign language could be an interesting activity. Yet, teaching a
foreign language could be cumbersome most of the time. Foreign language
instruction generally focuses on four main areas of development and that of listening,
speaking, reading, and writing (Brown, 2001). Its curricula mostly emphasizes
pronunciation in the first year of study as it introduces the target languages alphabet
and sound system, but rarely continues this focus past the introductory level

(Spolsky, 1999). Lack of emphasis on pronunciation development may be due to the

incompetency of teachers to get their tongue right. They deem pronunciation of a
second language is not very important as what is taken into account is ones writing.
Pronunciation is typically viewed as a component of linguistic rather than
conversational fluency. Teachers tend to view pronunciation as the least useful skill of
language skills. Therefore, they sacrifice teaching pronunciation in order to spend
valuable class time on other areas of language. Less focus of teaching correct
English pronunciation to the subject back in school days causes him to have poor
pronunciation skill.
Without doubt, second language speaker speech is affected by a native
language of a speaker to become the most prominent factor affecting the subject
pronunciation skill. Native language effect has brought an impactful impact on second
language enunciation. The articulation of certain words is deeply influenced by the
pronunciation of the first language. People simply presume that the second language
works similarly like the native language. This myth however is not true. Brown (2001)
asserts that while the native system will exercise both facilitating and interfering
effects on the production and comprehension of the new language, the interfering
effects are likely to be the most salient.
To conclude, the fact is incorrect pronunciation of certain words may hinder the
effective relay of the literal message as the meaning derived by the received may
differ. Malaysian English poses many weaknesses and there are many factors that
contribute to this pronunciation problem. Proper focus of teaching pronunciation from
early childhood may curb pronunciation problem from getting severe.

References
Brown, H. Douglas. (2001). Teaching by principles:
An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. New York: Addison Wesley
Longman, Inc.
Roach, P. (2000). English Phonetics and Phonology:
A practical course. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Yule, G. (2006). The Study of Language.
New York: Cambridge University Press.
Schumann, J.H. (1986). Research on the acculturation model for
second language acquisition. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural
Development, 7, 5.
Spolsky, B. (1999). Second-language learning. In J. Fishman (Ed.),
Handbook of language and ethnic identity (pp. 181-192). Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Wan Aslynn Salwani Wan Ahmad. (2007). Vowel length discrimination among
Malay speakers of Malaysian English: An instrumental study. M. A. Thesis.
Newcastle University, New South Wales.