KITTI PONGSRI 583080488-0

NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ PROBLEMS IN WORD

PRONUNCIATION: A STUDY ON ENGLISH REGULAR PAST TENSE VERB
FORM AND REGULAR PAST PARTICULAR TENSE VERB FORM

ABSTRACT
This research is aimed to investigate the problems in word pronunciation of
English regular past tense verb form and regular past participle tense verb form for
most of the non-English major students. Thirty of non-English major Students at the
faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Khon Kaen University were selected by
convenience sampling method. The instruments are the quantitative data collection
which is the -ed ending verbs pronunciation test and the qualitative data collection
which has 2 open-ended questions. The data from the -ed ending verbs pronunciation
test were analyzed by using the tables and describing them. The data from the open-
ended questions were categorized into the main answers. The result from this research
will hopefully be useful for the foreign language teachers for teaching and the students
for improving the English speaking skill.

1. INTRODUCTION

Language is an important role in human life; usually through language human

beings express their own feelings, ideas, attitudes, actions and so on. It is the best man-
made means of communication by which people effectively communicate with each
other to assert all situations of human affairs (Hameed & Ahmed, 2015).
Speaking skill is necessary to learn English for communication, and the
important things to speak are voice, vocabulary, structure, and culture (Knogbungkla,
2007). Spoken form of a language is fundamental and should be taught early. Clear
pronunciation makes us confident when expressing ourselves (Zaigham, 2011).
Therefore, pronunciation is what learners have to care about because sound or voice is
a part of pronunciation (Harmer, 2001). One of the significant benefits of
pronunciation is to help students feel confident when speaking (Brown, 1974).
 With the advancement of Communicative Language Teaching in foreign
language teaching the significance of speaking has been emphasized in ELT where the
goal of teaching is defined as developing the communicative competence of learners
by acquiring the linguistic means to accomplish the language through several functions
(Tokoz-Goktepe, 2013). Coombe et al., (2007) said “As in daily life, speaking is an
important channel of communication in a general English program” which as
productive skill stands in some components such as knowledge, aptitude, confidence,
and appropriate context. Tokoz-Goktepe said that for as many EFL students and
teachers, speaking has been generally accepted as one of the most difficult skills to
perform. The target language is taught to benefit learners to accomplish a particular
purpose in daily life. The speaking ability of learners should be promoted within this
view of language. However, to accomplish this aim some fundamental elements of
speaking should be closely considered. By doing so, teachers enrich their students’
communicative competencies in the target language (Tokoz-Goktepe, 2013).
In Thailand, English is designated as a foreign language since kindergarten.
English is taught in all grades. Learners learn English for 12 years but nevertheless,
teaching and learning have not yet achieved their course goals. Thai curriculum in
English teaching did not allow learners to use the language of communication,
however, learners have the knowledges of English grammar and the principles of
language use. It is surprising that Thai students have studied English since they were
young, but most of them have low proficiency in English, especially, in pronunciation
skills. (Thai Academic Section 2003). Wei and Zhou (2002) stated that teaching
English pronunciation seems to be overlooked in some universities curriculum in
Thailand.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Classifications of English Sounds
When we speak, we regularly change the shape of the vocal tract, producing a
stream of speech. To describe speech we follow the perceptions of the hearer, we
adopt the convenient fiction that any stretch of speech is like a chain with individual
sounds, or segments, linked together. Each segment is not the same as any other
segment because it is articulated with the vocal tract in one particular configuration:
the lips are rounded or not, the tongue is low in the mouth or not, the vocal cords are
vibrating or not, and so on. We call these different elements articulatory features. Each
segment is a unique cluster of articulatory features (Kreidler, 2004: p.22).
Speech sounds are divided according to how the sounds are made and the
organs to produce the sounds. In terms of articulators and consonants can be described
by place of articulation, manner of articulation, and voicing.
2.2 Vowels
Vowels are sounds which are made without any kind of closure to the escape
of air through the mouth (Syafei, 1988: 11). English vowels are divided into two kinds
of vowels, long vowels and short vowels. Long vowels consist of /i:/, /∂:/, /a:/, /u:/,
/o:/, while short vowels consist of /ɪ/, /e/, /æ/, /∂/, /Λ/, /u/, /o/.
2.3 Pronunciation
Pronunciation plays important role in delivery speech. Hornby (1995: 928)
says that pronunciation is the way in which a language is spoken; the way in which a
word is pronounced; the way a person speaks the words of a language. Yates (2002: 1)
states pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that someone uses to make
meaning. Syafei (1988: 1) said that pronunciation is two folds process. It involves the
recognition of sound as well as the production of sounds. Practice and aural perception
should be given before the practice on oral production.
Based on the definition above, the researchers can conclude that pronunciation
is the way in which a language is spoken. It refers to the production of sounds that
someone uses to make something meaningful. It is two folds process; the recognition
of sound and practicing.
2.4 Problem of English Pronunciation in Thai ESL Students
Among the four skills of language (i.e., reading, writing, listening and
speaking), speaking skill seems to attract a lot of English learners attention. The
speaking skill is very important; especially, the accuracy of English pronunciation.
Most of Thai students have the serious English problem especially speaking skills and
this is similar to a research by Attapol KhamKhien (2010).
The learners have their own difficulties in learning the language. Particularly in
improving speaking skill is not easy for the students The Following are the problems
of speaking skill (Munjayanah, 2004)
 Inhibition
Unlike reading, writing or listening activities, speaking requires some
degree of real-time exposure to an audience. Learners are often inhibited about
trying to say thing foreign language in the classroom: worried about mistakes
or simply shy of the attention that their speech attracts.
Nothing to say
Even they are not inhibited, you often hear learners complain that they
cannot think of anything to say they have no motive to express themselves
beyond the guilty feeling that they should be speaking.
Low or uneven participation
Only one participant can talk at a time if he or she is heard; and in large
group this means the each one will have only very little talking time This
problem compounded of some learners to dominate, while other speaks very
little or not at all.
Mother tongue use
It is easier for the student to use their mother tongue in their class
because it looks naturally. Therefore, most of the students are not disciplined in
using the target looks language in the learning process.They also have problem
in pronunciation some sound are difficult for Thai ESL learners to pronounce
The English final consonant may be the most difficult part of the word for Thai
ESL learners to pronounce.That is because the final consonant sound which
never appears in Thai language. The mispronunciation of the sounds is result
from the influence of the first language. Thai speakers decide English
pronunciation based on the phonological pattern in the first languages.

In addition the teaching of English pronunciation among ESL learners

according to Khamkhien (2010:763), English teachers themselves should initially be
aware of the expertise expected of teachers. That is, they should possess knowledge of
instruction, knowledge of context, and expertise related to the subject matter, word
stress assignment because the teacher “pronunciation is the major input that the
learners are exposed to” and Kanoksilapatham (2014) found that Thai teachers have
difficulty identifying stressed syllables in English.
2.5 -ed Ending in The Regular Past Tense Verb Form and Regular Past Participle
Tense Verb Form.
Human language is characterized by a grammar of highly regular patterns that
apply in a rule-like fashion. One of the key issues in cognitive science has been to
understand the cognitive basis of these patterns. The theoretical debate has centered on
the distinction between traditional views of mental computation, which characterize
language as a mental grammar containing a set of symbolic rules (Pinker, 1991, 1997),
and a distributed systems approach that operates sub symbolically and eschews rules
in favor of statistics (Rumelhart & McClelland, 1986; Seidenberg, 1997).
The English past tense links both a rule-like pattern (e.g., kicked, bugged,
tested) and a set of irregular forms that disobey this rule (e.g., took, slept, went). Most
English past tenses are made by adding the suffix -ed to the verb stem. The pattern is a
predictable way to most English verbs.
Past participles are formed from verbs. The site which is www.grammar-
monster.com stated that past participles (just like present participles) can be used as
adjectives or used to form verb tenses, so the rules to pronounce the words with -ed
suffix are just like how to pronounce the regular past tense verb from.
2.6 Relevant Researches
Wei and Zhou (2002) study problems of English pronunciation among Thai
Students. It was found that Thai students had pronunciation problems with consonants
and vowels: words with /r/ pronounced as /l/, words with pronounced as /f/, words
with /z/ pronounced as /s/ and words with /ei/ pronounced as /e/. Stress and intonation
between yes-no questions and wh-questions were also found as being problems of
Thai students. The final consonant sounds are always unaspirated and unvoiced. The
researcher made conclusions about possible causes of the Thai students' pronunciation
problems of which the important one was some ESL teachers' Thai style of English
pronunciation in language class. A language teacher's pronunciation is a model for the
students who imitate teacher's' pronunciation, or the teacher will correct the student's
pronunciation. If the teacher's pronunciation is with a Thai accent, the students'
pronunciation will be the same Therefore, of one suggested solutions to solve English
pronunciation problems of Thai students is to provide pronunciation training courses
to the language teachers. The researcher also identified that Thai teachers of English
do not adequately practice Standard English pronunciation which leads to the lack of
confidence to be a role model. Therefore, the teachers cannot correct Students'
pronunciation or demonstrate them how-to produce the right sound.

Nur Ezzati Nabihah Binti Mohamad Ali(2013) studied the problems faced by
the Thai students in learning English in UniSZA. The subjects were 20 Thai students
from the Faculty of Islamic Contemporary. All subjects were asked to complete
questionnaires. The results showed that the most serious English problem reported by
the Thai students was the speaking skill.

Methodology
3.1 Database
This study is a quantitative research which is a formal, objective, systematic
process in which numerical data are used to obtain information about the world and
presented in numerical form, and analyzed through the use of statistics. To find out
directly information from the samples. The study will investigate the problems of non-
english major students’ speaking skill and this can be a guidance of forming a
questionnaire for others who are interested in similar studies.

3.2 Data Analysis

The data from the -ed ending verbs pronunciation test will be summarized by using the
average and the percentage. The data from open-ended questions will be summarized
into several main groups by using the percentage

4. RESULTS & DICUSSION

Table 1 The Scores of the -ed Ending Verbs Pronunciation Test.

Pronounced Pronounced N
-ed Ending Verbs
Correctly Incorrectly

slowed 2 28 30

liked 6 24 30

stopped 6 24 30
 opened 6 24 30

worked 7 23 30

decided 8 22 30

Pronounced Pronounced N
-ed Ending Verbs
Correctly Incorrectly

played 9 21 30

helped 9 21 30

waited 10 20 30

needed 10 20 30

called 15 15 30

started 15 15 30

Average 8.6 21.4 30

Table 1 presents the number of the samples who pronounced -ed ending verbs
correctly and incorrectly. According to the table, -ed ending verbs that we had chosen
to be the test consist of helped, waited, slowed, liked, played, stopped, worked, called,
started, opened, needed, and decided. There are 30 participants who did the test. The
word “slowed” is pronounced incorrectly by most of the students or 28 from 30
students. Interestingly, the word “called” and “started” have the same number of the
participants pronouncing them incorrectly. 15 students pronouncing “called” and
“started” wrongly is the lowest number of the samples who pronounced -ed ending
verbs incorrectly. On the other hand, those who pronounced “called” and “started”
rightly is the highest number of the samples who pronounced -ed ending verbs
correctly.

Table 2 The Reasons of the Answers for -ed Ending Verbs Pronunciation

Reason Number Percent (%)

Teaching problems 15 50.00

Having no knowledge of -ed ending verbs 10 33.33
pronunciation

The ignorance of pronunciation 5 16.67

Table 2 shows the reasons after analyzing all the answers from the open-ended
questions from part 2 of the -ed ending verbs test, and there are 3 main reasons. The
most influential reason for -ed ending pronunciation in the test is teaching problems
which is 50% of the main reasons. The second most influential reason for -ed ending
verbs pronunciation in the test is having no knowledge of -ed ending verbs
pronunciation which is 33.33% of the main reasons. The third most influential reason
for -ed ending verbs pronunciation in the test is the ignorance of -ed ending verbs
pronunciation which is 16.67% of the main reasons.

5.4 Conclusions
Based on the results of an analysis, it reveals that the non-English major
students in the faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences have faced the problems of a
pronunciation of the -ed ending sounds. It is clear from the findings that the students’
skill in pronouncing -ed ending is still poor.
The problems found by the most students pronouncing -ed ending incorrectly
may be caused by their lack of knowledge and the rules of pronouncing -ed ending
after a voiced, or voiceless consonant, and [t], or [d] for the final sound. It is also
possible that they may know the theories well, but they are not able to pronounce it
correctly.
Another problem is caused by English final cluster of consonants which do not
exist in Thai, so some students ignored or pronounced it without the sound [t], [d], [ɪd]
at the end and they tended to pronounce the end of the -ed ending sound followed by
their intuition and their native language. For example, the word “liked”, there were 16
students pronounced it with the sound [k] instead of the sound [t]. Some students
pronounced in their own way which is just like the pronunciation word to make it
easier to read in the Thai language. For example, the word “stopped” there were 16
students pronounced the sound [ped] instead of the sound [t] at the end of the sound.
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