An Analysis of Pronunciation Errors in Word-initial Onglides in English and a Suggestion of Teaching Method

어두에 나타나는 상향 이중모음의 오류분석 및 지도방안 연구

  • 최주영 (홍익대학교 영어교육과) ;
  • 박한상 (홍익대학교 영어교육과)
  • Published : 2007.05.18

Abstract

This study analyzes Korean high school students' pronunciation errors in word-initial onglides in English. For this study, 24 Korean high school students read 34 English words including glide-vowel sequences in word-initial positions and vowel-initial words in a frame sentence. The results showed 2 different error types: glide deletion and vowel distortion. After the analysis of the first recording, the subjects were taught how to pronounce glide-vowel sequences properly in a 60-minute class. Comparison of the analyses of the first and second recordings showed that the subjects improved on the pronunciation of glide-vowel sequences. After the training, the pronunciation errors of diphthongs unique to English, [$j_I$], decreased substantially. However, most subjects still had difficulties in pronouncing [$w{\mho}$], [wu], and [wo]. There was no significant correlation between English course grade and error reduction.

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