Facilitation and interference of native sounds in foreign language

The features of phonemic interference

Degree of palatalization

The loss of aspiration

The place of articulation

Shortening the duration of long vowels

The pronunciation of English /o, o: , u, u:/ with lip protrusion

The use of the wrong allophone of the

phoneme

The Impact of Mother Tongue Interference

and Facilitation to Students’ Pronunciation

There are four criteria of mother tongue interference impact made by the students, namely:

Consonant Errors: In this case, students make pronunciation error in consonants: /tʃ/, /ʒ/, /dʒ/, /b/, /k/ / ŋ/, /m/,

/v/ and /ð/. For example, cabbage = /kæbidʒ/ some students pronounced /kᴧbəd/, ka:bed/, /kæbedʒ/, /kæbed/.

Another word like church = /tʃᴈ: tʃ/, they pronounced /kᴈ:rt/, /tʃu: tʃ/, /keʊrt/, /kurt/. It is caused in their first

language there is no consonant /tʃ/ and the vowel is interfered by their vowel in first language. In word prestige

= /pre’sti:ʒ/, they pronounced /prestig/, /prestik/, /perestig/, /prestiʒ/. When student pronounce judge = /dʒᴧdʒ/,

they make it to be /dʒudʒ/, /dʒuk/, /dʒeh/, /dʒun/. They don`t change the vowel of the word because in their first

language to pronounce/u/ is /u/ too. It also happened in the word cover = /kᴧvə(r)/, it was /kəʊə(r)/, /kᴧfer/, /tʃɒvər/,

/kɒver/. Moreover, not only unchanging vowel they use /v/ like /f/, but they also make no difference between

consonant /v/ and /f/. In word carrot = /‘karət/ some students make it to be /keret/, kerət/, /kᴧret/, /kᴧrɔ:t/.

In the word larger = /la:dʒə/, there are students who spell /la:rge/, /le dʒər/, /leiger/, /la:rd/. The word coming =

/kᴧmɪŋg/ students speak /kɔ:miŋg/ and plum = /plᴧm/ became /plʊm/, bathe = /beið/, became /bᴧðə/, /betə/,

maze = /meiz/ change to /mes/, /mez/ /mes/.

Vowel Errrors: For vowel sounds, students also make mistake but it is not as many as in consonants sounds.

They make error pronunciation in sounds /u/, /i:/, /æ/, /u:/, /ᴈ:/, /eɪ/, /ai/, /əʊ/, /ɪə/, /eə/, /ʊə/,

/ᴧ/, /ɑ:/ and Proc /e/. Vowel /u/ in usual = /ju:ʒuəl/ which pronounce /usəl/, /unsuəl/, /əseil/, /usuəl/,

/əsuəl/. The mistake in word cheese = /tʃi:z/ which pronounce /tʃes/, /keʃ/. The word antique = /an’tik/

which pronounce /æntikui/, /æntikiu/, /etik/. The word Food = /fu:d/ they changed to be /fo:d/. The

word shirt = /ʃᴈ:t/ students pronounce /sᴈ:t/, /sirt/, /set/. The word say =/ seɪ/ which was /sai/. When they

pronounce buy = /bai/, it became /bui/, /bei/. The word although = /ɔ:lðəʊ/ to be /ɔ:lðɔ:/, /ɔ:ltɒk/.

The same mistake for the word beer = /bɪə(r)/ become /ber/, /beər/, /bᴈ:(r)/. For word hair = /heə(r)/,

the mistake are /her/, /hᴈ:r/. Word far = /fɑ:/ some students say /fᴧ(r)/, /fa:r/, pull = /pʊl/ they

pronounce /pᴧl/. It also happen to the other word, students feel confused how to pronounce

these words because sometimes the alphabet u would be said /ᴧ/, e to be /i:, /ai/ became /eə/.

However, to understand what they should pronounce is important but sometimes they feel confused

what sounds must they use in the word because their first language does not have vowel sounds as

many as English.

There are three principles to use to correct students’ errors: (i) use techniques (and practice) to improve students’ accuracy, (ii)affective factors of the students’ needs to be taken into account, and (iii) the manner of correction should not be face-threatening to the learners. Several solutions are presented here to overcome and prevent the students from applying L1 interference in their speech. First, teachers may apply the Audio-lingual Method that emphasizes correct pronunciation of the TL words. In applying the Audio-lingual method, they can effectively teach the most accurate sounds for English.Second, the Phonetic Method is another appropriate method that focuses on detailed pronunciation of every sound. Unlike others, this method suggests that teachers employ phonetic transcription as their writing system.It is also recommended that the learners use narrow phonetic transcriptions to avoid errors in pronunciation. Another expert Stevick proposes mastering segmental features through pronunciation drills. In this way, the learners will notice the distinction between L1 learners and the pronunciation of native speakers. Lastly,it is suggested that professional educators use the Phonic-based Approach, which is also employed by native speakers, to teach pronunciation to beginners to pronounce the sounds correctly since English has no precise correspondence between its spellings and its sounds.

The Solutions to Avoid Interference and Facilitation

Thank you for your attention!