Phonological Analysis of the Sound Production of the Voiced and Voiceless Inter-Dental Fricatives of the Grade 11 Students of TVTS Pata Annex
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21700156Keywords:
Inter-Dental Fricatives, Phonological Analysis, Sound Production, Voiced and Voiceless SoundsAbstract
With the hope to shed light on the complex interactions involving the proficiency in English
pronunciation among speakers of Iloco and the hope to offer possible help in finding explanations
and solutions, this study aimed to analyze the sound production of the soft ‘th’ [Ɵ] and hard ‘th’ [ð]
of the Grade 11 students of Tuao Vocational and Technical School (TVTS) Pata Annex Tuao,
Cagayan during the 2ND quarter of AY 2023-2024. Using the questionnaires by Domingo (2022)
with modifications and a pronunciation test tool adapted from “Effective Speech Communication”
by Flores, C. & Lopez, E. (2008), results revealed that majority of the respondents speak Iloco as
home language; that their exposure in the use of the English language is low at home and with
their friends and moderate both in school and with their use of media; that they find difficulty in
pronouncing the soft ‘th’ sound for both segmental and suprasegmental located in the initial
position of words while that of the hard ‘th’ sound also for both segmental and suprasegmental in
the final position; that the primary factor their difficulty in pronouncing soft "th" and hard "th"
sounds is their lack of phonological awareness; that the significant difference between the level of
accuracy in the production of the ‘th’ sounds for both isolated sense (segmental) and in group
sense (segmental) is only found in their production of hard ‘th, [ð] sounds only when sounded in
the initial and medial positions; that there is a significant difference between their level of
accuracy in pronouncing the soft ‘th’[Ɵ] and hard ‘th’[ð] sounds found in isolated sense (segmental)
and in group sense (suprasegmental) in all positions; and that only the level of accuracy in
producing the soft ‘th’ [Ɵ] sound in all locations for the suprasegmental words has a significant
relationship with the home language of the respondents while there is none with their exposure
of using the English language at home, with friends, in school and with the media. The results
highlight the urgent need for focused interventions aimed at improving phonological awareness
and ensuring precise pronunciation of English sounds, especially soft and hard ‘th’ sounds and
customized to meet the unique linguistic requirements of Iloco-speaking learners incorporating a
variety of teaching methods to enhance effective linguistic proficiency such as the creation of
worksheets designed to strengthen the teaching and learning of soft ‘th’ [Ɵ] and hard ‘th’ [ð]
sounds.
References
Antaris, I., & Omolu, F. A. (2019). Factors affecting pronunciation difficulties of 8th grade students of MTsN Palu Barat. Journal of Foreign Language and Educational Research, 2(2), 10–17. https://doi.org/10.31934/jofler.v2i2.1349
Agung et al. (2021). Common Problems of Learners of English. 1–10. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/3505788555
ASC English. (2020, December 23). The benefits of improving your pronunciation when learning English as a second language. https://www.ascenglish.com/blog/2020/12/the-benefits-of-improving-your-pronunciation-when-learning-english-as-a-second-language
Aydın, S., & Akyüz, S. (2017). An investigation of pronunciation teaching in English language classrooms. Journal of Education and Practice, 8(8), 1–8. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED581298.pdf
Bostock, J. (2024). Importance of reading: Why reading is such an important English language skill. Preply. https://www.preply.com/en/blog/the-importance-of-reading-english-more-often-and-more-widely/
Cabulong, V. A., & Silor, A. C. (2016). Phonological problems among indigenous students in oral communication skills using English language. Journal of Education, Khon Kaen University, 39(4), 13–20. https://doi.org/10.14456/edkkuj.2016.4
Domingo, P. C. (2020). English language exposure of students in Visayas State University. NOBEL: Journal of Literature and Language Teaching, 11(2), 178–187. https://doi.org/10.15642/NOBEL.2020.11.2.178-187
Flores, C. C., & Lopez, E. G. (2008). Effective speech communication (5th ed., pp. 110–113). National Book Store.
Firdaus, S. F., Indrayani, L. M., & Soemantri, Y. S. (2020). The production of interdental fricatives by English as a foreign language students in English course Bandung. Linguistics and English Language Teaching Journal, 8(1), 3–8. https://www.academia.edu/download/111671584/1687.pdf
Guntari, A. K. (2013). Sundanese students’ production of English dental fricative consonant sounds. Lexicon, 2(1), 75–84. https://doi.org/10.22146/lexicon.v2i1.5321
Grace, U. (2019, May 8). Pronunciation problems of students in the Philippines. https://www.teflcourse.net/blog/pronunciation-problems-of-students-in-the-philippines
Karakas, A., & Sönmez, E. (2011, May 5–7). The teaching of [θ] and [ð] sounds in English [Paper presentation]. 1st International Conference on Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272885316_The_Teaching_of_th_and_d_Sounds_in_English
Khan, T. A. (2019). A descriptive study: Factors affecting the pronunciation of English language (L2). Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends, 1(2), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.32350/jcct.12.01
Latorza, W. C., & Ambayon, C. M. (2020). Explicit phonetics instruction and pronunciation skills of Grade 10 high school students. Journal of Critical Studies in Language and Literature, 1(4), 1–2. https://doi.org/10.46809/jcsll.v1i4.42
Lee, F. (2018). Improving students’ pronunciation of interdental fricative sounds (voiced [ð] and unvoiced [θ]). Academia.edu. https://www.academia.edu/39309025/
Levis, J. M., & Munro, M. (2012). Phonetics and phonology: Overview. In M. J. O’Brien, J. M. Levis, & S. Derwing (Eds.), The handbook of English pronunciation (pp. 1–18). Wiley-Blackwell. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314941907_Phonetics_and_Phonology_Overview
Marlow, M. L. (2011). Theorizing language attitudes: Existing frameworks, an integrative model, and new directions. ResearchGate Publishing. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307812281_Theorizing_Language_Attitudes_Existing_Frameworks_an_Integrative_Model_and_New_Directions_1
Magno, C., et al. (2009). Assessing the level of English language exposure of Taiwanese college students in Taiwan and the Philippines. Asian EFL Journal, 11(1), 63–75. https://ir.csu.edu.tw/dspace/bitstream/987654321/1945/1/AEJ_March_2009_master.pdf
Saavedra, J. (2022). Pronunciation of English words with /th/ sounds among senior high school learners. Proceedings of the 36th Pacific Asia Conference on Language, Information and Computation, 637–646. https://aclanthology.org/2022.paclic-1.70/
Soriano, E. A., & Garcia, J. D. (2021). English language exposure: Its effectiveness in helping students understand their English lessons. Luz y Saber, 15(1), 1–14. https://research-manila.letran.edu.ph/read/188
Scarcella, R. C., & Oxford, R. L. (1994). Second language pronunciation: State of the art in instruction. System, 22(2), 221–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/0346-251X(94)90058-2
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Jay Mark S. Julaquit, Diana D. Tomas, Divine D. Palanggoy, Rica B. Tuppil, Rosalinda Lucas, Clifford T. Padilla
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All articles published by the Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
