Phonetics and Speech Sciences (말소리와 음성과학)

Korean Society of Speech Sciences (한국음성학회)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

The relationship between fluency levels and suprasegmentals according to the sentence types in the English read speech by Korean middle school English learners

한국 중학생의 영어 읽기 발화에서 문장유형에 따른 유창성 등급과 초분절 요소의 관계

  • 김화영 (고려대학교 세종교양교육원)
  • Received : 2022.08.15
  • Accepted : 2022.09.15
  • Published : 2022.09.30
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

This study aims to help Korean English learners to learn English pronunciation by revealing which suprasegmentals affect the implementation of English sentences closer to native English speakers when they read English sentences. To this end, Korean middle school English learners were selected as subjects and research data were gathered through sentence types (declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamative), as well as syllables. Speech rate, pause frequency, pause duration, F0 range, and rhythm among suprasegmentals were used for analysis of these English sentence utterances. Mean analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis were performed. The results showed that speech rate, pause frequency, pause duration, and F0 range affected the evaluation of fluency levels. In the regression analysis between all suprasegmentals and fluency levels, the suprasegmentals that most affected fluency levels were speech rate and F0 range. Rhythm had no meaningful relation with fluency levels. Therefore, when teaching English pronunciation, it is necessary to teach students to increase their speech rate and F0 range. In addition, students should be trained to reduce both the number and the duration of pauses during utterance to improve their fluency. It is noteworthy that of the four sentence types, exclamative sentences were produced with faster speech rate, fewer pauses, shorter pause duration, and higher rhythm values.

본 연구의 목적은 한국인 영어 학습자가 영어문장을 읽을 때 어떠한 초분절 요소가 영어 원어민 화자에 가깝게 구현되는데 영향을 미치는지를 밝혀 영어 발음교육에 도움이 되고자 하는 것이다. 본 연구에서는 연구대상자를 중학생 영어학습자로 선택하고, 다양한 유형의 문장(평서문, 의문문, 명령문, 감탄문)과 음절수로 연구 자료를 구성하였다. 이들 영어 문장 발화의 분석대상으로는 초분절 요소 중 발화속도, 휴지빈도, 휴지길이, F0 범위, 리듬을 이용하였고 음성분석 결과는 평균분석, 상관분석 및 회귀분석을 실시하였다. 그 결과, 발화속도, 휴지빈도, 휴지길이, F0 범위가 유창성 등급 평가에 영향을 미친다는 결과를 얻었다. 모든 초분절 요소와 유창성 등급 간의 회귀분석에서는 유창성 등급에 영향을 미치는 초분절 요소는 발화속도와 F0 범위이다. 리듬은 유창성 등급과의 관계에서 통계적으로 유의미하지 않았다. 따라서, 영어 발음교육을 할 때 발화속도를 높이고, F0 범위를 크게 하도록 교육하는 것이 필요하다. 또한, 발화시 휴지개수와 휴지시간을 줄이도록 하는 교육이 유창성을 높이는데 도움이 된다. 문장유형을 분류하여 분석한 결과, 감탄문의 경우 다른 문장유형에 비해 발화속도가 더 빠르고, 휴지빈도는 더 적고, 휴지길이는 더 짧으며, 리듬값은 더 높았다.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

이 논문의 심사를 맡아 귀중한 조언을 해 주신 심사위원분들과 논문 수정 과정에서 도움을 주신 서환주 교수님, 남주현 선생님께 감사드립니다.

References

  1. Abercrombie, D. (1965). Studies in phonetics and linguistics. London, UK: Oxford University Press.
  2. Anderson-Hsieh, J., & Venkatagiri, H. (1994). Syllable duration and pausing in the speech of Chinese ESL speakers. TESOL Quarterly, 28(4), 807-812. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587566
  3. Anderson-Hsieh, J., Johnson, R., & Koehler, K. (1992). The relationship between native speaker judgments of nonnative pronunciation and deviance in segmentais, prosody, and syllable structure. Language Learning, 42(4), 529-555. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1992.tb01043.x
  4. Boersma, P., & Weenink, D. (2020). Praat: Doing phonetics by computer (version 6.1.13) [Computer program]. Retrieved from http://www.praat.org/
  5. Bradlow, A. R., Torretta, G. M., & Pisoni, D. B. (1996). Intelligibility of normal speech I: Global and fine-grained acoustic-phonetic talker characteristics. Speech Communication, 20(3), 255-272. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-6393(96)00063-5
  6. Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D., & Goodwin, J. (1996). Teaching pronunciation: A reference for teachers of English to speakers of other languages. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  7. Cenoz, J. (2000). Pauses and hesitation phenomena in second language production. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 127(1), 53-69. https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.127-128.03cen
  8. Cha, M. Y. (2005). The effect of pauses and hesitation markers EFL listening comprehension. The Journal of Studies in Language, 21(2), 209-227.
  9. Chung, H. (2013). A study on the rhythm of Korean English learners' interlanguage talk. Phonetics and Speech Sciences, 5(3), 3-10. https://doi.org/10.13064/KSSS.2013.5.3.003
  10. Dalton, C., & Seidlhofer, B. (1994). Pronunciation. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
  11. Guion, S. G. (2005). Knowledge of English word stress patterns in early and late Korean-English bilinguals. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27, 503-533. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263105050230
  12. Guion, S. G., Flege, J. E., Liu, S. H., & Yeni-Komshian, G. H. (2000). Age of learning effects on the duration of sentences produced in a second language. Applied Psycholinguistics, 21(2), 205-228. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716400002034
  13. Ham, S., Lee, Y., Kim, H., Park, S., Park, J., Ahn, S., Eun, J. ... Reichmuth, H. L. (2019). Elementary school English 6. Seoul, Korea: Chunjae Education.
  14. Hedberg, N., & Sosa, J. M. (2001, August). The prosodic structure of topic and focus in spontaneous English dialogue. Proceedings of the 2001 LSA Summer Linguistic Institute. Santa Barbara, CA.
  15. Hedberg, N., Sosa, J. M., & Fadden, L. (2006, May). Tonal constituents and meanings of yes-no questions in American English. Proceeding of Speech Prosody 2006. Dresden, Germany.
  16. Hieke, A. E. (1985). A componential approach to oral fluency evaluation. The Modern Language Journal, 69(2), 135-142. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1985.tb01930.x
  17. Holmes, V. M. (1995). A crosslinguistic comparison of the production of utterances in discourse. Cognition, 54(2), 169-207. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(94)00635-X
  18. Hulstijn, J. H., Schoonen, R., de Jong, N. H., Steinel, M. P., & Florijn, A. (2012). Linguistic competences of learners of Dutch as a second language at the B1 and B2 levels of speaking proficiency of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Language Testing, 29(2), 203-221. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265532211419826
  19. Jang, T. Y. (2008). Rhythm metrics of spoken Korean. Language and Linguistics, 46, 169-186.
  20. Kang, S. H., & Rhee, S. C. (2011). A study on the suprasegmental parameters exerting an effect on the judgment of goodness or badness on Korean-spoken English. Phonetics and Speech Sciences, 3(2), 3-10.
  21. Kim, J. E. (2014). A study on the relation among English speech rate, pitch and stress by Korean speakers. Phonetics and Speech Sciences, 6(3), 101-108. https://doi.org/10.13064/KSSS.2014.6.3.101
  22. Kim, M. (2020). A study of rhythm improvements and relevant linguistic factors in the pronunciation of English learners. Studies in Foreign Language Education, 34(1), 237-261. https://doi.org/10.16933/SFLE.2020.34.1.237
  23. Kim, S. A. (2008). Rethinking the dichotomy between syllable-timed vs. stress-timed languages with particular reference to Korean L1 speakers' English. The Journal of Studies in Language, 24(3), 473-493. https://doi.org/10.18627/JSLG.24.3.200811.473
  24. Ladd, D. R. (1983). Phonological features of intonational peaks. Language, 59(4), 721-759. https://doi.org/10.2307/413371
  25. Ladefoged, P. (2001). A course in phonetics. New York, NY: Harcourt College Publishers.
  26. Lee, J. Y., Ahn, B. K., Oh, J. I., Pae, T. I., Kim, S. C., Park, S. K., Shin, S. J. (2020b). Middle School English 2. Seoul, Korea: Chunjae Education.
  27. Lee, J. Y., Ahn, B. K., Oh, J. I., Pae, T. I., Kim, S. C., Park, S. K., Shin, S. J. (2020a). Middle School English 1. Seoul, Korea: Chunjae Education.
  28. Lennon, P. (1990). Investigating fluency in EFL: A quantitative approach. Language Learning, 40(3), 387-417. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1990.tb00669.x
  29. Low, E. L., Grabe, E., & Nolan, F. (2000). Quantitative characterizations of speech rhythm: Syllable-timing in Singapore English. Language and Speech, 43(4), 377-401. https://doi.org/10.1177/00238309000430040301
  30. McNerney, M., & Mendelsohn, D. (1992). Suprasegmentals in the pronunciation class: Setting priorities. In P. Avery, & S. Ehrlich (Eds.), Teaching American English pronunciation (pp. 185-196). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
  31. Mennen, I. (1998). Second language acquisition of intonation: The case of peak alignment. Chicago Linguistic Society, 34, 327-341.
  32. Mennen, I. (2006). Phonetic and phonological influences in non-native intonation: An overview for language teachers. Queen Margaret University College Speech Science Center Working Paper, 9, 1-18.
  33. Min, D., & Chung, H. (2018). A study of effects of fluency in read speech on the accuracy of English front vowels. Studies in Foreign Language Education, 32(2), 153-180. https://doi.org/10.16933/SFLE.2018.32.2.153
  34. Morley, J. (1991). The pronunciation component in teaching English to speakers of other languages. TESOL Quarterly, 25(3), 481-520. https://doi.org/10.2307/3586981
  35. Park, D., & Rhee, S. C. (2019). A study on suprasegmentals in the rated Korean English learners' OPIc speech data. Lingua Humanitatis, 21(2), 333-351. https://doi.org/10.16945/2019212333
  36. Park, E. (2017). The study of speech rate and pause in rated L2 speech corpus of Korean learners of English (Master's thesis). Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
  37. Park, H., & Rhee, S. C. (2018). Suprasegmentals affecting oral reading fluency in Korean elementary students' English read speech. Modern English Education, 19(3), 48-56. https://doi.org/10.18095/meeso.2018.19.3.05
  38. Pennington, M. C. (1989). Teaching pronunciation from the top down. RELC Journal, 20(1), 20-38. https://doi.org/10.1177/003368828902000103
  39. Pickering, L. (2001). The Role of Tone Choice in Improving ITA Communication in the Classroom. Tesol Quarterly, 35(2), 233-255. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587647
  40. Pierrehumbert, J. B. (1980). The phonology and phonetics of English intonation (Doctoral disseration). Cambridge, MA: MIT.
  41. Pierrehumbert, J., & Hirschberg, J. (1990). The meaning of intonational contours in the interpretation of discourse. In P. R. Cohen, J. Morgan, & M. E. Pollack (Eds.), Intentions in communication (pp. 271-311). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  42. Pike, K. L. (1945). The intonation of American English. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
  43. Rhee, S. C. (2016, May). Construction of rated Korean L2 English speech corpus. Proceedings of the Korean Society of Speech Sciences 2016 Spring Conference (pp. 125-126). Gwangju, Korea.
  44. Rhee, S. C., & Chang, K. Y. (2003). A comparative study on the English intonation and sentential rhythm patterns in the various sentence types uttered by Korean and American elementary school students. Foreign Languages Education, 10(4), 65-85.
  45. Rhee, S. C., Cho, C. H., & Moon, S. (2003). Korean and native speakers' high-low range differences in F0 and its role in pronunciation assessment. Speech Sciences, 10(4), 93-103.
  46. Riazantseva, A. (2001). Second language proficiency and pausing. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 23(4), 497-526. https://doi.org/10.1017/S027226310100403X
  47. Segalowitz, N. (2010). Cognitive bases of second language fluency. New York, NY: Routledge.
  48. Tauroza, S., & Allison, D. (1990). Speech rates in British English. Applied Linguistics, 11(1), 90-105. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/11.1.90
  49. Tavakoli, P. (2011). Pausing patterns: Differences between L2 learners and native speakers. ELT Journal, 65(1), 71-79. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccq020
  50. Trofimovich, P., & Baker, W. (2006). Learning second language suprasegmentals: Effect of L2 experience on prosody and fluency characteristics of L2 speech. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 28(1),1-30.
  51. Wong, R. (1993). Pronunciation myths and facts. English Teaching Forum, 31(4), 45-46.