THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG

UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

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RESEARCH PROPOSAL
RELATIVE IMPACT OF PRONUNCIATION ERRORS IN
NON-NATIVE SPEECH ON LISTENERS’ PERCEPTUAL
JUDGMENTS

Student : Võ Thị Hoàng Yến

Class : 09CNA09
Supervisor: Nguyễn Khoa Diệu Hạnh, M.A

Danang, Jan, 2013

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Rationale

Pronunciation plays an important role in language instruction, and particularly

influences the degree of comprehensibility and accentedness in a second language (L2)
speech (Munro & Derwing, 1995). Two facets of pronunciation including segmentals and
suprasegmentals have been identified in the literature as having an influence on foreign
accent and comprehensibility in the speech of a non-native speaker (NNS). Segmental
features are minimal units of sound defined in phonetic terms (Crystal, 2003). For a long
time, segmentals have been the focus of many pronunciation programs because segmental
errors contribute greatly to a foreign accent and have the detrimental effects on second
language (L2) comprehension. Therefore, the segmental approach has long been
dominant in English as a second/ foreign language (ESL)/ (EFL) pronunciation programs.

However, over the last two decades, several researchers have found evidence that
suprasegmental errors affect foreign accent and L2 perceived comprehensibility more
seriously than segmental errors (Munro & Derwing, 1995). Suprasegmentals are defined
as “a vocal effect which extends over more than one sound segment in an utterance, such
as a pitch, stress or juncture pattern (Crystal, 2003, p. 446). Some studies investigated
different aspects of suprasegmental errors which affect L2 perceived comprehensibility
and foreign accent. These include general speaking habits such as volume, clarity, or
speech rate (Munro & Derwing, 1995), voice quality, several aspects of intonation,
lexical stress (Field, 2005), primary (nuclear) stress (Hahn, 2004).

1.2. Justification of the study

Although research in L2 pronunciation at the early stage tended to focus on the

acquisition of individual sounds, pronunciation teachers have emphasized
suprasegmentals rather than segmentals in promoting comprehensibility and accentedness
for the last two decades (Avery & Ehrlich, 1992). However, few empirical studies
support this belief in that little research has compared the direct contribution of segmental
and suprasegmental errors to listeners’ judgments. Consequently, most teachers can only

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make an intuitive decision on features that have the greatest effect on those two
constructs. Thus, one of the purposes of this study is to identify pronunciation features
affecting native listeners’ comprehension of nonnative speech in order to help teachers
know which features should be paid more attention in their pronunciation class.
Moreover, this study provides more empirical evidence to support claims about how
suprasegmentals affect the comprehension and foreign accent of nonnative speech.
Besides, suggestions for English as a second language/English as a foreign language
instructors for effective pronunciation teaching are also made.

2. Aims and Objectives of the study

2.1. Aims

This study aims to compare the direct contribution of segmental and

suprasegmental errors to native listeners’ judgments in terms of two constructs:
comprehensibility and foreign accent and to identify pedagogical clues in order to
improve pronunciation teaching.

2.2. Objectives

The study attempts to fulfil the following objectives:

 To identify what pronunciation errors native speakers of English use to evaluate

Vietnamese accented English in terms of comprehensibility

 To identify what pronunciation errors native speakers of English use to evaluate

Vietnamese accented English in terms of foreign accent

 To give implications on English pronunciation learning and teaching

3. Research questions

The present study tries to address the following research questions:

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1. To what extent do segmental and suprasegmental errors affect native English listeners'
judgments of comprehensibility in L2 speech?

2. To what extent do segmental and suprasegmental errors affect native English listeners'
judgments of foreign accent in L2 speech?

3. What implications can be recommended to English pronunciation learning and

teaching?

4. Scope of the study

The study will mainly investigate application of four specific phonetic parameters
(consonant, vowel, word stress, sentence stress) in non-native speech in perceptual
judgments by native speakers of English. Segmental errors examined in this study include
initial consonant substitutions (/p/, /ʃ/), final consonant cluster deletions (/st/, /ts/), and
mispronounced vowels (/i/ vs. /I/, /e/ vs. /ε/, /u/ vs. /Ʊ/; /ɔ/ vs. /ʌ/). Word-initial voiceless
sounds include /p, ʃ / as they are often mispronounced as a mixture of /b, s/ by
Vietnamese students. Suprasegmental errors investigated in this study included errors in
lexical (word) stress and primary (sentence) stress.

Listeners’ judgments are divided into two constructs: comprehensibility and

accentedness. Munro and Derwing (1995) defined comprehensibility as a listener’s
perception of how difficult it is to understand an utterance and accentedness as a
listener’s perception of how different a speaker’s accent is from that of the first language
community.

5. Organization of the study

There are five chapters included in the thesis.

Chapter 1 “Introduction” mentions rationale, justification, then scope of the study, aims
and objectives are presented. The final part is the research organization.

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Chapter 2 “Review of Literature and Theoretical Background” deals with previous
studies relevant to this study. Then theoretical background is discussed (including
theoretical background of segmentals and suprasegmentals, impact of the two parameters
on perceptual judgments of native listeners).

Chapter 3 “Methodology and Research Hypotheses and Data Analysis” concerns with
methodology, hypotheses and data analysis. In methodology, participants, instruments/
materials, procedures, scoring procedures are discussed respectively.

Chapter 4 “Findings and Discussion” presents the findings obtained from ratings and
interviews and then the discussion of research questions is represented.

Chapter 5 “Conclusion” gives the implication of the findings. Then, the research
limitation and recommendation for further study is provided.

6. A BRIEF REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE

6.1 Previous studies

Consonant and vowel errors. Brennan, Ryan, and Dawson (1975) indicated that
the frequency with which segmental substitutions were noted in short excerpts of speech
produced by NNS was highly correlated with NS judgments of accentedness.

Word stress. Field (2005) examined the relationship between lexical stress features
of nonnative speech and native speakers’ comprehensibility judgments. Groups of native
and non-native listeners were asked to transcribe recorded material in which the variables
of lexical stress and vowel quality were manipulated. Words were recorded in three
conditions: standard form, shift of stress with no change of weak vowel quality, and shift
of stress with change to full vowel quality. Both groups of listeners were found to
respond in remarkably similar ways to the problems posed by stress misallocation. The
researcher showed that when native English speech was manipulated to include incorrect

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lexical stress, the ability of both NS and NNS listeners to locate words in connected
speech was seriously affected.

Sentence stress. NNS from many linguistic backgrounds such as Chinese, Thai,
Japanese, Spanish, or Vietnamese have difficulty mastering stress patterns in English.
The problems are “misplacing primary stress (often stressing given information instead of
new) and stressing all words in an utterance more or less equally, without one prominent
stress” (Hahn, 2004, p. 204). Obviously, the failure affects comprehension abilities and
prevents NNS from successful communication.

However, the above studies did not focus on specific phonetic parameters used for
listeners’ judgment process. Therefore, the contribution of segmental and suprasegmental
errors to listeners’ judgments still remains unclear. This current study thus investigates
what phonetic parameters are used by native listeners in their judgments process of
accented speech.

6.2 Theoretical background

6.2.1. Theoretical background of segmentals

6.2.1.1. Segmentals

Segmentals is defined as “any discrete unit that can be identified, either physically
or auditorily, in the stream of speech.” (Crystal, 2003, p. 446)

6.2.1.2. Consonants

A consonant is a speech sound in which the air is at least partly blocked in any
way in the mouth or throat (Crystal, 2003).

6.2.1.3. Vowels

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 A vowel is a speech sound in which the air is not blocked in nay way in the mouth
or throat, and which is usually pronounced with vibration of the vocal cords (Crystal,
2003).

6.2.2. Theoretical background of suprasegmentals

6.2.2.1. Suprasegmentals

Suprasegmentals is a term used in phonetics and phonology to describe “a vocal

effect which extends over more than one sound segment in an utterance, such as pitch,
stress or juncture pattern” (Crystal, 2003, p. 446)

6.2.2.2. Stress

A) Word stress

Avery and Ehrlich (1992) indicated that all stressed syllables have one
characteristic in common, and that is prominence. Prominence is determined by four
main factors: pitch, length, loudness, and quality, but these factors are not equally
important. For example, in North American English, syllable length is regarded as the
most important marker stress.

B) Sentence stress

Sentence stress, also known as primary stress (Hahn, 2004), also has a crucial role
in successful communication. According to Avery and Ehrlich (1992), features of
primary stresses are higher pitch, increased vowel duration, increased intensity, and
vowel quality.

6.3 The impact of segmentals on listeners’ perceptual judgments

In a series of experiments involving different types of phonological errors, Avery

and Ehrlich (1978) found that mispronounced consonant errors were judged more

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seriously by natives than vowel errors, and mispronounced sounds in isolated words were
rated higher than in sentences and texts.

6.4 The impact of suprasegmentals on listeners’ perceptual judgments

Field (2005) showed that when native English speech was manipulated to include
incorrect lexical stress, the ability of both NS and NNS listeners to locate words in
connected speech was seriously affected.

Hahn (2004) undertook a study in which she had a highly proficient native speaker
of Korean read three identical mini-lectures in English, in which assignment of primary
stress had been manipulated. Three groups of undergraduate students were then asked to
listen to the lectures and both respond to comprehension questions and rate the quality of
the lecture. She reported that correct sentence-level by an ESL speaker, compared to
misplaced or omitted stress, led to improved listener comprehension and recall of content.
The students also judged the speaker who heard the lecture with the appropriate stress
assignment more favorably than did the other groups.

7. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

7.1 Research design

This is a quantitative and qualitative study. Data collected from ratings and
interviews will be analyzed.

7.2. Speech materials

The study will use an English conversation as the speech material (see Appendix
A).

Segmental errors examined in this study include initial consonant substitutions

(/p/, /ʃ/), final consonant cluster deletions (/st/, /ts/), and mispronounced vowels (/i/ vs. /I/,
/e/ vs. /ε/, /u/ vs. /Ʊ/; /ɔ/ vs. /ʌ/). Word-initial voiceless sounds include /p, ʃ / as they are

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often mispronounced as a mixture of /b, s/ by Vietnamese students. Vietnamese speakers
do not often substitute those sounds with others (Hwa-Froelich, et al., 2002). Targeted
word-final consonant clusters are /st, ts/. The vowel contrasts in focus are /i:/ vs. /i/, /e/
vs. /ɛ/, /u/ vs. /ʊ/; /ɔ/ vs. /ʌ/. Examples of suprasegmental errors are mis-placed syllables
in and mis-placed words in sentences; i.e., stressing function words instead of content
words.

7.3. Participants

Thirty native speakers of English participate as listeners. They include five

working as volunteer teachers at University of Danang – University of Foreign
Languages, 15 working at the Danang Union of Friendship Organizations, and 10
working at East Meets West Foundation. Besides, two fourth-year female students of
Vietnamese who major in English participate as speakers.

7.4. Instruments to collect data

7.4.1. Rating instruments

 The comprehensibility measure employs a 9-point bipolar scale adopting Munro

and Derwing’s (1995) instruments. The listeners are asked to listen to the
conversations and to assign perceived comprehensibility (1 = hard to understand;
9 = easy to understand) (see Appendix C). 

 The foreign accent measure employs a 9-point bipolar scale adopting Munro and
Derwing’s (1995) instruments. The listeners are asked to listen to the
conversations and to assign perceived accentedness (1 = has strong accent; 9 =
has no accent) (see Appendix D). 

7.4.2. Interview

After the listeners complete their ratings, they will take part in 5-10 minute
interviews answering questions such as “When you listen to accented speech, to what

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pronunciation errors do you react most sensitively (e.g., vowels, consonants, word stress,
sentence stress)? Why?” 

7.5. Procedures

The listeners are instructed to listen to the conversation for the ratings of
comprehensibility and accentedness.

After the listeners complete their ratings, they will take part in 5-10 minute
interviews answering questions such as “When you listen to accented speech, to what
pronunciation errors do you react most sensitively (e.g., vowels, consonants, word stress,
sentence stress)? Why?” 

7.6 Data analysis

SPSS (version 19.0) will be run to find out the answers to the research question.

7.7 Reliability and Validity

7.7.1. Reliability

Praat will be used to check the speech stimuli.

7.7.2. Validity

The stimuli materials, conversations including sentences with problematic sounds

expected for Vietnamese speakers of English, will be prepared after consulting (Hwa-
Froelich et al., 2002). The selected errors are further confirmed through personal contact
of the author with current Vietnamese teachers and students in Vietnam.

8. TIMELINE

January 15th, 2012 to January 30th, 2013: Write Introduction

Write Review of Literature

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January 30th, 2013 to February 28th, 2013: Write Theoretical Background

Prepare Instruments

Recruit participants, and then collect and

analyze data.

March 1st, 2013 to April 30th, 2013: Write Findings and Discussion

Complete Statement of Authorship

Complete Acknowledgement

Complete Abstract

9. PROPOSED OUTLINE

Statement of authorship

Acknowledgement

Abstract

Table of contents

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Rationale

1.2 Justification of the study

1.3 Aims and objectives

1.3.1 Aims

1.3.2 Objectives

1.4 Research questions

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1.5 Scope of the study

1.6 Research organization

Chapter 2 Review of literature and theoretical background

2.1. A review of previous related studies

2.2. Theoretical background

2.2.1. Segmentals

2.2.1.1. Consonants

2.2.1.2. Impact of consonants on listeners’ perceptual judgments

2.2.1.3. Vowels

2.2.1.4. Impact of vowels on listeners’ perceptual judgments

2.2.2. Suprasegmentals

2.2.2.1. Word stress

2.2.2.2. Impact of word stress on listeners’ perceptual judgments

2.2.2.3. Sentence stress

2.2.2.4. Impact of sentence stress on listeners’ perceptual judgments

Chapter 3 Research methodology

3.1. Methodology of the study

3.2. Research design

3.3. Sampling

3.4. Method of data collection

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3.5. Data analysis

3.6. Reliability and Validity

Chapter 4 Findings and Discussion

4.1. Findings

4.2. Discussion

4.3. Suggestions for further studies

Chapter 5 Conclusion and Implication

5.1. Conclusion

5.2. Implications of findings

5.3. Limitations

REFERENCES

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Avery, P., & Ehrlich, S. (1992). Teaching American English pronunciation. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Brennan, E., Ryan, E., & Dawson, W. (1975). Scaling of apparent accentedness by
magnitude estimation and sensory modality matching. Journal of Psycholinguistic
Research, 4, 27-36.
Crystal, D. (2003). A dictionary of linguistics & phonetics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.

Field, J. (2005). Intelligibility and the listener: The role of lexical stress. TESOL
Quarterly, 39(3), 399-423.
Hahn, L.D. (2004). Primary stress and intelligibility: Research to motivate the teaching of
suprasegmentals. TESOL Quarterly, 38(2), 201-223.
Hwa-Froelich, D., Hodson, B. W., & Edwards, H. T. (2002). Characteristics of Vietnamese
phonology. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 11(3), 264-73.
Munro, M. J., & Derwing, T. M. (1995). Foreign accent, comprehensibility and
intelligibility in the speech of second language learners. Language Learning, 45, 73-97.

Appendix A
Speech Material

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 A: Can I help you?
B: I hope so. I have a complaint. I bought a pullover in your shop. It was a beautiful
pullover, and very expensive.
A: What happened?
B: It was a present for a friend abroad. You said you could pack it, and post it for me. I
was very pleased
A: What’s the problem?
B: The parcel was damaged in the post. The paper came off. The pullover was spoilt.
A: Oh dear. I’m sorry the pullover was spoilt. But it happened in the post. So the Post
Office are responsible.
B: The Post Office said that the parcel wasn’t properly packed. You are responsible.
A: We are very experienced at packing parcels. Lots of people send our pullovers as
presents. We wrap up hundreds of pullovers. I’m sure our parcel was properly packed.
B: I’d like to speak to the department manager, please...

(Taken from O’Connor, J. D. & Fletcher, C. (1989). Sound English: A pronunciation practice
book. Longman, p. 47)

Appendix C
Measure of speaker comprehensibility

The utterance I just listened ...

was hard to understand___/___/___/___/___/___/___/___/___was easy to understand

Appendix D
Measure of speaker accentedness
The utterance I just listened ...

has a strong accent ___/___/___/___/___/___/___/___/___ has no accent

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