Discuss the causes of pronunciation problems faced by Malaysian non-native English

speakers and how can the problem be overcome. (1500 words).

In today’s globalized world, English is the lingua franca for most aspect of daily life.

According to records, it is estimated of 375 million L1 speakers, 375 million L2 speakers and

750 EFL speakers (Graddol, 1997). In Malaysia, English is often used as a second language

after Bahasa Malaysia or native mother tongues due to English being a compulsory subject

in school during British colonization. One of the problems faced by non-native English

speakers is limitation in pronunciation skills. Rajadurai (2006) stated that the limitation in

pronunciation skills may affect the intelligibility of the speech, causing glitches in

conservation and strains in the part of the listener. This can cause disadvantage or

discrimination for the speaker, especially in the workplace where one’s command of English

can be used as a criterion for grading job performance and promotion. The official Malaysian

English have slight variation in phonology compared to Received Pronunciation (RP) but it is

still internationally intelligible (Rajadurai, 2006). However, many non-native English speakers

tend to stray from Malaysian English towards colloquial, informal spoken form of Malaysian

English, making it sound accented and different from the Received Pronunciation. There are

several factors that can be identified as the cause for this problem.

One of the main factors is the influence of the native mother tongue in the

pronunciation of English words. First, when there is the absent of a sound in the native

language sound inventory or vice versa. Learners may not be able to produce or even

perceive the sound. Some phonemes found in English language are non-existent to the

native mother tongue of Malaysian non-native speakers. The unfamiliar phonemes are

approximated to the nearest similar sound found in the non-native speakers’ mother tongue.

For example, Malay Malaysia tends to approximated /f/ as /p/, while for the Chinese

Malaysian, /r/ as /l/ and Tamil Malaysian, /v/ as /w/. Second, the difference in rules of

combining sounds into words between the native language and target language. Hart (1969)

observed that Malay and southern Chinese dialects (such as Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka)

have the rule where long tense vowels occur in open syllables (/CV:/) only while short lax

vowels in closed syllables (/CVC/). Both this patterns also occurs in English and cause no

difficulty for the non-native speakers to pronounce it correctly. However, tense vowels can

also occur in closed syllables in English (/CV:C/), which are not found in the native language.

These leads to non-native speakers having difficulties in pronouncing such English words

(e.g. English word sheep sound like ship). Third, different pattern of stress and intonation in

the native language compared to the target language. Learners may apply these same

patterns from their native language into the target language, English. Stress has the function

to differentiate a certain English word that can be a noun, verb or adjectives. For example,

the word “permit” as a noun (/’pə:mɪt/ ) or a verb (/pə:’mɪt/ ). A non-native speaker can

mixed up the stress position of the word, pronouncing the incorrect word form without ever

noticing it. However, this can be easily notable by a native English speaker. This will lead to

confusion of what is said for the native English speaker while it sounds perfectly normal to

the non-native speaker, causing disruption in communication between non-native English

speaker and native English listener. Avery and Ehrlich (1992) gave an explanation on three

ways how the sound system of a native language can influence the learners’ pronunciation

of a target language, in this case English.

Another factor is the neglect in teaching proper pronunciation in schools. Most

Malaysian non-native English speakers started learning English language in school as part

of the compulsory education syllabus. Therefore, this is the best stage where Received

Pronunciation can be taught. However, there is a lack of emphasize on teaching and

learning pronunciation as teachers tend to emphasize on other English components that can

enhance examination grads. In a study by Jayapalan & Pillai (2011) on a school in the Klang

Valley, the teachers does not conduct pronunciation learning activities regularly and direct

most of their teaching and learning time to other activities and tasks that have more

importance in students’ English language examinations grades (e.g. writing, grammar and

literature). As pronunciation is not an important element for the examinations, it is often

neglected to less important slots. In the study, the most common activity for teaching

pronunciation is by reading aloud. In such activity, students are introduced to new words

from reading the prescribed texts and the teachers will grade and correct their students in

the correct way to pronounce the words. Other less carried out pronunciation learning

activities includes listening activities, language lab, choral speaking and role-playing.

Besides not having enough time to teach English pronunciation, some teachers avoid

teaching pronunciation because they have reservation in how to teach pronunciation

effectively. Nair et al (2006) reported from a discussion with 12 instructors from diverse

backgrounds in teaching English as Second Language (ESL) in Malaysia that the most of

the participants admitted to avoiding pronunciation activities as they did not know how to

teach pronunciation effectively. There is a general perception by the ELS instructors that if a

student was generally fair or good in English, then the student should have little or no

problem at all with pronunciation. In the case of students with weak command of English, the

teachers’ tend to focus more on other “important” aspects of English such as reading and

writing compared to pronunciation. The researchers indicated that such problem is not only

happen in Malaysia but also in countries where English is the native language.

To overcome the pronunciation problems faced by Malaysian non-native English

speakers, the role that English teachers play are paramount since they are the main guide

for most non-native speakers in learning English. Nair et al. (2006) outlines several

suggestions to improve teaching of pronunciation in schools such as improving the current

curriculum, focus on suprasegmentals, academic research and classroom experiment,

methods and material development, and proper teacher training. English teaching curriculum

should be designed with long term goals and objective that is realistic, able to equip students

with the speech abilities that have functional intelligibility and communicability, and enhance

self-confidence of the speaker. The curriculum should also include pronunciation as a key

element in the assessment for English language examination grades. Another of the

suggestions is to focus on the suprasegmental features of pronunciations. Teaching

students at the very basic level can help non-native speakers learn the difference between

the way their native language and English language pronounce words, allowing them to

improve their English intelligibility. As each class is different from another, teachers must

always experiment with various teaching methods and adapt, improvise and improve

previous methods to suit with the need of the class. Methods used to teach English

pronunciation should not only be simple for students to understand the lessons but also must

be realistic for daily uses and engaging to gain their attention to participate in the activity.

Teachers can experiment with different methods to access the effectiveness and

responsiveness of the students in learning pronunciation. Feedback from students are then

gathered and used to evaluate and improve further the techniques.

Fraser (2000) states that help should also be given for teachers to improve their level

of skills and confidence in dealing with pronunciation problems. The best way to improve the

skills of the non-native English speaker is to have a competent and knowledgeable teacher.

Existing teachers should be given professional development in pronunciation teaching (e.g.

short courses, training, workshops) while trainee teachers should receive such courses

during their training. As such training can be variable due to differing approach by different

pronunciation specialists, there need to be a more unified and concerted effort to discuss

and agree to a coordinated approach to pronunciation teaching. Other than developing the

capability of the teacher, high quality teaching materials should also be provided. Teachers

face the lack of quality materials and technologies in helping them to teach pronunciation

beyond existing textbooks and whiteboard. High quality and effective materials such as

computer-based materials with audio demonstrations and self-accessibility for students can

be used to facilitate and aid teachers in pronunciation lessons. Other materials such as

taped recordings of advertisements, news broadcasts, telephone conversations, poem

readings and English movies should also be used to expose students to the various aspects

of spoken English.

In conclusion, the pronunciation problems faced by Malaysian non-native English

speakers can be caused by influence of their native language and lack of proper teaching

and learning pronunciation during schools. Often overlooked by teachers and students alike,

pronunciation plays a vital role in helping non-native speakers in understanding and

communicates fluently in English. With adequate help to identify and correct the mistakes

that they made, non-native speakers would be able to master English pronunciation and

apply them to their daily life.

Reference List

Avery, P. and Ehrlich, S. (1992). Teaching American English Pronunciation: A Textbook and

Reference Manual on Teaching the Pronunciation of North American English, Written

Specifically for Teachers of English as a Second Language (ESL). England: Oxford

University Press.

Fraser, H. (2000). Coordinating improvements in pronunciation teaching for adult learners of

English as a second language. Canberra: DETYA (Australia National Training Authority

Adult Literacy Project) Retrieved from the webpage

http://www.personal.une.edu.au/~hfraser/docs/HF_ANTA_REPORT.pdf

Graddol, D. (1997). The Future of English ?: A Guide to Forecasting the Popularity of the

English Language in the 21st Century. UK: British Council

Hart, D.C. (1969). Some English Pronunciation Difficulties in Malaysia. ELT J (1969) XXIII

(3): 270-273 

Jayapalan, K. & Pillai, S. (2011). The state of teaching and learning English pronunciation in

Malaysia: A preliminary study. Malaysian Journal of ELT Research. Vol 7(2), 63-81.

Nair, R., Krishnasamy, R. and de Mello, G. (2006). Rethinking the teaching of pronunciation

in the ESL Classroom”. The English Teacher, XXXV, 27- 40.

Rajadurai, J. (2006). Pronunciation issues in non-native contexts: A Malaysian case study.

Malaysian Journal of ELT Research, 12, 42-59.