             2007

INTRODUCTION Difficulties in learning a foreign/second language range from SYNTAX, SEMANTICS, PRAGMATICS, to MORPHOLOGY and PHONOLOGY. The role of correct pronunciation in learning a language has been regarded vital (Celce-Muria, 1987; Morley, 1991; Pennington, 1989; Leather, 1983)

On the contrary, pronunciation teaching does NOT receive much attention by the practitioners due to its difficult-to-teach nature.

What to teach: segmental features VS suprasegmental properties

I agree with Arbor (1992) SPOKEN ENGLISH SPEECH PRODUCTIONSPEECH PERFORMANCE (A focus on specific elements of pronunciation)(A focus on general elements of oral communication) PRONUNCIATION: MICROFOCUSORAL COMUNCATION: MACRO FOCUS -clear, precise articulation of consonant and vowel sounds -overall clarity and precision of speech -consonant combinations both within and across word -general vocal effectiveness boundaries, elisions, assimilations, etc. -neutral vowel use, reductions, contractions, etc.-overall fluency and ongoing, planning and structuring of “speech” as it proceeds -syllable structure, phrase groups, and linking words-overall intelligibility across word boundaries-general command and control of grammar -features of stress, rhythm, and intonation -general command of appropriate vocabulary -features of rate, volume, and vocal qualities-expressiveness of nonverbal behaviors

Native-like pronunciation is impossible? Accurate pronunciation is SUBSTANTIALLY BEYOND the control of educators (Suter, 1976 and Suter & Purcell, 1980 cited in Otlowski, 1998:2) SO, let’s just ignore pronunciation. The Cinderella of Language Teaching (Dalton, 1997)

Problem sounds of English; /  /, /  /, /  /, /  /, /  /, and /  /. Non-existing sounds should of course be practiced. How about the importance of the learners’ native language? Turkish students have major problems with /  /, /  /, and /  /; /  /, /  /, and /  /; final /  / and /  / and /  / and /  /

Research Questions How intelligible and successful are Turkish learners in their production and discrimination of English /v/, judged and spoken by native and non- native speakers? Is there a significant success difference between native informants and Turkish students in discriminating /v/ and /w/ pairs, spoken by a native speaker? Is there a significant success difference between native informants and Turkish students in discriminating /v/ and /w/ pairs, spoken by Turkish speakers?

METHODOLOGY Subjects: 40 freshman English Language Teaching students with at least 6 years of background in learning English, and with similar levels of knowledge about English. Informants: 10 American speakers of English (NI).

Data Collection Instrument: 22 different lists of the same 20 minimal pairs of /v/ and /w/. List 1: the ones spoken by Turkish Student Speakers (TSS) to test 10 native informants and 20 other Turkish Student Listeners (TSL). List 2: spoken by a native speaker to test 10 native informants. List 3: spoken by a native speaker to test 20 TSLs.

IPA Transcriptions of Minimal Pairs vest—west /  -  / vet—wet /  -  / vary—wary/  -  / vine—wine /  -  / vent—went/  -  / veil—whale /  (  )  -  (  )  / vile—while /  (  )  -  (  )  / veal—wheel /  (  )  -  (  )  / verse—worse/  -  / vie—why/  -  / vein—wane/  -  / viper—wiper/  -  / vend—wend/  -  / visor—wiser/  -  / veered—weird/  -  / very—wherry/  -  / vale—wail/  (  )  -  (  )  / vim—whim/  -  / vow—wow/  -  / vair—wear /  -  /

Procedure 20 TSS10 NI 1 NS20 TSLs 1 NS10 NI 20 TSS20 TSLs

Data Analysis Descriptive statistics 80% (16 items) One sample t-test Independent t-test Data Set 1 Native Speaker Native ListenersTurkish Listeners Data Set 2 Turkish Speakers Native ListenersTurkish Listeners

FINDINGS/RESULTS Mean scores lower than 16 and Percentages lower than 80% mean that participants are either unintelligible as a speaker or unsuccessful as a listener NSNI19.8&98% NSTSL10.3&51.5% TSSNI5.73&28.65% TSSTSL12.29& 60.7% as listeners 11.55&60.82% as speakers

Significance of the Scores Table A NumberMeanStd. Dv.tdfp Native Speakers Turkish Students Table B NumberMeanStd. Dv.tdfp Native Speakers Turkish Students

CONCLUSION & DISCUSSION Turkish students; are not successful listeners (10.3) are not intelligible speakers (5.73) in terms of producing and perceiving the difference between /v/ and /w/. WHY?

English /v/ sound DOES NOT exist as a phoneme in Turkish language. English /v/ sound is a labiodental, fricative and voiced consonant while Turkish sound is a labiodental, voiced and Central Approximant sound, shown as /  / The same alphabetical symbol, letter v. The English sound is an allophone of /  / in Turkish language, and is used when /  / preceded by a voiceless stop or fricative sound [/  /--/  /]

Most of the teachers and almost all students of English in Turkey are unaware of the difference between /  / & /v/. “If the English sound is not clearly perceived, the brain of the learner converts it into the closest sound in their own language” Dalton (1997). That’s why we need language-sensitive pronunciation books and/or programs.