Arabic-L:PEDA:NEW BOOK: Sudanese learners of English

[Dilworth Parkinson]

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arabic-L: Wed 28 Dec 2011
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
[To post messages to the list, send them to arabic-l at byu.edu]
[To unsubscribe, send message from same address you subscribed from to
listserv at byu.edu with first line reading:
            unsubscribe arabic-l                                      ]

-------------------------Directory------------------------------------

1) Subject: Sudanese learners of English

-------------------------Messages-----------------------------------
1)
Date: 28 Dec 2011
From: reposed from LINGUIST
Subject: Sudanese learners of English


Title: Speech intelligibility problems of Sudanese learners of English,
An experimental approach 
Series Title: LOT Dissertation Series  

Publication Year: 2011 
Publisher: Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke - LOT
	   http://www.lotpublications.nl/
	
Author: Ezzeldin M. Tajeldin Ali

Paperback: ISBN:  9789460930577 Pages:  Price: ----  


Abstract:

This is a study on the pronunciation and perception of English sounds and 
words by university students of English in Sudan, whose native language is 
Sudanese Arabic. The study aims to establish the intelligibility of Sudanese-
Arabic (SA) accented English for native English (British and American) 
listeners and Dutch listeners who use English as a lingua franca. The 
intelligibility of SA-accented English is compared with that of native English.

The study also investigates how well the SA students of English identify 
English sounds and recognize English words in simple sentences spoken by 
a native English speaker. The perception tests show that the intelligibility of 
SA-accented English is predominantly compromised by incorrect 
pronunciation of the English vowels. This finding was predicted from a 
contrastive analysis of the Arabic and English sound inventories.The SA 
students of English produced the vowels, consonants and consonant clusters 
of English in controlled materials. Acoustic analyses were carried out in order 
to establish the differences in pronunciation between SA-accented and native 
British pronunciation. The comparison revealed substantial discrepancies 
between the native and non-native varieties, which can be used to explain the 
degraded intelligibility of SA-accented English.

Written questionnaires were administered in which both SA students of 
English and their instructors were asked to identify strengths and 
weaknesses in the students' production and perception of English sounds 
and words, and to speculate on the underlying causes of the difficulties. The 
results show that the SA students as well as their instructors have clear 
intuitions on where the weaknesses are, and that these intuitions correspond 
closely to the findings of the perception experiments and the acoustic 
analyses.

This book is of relevance to (applied) linguists and language teachers in 
general and to specialists on the teaching of English pronunciation and 
listening skills to university students with an Arabic native language 
background. 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Arabic-L:  
28 Dec 2011


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/arabic-l/attachments/20111228/ba6cf6ae/attachment.htm>