The subject is a 10-year-old Malaysian Chinese student whose mother tongue is Mandarin. An analysis of the subject's reading identifies several pronunciation issues. The subject has difficulty with consonant clusters and differentiating long and short vowels. He also substitutes some sounds like /θ/ and /ð/ with similar alveolar stops. Interference from his mother tongue of Mandarin Chinese, exposure to multiple languages in Malaysia's educational system, and lack of English language experience likely contribute to his pronunciation problems. Both segmental features like consonants and vowels as well as suprasegmental features like stress, rhythm, and intonation are important to correct in order to communicate effectively in English.

1. 1.0 Background of the Subject
The subject that is chosen is Marcus. He is ten years old. He is a Year
Four pupil in an urban school. He is a Malaysian Chinese. His mother
tongue is Mandarin, thus his uses Mandarin in his daily conversation.
Meanwhile, English is his second language which means he is a L2.

2. 2.0 The Data (The Reading Passage); Orthographic and Phonemic
Transcription
2.1 The Reading Passage
It is bad to have food stuck between your teeth for long periods of time.
This is because food attracts germs, germs produce acid, and acid hurts your
teeth and gums. Flossing helps to remove the food that gets stuck between your
teeth. This explains why flossing helps to keep your mouth healthy, but some
doctors say that flossing can be also good for your heart.
2.2 Orthographic
| t z bæd tə həv fu d st k b twi n jə ti θ fə l ŋ p ər ədz əv ta m |ɪ ɪ ː ʌ ɪˈ ː ː ɒ ˈ ɪ ɪ ˈ ɪ
| ð s z b k z fu d ə trækts d mz | d mz prə dju s æs d | ənd æs d h ts jəɪ ɪ ɪˈ ɒ ː ˈ ʒɜː ʒɜː ˈ ː ˈ ɪ ˈ ɪ ɜː
ti θ ənd mz |ː ɡʌ
| fl s ŋ helps tə r mu v ðə fu d ðət ets st k b twi n jə ti θ |ɒ ɪ ɪˈ ː ː ˈɡ ʌ ɪˈ ː ː
| ð s k sple nz wa fl s ŋ helps tə ki p jə ma θ helθ | bət səm d ktəz se ðətɪ ɪ ˈ ɪ ɪ ɒ ɪ ː ʊ ˈ ɪ ˈ ɒ ˈ ɪ
fl s ŋ kən b lsə d fə jə h t |ɒ ɪ ɪ ˈɔː ʊ ɡʊ ɑː
2.3 Phonemic Transcription
| t s bed tu: hef f d st k b twi n j ti θ f l ŋ pi:r ədz f ta m |ɪ ɪ ʊ ʌ ɪ ː ɔː ː ɔː ɒ ɪ ɒ ɪ
| d s s b k s f d etrek ms | ms pr trek es d | en es d həts j ti θ ən ms |ɪ ɪ ɪ ɒ ʊ ɡʌ ɡʌ ɒ ɪ ɪ ɔː ː ɡʌ
| fl s ŋ help tu: r muf də f d dət et st k b twi n j ti θ |ɒ ɪ ɪ ʊ ɡ ʌ ɪ ː ɔː ː
| d s eksple n wa fl s ŋ help tu: k p j ma f helt | b t s m d ktə se dət fl s ŋɪ ɪ ɪ ɒ ɪ ɪ ɒ ʊ ɪ ʌ ʌ ɒ ɒ ɪ
kən b s d f j hət |ɪ ɒ ɒ ɡʊ ɒ ɔː

3. 3.0 Analysis And Discussion Of Pronunciation Features And Problem
Based on the recorded data and phonemic transcription, the subject’s
pronunciation difficulties are diagnosed and analysed. Firstly, the subject has
problem with consonant clusters. In pronouncing a word with initial or final
consonant cluster, the subject tends to eliminate the consonant cluster from the
word especially in the omission of grammatical endings such as third person
singular, plural form, past tense and contraction. For instance, the subject
pronounces /helps/ as /help/ and /gets/ as /get/. The subject eliminates third
person singular /s/ from the consonant clusters /lps/ in /helps/ and /ts/ in /gets/ as
he has difficulty in pronouncing consonant clusters.
Apart from that, the subject fails to differentiate between long and short
vowels. Based on the recorded data and phonemic transcription, the subject
makes errors in either shortening or lengthening the vowel sounds. Take an
example, the word “food” is pronounced as /f d/ instead of /fu:d/. Besides, theʊ
subject also make mistakes in pronouncing long vowel sounds / / and /i:/ intoɜː
short vowel sounds /ə/ and / /. For instance, the subject pronounces “hurts” inɪ
/həts/ and keep in /k p/. The subject confuses long and short vowel sounds.ɪ
The subject also substitutes target sounds with near equivalent sounds. As
shown in the recorded data and phonemic transcription, the subject replaces /θ/
and /ð/ with corresponding alveolar stops /t/ and /d/. It is evident when the subject
pronounces /ð s/ as /d s/, /ðə/ as /də/ and /ðət/ as /dət/. The subject fails toɪ ɪ
pronounce the voiced interdental fricative /ð/ and replaces it with /d/.
On top of that, the subject has problem in pronouncing certain diphthong.
The subject tends to reduce the diphthong into a monophthong. As revealed in
the recorded data, the subject uses the monophthong /e/ for the diphthong /e /.ɪ
For example, “say” is articulated as /se/ instead of /se / in the recorded data.ɪ
Identical diphthong sequence is one of the subject’s pronunciation
difficulties. When the subject faces words with identical diphthong sequence, he

4. tends to reduce the diphthong /iə/ to long vowel /i:/ in the first occurrence. As an
example, the subject articulates the word “periods” as / pi:r ədz/ instead ofˈ ɪ
/p ər ədz/. The subject pronounces the first / ə/ to /i:/.ɪ ɪ ɪ
Last but not least, the subject practises a syllable-timed rhythm instead of
a stress-timed rhythm. As shown in the recorded data and phonemic
transcription, the subject reads the passage without any word stress or stress
pattern in phrases and sentences. In other words, the subject articulates the
words only in their strong forms, and they sound very unnatural. For instance, the
subject pronounces the word “for” in its strong form /f / instead of its weak formɔː
/fə/. Another example is /bət/ instead of /b t/ for the word “but”.ʌ

5. 4.0 Explanation Of Possible Causes Of The Pronunciation Problem
After analysing the phonemic transcription based on the recorded data, it
is clearly shown that the subject has quite a few pronunciation problems.
Undeniably, there are several possible causes of the pronunciation problem
made by the subject. Those possible causes are mother tongue interference,
educational background and the lack of exposure or experience in learning
English.
First and foremost, mother tongue interference is an ordinary occurrence
among second language speakers (Swan, 2008). According to Senel (2006), it is
notable that interference from the first language is likely to lead to errors in
aspiration, intonation, rhythm as well as melody in the target language
(Khamkhien, 2010). Since the subject is a Malaysian Chinese who speaks
Mandarin in his daily life communication activity and English is not his first
language, it is normal for him to face some English pronunciation problems.
Generally, Chinese may face difficulty in pronouncing certain English
sounds which do not exist in Mandarin Chinese. For examples, English vowel /æ/
together with some English consonants such as /v/, /θ/, /ð/ and so forth do not
exist in Mandarin Chinese. Therefore, it is difficult for the subject who is a
Chinese to pronounce words which consist of /æ/ sound such as ‘bad’, ‘attracts’
and ‘acid’; words with /v/ sound like ‘have’ and ‘remove’; and also words which
comprise /ð/ sound such as ‘this’, ‘the’ and ‘that’. In this case, the subject tends to
substitute these unfamiliar sounds with the similar ones in his mother tongue by
pronouncing the word ‘bad’ as /bed/, ‘have’ as /hef/, ‘this’ as /d s/ and so forth asɪ
he cannot find the counterparts in Mandarin Chinese.
Besides, the subject also does not aware of the difference of long and
short vowels in English pronunciation. He keeps on pronouncing the words which
comprise long vowel sounds as short vowel sounds. As examples, the word ‘food’
is pronounced as /f d/, ‘hurts’ becomes /həts/ and ‘keep’ is read as /k p/. In fact,ʊ ɪ
this pronunciation problem is also due to the interference of his first language –
Mandarin Chinese. Based on Zhang and Yin (2009), there is no such distinction

6. in Mandarin Chinese and usually English-Chinese bilingual learners might regard
them as the same vowel.
Next, as Malaysia is a multilingual and multiethnic country, “Malaysian
children are usually bilingual or multilingual regardless of their ethnic groups” (Ivy,
2011). In Malaysia, almost all of the residents know more than one language due
to the educational system set up by the government. Hence, another possible
cause of the subject’s pronunciation problem is his educational background.
Under Malaysia educational system, in Chinese primary school, it is compulsory
for all to learn Malay Language, English Language and Chinese Language.
According to Phoon (2010), a mixed use of two or more languages on a daily
basis by the subject will contribute to interference in the phonological systems of
all languages (Ivy, 2011). The subject might be confused and do not know how to
distinguish the shared and unshared sounds in those languages. For instance, in
Malay Language, the consonant ‘g’ is pronounced as ‘geh’ and no other sound
can be used. While in English Language, the consonant ‘g’ is not always
pronounced as /g/. It can also be pronounced as /d / for sometimes. As example,ʒ
the word ‘germs’ in the reading passage is pronounced as /d mz/. However, itʒɜː
is hard for a multilingual learner to notice about this. He or she usually will mix up
all the sounds system in every language he or she has learned.
Last but not least, the lack of exposure or the experience in learning
English may affect the subject’s English pronunciation too. Based on Siriwisut
(1994) and Serttikul (2005), “language experience had an effect on pronunciation
ability” (Khamkhien, 2010). They also added that normally students have poor
pronunciation because they expose or experience less in learning English. In this
case, Beccary (2008) ever indicated that one’s surroundings may influence his or
her aptitude in production of the speech sound. As the subject is studying in a
Chinese school, it is not surprising that he exposes less to English language. He
does not expose to English except during the English lessons. In addition, the
repeal of PPSMI (Teaching and Learning Science and Mathematics in English)
brings great impact in this circumstance too. The students nowadays do not have
the opportunity to expose more to English. They do not learn Science and
Mathematics in English anymore. They can only experience in learning English
during English lessons in school or in English tuition classes. The subject does

7. not attend any English tuition class outside the school and expose less to
English; hence, he has many English pronunciation problems.
5.0 Discuss Why Segmental Or Suprasegmental Aspects Of Pronunciation
Are Important To Correct
Based on the pronunciation difficulties diagnosed through the subject’s
reading, there are a few segmental or suprasegmental features of pronunciation
are important to correct. Suprasegmental aspects of pronunciation include
intonation, stress, pitch, loudness, tempo and rhythm whereas segmental
features discuss about consonant sounds and vowel sounds. As English is a
stress-timed language, the time required saying an utterance in English depends
on the number of stressed syllables which comes under the suprasegmental
features. When there is more numbers of stressed syllables, the time required to
say an utterance is also more. In other words, the English pronunciation depend
more on suprasegmental features rather than segmental features. However, it is
still important to correct both these features.
First of all, the subject faces with rhythmic problem as he utters the
passage. He is not able to alter the phonemes to enhance phonetic effectiveness
as well as to ease the rhythmic flow from one word to another. For example, he
pronounces the word “to” in Line 1 as /tu/. This is the pronunciation of the word
“to” in isolation but not at phrasal level. It should be uttered as /tə/ at phrasal
level. It is important to change this problem of the subject because rhythm is
important for the suprasegmental features of English pronunciation. Listening
skills of the listeners and pronunciation of the speaker are interdependent. If the
speaker’s pronunciation is below a certain level, they are unable to communicate
efficiently and effectively with the others. Thus, if the speaker does not
understand the distribution of phonemes at phrasal level, there may be some
intense effect to the listeners in distinguishing the separation of one word from
another.
Besides, the subject also faces with stress-quality and stress-quantity
problem as he reads the passage. At sentence level, the most important words
are more likely to be stressed. However, the subject is not able to pronounce an
utterance using the appropriate weak or strong form of word as well as stressed

8. or unstressed words. For example, he utters the last sentence “Flossing helps to
remove the food that gets stuck between your teeth” as /fl s ŋ help tu: r muf dəɒ ɪ ɪ
f d dət et st k b twi n j ti θ/ instead of /fl s ŋ helps tə r mu v ðə fu d ðət etsʊ ɡ ʌ ɪ ː ɔː ː ɒ ɪ ɪˈ ː ː ˈɡ
st k b twi n jə ti θ/. The subject does not stress on the important words and itʌ ɪˈ ː ː
may lead to sentence ambiguity he is not able to convey the semantic meaning of
the sentence clearly. It is important to correct this problem because by assigning
right stress patterns at word and sentence level, the subject can attain a
satisfactory pronunciation of English. If the subject’s pronunciation is difficult for
the listeners to understand, he may be redundant to use English in his daily
conversation because there is a high possibility of being misunderstood or worse,
being teased.
Lastly, the subject also faces with intonation difficulties as heard in the
recorded data. Intonation is essential in signalling what the speaker means when
he utters. He reads the passage using a level tone. By using the level tone, it
signals boring and routine utterance of the subject. Level tone is usually used by
teachers during the teaching and learning process. The subject probably does
not pay attention to his intonation as he utters the passage or perhaps he is
influenced by the teacher’s level-tone utterances. It is important to correct
intonation problem because intonation is the essential element that aids
communication. It conveys both meaning and attitude. Incorrect or inappropriate
intonation can result in misunderstanding and misinterpretation. Listeners may
misinterpret the speaker as sounding rude or demanding.