This document summarizes a research project on improving English pronunciation among South Korean middle school students. The project tested whether increased phonological input or input combined with self-assessment improved pronunciation of /R/ and /L/ sounds. Students received extra practice distinguishing "lot" and "rot" sounds. Results found increased input helped, but self-assessment did not and may have hindered improvement. The researcher concludes more study is needed on effective pronunciation teaching methods for South Korean students.

1. Research Presentation
Phonological Awareness and Self-Assessment of English Pronunciation
and Its Effects on South Korean EFL Middle School Students
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Technology
MidAmerica Nazarene University
June 2007
By
Brian Joseph Willey
An Action Research Project

2. Preview
• The General Idea
• The Rationale
• The Project
• The Results
• Some Conclusions
• Some Recommendations

3. The General Idea
This project was based around:
Phonological Awareness and Self-
Assessment of English Pronunciation and
Its Effects on South Korean EFL Middle
School Students
Lets look at the Who, What and Why …

4. Who: S. Korean EFL Middle
School
• All girls middle school
• Third year students
• English conversation class
• 9 student sample from a class of 32
Class goals
•Increase listening skills of students
•Increase speaking / conversation skills of
students
•Develop more natural English accent

5. What 1: Phonological Awareness
• Awareness of the phonemes or sounds that
distinguish one letter from another.
• Speaking
• Listening
• Increased input helps build awareness (Segers &
Verhoeven, 2005)
Hangul has 24 basic phonetic
sounds
“ ㄹ” sounds like /R/ and
/L/ put together

6. What 2: Self-Assessment
• Assessment of self actions to help facilitate
improvements (Finch, 2001 & 2003)
• Pronunciation assessment guided by a teacher

7. Why: English Pronunciation
• Correction of pronunciation errors is
foundational to fluency (Black, 2005)
• Create clearer communication
• Boost confidence in using English
English R and L phonemes
need to be pronounced
distinctly instead of
“ ㄹ”

8. www.engrish.com Retrieved June 2, 2007

9. The Rationale
• English is the most influential world language
(Webber 2006)
• South Koreans desire to learn English
• Government initiatives
• School programs
• After school academies
• Private lessons
Korea University:
Wants 66% of it classes in English by
2010
30% more than now
20% of its budget is scholarships for
learning abroad
(Brender 2005)

10. The Rationale Continued
• South Korean English problems
• Pronunciation errors
• Lack of phonological awareness (Moore, 2001)
• Limited access to native English speakers
• Little or no verbal or listening tests (Symonds, 2006)
• Lack of clear communication
• Discouraged confidence

11. The Rationale Continued
• Inconsistency in the lower levels of the South Korean
educational system.
• Testing for oral proficiency was not done before
reaching college level.
• Students were expected to learn something that the
school system has not deemed necessary to test.
• Testing was limited mostly to reading (TOEFL)
• Once these students reach college level they have
been thrust into environments that heavily rely on their
weakest areas.
Summarized from a letter to the Korea Herald, (Symonds, 2006)

12. The Rationale Continued
As of 2000, average South Koreans had:
210 lifetime hours of English listening and speaking
middle school high school
3 years + 3 years
One on one conversation with an English speaker
3 ~ 5 hours
=
< 1 hour a year
(Kim and Margolis, 2000)

13. The Rationale Continued
• South Koreans spend more money on private
English lesson yet score lower in tests than
other countries.
Korea spends the most money but is ranked
109th
in TOEFL scores out of 153
participating countries.
(Tarbet and Won, 2006)
TOEFL
Scores
Korea 109th

14. The Rationale Continued

15. The Project
The questions asked were:
1. Does an increase in phonological input increase clarity of
pronunciation of the /R/ and /L/ phoneme difference for
South Korean EFL middle school girls?
2. Does an increase in phonological input combined with self-
assessment through the use of immediate personal audio
feedback increase clarity of pronunciation of the /R/ and /L/
phoneme difference for South Korean EFL middle school
girls?

16. The Project Continued
Schedule
•Pilot Project Fall 2006
•Translational issues
•Logistics
•Final Project Spring 2007
•1st
week: Two Surveys
•2nd
~ 4th
week: Interventions and recording sessions
•5th
~ 10th
week: Reviews / Analysis / Writing reports

17. The Project Continued
Group 1
Control
Group 2
Increased Input
Group 3
Increased Input
+
Self-Assessment
Native Speaker: rot
Student: rot, rot, rot
Native Speaker: rot
Student: rot
Native Speaker: rot
Student: rot
Native Speaker: rot
Student: rot
Native Speaker: rot
Student: rot
Replay: rot
Native Speaker: rot
Student: rot
Replay: rot
Native Speaker: rot
Student: rot
Replay: rot
Examples

18. The Project Continued
Laptop Setup
Sample audio is played
(PowerPoint)
Student’s voice replayed
(Babbleback)
Sample and Student’s voice is
recorded (Audacity)

19. The Project Continued
Example
Group 2
Four words were used in this test
•Lot
•Rot
•Really
•Leery

20. The Project Continued
• Audio samples were graded on a 5 point scale for
naturalness (Nelson, 2000)
• Native English speakers were reviewers
Rot
5 = Clear R/L distinction. Word was understood. Rot sounds like Rot.
4 = R can be heard, word was understood as Rot.
3 = R sound is stronger but was blending with L.
2 = Hard to distinguish, vaguely sounded like Rot.
1 = No R/L distinction. Rot not understood as Rot.

21. The Results
Surveys
• Perceived English ability (Finch, 2001)
• Motivation to learn English (Kim and Margolis, 2000)
• Student were of average motivation

22. The Results Continued
Survey:
Perceived ability compared to average test scores
Comparison of Scores to Perceived Ability
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
01 02 03 05 06 07 08 09 10
Student ID
100pointscale
Perceived Ability Average Score on 100 Point Scale

23. The Results Continued
• Audio: Group 1
Group 1 average scores for each word
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
Lot Rot Really Leery
Words
Scoreon5pointscale
1st Score 2nd Score

24. The Results Continued
• Audio: Group 2
Group 2 average scores for each word
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
Lot Rot Really Leery
Words
Scoreon5pointscale
1st Score 2nd Score

25. The Results Continued
• Audio: Group 3
Group 3 average scores for each word
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
Lot Rot Really Leery
Words
Scoreon5pointscale
1st Score 2nd Score

26. The Results Continued
• Comparisons
Average change in scores
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
lot
rot
really
leery
Words
Scorechange
Group1 Group2 Group3

27. Some Conclusions
Answering the questions
1. Yes, an increase in phonological input does
seem to increase clarity of pronunciation of
the /R/ and /L/ phoneme difference for South
Korean EFL middle school girls.

28. Some Conclusions
Answering the questions
2. No, an increase in phonological input
combined with self-assessment through the
use of immediate personal audio feedback
does not seem to increase, and may actually
hinder, clarity of pronunciation of the /R/
and /L/ phoneme difference for South Korean
EFL middle school girls.

29. Some Conclusions
• Learning English well is important to South Korea
• They deserve to perform at levels that they expect and
pay for
• Increased native speaker input in this study seemed to
help build phonological awareness and pronunciation
• The immediate feedback in this study did not seem to
help
• Further studies need to be done

30. Some Recommendations
A study with
• A longer timeframe
• A bigger sample
• Other phoneme distinctions

31. Final thought
It is my hope to use technology in creative
ways to help South Korean students learn
English well.
Brian Joseph Willey

32. References
Brender, A. (2005). To Compete, South Korean Universities Step Up Use of English.
Chronicle of Higher Education 52(17). Retrieved June 10, 2006, from EBSCOhost
database.
Black, S. (2005). Easing ESL Students into Learning English Well. Education Digest
71(1). Retrieved June 7, 2006, from EBSCOhost database.
Engrish.com. (2007) English mispronunciation website. Retrieved June 2, 2007, from
www.engrish.com
Finch, A. (2001). The Non-threatening Learning Environment. The Korea TESOL
Journal, 4(1). Retrieved June 26, 2006, from
http://www.kotesol.org/publications/journal/2001/korjrl_4_133-158.pdf
Finch, A. (2003). RESLective Instruments for Self-Assessment in Korean ESL
Classrooms. The Korea TESOL Journal, 6(1). Retrieved June 26, 2006, from
http://www.kotesol.org/publications/journal/2003/ktj6_063-86.pdf

33. References Continued
Kim, D.D. I., & Margolis, D. (2000). Korean Student Exposure to English Listening and
Speaking: Instruction, Multimedia, Travel Experience and Motivation. The Korea
TESOL Journal, 3(1). Retrieved June 26, 2006, from
http://www.kotesol.org/publications/journal/2000/kojrl_3_29-54.pdf
Moore, D. (2001). Sensory training and special education – can practice make perfect?
British Journal of Special Education 28(3). Retrieved June 7, 2006, from EBSCOhost
database.
Nelson, P. (1998). Student Pronunciation: A Comparison of Evaluation Techniques. The
Korea TESOL Journal, 1(1). Retrieved June 26, 2006, from
http://www.kotesol.org/publications/journal/1998/nelson.pdf
Segers, E., & Verhoeven, L. (2005). Long-term effects of computer training of
phonological awareness in kindergarten. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning
21(1). Retrieved June 7, 2006, from EBSCOhost database.
Symonds, J. (2006) Changes Needed in School English Exams. The Korea Times.
Retrieved October 6, 2006, from
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/opinion/200606/kt2006060121035054060.htm

34. References Continued
Tarbet, D., & Won, S. (Publicities). (2006). Proceedings from KOTESOL 2006. 2006
Korea TESOL National Conference. Park, K.: 5:00pm Session.
Webber, G. (2006). TOP LANGUAGES: The World’s 10 most influential Languages.
Retrieved October, 11, 2006, from
http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/reprints/weber/rep-weber.htm