Abstract:
This project aims to develop a corpus-based, online pronunciation learning system to help HKIEd’s teachers, learners and researchers have a better understanding of the major problems in learning pronunciation by Hong Kong and Mainland English learners. A learners’ pronunciation corpus was established and analysed in order to (a) identify learners’ recurrent difficulties in using English segmental features and suprasegmental features accurately and appropriately and (b) suggest possible remedies that may reduce or eliminate such difficulties. The research findings and products informed teaching and enhance teaching quality. The two major products of this project were:
A phonological corpus (10-12 hours recording data containing roughly 100,000 English words) of spoken English from Hong Kong and Mainland students at HKIEd, which contains data in the form of audio files as well as phonological annotations, with a special focus on three areas of segmental features (vowels, consonants and consonant clusters) and four areas of suprasegmental features (stress assignment on both word level and the utterance level, pause, intonation and speech rhythm);
An online learning system that will enable learners to study segmental and suprasegmental features through perception and production exercises designed by the team based on the corpus data collected in this study.
Code:
T0109
Principal Project Supervisors:
Subjects:
Start Date:
01 Jun 2012
End Date:
31 May 2014
Status:
Completed
Result:
The project achieved most of the objectives which included:
The establishment of a spoken corpus of Hong Kong and mainland students at HKIEd. Both the segmental features (vowels, consonants and syllable structures) and suprasegmental features (lexical stress, linking, pause and intonation) of Chinese speakers of English have been analyzed in this corpus;
The development of a pronunciation learning website that contains a variety of pronunciation learning materials and resources specific to Chinese learners of English; and
The compilation of a Praat beginners’ manual for students and teachers who are interested in using acoustic software to analyze their pronunciation features.
Impact:
Pronunciation is one of the most important skills to be gained among English majors at HKIEd. The online learning system, which draws on the current findings from our newly established corpus, can offer authentic examples of Chinese and Hong Kong learners’ common pronunciation problems and difficulties. Apart from the spoken corpus, the learning website also provides a systematic from of theoretical knowledge and practical training to students on the appropriate use of phonological features in speaking. The students’ improved speaking ability will definitely enhance their performance and benefit the teaching staff in that the latter will be able to spend less time correcting phonologically related mistakes or inappropriateness when marking oral presentations or classroom language during teaching practice supervision. As the website (http://corpus.ied.edu.hk/phonetics_and_phonology/wordpress/) has been placed on the Corpus Linguistics homepage of the Department of Linguistics and Modern Language studies of the HKIEd, all learners and teachers at HKIEd, as well as those from the outside community (e.g. English teachers/panel chairs in Hong Kong primary and secondary schools, and international researchers in the area), have access to this corpus and learning system. Students at HKIEd are encouraged to use this system during or after class as self-access learning to raise their own awareness of their pronunciation problems. Relevant tutorial sessions on how to compiled in this project, a well-received workshop on the applications of Praat in research and teaching was organized and held on 20 January 2014.
The online phonological corpus can be shared with students to develop the undergraduate honours project, master theses or PhD dissertations.
Deliverables:
Chen, H. C., Chan, K. Yin., Chan-Wong, P. M., Chee, E., Wang, L., & Wang, Q. (2014). A corpus-based online pronunciation learning system: The Pedagogical applications of a spoken corpus for improving Hong Kong/Mainland university students’ English pronunciation. Paper presented at Second Asia Pacific Corpus Linguistics Conference (APCLC 2014), Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. https://repository.eduhk.hk/en/publications/1cf38097-b1bd-4f99-b0e4-ad03...
Chen, H. C. (2015, March) Development of A Corpus-based Online Pronunciation Learning System for Chinese Learners of English. Paper presented at 2015 Learning and Teaching @HKIEd Festival in March 2015.
“Workshop on Praat Applications for Research and Teaching” presented by Rebecca Chen and Bobbie Wang on 20 January 2014 at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. https://repository.eduhk.hk/en/publications/ef701fa1-35e8-4f67-b6a1-8809...
Online English Pronunciation Learning: A Spoken Corpus of the English of Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese learners. Available at: http://corpus.ied.edu.hk/phonetics/https://repository.eduhk.hk/en/publications/3c82749b-3954-4f28-96b4-d644...
A Corpus-Based Pronunciation Learning website. Available at http://ec-concord.ied.edu.hk/phonetics_and_phonology/wordpress/ https://repository.eduhk.hk/en/publications/d0d341fc-a95e-4f14-bc8b-9732...
A Praat manual for beginners. Available athttp://ec-concord.ied.edu.hk/phonetics_and_phonology/wordpress/learning_...https://repository.eduhk.hk/en/publications/59be702b-657f-4eb3-ae02-6da1...
Financial Year:
2011-12
Type:
TDG