PHONOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FARSI SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH AND L1 AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH SPEAKERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF PROFICIENCY

| June 28, 2009
Title
PHONOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FARSI SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH AND L1 AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH SPEAKERS PERCEPTIONS OF PROFICIENCY
Author
Mahnaz Hall
Curtin University of Technology, Perth
Abstract
This study investigates the extent to which phonological characteristics of Farsi speakers of English interfere with their intelligibility when they interact with L1 Australian English speakers. Many students who are learning English within Iran, as well as Farsi speakers of English abroad, have difficulties in pronunciation that have an effect on their intelligibility when they interact with L1 English speakers. This study examines L1 Australian English speakers perceptions of the effect of pronunciation on intelligibility of Farsi speakers of English. A sample of four Farsi speakers of English and five L1 Australian English speakers participated in this research. The research method included an unstructured interview, twenty sentences that contained specific phonemes, and ten sentences including consonant clusters. The Farsi speakers of English were invited to participate in the process by attending an interview and reading aloud the two sets of sentences whilst being tape recorded. Then, the L1 Australian English speakers were invited to listen to the tape recording of the Farsi speakers of English and answer the three sets of questions accordingly. The findings demonstrated that the phonemes and consonant clusters which do not exist in the Farsi sound system and syllable structure caused difficulties for Farsi speakers of English to a varying degree.
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Category: Thesis