General Linguistics - Critic 1 - Vũ Thị Thương - 20D

7/29/2019 General Linguistics - Critic 1 - V Th Thng - 20D

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

GENARAL LINGUISTICS ASSIGNMENT

(CRITIC 1)

Lecturer: Dr. H Cm Tm

Student: V Th Thng

Date of birth: 06/04/1989

Course: 20 (2011-2013)

Class: D

Hanoi March, 2012


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Chen, H. Y., & Goswami, J. S. (2009). The Impact of Phonetic and PhonologicalInstruction on the Oral Proficiency of Spanish-speaking ESL Learners. TheAsian EFL Journal, 11 (5), 111-123. Retrieved February 30, 2012, fromhttp://www.asian-efl-journal.com/site_map_2009.php

Critical Review

Basing on a number of related studies and following up their previous studies on

the same issue, Hsuan-Yu Chen and Jaya S. Gowsami conducted a quasi-

experiment with a pre-post test design not only to aim to provide further evidence

on the influences of phonetics and phonology awareness on the English language

learners academic achievement but also to explore the effect of phonetic and

phonological instruction on the oral skill of Spanish-speaking students who have

been learning English as their second language. Despite some unexpected findings,

the aims were achieved since statistically considerable enhancement in the oral

proficiency of the learners existed after the implementation of phonetic and

phonological lessons. Limitations may be considered in the organization and the

generalizability of the study.

It is clear that this investigation of Hsuan-Yu Chen and Jaya S. Gowsami was well

supported with the findings of other related researches. However, the dense

occurrence of theoretical background in almost parts of the study to some extent

prevented the researchers from making their points obvious. For instance, the

abstract of their research seemed to be an introduction with rationale rather than a

brief summary of the study. This led to some repetitions and redundancies in the

later parts. Thus, the literature review should have been developed as anindependent part to comprise the researchers analysis of other associated studies.

Besides, a relatively small number of subjects only 25 private high school ESL

learners in South Texas may restrict the reliability and the generalizability of this

exploratory research.
http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/site_map_2009.phphttp://www.asian-efl-journal.com/site_map_2009.php


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Despite several mentioned deficiencies, the study did prove the researchers great

skill in carrying out a case study. Basing on the profound understanding of the issue

and the consideration of a number of previous studies, Hsuan-Yu Chen and Jaya S.

Gowsami developed their scope of study with the review that neitherpronunciation transcription systems nor Phonics has shown satisfactory success in

assisting ESL students in achieving oral proficiency in Standard American English

(p.111). Consequently, they focused their study on the influences of phonetic and

phonological education on their Spanish-speaking ESL students verbal skill. Thus,

the study extent is neither too narrow nor too broad. Then, the objectives and the

research questions were clearly stated. Equivalent to two purposes: 1. to investigate

the impact that the instrument may have on subjects overall oral proficiency of thetarget phonemes and 2. to investigate the impact that the instrument may have on

subjects articulation of individual target phonemes, two questions were raised: 1.

What impact, if any, does phonetic and phonological instruction have on Spanish-

speaking ESL learners overall oral proficiency of target phonemes? and 2. What

impact, if any, does phonetic and phonological instruction have on Spanish-

speaking ESL learners articulation of individual target phonemes? (p.115). Also,

the researchers well-controlled setting and careful data analysis overcame theproblem that the research sample was a convenience sample. The skillfulness of the

investigators in study setting was notably expressed by clearly explained and

appropriate methods of data collection and result measuring a quasi-experimental

pre-post tests and a dependent Paired-samples t-test. Then, the authors did

accomplish their objectives. The two research questions were answered: the

implementation of phonetic and phonological instruction had a statistically

significant effect on the proficiency of pronunciation (p.118) and the study

achieved statistically significant overall improvement at both word and sentence

levels (p.119). Besides, basing on some unexpected findings no statistically

considerable improvement on several phonemes such as /v/, //, // at sentence

stage and the occurrence of regression of / / at word or sentence stage, the


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investigators suggested the major issues for further studies in a similar phonetic and

phonological instruction program.

In summary, in the face of some insufficiencies in the organization and the

selection of subjects, to the extent that this research is exploratory, the study hasprovided significant insights on the great effects of phonetic and phonological

training on the oral proficiency of ESL learners. Also, as stated by the authors

themselves, the research did attract attention to the need for ESL/EFL teachers

professional development in Phonetics and Phonology in order to successfully

implement such intervention (p.121).

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General Linguistics - Critic 1 - Vũ Thị Thương - 20D