The Pronunciation of English by Somali L1 students in Sweden
Testing indications of phonetic transfer through Error Analysis and
Contrastive Analysis
Mathias Börjesson, 880412
BA Degree paper, 15 hec
Interdisciplinary Degree Project
Teacher Education Programme LP01
Supervisor: Monika Mondor
Examiner:
Report number:
Departments:
University of Gothenburg/Dept of Languages and Literatures/English
Course:
EN1C03 - English: Advanced Undergraduate Level (linguistic essay) for
General Purposes. Bachelor’s Degree Essay Project (C-level paper)
Semester:
Fall 2013
Title:
The Pronunciation of English by Somali L1 students in Sweden:
Testing indications of phonetic transfer through Error Analysis and
Contrastive Analysis
Author:
Mathias Börjesson
Supervisor:
Monika Mondor
Aim(s):
The main aim of the study is to investigate phonemic errors in relation to transfer seen from a didactic point of view.
Method(s):
This study was based on a mixed method, being both quantitative and qualitative. Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis was used to predict and identify errors. Contrastive Analysis was mainly used to create a pronunciation test on typical Swedish and Somali difficulties. The extent and the occurrence of transfer are investigated in relation to interview findings and the students’ background.
Material(s):
The material consists of 10 Somali L1 students’ results on a pronunciation test and their answers to some interview questions. Four of the students were born in Sweden and six of them were born abroad.
Main results:
The results show that the average Somali L1 student born outside of
Sweden made approximately three times as many errors as the average
Somali L1 student born in Sweden. The errors made by all students are shown to be related to both Somali, Swedish and the Somali-Swedish interlanguage. The results also show that the Somali L1 students born outside of Sweden
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