An Investigation of the Phonological Errors committed by Jordanian students
Statement of the problem
There lacks of research based contribution which can be toward a meta analysis study of empirical issues even though there can be certain analysis of speech and language impairment in the speech of sample of Arabic-speaking Jordanian students. Research will be considering at developing diagnostic tools for assessing developmental status of the phonological processes in the students disordered speech based on the chronology of their development in normally developing children. The objective means will be providing sound linguistic basis for the development. Research issues and critique in dealing to literature has not been well adapted even if there are a lot of studies involving the situation. Thus, there might be inadequate evidence finding of theoretical linguistic basis as being taken from Natural Phonology education of Jordanian students and that research goals have to provide further external evidence for developing the NP theory denoting patterns as recognized in the literature concerning phonological disorders language-universally and how to show some Arabic language specific features in general principle. For concrete indication, there were study based reports as being designed to measure the quality of phonological input of 20 Jordanian students into the English learning class. The purpose then will be to determine the extent to which their educational environment and other factors will affect the quality of the students phonological input within classroom setting. Ten of the subjects were trained in an ESL environment and 10 in an EFL environment. For each subject, two English classes will be audio-taped.
The following types of phonological errors are analysed: phoneme addition, phoneme omission, phoneme substitution and incorrect stress. The results of research may indicate that students being trained in ESL environment showed far few incidences and types of phonological error than those trained in the EFL environment, and those who returned to study in the environment where there was little opportunity for English reinforcement outside the classroom made the same incidences and types of error as those based in an environment where there can be huge opportunity.
Background of the study
Diab and Hamdan (1999, pp. 281-305) have reported one finding of case study that investigated how 50 Jordanian Arab university students of English interacted with words and dictionaries while reading a specialized text in linguistics. Thus, the data was obtained through dictionary use records and structured interviews. The results showed that most of the look-ups were for ‘general’ words. Meaning and pronunciation were the prime purposes of dictionary use. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of the look-ups were not proceed by any predictionary use strategy. The study also showed that monolingual dictionaries were used more frequently than bilingual ones; they were also found more useful. Most of the consulted dictionaries were general. Both print and electronic dictionaries were used; however, the use of both specialist and electronic dictionaries was limited to a few subjects. Several Arab researchers reported and confirmed that Arab EFL learners in general and Jordanian EFL learners in particular, face serious problem in using English prepositions (Rababah, 2003; Zughoul, 2003). Findings of these studies have shown that EFL Jordanian learners at all levels encounter several problems in all language skills. The great number of errors that Jordanian learners of English produce is in writing. Committing many errors in their writing as referred to by these Arab and Jordanian researchers, is the prominent feature of Arab adult learners of English and prepositions is a core case in point, which appears to be an ever-lasting problem, indicated seriousness of the problem. In supporting fact about serious problem encountered EFL Arab Jordanian students, Hashim (1996), reviewed most of the studies on syntactic errors made by Arabic-speaking students in learning English, his results show that lot of errors have been found and presented in seven syntactic categories: verbal, preposition, relative clause, conjunction, adverbial clauses, sentence structure. Thus, Kharma, and Hajjaj, (1997) have reported in their study on Arab EFL learners’ errors, that the majority of their errors are in English syntax, and in particular, prepositions are the most troublesome aspect of syntax. Besides, most recent studies in the Arab world (Zahid, 2006; Mohammed, 2005; Muortaga, 2004) investigated EFL Arab learners’ syntactic errors, the results of their empirical studies revealed that Arab learners were incompetent and weak mainly in verbs and prepositions. Investigations of errors made by Arab EFL learners reveal a similarity of problematic areas in English syntax.
References
Diab, T. and Hamdan, J. (1999). INTERACTING WITH WORDS AND DICTIONARIES: THE CASE OF JORDANIAN EFL LEARNERS. International Journal of Lexicography 1999 12(4):281-305; doi:10.1093/ijl/12.4.281 Oxford University Press
Hashim,N (1996).English syntactic errors by Arabic speaking learners reviewed. Eric. Doc 423660 Full Text.
Kharma, N. and Hajjaj, A. (1997). Errors in English among Arabic speakers. Beirut:Librairie du Liban.
Mohammed, A.M. (2005).Collocation errors made by Arab learners of English. Asian EFL Journal.Teachers Articles. Vol.5 .2 :117-126
Mourtaga, K.(2004).Investigating writing problems among Palestinians students Studying English as a foreign language. PhD dissertation Indiana University, USA
Rababah.G. (2003).Communication Problems facing Arab learners of English: A personal perspective. TEFL Web Journal Vol. 2, No.1:15-30.
Zahid Chebchoub (2006). Righting writing errors. The Seventh Annual UAE .University Research Conference UAE. University, Al-Ain.
Zughoul, M.R.& Hussein, A. (2003).Translational collocation strategies of Arab learners of English: a study in lexical semantics. Babel, Volume 49, Number 1:59-81
Zughoul, M.R. (2003).Globalization and EFL/ESL pedagogy in the Arab World. Language and Learning.Vol.1, no.2.
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