Critical Analysis of a Leaner's Language
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- Category: English
- Date Submitted: 11/17/2015 07:16 AM
- Pages: 5
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Critical Discourse Analysis of a Non-Native Speaker of English
It should be noted that English is John’s third language behind Kikuyu (tribal) and Swahili (national).
Introduction:
This Essay will involve a microanalysis of a 10 minute Listen and Respond exercise between Kenyan student, John Njoroge (J) and Tutor, I (S); and also a written piece by John. This also includes assessing his competency against the adult core curriculum in appendix 2.
Phonetics and Pronunciation:
John’s phonetic pronunciation is heavily influenced by his Swahili-variant mother tongue, Kikuyu. His pronunciation of ‘management’ usually /mænɪdʒ'mənt /is “/mæn'ædʒˌmənt/” with the primary stress moved to the second /æ/ and /mənt/ taking the secondary stress as ‘stress in Swahili is typically on the penultimate syllable’ (Vitale, 1982). This pattern repeated itself in most of John’s speech, the SE pronunciation of ‘integrate’ being /'ɪntɪˌɡreɪt/ was pronounced by him as /ˌɪnt'agreɪt. Both words have phonetic changes to their primarily stressed vowels, ‘as vowels are never reduced in Swahili, regardless of stress’ and therefore are pronounced as a separate syllable; unlike in SE (Deshmukh, Oirere & Shrishrimal, 2013). The stress placement in Swahili also accounts for the assumed inquisitive intonation at the end of John’s sentences which can hinder understanding of tone to the listener.
Vocabulary:
John also has an anomaly in his otherwise well pronounced and wide encompassing lexical bank, the word ‘especially’ he pronounces ‘exspecially’. This can be attributed to English being his third language and therefore not being as familiar with the correct pronunciation, or having not been corrected when first pronouncing the word incorrectly. John uses appropriate and accurately placed vocabulary such as ‘compulsory’ and ‘communication’ and also when describing Kenya’s political structures:
“In Kenya, we run our administration and government in the same way as it is in England” He...
It should be noted that English is John’s third language behind Kikuyu (tribal) and Swahili (national).
Introduction:
This Essay will involve a microanalysis of a 10 minute Listen and Respond exercise between Kenyan student, John Njoroge (J) and Tutor, I (S); and also a written piece by John. This also includes assessing his competency against the adult core curriculum in appendix 2.
Phonetics and Pronunciation:
John’s phonetic pronunciation is heavily influenced by his Swahili-variant mother tongue, Kikuyu. His pronunciation of ‘management’ usually /mænɪdʒ'mənt /is “/mæn'ædʒˌmənt/” with the primary stress moved to the second /æ/ and /mənt/ taking the secondary stress as ‘stress in Swahili is typically on the penultimate syllable’ (Vitale, 1982). This pattern repeated itself in most of John’s speech, the SE pronunciation of ‘integrate’ being /'ɪntɪˌɡreɪt/ was pronounced by him as /ˌɪnt'agreɪt. Both words have phonetic changes to their primarily stressed vowels, ‘as vowels are never reduced in Swahili, regardless of stress’ and therefore are pronounced as a separate syllable; unlike in SE (Deshmukh, Oirere & Shrishrimal, 2013). The stress placement in Swahili also accounts for the assumed inquisitive intonation at the end of John’s sentences which can hinder understanding of tone to the listener.
Vocabulary:
John also has an anomaly in his otherwise well pronounced and wide encompassing lexical bank, the word ‘especially’ he pronounces ‘exspecially’. This can be attributed to English being his third language and therefore not being as familiar with the correct pronunciation, or having not been corrected when first pronouncing the word incorrectly. John uses appropriate and accurately placed vocabulary such as ‘compulsory’ and ‘communication’ and also when describing Kenya’s political structures:
“In Kenya, we run our administration and government in the same way as it is in England” He...