CORRELATION BETWEEN THE WRITTEN AND VERBAL PERFORMANCE OF PUNJABI SPEAKING LEARNERS IN THE AREA OF ENGLISH DIPHTHONGS

Abstract

Language primarily means speech and there are many important features of speech. Pronunciation is one of them since it serves the main purpose of using spoken aspect of language: communication. This means, a message must be accurate in terms of pronunciation to maintain its communicative function. Correct pronunciation relies on correct articulation of speech sounds of one’s mother tongue. It means learning of any foreign language too heavily depends on the learning of its phonological features. Considering the varying nature of languages spoken around the globe, we can easily realize that the problems posed by these languages are also of different nature. English has its own hosts of pronunciation problems to pose for its foreign learners which cause a great deal of difficulty for them. These problems are segmental as well as suprasegmental in nature. The present study was carried out to find out correlation between the written and verbal performance of Pakistani learners in the area of pronunciation with regard to English diphthongs or double vowels. The study sample(N=79) comprised Punjabi speaking Pakistani learners of English studying at Diploma Level in National University of Modern Languages Islamabad, Pakistan. The data were collected by the means of two tests: one for written performance and the other for verbal performance. Pearson Product Moment Formula was used for finding the degree of correlation between the written and the verbal performance of the study sample. The analysis of the data showed moderate relationship in the area of English diphthongs which shows that the written and verbal performance of the study sample did not match up quite closely in this area. It is suggested that these sounds should be taught more carefully. A number of effective classroom activities can be exploited for better teaching of English double vowels.