A contrastive study of Korean and American English

Abstract

There are large categories of the difficulties to learn English which all or many of the Korean students face in common. This can be used with profit by Korean students who have studied dish before but have had little or no systematic training in spoken English. This thesis will go at least toward filling the problems on mustering pronunciation. The first task is to discover as accurately and objectively as we could what these areas of common problems are. It is set up in accordance with the phonetic and phonemic, systems of both American English and Korean through comparative study. It does not involve the problems of supra-segmental phonemes. The various parts of this thesis have been developed into as follows as a starting point it gives comparative charts of the significant sound segments of English and Korean. In the of classification of phonemes in contrast with the English sound, there are four different sections ; first, the sounds does not exist in Korean ; second, some sounds are articulated the same as those English counterparts ; third, several sounds are only in Korean ; last, some of the English consonants are phonetically different from those in Korean in their position. We can find out every different sound and problem arising from the differences between the systems of significant sounds in English and Korean. Those problems are treated with considerable care. Upon the procedure, every characteristic nature is rest on them and put then to the nearest sound in order to mimic. Comparing with every different segmental phoneme can be effective and available for the sound production and breaking the habits. The pronunciation materials are based on a comparative study of American English and Korean. As the results of this research, there are in general four means of teaching specific sound segments : 1) Give Korean students Korean phonemic structures. 2) Figure every different phonemic, structure out by artioulatory description. 3) Give them English phonemic structures and make them clear. 4) Comparison with the nearest sound in the students' native language, and by imitation they can reproduce the sound correctly. Accordingly the result of this thesis can be adapted for the language laboratory work for further development. Lately such attention is being paid to language laboratory to use the new approach most effectively. One of the procedures of this approach is to have students listen to a tape recorded version of an English text and to repeat after the model voice trying to imitate it as closely as possible. The students should be ready to mimic the speakers whom they hear and break their own sound habits.