Mastery Level of Phonetic Transcription of Received Pronunciation among English Majors and Its Relation with Some Variables

Abstract

This study aimed at identifying the mastery level of phonetic transcription of received pronunciation among English majors, in addition to the factors hindering their mastery level of phonetic transcription of RP. The researcher randomly chose a representative sample of (350) English department junior and senior students at the Islamic University of Gaza, Al Azhar University of Gaza and Al Aqsa University of Gaza who enrolled in the second semester of 2011-2012. To answer the questions of the study, the researcher adopted the analytical descriptive approach. A mastery test of 58 questions falling in two domains of phonetic transcription for that purpose was randomly applied on the sample of the study consisting of (350) constituting about 30% of the whole population. Also, the researcher built a Likert – scale questionnaire to be used as a tool to gather data about factors hindering the mastery level of phonetic transcription of received pronunciation among English majors. A Likert – scale fell in five ranks: (1) strongly agree, (2)agree , (3)do not know, (4) disagree, and (5) strongly disagree. The researcher used T testand One WayANOVA in addition to mean, standard deviations to test the hypotheses of the study. The results showed: The mastery level of phonetic transcription of received pronunciation among English majors doesn’t reach (80 %) . There are statistically significant differences in the mastery level of phonetic transcription of received pronunciation among English majors due to gender variable in favor of female. There are statistically significant differences between Al Azhar university and Al Aqsa university in favor of Al Azhar university. Also, there are statistically significant differences between the Islamic University of Gaza and Al Aqsa university in favor of the Islamic University of Gaza. And there are no statistically significant differences between Islamic University of Gaza and Al Azhar University of Gaza. There are statistically significant differences in the mastery level of phonetic transcription of received pronunciation among English majors due to their mark in phonetics and phonology course. Curricula and courses had a weight of (71.28%) while the language domain occupied the second rank with a weight of (70.86%). Also, students' domain had a weight of (68.49%). In addition, professors' domain had a weight of (63.04%). There are no statistically significant differences in the factors hindering their mastery level of phonetic transcription of RP due to gender, university, and their mark in phonetics and phonology course variables. Based on the study findings, the researcher recommended revising the courses and curricula of phonetics and phonology which are taught at the Palestinian universities. In addition, teachers have to use new teaching methods and aids to facilitate the process of teaching. Furthermore, students should double their efforts while learning the phonetics and phonology course.