51 learner‟s mother tongue, Cantonese, are often found to have caused production
difficulties, whereas segments shared by both the native language and the target language phonemic inventories do not pose great production difficulties
” p.3. The absent sounds of the target language in the native language might cause
mispronunciation due to their misconception of the target language‟s word
pronunciation. This is natural considering the learner‟s “inability to discriminate
acoustic differences” Chan, 2009: 4. The statement is also in a positive agreement with the term simplicity used by Corder 1981.
2.2 Theoretical Framework
In this section, the writer describes and explains the relationship between the theories and the objectives of this research. Specifically, the writer will convey
the framework in terms of how far can the provided theories, which are directly related to the research‟s topic, be useful as a valid scientific basis for the analysis
necessary in answering the research problems. It should be recalled that this research has three research objectives, namely: to describe how English and
Cantonese consonants are similar and different, to discover English consonants that can be considered as problematic for Cantonese EFL learners to pronounce,
and to elaborate some possible implementations of the attained knowledge of the contrasted English and Cantonese consonants to be implemented to support
English pronunciation teaching to Cantonese EFL learners. The first research objective has to do with discovering the similarities and
differences of English and Cantonese consonants. In understanding the similarity
52 and the differences of two things, the writer believes that, a good comprehension
on the origins of these contrasted things. It means that an understanding on human speech sounds, on how they can be produced physically is important. Therefore
the first theories that are being reviewed in this chapter are the theories on the definition on phonetics, in which the science has to do with examining the
inventory and structure of the sounds of speech of spoken human language. After that, the review is brought towards the more technical discussion on the theories
of speech production‟s definition, which includes the explanation on the mechanism of the air stream as the main source of speech sound.
The theories so far have indicated that this air-stream, in order to become speech sounds, must be modified in such a way according to the language in
which the speaker uses. From this point, theories on the definition of articulation, together with its concepts of the organs of speech are also obligatory. Hence the
theory on the respiratory, phonatory, and the articulatory system are included to finally give the writer a complete understanding on human speech sound
production, on how the organs of speech can work together to articulate the air steam becoming speech sounds; consonants and vowels.
The review on how consonants can be produced helps the writer to understand that the concept of organs of speech, as well as places and manners of
articulation are shared universally. It means that a comparison between two or more languages of different origin is possible, considering that in spite of the
differences; some similarities must be shared as they are produced from the same organs of speech. The theories on the phonetic transcription are necessary to give
53 the writer a comprehension on conducting a study on abstract objects such as
speech sounds. The theories on the classification of English and Cantonese consonants
serve as the main footing in discovering, how different and how similar English and Cantonese consonants are. The discovered gaps of differences, supported by
the theories on transfer error in interlanguage process, will answer the second problem, as they provide the information on what sounds in English are
problematic for Cantonese EFL learners. Last but not least, the list of the problematic sounds, each with their points
of difficulties, provides an opportunity for the writer, as an English teacher- candidate, to elaborate some possible implementations of the research findings, to
help Cantonese EFL learners in mastering English consonant pronunciation.
54
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter consists of six sections, namely the research‟s method, the
research setting, the research data, the data gathering technique as well as the data analysis technique, and lastly, the research procedure. The first, the second and
the third sections present the chosen research type, the time and the place of the research, and the studied issues. The data gathering technique section unveils the
technique of collecting data that is being used in this research, while the data analysis technique part discusses the method of analysis to answer the formulated
research problems. Finally, the sixth section of this chapter discloses the five major steps taken by the writer in conducting the research.
3.1 Research Method
Academic research methodologies can be divided into two major groups; quantitative research and qualitative research. The most distinguishable feature
can be seen from each research‟s attempts. Harwell 2011 describes the attempts of quantitative r
esearch methods as to “maximize objectivity, replicability, and generalizibility of findings, and are typically interested in prediction
” p. 149. The author further mention its characteristic as
“deductive”, and also pointed the key features of most of t
he studies as “the use of instruments such as tests or surveys to collect data, and reliance on probability theory to test statistical
hypotheses that correspond to research questi ons of interest”.
