English Monophthong: Assessing Malay Young Learners’ Perception Accuracy

Raja Rosemawati Raja Abdullah

doi:10.61688/jev.v6i2.445

Authors

Raja Rosemawati Raja Abdullah Universiti Poly-Tech Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61688/jev.v6i2.445

Keywords:

English in Malaysia, Malay young learners, English monophthongs, Accuracy perception

Abstract

Intelligibility, the ability to differentiate speech sounds, is crucial for effective communication. While communicating in one’s native language may be straightforward, challenges arise when speaking in a second language like English. This study investigates the accuracy of Malay young learners in Malaysia when distinguishing between three English monophthong pairs: /ɪ/ - /i:/, /Ʌ/ - /ɑ:/, and /ʊ/ - /u:/. Ten 11-year-old students from a semi-urban primary school in Kuala Lumpur participated in a quantitative research study using a descriptive-comparative design. Participants were selected through a Language Profile Test based on Birdsong et al. (2012) and completed a two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) test using PsychoPy software. Each targeted vowel was presented in blocks and repeated three times. Results indicated that participants could distinguish short and long vowels with an overall accuracy of 73.9%. Notably, they performed best with the pair /ʊ/-/u:/ (98.3%), while distinguishing /ɪ/-/i:/ yielded only 53.3% accuracy, and /Ʌ/-/ɑ:/ achieved 70%. Additionally, participants showed better performance with short vowels (75.6% accuracy) compared to long vowels (72.7% accuracy), although the difference was not statistically significant (t(89) = -.555, p = .580). Overall, the findings demonstrate that participants possess a high level of intelligibility in perceiving and differentiating the targeted English monophthongs.

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