MALAYSIANS' PROBLEMS IN MASTERING ENGLISH LANGUAGE

 1.0 INTRODUCTION        

            British Council (2016) stated that a consonant cluster in a word is a group of consonants with no vowels between them. It is also known as a cluster. We can see examples of clusters as below:

• The example of two consonants that are positioned together at the start of words:

            cl in clock

            pr in print

            ph in phone

 

• The example of two consonants that are positioned together at the end of words:

            mp in jump

            nt in print

            sk in desk

 

• The example of two consonants that are positioned together at the middle of words:

            th in gather

            nk in blanket

 

• The example of three consonants in a word:

            mpl in trample

            nsp in transport

            nsf in transfer

 

• The example of four consonants in a word:

            ntry in country

            rthd in birthday

            syst in system

 

• Examples of words with Consonant Blends:

            Blend

            Breathe

            Drastic

 

            The School Run (2018) defined the syllable as single, unbroken sound of a spoken (or written) word. Syllables usually contain a vowel and accompanying consonants. Sometimes syllables are referred to as the ‘beats’ of spoken language.

            When we learn about syllable, actually we learn how to decode and spell the words. It also helps us how to pronounce double letters and vowels in words.

• The examples of words in one syllable: run, cat, red
• The examples of words in two syllable: table, pencil, flower
• The examples of words in three syllable: butterfly, beautiful, computer
• The examples of words in four syllable: category, transportation, systematic

 

2.0 MALAYSIANS' PROBLEMS IN MASTERING ENGLISH LANGUAGE

            There are many challenges faced by Malaysians in mastering the English language. One of them is to produce sound clusters. I agree with the statement that some sound clusters and the formation of syllabi are difficult for native speakers of any of the Malaysian languages when they try to master the English language. These can be proven by analysing the recorded speech that was conducted among three Malaysian English language learners. You can listen the recorded speech by click the link https://youtu.be/vuiGFa4g0q4

 

2.1 THE RECORDED SPEECH

 Firstly, I asked three Malay speakers of English learners to read the short text below. They are intermediate learners:

 

“Last Friday, I went to Wakaf Bharu Market. I bought vegetable, fish, salt, onion, and some chocolate. After that, I took breakfast at Siti Restaurant. I ate sandwich”.

 

The three learners read as follow:

 

2.1.1 The first learner

The first learner read as follow:

/lʌst/ /fraɪdeɪ/ , /aɪ/ /went/ /tʊ/ /wʌkʌf/ /bʌrʊ/ /mʌrkət/ . /aɪ/ /bɒt/ /vedʒɪtəbl/, /fɪʃ/, /sɔ:lt/, /ɑ:nɪən/, /ən/ /sʌm/ /ʈʃɔ:klət/ . /ʌftər/ /dæt/ , /aɪ/ /tʊk/ /brəkfəst/ /æt/ /sɪtɪ/ /restrɒn/. /aɪ/ /æt/ /senwɪʃ/.

Words	Explaination
Last	The first learner can produce sound consonant cluster “st” at the word “last” correctly. It only has a syllable in this word.
Friday	She can produce sound cluster “fr” correctly. It only has two syllables in this word.
Went	She can produce sound cluster /nt/ correctly.
Bharu	It is a classic Malay Language word. The new spelling is “baru”. We do not change its spelling because “Wakaf Bharu” is a name of the place. This situation is also the same with “Kota Bharu”. She did not pronounce “h” sound because it is an old spelling.
Market	The British English and the American English pronounce it differently on this word. The British English does not produce “r” sound /mɑ:kɪt/ while, the American English pronounce “r” sound /mʌrkət/. The learner used American English on this word and she produced it correctly. This word has two syllables.
Bought	This word is past tense for “buy”. Even though the word has three consonants, we do not need to produce /g/ and /h/ sound. We only produce /t/ sound. So, the learner can pronounce it easily.
vegetable	The learner can pronounce it correctly at the consonant cluster but she made a mistake when pronouncing /ɪ/ sound after /vedʒ/ sound. Actually, she has to silent the first “e” word. People always make mistake on this word.  It is supported by Emma (2017) who stated that this word is a challenge because it looks like there should be four syllables in this word ‘Vegetable’. But there are only three syllables, ‘vegetable’. Can you see the syllable – that we completely forget the ‘e’? ‘Vegetable’. We don’t pronounce that second syllable.
fish	The learner has no problem in pronouncing it. It only has one syllable.
salt	The learner also has no problem in pronouncing this word and also the cluster. It only has one syllable.
and	The learner also has no problem in pronouncing this word and also the cluster. It only has one syllable.
chocolate	The learner has no problem in pronouncing the word but she made a mistake in pronouncing the first /ɒ/. She pronounced in long vowel /ɔ:/.
That	The learner cannot produce /ð/ sound correctly because there is no /ð/ sound in the Malay Language. /d/ sound is the nearest sound.
breakfast	The learner pronounced correctly all the clusters but she made a mistake in pronouncing /brək/. The correct is /brek/. It only has two syllables.
restaurant	The learner pronounced both two clusters correctly and also the whole word. It only has two syllables and it has silent sounds of /a/ and /u/.
Sandwich	The learner pronounced the first cluster correctly in which she has to silent the /d/ sound. However, she made a mistake in pronouncing “ch” sound. She pronounced /ʃ/ sound. The correct is /tʃ/.

 

2.1.2 The second learner

The second learner read as follow:

/lʌst/ /fraɪdej/, /aɪ/ /wɜ:nt/ /tʊ/ /wʌkʌf/ /bʌghu:/ /mɑ:rkət/. /aɪ/ /brɒt/ /vegɪtəbl/, /fɪʃ/, /sɔ:t/, /ʌnɪjən/, /ən/ /sʌm/ /ɒf/ /ʈʃɒklət/. /ʌftər/ /dət/, /aɪ/ /tʊk/ /brəkfəst/ /et/ /sɪtɪ/ /restɒren/. /aɪ/ /eɪt/ /senwɪʃ/.

Words	Explaination
Last	The second leaner can produce sound cluster correctly.
Friday	She can produce sound cluster correctly on this word but she made a mistake in pronouncing “day”. She is supposed to pronounce /deɪ/.
Went	She can produce sound cluster /nt/ correctly.
Bharu	She did not pronounce /h/ sound because of old spelling. However, she made a mistake in pronouncing /r/ sound. She pronounced it as /gh/ sound.
Market	She used the American English and she did not have any problem in pronouncing the cluster.
Bought	She can pronounce the cluster easily because we do not need to pronounce /g/ and /h/ sounds. However, she made a mistake in pronouncing the whole word. She pronounced it as /brɒt/.
vegetable	She pronounced the word with four syllables. Actually, it is only three syllables.
fish	She did not have a problem with this word
salt	She had a hard problem in pronouncing the cluster. She pronounced this word without /l/ sound.
and	He had a problem in pronouncing (nd) sound. He pronounced the word without /d/ sound.
chocolate	She did not have a problem in pronouncing this word.
That	She pronounced /ð/ sound as /d/ sound.
breakfast	She did not have a problem in pronouncing all the clusters in this word but she has a problem in pronouncing “a” and “e” words. She pronounced it as /ə/ sound.
restaurant	She pronounced it in three syllables because she was influenced by Malay language and its spelling. Malay people always make mistake in pronouncing this word. It is supported by Fadzilah Amin (2012) who stated that the Malay language took the word “restaurant” from English and changed it to “restoran”. When people who are more used to Malay than English come across the original English word, they have a tendency to pronounce it like the borrowed word “restoran”. But you can’t totally blame them. The spelling in English makes us expect it to have three syllables, but we all know how different the English spelling of a word can be from its pronunciation.
Sandwich	She made a mistake in pronouncing “ch” sound. She pronounced them as /ʃ/ sound. The correct is /tʃ/.

 

2.1.3 The third learner

The third learner read as follow:

/lʌst/ /fraɪdej/, /aɪ/ /went/ /tʊ/ /wɒkʌf/ /bʌghu:/ /mʌkət/. /aɪ/ /bɒt/ /vegɪtəbl/, /fɪs/, /sɜ:t/, /ə:nɪjən/, /ən/ /sʌm/ /ʈʃɒklʌt/. /ʌftər/ /dət/, /aɪ/ /tʊk/ /bəkfəst/ /et/ /sɪtɪ/ /restɒren/. /aɪ/ /et/ /senvɪs/.

Words	Explaination
Last	The third leaner can produce sound cluster correctly on this word
Friday	He can produce sound cluster correctly on this word but he made a mistake in pronouncing “day”. He is supposed to pronounce /deɪ/.
Went	He pronounced it correctly.
Bharu	He also did not pronounce /h/ sound because of old spelling. However, he made mistake in pronounce /r/ sound. He pronounced it as /gh/ sound.
Market	He pronounced it as /mʌkət/. I think maybe he used Kelantan English.
Bought	He can pronounce the cluster correctly.
vegetable	The third leaner did the same mistake in which he has pronounced it in four syllables. He did not make any mistake on the consonant cluster /bl/.
fish	The leaner cannot pronounce /ʃ/ sound correctly. He pronounced it as /s/ sound.
salt	He had a problem in pronouncing /lt/ sound and also made a mistake in pronouncing this word.
and	He had a problem in pronouncing /nd/ sound. He pronounced the word without /d/ sound.
chocolate	He can pronounce /ʈʃ/ sound correctly but he made mistake in pronouncing words “late”. He pronounced as /lʌt/. The correct is /lət/. The mistake happens because the Malay Language took this word from English and changed it into “coklat”. Even though the word has many letters, it only has two syllables.
That	He also made the same mistake on this word in which he pronounced /ð/ sound as /d/ sound.
breakfast	He cannot pronounce consonant cluster “br” sound.
restaurant	He made the same mistake with the second learner in which he has pronounced the word in three syllables.
Sandwich	He had a problem in pronouncing the whole word. He cannot pronounce /æ/, /w/ and /ʈʃ/ sounds.

 

2.1.4 The correct pronunciation based on British English

/lɑ:st/ /fraɪdeɪ/, /aɪ/ /went/ /tu:/ /wakaf/ /bhʌrʊ/ /mɑ:kɪt/. /aɪ/ /bɔ:t/ /vedʒtəbl/, /fɪʃ/, /sɔ:lt/, /ʌnjən/, /ænd/ /sʌm/ /ʈʃɒklət/. / ɑ:ftə/ /ðæt/, /aɪ/ /tʊk/ /brekfəst/ /æt/ /sɪtɪ/ /restrɒn/. /aɪ/ /æt/ /sænwɪʈʃ/.

 

 3.0 FINDINGS

            Based on the recorded speech, I found all of them cannot produce /θ/ and /ð/ sound. The consonant cluster that exists at both sounds is “th”. It happens because there is no /θ/ and /ð/ sounds in the Malay language. The sounds nearest to these sounds are /t/ and /d/ sounds. So, that is why the learners cannot pronounce “that” correctly.  Even though they have been learning the English Language since primary school, they have been doing the same mistake. Malay people tend to pronounce /ð/ sound as /d/ sound. It is supported by Swan and Smith (2001), who stated that English fricatives like /ð/ and /θ/ are always pronounced incorrectly as /t/ and /d/; for example, the word “thousand” /θaʊzənd/ would be (tousan). Chinese people also have the same problem.

            Two of the learners cannot produce /r/ sound exactly because they are influenced by Kelantan dialect. Kelantan dialect pronounces /r/ as /gh/ for example, “ghumoh”, “teghe”, “ghambut” and “ghamo”. So, that is why they pronounced “bharu” as /baghu/.

            Even though the third learner cannot pronounce /ʃ/ sound correctly, majority of Malay people can pronounce /ʃ/ sound because they have read Al Quran before they learn the English Language. It is supported by Puspita (2017) which stated that they learn Arabic when they are reading Al Qur’an. Arabic has consonant sounds /f/, / ð/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/. Therefore, if the learners learn Arabic industriously, they would not face any problem in pronouncing those sounds. But if they learn Arabic lazily, they may have problem in pronouncing them.

            Besides, Malaysians always make mistake in pronouncing “restaurant”. It is supported by Fadzilah Amin (2012) who stated that while she teaches English language to tertiary students, she would inevitably hear most of them pronounce “restaurant” as a three-syllable word sounding like “res-to-rant” or “res-to-rent”. She had to make them repeat the correct two-syllable pronunciation in British English several times before they could say “res-tront”. Actually, it happens because the Malay language took the word from English then changed the word into “restoran”. When Malaysians want to pronounce the word, they tend to pronounce it in three syllables. Actually, it only has two syllables.         

I found the learners had a problem in pronouncing /ʈʃ/ sound when it is positioned at the end. We can see that all of them cannot pronounce “sandwich” correctly but they can pronounce it when it is positioned at the start of a word like “chocolate”.

            According to the recorded speech, the learners cannot pronounce certain consonant-cluster. They pronounced certain word and be silent in another word. For example, they pronounced /t/ sound but silent /l/ sound on “salt”. For “and”, they pronounced /n/ sound but silent /d/ sound. However, they did not have any problem in pronouncing “bought” because they have to silent /g/ and /h/ sounds. They only have to pronounce /t/ sound, /bɔ:t/. Meanwhile, the third learner cannot pronounce “br” on “breakfast”. He pronounced it as /bəkfəst/. I think the third learner tends to use Kelantan English.

            In my opinion, it is too hard for learners to master pronunciation because their teachers do not emphasize it. It is supported by a study conducted by Jayapalan and Pillai (2011) which reported that the teaching of pronunciation is not being given enough attention by teachers. Besides, Wahid and Sulong (2013) also found that ESL practitioners in Malaysia demonstrate more emphasis on the teaching of the technical aspects of sound productions or phonetic symbols i.e. the segmental. As a result, pronunciation instruction loses its meaningfulness without the presence of communicative elements in the teaching methods. In addition, with examination requirements, teachers barely find the time to ensure that their lessons are communicatively oriented.

I also had experience when I was at primary and secondary schools, in which I never learned about phonetics and phonology, and my teachers never told me that there are many varieties of English language in the world. I learnt phonetics for the first time when I was 30 at a private institution. From there, I realized that I made many mistakes when I pronounced words. Now, I can learn the correct pronunciation myself because I can read the phonetic symbols.

           

4.0 CONCLUSION

            In conclusion, the consonant cluster is not an easy work to master for Malaysians because the education system for primary and secondary school in Malaysia does not emphasize students to produce pronunciation like a native speaker. So, as a teacher, we have to be aware and be sensitive about it, and take reasonable actions. It can be a serious problem when they still cannot master it at higher level.

            Some Malaysians cannot pronounce the words correctly because they are influenced by their dialect for example, some Kelantanise and Chinese cannot pronounce /r/ sound. The Kelantanese tend to pronounse it as /gh/ sound when /r/ sound is positioned at the middle of word. The Chinese tend to pronounce it as /l/ sound such as /labbit/ for /rabbit/.     

Malaysians also have difficulty in identifying syllable because the way the Malay language spells its words is not the same with the English language. We can see it in the word “chocolate”. If we see the word “chocolate” in the Malay language view, the word has four syllables because the Malay language spells the word as cho-co-la-te. They will pronounce every consonant + vowel. So, that is why Malaysians take more time to master pronunciation and spelling of the English language.

            Malaysians also get confused when the Malay language borrows words from the English language. So, Malaysians tend to pronounce the words like the way they pronounce it in the Malay language like restaurant and ‘restoran’, chocolate and ‘coklat’, bag and ‘beg’, pencil and ‘pensil’, computer and ‘komputer’, machine and ‘mesin’, and discussion and ‘diskusi’. So, as an ESL leaner, we have to be sensitive about it.