An Error Analysis of Japanese Students' Listening Comprehension and Dictation of English Radio and Television Weather Forecasts

Abstract

With two languages as dissimilar as Japanese and English, perhaps it is to be expected that the speakers of the one will have some problems in practicing the other. Neverless, the frequency and consistency of certain kinds of errors must be a cause for concern. This is so especially if one takes into account the large amount of time and effort that Japanese students put into mastering the English language. This article accordingly, looks at various errors often displayed by Japanese students. Particularly, in their listening comprehension and dictation of English radio and television weather forecasts. In addition, this paper will also speculate on some of the reasons for the problems encountered by Japanese practioners of the other language. Because the Japanese language does not have articles, it is often difficult for Japanese students to listen to both the definite and indefinite articles. When they dictate the weather forecast in English, they often omit articles. This is mainly because the indefinite article "a" is often reduced and appears to be part of the word which comes before it. It is usually pronounced [ə] when it is not stressed. This sound is very difficult for Japanese students to comprehend. They can easily comprehend "a" when there is a special reason of contrast when announcers give the full pronunciation of [ei]. It is also very difficult for Japanese students to distinguish "a" when it is pronounced [ə] before a word beginning with a consonant sound, and "an" when it is pronounced [æn]. Most Japanese students are able to comprehend "the" when it is pronounced [ðe] before words that begin with a consonant sound. But they find it difficult to distinguish "the when it is pronounced [ði] before words with a vowel sound. Functional prepositions such as "to, of, and for" are often reduced when they are used with verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs. It is especially difficult to distinguish "to", because, following the pattern of verb + to + second verb, to may be reduced to/tə/or/ ə / and combine with the first verb, which may also change. Another preposition "of" is usually reduced in expressions like "some of, most of, none of, all of, and a lot of before consonants, and is very difficult for the Japanese learners of English to comprehend. Errors are also found among be verbs when they are reduced in normal speech. Many Japanese students cannot comprehend such phrases as "You're, He's, She's, They're, We're, Which're Why're, etc." When the pronouns such as "he, his, him, and her" are unstressed, the sound / h / may be dropped. So, many Japanese students are unable to distinguish the phrases including these pronouns. In many cases, when listening, Japanese students are unable to comprehend such simple words such as air, call, come, first, plus, rain and wind which they can easily understand by sight. This is mainly because they have not been properly trained in listening comprehension of the English language in their junior and senior high school education. In conclusion, for the purpose of communication, it is very important for the Japanese students to be trained in the listening comprehension of the English language. In this respect, English from the Mass Media such as weather forecast and other news items should be effectively used in the English classrooms.