Abstract
Japanese English learners have difficulties with English spelling and pronunciation because the writing and phoneme systems differ between Japanese and English, and Japanese students do not have enough opportunity to learn these systems. It is necessary to understand the types of errors Japanese English learners make to improve their spelling and pronunciation skills. The purpose of this study is to see the characteristics of spelling and pronunciation of individual learners through error analysis of spelling and pronunciation tests. There are two Research Questions (RQs); RQ1: Do the spelling and pronunciation characteristics of Japanese English learners differ depending on the learners? RQ2: Are there any differences in participants’ spelling and pronunciation skills depending on their proficiency level? A total of 22 university students took three types of tests; (a) spelling test, (b) pronunciation test, and (c) a Japanese meaning check test. Focusing on each learners’ accuracy and error types, the learners could be divided into four groups; (a) Good Spellers Good Decoders, (b) Good Spellers Poor Decoders, (c) Poor Spellers Good Decoders, and (d) Poor Spellers Poor Decoders. Through this study, it was obvious that each learner has a different type of error. Therefore, Japanese English teachers need to teach their students individually about the types of errors that their students make. As for spelling teaching, it is necessary for the teachers to find the errors that are likely to occur individually and provide feedback to the learners so that they understand the errors they are likely to make. In terms of teaching pronunciation, it is important to take time for the teachers to check pronunciation individually, not just to practice pronunciation in the whole classroom.
