Date of Award
7-2025
Culminating Project Type
Thesis
Styleguide
apa
Degree Name
English: Teaching English as a Second Language: M.A.
Department
English
College
College of Liberal Arts
First Advisor
Ettien Koffi
Second Advisor
Michael Schwartz
Third Advisor
Lisa E Loftis
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Keywords and Subject Headings
Vowel Intelligibility Analysis, Taiwanese Mandarin, Masking Analysis, Acoustic Distance, Acoustic Vowel Space, Vowel Analysis.
Abstract
The objective of this project is to investigate whether Taiwanese Accented English (TAE) speakers produce English vowels intelligibly. In this study, the recordings of the elicitation paragraph produced by 20 Taiwanese Accented English (TAE) speakers (10 males and 10 females) are downloaded from the Speech Accent Archive (SAA) database from George Mason University (2024). Acoustic phonetic analyses are carried out on their speech samples. This investigation focuses on 11 vowels found in 33 English words.
The acoustic phonetic software Praat (Boersma & Weenink, 2024) is used to extract data collection and measurement. The acoustic correlates measured are: F0, F1, F2, F3, Duration, and Intensity correlates.
F1 and F2 are singled out for analysis research because they are the most robust cues for assessing the intelligibility of vowels. These measurements are used to determine whether the vowels produced by the TAE participants mask each other. Masking thresholds are based on Koffi (2021, p. 75), and the degree of intelligibility is assessed using Catford’s (1987, pp. 89–90) Relative Functional Load (RFL) calculations. Acoustic vowel spaces are created to help visualize how the various vowels are produced by TAE speakers compared with those produced by their General American English (GAE) counterparts. Hillenbrand et al (1995, p. 3103) is taken to be representation of GAE. The analysis shows that the intelligibility of TAE speakers’ English is significantly impaired in the following vowel pairs: [i] and [ɪ], [ɪ] and [e], [u] and [o], [o] and [ɔ], [ɔ] and [a], and [æ] and [a].
Pedagogical implications and applications are further drawn in order to help TAE speakers improve their intelligibility because vowels are known to play an important role in the intelligibility of L2 English.
Recommended Citation
Huang, Hsin-Tzu, "Explorations into Language Economics: Segmental Intelligibility Issues and its Implications for the Taiwanese Tour Guides’ English Proficiency" (2025). Culminating Projects in TESL. 74.
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/tesl_etds/74
Comments/Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I give all glory and thanks to God, whose grace, strength, and guidance have sustained me throughout this academic journey. This thesis would not have been possible without His presence in every step I have taken.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my primary advisor and committee chair, Dr. Ettien Koffi, for your invaluable advice, encouragement, and insightful feedback. Your mentorship has not only shaped the direction of this thesis but has also profoundly inspired my academic development.
To my committee members, Dr. Michael Schwartz and Dr. Lisa E. Loftis, thank you for your time, thoughtful suggestions, and continuous encouragement. I deeply appreciate your support and commitment throughout my thesis process.
I am also sincerely thankful to Dr. Michael Schwartz for offering me the opportunity to teach at the Intensive English Center (IEC), and to Dr. John Madden for his generous guidance of my tutoring work. Your constructive feedback and encouragement have helped me grow as an English teacher.
To my students at the IEC, thank you for your hard work, and willingness to learn. Teaching you has been one of the most meaningful and rewarding aspects of my journey at St. Cloud State University. You have inspired me more than you can imagine, and I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to grow with you.
My sincere appreciation goes to all the faculty and staff of the TESL Program at St. Cloud State University, and to my classmates, especially those who walked alongside me through this journey. Your support, collaboration, and friendship have meant a great deal.
I would like to dedicate this thesis to my beloved parents, who have passed away. Although they are no longer with me, their love, values, and belief in my potential continue to strengthen me. I carry their memory in all that I do, and I hope this achievement would make them proud.
I extend my heartfelt gratitude to my dear elder brother, Po-Kuan Huang; my gracious sister-in-law, Choon Ai Chai; and their wonderful children. I am also deeply thankful to my friend, Hsiao-Ling Peng; my godmother, Lung Wen Wei; my friend, Kirsten D. Wagenius, and her family; my banker, Nicholas Carrigan; and to all those who have stood by me throughout this journey. Your kindness and assistance have been a constant source of motivation in both my academic and personal life.