Hebron University

MA Program in Applied Linguistics

Research Methods
22771

The Impact of English Movies and Songs on

Enhancing the English Pronunciation and
Speaking Skills of the Senior English Majors at
Hebron University

Duaa W. Al-Muhtaseb
21019055

Spring Semester, 2012

Supervised by Professor Dr. Ahmad Atawneh

Table of Contents:
1. Abstract.
(2)
2. Introduction...
(3)
3. Review of
Literature.....................................................
(5)
4. Methodology.......................
......(8)
5. Results.
(10)
6. Discussion, Conclusions, and
Recommendations...(16)
7. References...
(18)
8. Appendices..
(19)

Abstract
English phonetics and pronunciation are of minor status in English
language instruction at Hebron University. A survey was run to show
that English majors suffer from lack of the required courses for speaking
skills; therefore, they have problems in terms of pronunciation, word
stress, and sentence stress. This paper aimed at investigating these
problems and attempted to use a new technique for enhancing
pronunciation and speaking skills. A short movie and a song were shown
to senior English majors and pre-post pronunciation tests were carried
out to show that using visual and auditory aids in teaching spoken
English improved the participants' pronunciation 28% than teaching
pronunciation without such means.
Key Words: pronunciation, phonetics, speaking skills, movies, songs,
word stress, sentence stress

The Impact of English Movies and Songs on

Enhancing the English Pronunciation and
Speaking Skills
Introduction:
English language is one of the most powerful and well-known
languages in the whole world. In each and every word, it has grown to
be the language of age; that is, most attitudes towards English are
positive since the majority if not all countries adopt it as their second or
foreign language used in education, government, politics, trade, and
external dealings and relations. The Arab World, as part of the globe,
has also given English its status as the first foreign language taught in
schools and academic institutions, and used it in business, in media, and
communication with other parts of the world.

In terms of instruction, teaching English is supposedly not

confined only to grammar; it should include several aspects of the
language, such as the four skills (i.e., listening, reading, speaking, and
writing). The main focus, however, is probably devoted to writing;
students do a lot of writing since the first academic year till they do
their graduation paper, whereas they take few courses regarding
reading and speaking skills which both already depend to a great extent
on the skills of phonetics and pronunciation. Therefore, teachers as well
as students (Gimson, 1980) need to assess the efforts and time given to
pronunciation as a vital part of language learning, and they should
determine the level of proficiency necessary for effective
communication.

Nature of the Problem

From a personal experience in the major, the writer believes that
the main cause of weak pronunciation among ESL\EFL Arab learners
may be the negative transfer of the native language (Arabic), and the
lack of listening to and practicing the pure English as it is spoken by
native speakers. Therefore, the researcher aims in this paper at
investigating the problems of pronunciation and speaking skills of senior
English majors at Hebron University in an attempt to find new
techniques for promoting their pronunciation to sound comprehensible
and native-like. One of the techniques she herself used and would like to
apply to the English majors in the research experiment is using English
movies and songs as a means for enhancing pronunciation because this

technique is believed to give students the opportunity to listen to the

authentic spoken English from the native speakers themselves.

Research Questions
1. What is the status of pronunciation and phonetics in the English
language instruction at Hebron University?
2. What are the problems the English majors suffer from in pronunciation
and speaking skills?
3. To what extent do English TV shows, movies and songs have impact
on improving students' pronunciation and speaking skills?

Research Hypotheses
1. It is expected that the status of pronunciation and phonetics teaching
in the English Department at Hebron University is of minor importance.
2. English majors at Hebron University are expected to have problems in
pronunciation, word stress and sentence stress.
3. Using English TV shows, movies, and songs is expected to have
positive impact on the pronunciation and speaking skills of the senior
English majors at Hebron University.

Review of Literature
In a poll launched online two years ago ("Is pronunciation a
priority in your teaching?", 2010, 1), more than 950 subjects
responded, and the answers were the following:

1. 86% of the visitors responded with "Yes", English pronunciation is a

high priority.
2. 11% of the visitors responded with "No", English pronunciation is not
a priority.
3. 3% of the visitors do not know.
EFL learners, such as Arabs, find it difficult to acquire the real
English spoken by native speakers; that is, such language has its own
special phonological system and rules differing from that of the mother
tongue of the learner. Accordingly, the extent of difficulty of learning
English depends greatly on its relation to the first\native language of the
learner; whether it is a cognate to English (i.e., L1 and L2 are both
descendents of the same language family) or not. For example, it may
somehow be easier for a French person to learn English than an Arab if
both learners received the same instruction under the same conditions;
that is, French and English are cognates of the same family which is
'Germanic', and therefore both share many features, sounds and
vocabulary. However, Arabic is a 'Semitic' language not Germanic, which
means a total difference between Arabic and English in vocabulary,
grammar, sentence structure, phonetics and phonology.
As a result, Arab learners should exert extra effort to master
English language in general and its phonetics and pronunciation in
specific because Arabic, though shares some consonants with English
(such as t, d, s with a minor difference in place and manner of
articulation), it further differs from English in many other consonants
(such as g, p, t), in the vowels system, word stress, sentence stress,
and intonation. One major difference between Arabic and English is that

Arabic is syllable-stressed (i.e., stressing every syllable and word in a

sentence), while English is time-stressed (i.e., giving longer time and
higher pitch only to the stressed syllables of a sentence). Gimson (1980,
p. 322) advises EFL learners of pronunciation "to establish certain basic
discriminatory skills" by distinguishing between the features of the
mother tongue and those of English, in addition to recognizing the
contrastive features of English itself.
Another matter that should be taking care of is that although
English phonetics and pronunciation follow rules, the application of such
rules is not always systematic; there are irregularities and exceptions,
especially in word stress when it comes to pronouncing verbs, nouns,
and derivations of the same root or stem (Gimson, 1980). In terms of
connected speech, the story is more complicated because sometimes
we need to switch the stress\ accent to a particular word or phrase, that
originally do not receive stress, in order to convey a specific meaning or
message, depending on the context of speech. Therefore, we should be
aware of the way we do that in order not to be misunderstood by others
especially native speakers. That is, it happens that wrong usage of
stress, pitch of voice, or intonation in connected speech get
misinterpreted (Gimson, 1980).
Gimson (1980, p. 297) recommends the foreign learner of English
"to aim at a careful colloquial style of English in his own speech and, at
the same time, be aware of the features which characterize the rapid
colloquial style he is likely to hear from native speakers," which can
probably be achieved by listening to English songs and movies whether

spoken with the Received Pronunciation (which is the advisable accent

by Gimson), with the General American, or with any other English
accent. The phase of acquiring English pronunciation through listening
to TV shows, Soup Operas, radio broadcasts and other visual and
auditory means is called, according to Gimson (1980), 'Practice in
reception and comprehension'. Such means should be supervised by
the phonetics teacher who needs to judge and evaluate the
appropriateness of the employed speech styles and different accents for
EFL learners' needs (Gimson, 1980).
In terms of using songs to enhance English pronunciation, it is
suggested (teachingenglish.org, Developing pronunciation through
songs, 2006) that songs are a good and accessible source of authentic
and memorable language; they have the ability to inspire learners to be
keen listeners to the native accents, they encourage students to get
exposed to and produce difficult sounds, words, and phrases that are
unknown before, their rhythmic style makes the language repeatable
and easier to imitate, and above all songs provide listeners with a
relaxing and emotional atmosphere that makes them in a state of
unconscious exposure to language rather than artificial and exhaustive
learning. It is advisable (Developing pronunciation through songs",
2006, Conclusion section, para. 1) for learners as well as teachers to
"choose songs that are clear, not too fast, memorable, likely to appeal
to our learners and easy to create activities for, depending on the area
of pronunciation we are focusing on." There are four steps that can be
done to improve teaching pronunciation (Celce-Murcia, 1987, as cited in

Chan (n.d.) "Teaching pronunciation using song lyrics", 1); problem

areas should be identified, communicative tasks should be developed to
overcome the problems, and exercises should be practiced to get rid of
the problems.
As for movies and films, Goodwin in her PDF lecture (Using film
clips to teach pronunciation) has argued that films give learners the
chance to imitate the various levels of real-life exchanges. They have
also the ability to enhance listening comprehension among learners,
analyzing authentic speech. Films can be the means by which learners
perceive the message conveyed, not only through the discourse words,
but also by stress and intonation patterns used by the interlocutors, in
addition to body language, emotional and mental status.

Methodology
I. Participants
14 senior female English majors from a spring semester Phonetics
class at Hebron University were randomly chosen to respond to a survey.
Then seven out of the 14 students volunteered to watch a movie and a
song and be subjected to pronunciation pre-post tests. The seven
students were served lunch and snacks the day of the experiment.

II. Procedure, Instruments and Materials

1. Survey: a nine-question-paper survey was designed for collecting
written data. The survey aimed mainly at inducing 14 English majors'
view points of pronunciation as a part of English language. Data was

also gathered about the extra activities and aids by which students
learn English pronunciation, in addition to the English accents they
prefer to use. Each subject answered the questions on her own
without intervention from the researcher or other subjects. The
survey took around 10 minutes for each subject to answer.
2. Experiment: An English short movie and a song were chosen to be
shown to seven English majors in the Technology Lab at the
Excellence Center for Teaching. The purpose was to make the
students focus on the pronunciation of the dialogues in the movie
and song. The show of both movie and song lasted around 20
minutes.
The short movie: an internationally awarded, Australian film titled
"Zero". The film was chosen for the experiment for several reasons. It
is entertaining, short in length (around 12 minutes), has one clear
and comprehensible voice\speaker with correct English
pronunciation, and at the same time is well-planned to convey
morale. 15 words were selected from the film for the pre-post tests.
The song: Maher Zain's well-know (five-minute) song "Open Your
Eyes" was also chosen for the experiment for several reasons. The
song is relaxing and motivating, its language is simple, clear and
comprehensible, and simultaneously the pronunciation is native-like
and correct. Above all, the message of the song is universal,
meaningful, and full of morale. 15 words were selected from the song
for the pre-post tests.

Pre-post pronunciation tests: 30 words were selected from the

short movie and the song for pre-testing the participants in
pronouncing them before showing the movie and song. After the show,

the seven participants were subjected to a pronunciation post-test in

the same words to measure the effectiveness of using such visual and
auditory materials in enhancing the students' English pronunciation.
Specifically, words or items varied between nouns, verbs, adjectives,
adverbs, articles, pronouns, and prepositions tested in connected
speech in terms of pronunciation (of vowels and consonants), word
stress, and sentence stress. Tests were recorded on a high-quality taperecorder. Pronunciation of the selected words in "connected speech"
was tested and graded either correct or incorrect. It is worth noting
that more than two mistakes in a word made the pronunciation
counted incorrect.

Results
1. Survey:
Answers to the survey questions were gathered as the following:
Question One: Do you find 'phonetics' an important aspect of English
language instruction as other aspects like grammar, writing, reading,
linguistics etc?
13 students out of 14 responded with "yes", confirming the
importance of pronunciation as an aspect of English language
instruction. For example, Anwaar (1), an English-French senior
responded, "Yes, I do because phonetics is very essential to be applied
in our spoken and communicative language." While Refqa answered,
"Yes, in order to be understood by others." Razaan also answered, "Yes,

because it (phonetics skills) helps us to speak in a correct way."

Contrary to such answers, Wafa' had another opinion as she answered,
"I believe there are topics more important than phonetics, but it is also
good to know."
Question Two: Do you think the academic courses and hours
dedicated to English phonetics, pronunciation, and oral practice
adequate and enough?
13 subjects out of 14 answered "no", asserting that the academic
courses and hours dedicated to phonetics, pronunciation, and oral drills
are not adequate or enough. For example, Manar, an English Literature
senior, responded, "No, they are not enough at all. In fact, I feel we need
intensive courses in these subjects." Aminah, in her turn, added, "No, I
think for us as English major students, we need an intensive work on
English pronunciation." As for Rawan, she raised the issue of timing of
taking phonetics courses. She said, "It is late to take phonetics and oral
courses in the 3rd and 4th years, I wish we knew these things earlier." On
the other hand, Hiba (1), an English-French senior responded, "Yes, the
academic coursed and hours dedicated to phonetics, pronunciation, and
oral practice are adequate and enough."
Question Three: What additional or external activities do you exercise
to practice English pronunciation\accents?
The 14 subjects had various answers for this question. Most of
them said that they watch TV, listen to English songs, and talk to native
speakers. For example, Majida, an English-French senior, answered, "I

listen to the English native accent and repeat what I listen to." While
Manar said, "I listen to English songs more than 10 hours a day, and I
have native-speaker friends to talk to." Rawan said, "I'd like to have a
native-speaker partner all the time to correct my pronunciation
mistakes." As for Refqa, she said that she watch and "listen to videos
on YouTube," while Razaan said that she "attends workshops and
interactive meetings" to improve her language.
Question Four: What kind of English TV shows do you watch? For what
purposes?
13 participants out of 14 confirmed that they watch English TV
shows. They said that they watch different genres of movies and series,
such as documentary, action, drama, and comedy; listen to English
songs; and watch news channels such as CNN, cooking programs,
religious shows, and medical shows such as The Doctors, for the sake of
entertainment, benefit, and enhancing the language vocabulary and
accent. For example, Anwaar (2) answered, "I watch Iqra' Channel
shows. There are English programs about our religion, so I watch them
to increase my knowledge about Islam and enhance my listening
abilities in English at the same time." Manar, on the other hand, watch
"CSI Miami, WWE ROW, and a lot of movies to gain more vocabulary and
reach the native speakers' level in pronunciation."
Question Five: Do you feel such TV shows play role in improving your
English pronunciation?

All students responded with "Yes", asserting that TV shows and

songs play role in improving the English pronunciation. They used
expressions like "Definitely, of course, surely" to stress their
approvals. For example, Anwaar (1) responded, "Yes, I do because I
have learned English from such shows."
Question Six: What accent do you prefer to speak with in English?
Why?
Answers for this question were mainly divided into two parties; 7
subjects out of 14 preferred the American accent, while 6 students
preferred the British accent. However, one student "Aminah" provided a
third answer, "I prefer the regular accent; it increases my vocabulary
list!" As for those who chose the American accent, they argued that it is
clearer and easier than the British accent. Manar had her reason for
preferring the American accent; she answered, "I prefer the American
because my friends are from there, but I also adore the way British
people speak." On the other hand, the participants who chose the British
accent argued that it is original and more formal. Hiba (2), an English
Literature senior, responded, "I prefer the British accent because I feel
that I'm from the upper class when I speak with it. The British accent is
also so beautiful and wonderful. I just love it." Samah, from her side,
added that "the British accent is easier and clearer."
Question Seven: Do you think your native language (Arabic) or other
languages you are learning (French, Spanish, Hebrew) affect your
'acquisition' of the English phonological system?

Answers for this question were divided into two parties; 8 out of
14 students answered with "Yes", while 6 out the 14 responded with
"No". Wafa', for example, argued that no other languages can affect
English language acquisition because "everything is separated."
However, for those who believe that other languages can affect English
acquisition, had different views. For example, Anwaar (1) suggested
that "Arabic and French have positive and negative impacts on my
acquisition to English. The positive points are the similarities, while the
negative points are due to the interference of both languages." Manar
also argued that other languages do affect English acquisition
"especially languages' differences in the vowel system."
Question Eight: Do you have any suggestions for improving English
pronunciation?
11 participants out of 14 provided various suggestions for
improving English pronunciation. For example, many of them suggested
that there should be more courses for teaching English phonetics and
pronunciation. It was also suggested that English teachers at Hebron
University should be more qualified with the native-like English
pronunciation. For example, Anwaar (2) recommended that "courses
and activities in pronunciation should be increased, and teachers also
should be more qualified." In addition, it was recommended to have an
intensive program for teaching pronunciation whether during the regular
classes or through summer schooling, and to bring English nativespeaker teachers to teach such subjects. For example, Hiba (1)
suggested "bringing native speakers of English to teach at our university

and increasing the number of required hours for pronunciation and oral
skills."
Question Nine: What do you think the most difficult part of phonetics:
pronunciation word stress, sentence stress, sentence intonation, or any
other difficulties?
According to the recorded answers, 5 students believe that word
stress is the most difficult part of phonetics. For example, Manar
argued, "Word stress may have some difficulty, but I think we can
overcome it after all." Other 5 subjects, on the other hand, said that
sentence stress is the most difficult part. For example, Anwaar (1)
responded, "Sentence stress is the most difficult part because I find
difficulty in pronouncing the exact stressed syllables and words." The
rest of the subjects (4 students), had different answers. Refqa argued
that "Stress in general" is difficult, while Majida suggested "Sentence
intonation" to be the most difficult. Anwaar (2) expressed that "All of
them" (i.e., word stress, sentence stress and intonation) are difficult.
Wafa', yet, had another opinion arguing that "transcription of words'
pronunciation is the hardest part of phonetics."

2. Results of Pre-Post Pronunciation Tests:

Pre-Test (No. of

Post-Test (No. of

Percentage of

Occurrences) out of

Occurrences) out of

Improvement

seven
Correct
7
3
4
7

28,6%
14,3%
14,3%
14,3%

Seven
No. Word
Correct
1. equal
5
2. amongst
2
3. mediocrity 3
4. unremarkabl 6

Incorrect
2
5
4
1

Incorrect
0
4
3
0

5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.

e
battle
opportunitie
s
forbidden
zero
adult
numerical
negative
battered
unaware
wonderful
belonging
around
you
floating
orbits
harmony
ourselves
enough
the
close
veins
they
in front of
miracle
forever
just

6
1

1
6

6
3

1
4

0%
28,6%

0
6
5
2
4
4
5
5
3
4
3
3
6
2
6
3
4
4
2
2
5
3
5
3

7
1
2
5
3
3
2
2
4
3
4
4
1
5
1
4
3
3
5
5
2
4
2
4

4
7
6
5
7
7
5
6
7
6
5
7
7
7
7
4
7
4
4
6
6
4
6
6

3
0
1
2
0
0
2
1
0
1
2
0
0
0
1
3
0
3
3
1
1
3
1
1

57,1%
14,3%
14,3%
42,9%
42,9%
42,9%
0%
14,3%
57,1%
28,6%
28,6%
57,1%
14,3%
71,4%
14,3%
14,3%
42,9%
0%
28,6%
57,1%
14,3%
14,3%
14,3%
42,9%

Grouping of Occurrences: From the Most Improved Items in

Pronunciation to the Least
No. No. of Items

Percentage of

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Improvement
71,4%
57,1%
42,9%
28,6%
14,3%

1 word (harmony)
4 words (forbidden, belonging, floating, and they)
5 words (numerical, negative, battered, the, and just)
5 words (equal, opportunities, around, you, and veins)
12 words (amongst, mediocrity, unremarkable, zero,
adult, wonderful, orbits, ourselves, enough, in front of

6.

miracle, and forever)

3 words (battle, unaware, and close)

0%

Average of pronunciation improvement: 28%

Discussion, Conclusions and Recommendations

This paper hypothesizes that the senior English majors at Hebron
University have problems in the English pronunciation and phonetics;
therefore, using English movies and songs in instruction has the ability to
solve such problems and enhance the English majors' pronunciation. The
results of the survey and the experiment that have been carried out
support what was hypothesized, and the following conclusions prove the
validity of the proposed hypotheses.
1. Many of Hebron University English majors reach their 3rd and 4th
academic years, suffering from serious problems in basic issues in
English speaking skills. For example, they suffer from weaknesses in
English pronunciation, such as the misplaced use of short and long
vowels, and diphthongs. Many of the English majors are unable to
recognize the syllables that should receive stress from those that
should be unstressed or neglected. They also do not know how to
employ sentence intonation correctly to convey the idea they want.
2. Senior English majors at Hebron University regard phonetics,
pronunciation and oral skills vital aspects of English language
instruction and believe that the required courses dedicated to English
speaking skills should be increased and given earlier in the BA English
language Program side by side with writing, reading, and grammar

courses, instead of the punch of courses that are given to English

literature, Arabic and history.
3. Using auditory and visual materials, such as short movies, songs, TV
shows and YouTube materials should consists the largest part of
phonetics and oral courses because according to the results shown in
this paper, the level of pronunciation of the participating English
majors has improved 28% after watching a short movie and song for
once than it was before. So let us imagine if 70% of the phonetics and
oral courses focused on watching and listening to English native
dialogues, then much of the English speaking problems will disappear,
and much improvement will be noticed.
4. According to the paper survey, some students prefer the Standard
British accent (the Received Pronunciation), while others prefer the
Standard American accent (the General American). Therefore, it is a
good idea to study each standard in a special course and get
instructed by specialized native speakers.
5. It is recommended that Hebron University instructors should be more
acquainted with English language speaking skills because they are the
pacemakers for their students in every aspect of language learning
even though they teach other skills of the language, such as writing
and grammar.
6. Although this paper is limited in scope, number of subjects, and time,
it makes an important indication to the status of the English phonetics
and pronunciation instruction at Hebron University and represents the
level of English majors in the speaking skills.

References
Awakening Records (Producers). (2009). Open your eyes [Audio podcast].
Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=AY5LZopqyio&feature=autoplay&list=FLsdMkHEK_xNdiv982q_jieQ&pla
ynext=1.

Celce-Murcia, M. (1987). Teaching pronunciation as communication. In J.

Morley (Ed.), Current perspectives on pronunciation: Practices
anchored in theory. (pp. 1_13). Washington, D.C.: TESOL.
Chan, T. L. (n.d.). Teaching pronunciation using song lyrics. Retrieved
from http://www.tuj.ac.jp\tesol\publishers\studies\vol27\labrenz.html
Developing pronunciation through songs. (2006). British Council BBC.
Retrieved from
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk\articles\developingpronunciation-through-songs.
Gimson, A. C. (1980). An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English.
London: Edward Arnold (Publishers) Ltd.
Goodwin, J. (n.d.). Using film clips to teach pronunciation. Retrieved from
www.international.ucla.edu\languages\lab\profiles\janetgoodwin\Go
odwin-usingfilmclips.pdf.
Is pronunciation a priority in your teaching? (2010). British Council BBC.
Retrieved from
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk\polls\pronunciation-a-priorityyour-teaching.
Kezelos, C. (Producer) and Kezelos, C. (Director). (2010). Film: Zero [VHS].
Australia: Zealous Creative. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=LOMbySJTKpg&feature=bf_next&list=FLsdMkHEK_xNdiv982q_jieQ

Appendices

Survey
First Name (only):
Year:

Academic

Exact field of Study:

Gender:

Dear student: If you please give your attention to answer the

following questions 'alone' with what you find suitable as you
think:
1. Do you find 'phonetics' an important aspect of English
language instruction as other aspects like grammar, writing,
reading, linguistics etc?

2. Do you think the academic courses and hours dedicated to

English phonetics, pronunciation, and oral practice adequate
and enough?
3. What additional or external activities do you exercise to
practice English pronunciation\ accents?
4. What kind of English T.V shows do you watch? For what
purposes?

5. Do you feel such T.V shows play role in improving your English
pronunciation?

6. What accent you prefer to speak with in English? Why?

7.

Do you think your native language (Arabic) or any other

languages you are learning (French, Spanish, Hebrew) affect
your acquisition of the English phonological system?

8. Do you have any suggestions for improving English

pronunciation?

9. What do you think the most difficult part of phonetics:

pronunciation, word stress, sentence stress, sentence
intonation?

Pronunciation-Testing Format
Dear volunteer students, this paper aims at gathering data for a project
concerning pronunciation. Be assured that no full names will be mentioned in
the research experiment. You are required to respond to a preliminary
pronunciation test. Then you are going to watch and listen to an internationally
awarded short film titled "ZERO" and focus on the pronunciation of words used
in the film. Each of you, after that, will be asked to repeat certain words both
individually and in-context, taking into account word stress, sentence stress,
and intonation. Your answers will be recorded. The same thing will be done
after listening to a song by Maher Zain titled "Open Your Eyes". Your help will
be appreciated, so be relaxed when answering.
Note: The experiment may be repeated another time if needed.

Part One: "ZERO" Movie

1.

Equal:
e.g. However, we're not all born equal.
2. Amongst:
e.g. affecting great change amongst their people.
3. Mediocrity:
e.g. others are born into mediocrity.
4. Battle:
e.g. life will be a constant battle offering zero opportunities.
5. Opportunities:
e.g. life will be a constant battle offering zero opportunities.
6. Forbidden:
e.g. It was forbidden for his denomination to multiply.
7. Zero:
e.g. a zero is a zero no matter which way you face.
8. Adult:
e.g. As Zero grew into an adult, he walked a lonely path.
9. Numerical:
e.g. Despite his numerical shortcomings, Zero felt he had something to
offer.
10. Negative:
e.g. he didn't want to be a negative number.
11. Battered:
e.g. It wasn't the first time Zero awoke with a battered and bruised
body

12. Unaware:
e.g. For the first time, Zero felt unaware of his lowly number.
14. Wonderful:
e.g. but the most wonderful sensation was the feeling of belonging.
15. Belonging:
e.g. but the most wonderful sensation was the feeling of belonging.

Part Two: "Open Your Eyes" Song

1.

Around:
e.g. Look around yourself
2. You:
e.g. Can't you see this wonder?
3. Floating:
e.g. The clouds are floating by
4. Orbits:
e.g. Planets in their orbits
5. Harmony:
e.g. such perfect harmony.
6. Ourselves:
e.g. Let's start questioning ourselves
7. Enough:
e.g. isn't this proof enough for us?
8. The:
e.g. Take us in the best way
9. Close:
e.g. Keep us close to you until the end of time.
10. Veins:
e.g. running in your veins
11. They:
e.g. Are they really there?
12. In front of:
e.g. so why you deny what's in front of your eyes?
13. Miracle:
e.g. The biggest miracle of life!
14. Forever:
e.g. forever we thank you.
15. Just:
e.g. if we just look right to see the signs

IPA Transcription of the Test Items

Part One: "ZERO" Movie
1.

Equal: \ikwl\
e.g. However, we're not all born equal.
\hev, w nt l bn ikwl\
2.

Amongst: \mst\
e.g. affecting great change amongst their people.
\fekt gret tend mst pipl\

3.

Mediocrity: \midikti\
e.g. others are born into mediocrity.
\rz r bn nt midikrti\

4.

Unremarkable: \n'mkbl\
e.g. living unremarkable lives.
\l'v n'mkbl 'lavz\

4.

Battle: \bt\
e.g. life will be a constant battle offering zero opportunities.
\laf wl bi knstnt bt f zi ptuntiz\

5.

Opportunities: \ptuntiz\
e.g. life will be a constant battle offering zero opportunities.
\laf wl bi knstnt btl f zir ptuntiz\

6.

Forbidden: \fbdn\
e.g. It was forbidden for his denomination to multiply.
\t wz fbdn f z dnmnen t mltpla\

7.

Zero: \zi\
e.g. a zero is a zero no matter which way you face.
\ zi z zi n mt wt we j fes\

8.

Adult: \dlt\ \dld\

e.g. As Zero grew into an adult, he walked a lonely path.
\z zi gu nt n dld, hi wkt lnli p\

9.

Numerical: \nmerkl\
e.g. Despite his numerical shortcomings, Zero felt he had
something to offer.
\dspat z nmekl tkmz, zir felt i hd sm
t f\

10. Negative: \negtv\

e.g. he didn't want to be a negative number.

\hi ddn wnt t bi negtv nmb\
11. Battered: \btrd\
e.g. It wasn't the first time Zero awoke with a battered and bruised
body
\t wznt frst tam zir wk w btrd nd bruzd
bdi\
12. Unaware: \nwer\
e.g. For the first time, Zero felt unaware of his lowly number.
\fr frst tam, zir felt nwer v z lli nmbr\
14. Wonderful: \wndfl\
e.g. but the most wonderful sensation was the feeling of
belonging.
\bt mst wndfl sensen wz fil v b
l\
15. Belonging: \bl\
e.g. but the most wonderful sensation was the feeling of
belonging.
\bt mst wndfl sensen wz fil v b
l\

Part Two: "Open Your Eyes" Song

2.

Around: \nd\
e.g. Look around yourself
\lk nd jself\
2. You: \ju\
e.g. Can't you see this wonder?
\knt si s wnd\
3. Floating: \'flt\
e.g. The clouds are floating by
\ kldz fltm ba\
4. Orbits: \'bts\
e.g. Planets in their orbits
\plnts n r rbts\
5. Harmony: \hmni\
e.g. such perfect harmony.
\st pfkt hmni\
6. Ourselves: \selvz\
e.g. Let's start questioning ourselves
\lets stt kwestn 'selvz\

7. Enough: \nf\
e.g. isn't this proof enough for us?
\'znt s puf nf fr s\
8. The: \\
e.g. Protect us in the best way
\ptekt s n best we\
9. Close: \kls\
e.g. Keep us close to you until the end of time.
\kip s kls t ju ntl i end v tam\
10. Veins: \venz\
e.g. running in your veins
\n n j venz\
11. They: \e\
e.g. Are they really there?
\ e rili e\
12. In front of: \n fnt v\
e.g. so why you deny what's in front of your eyes?
\s wa j dna wts n fn v jr az\
13. Miracle: \mkl\
e.g. The biggest miracle of life!
\ 'bgst mkl v laf\
14. Forever: \fev\
e.g. forever we thank you.
\fev wi k ju\
15. Just: \dst\
e.g. if we just look right to see the signs
\f wi dst lk at t si sanz\

C = Correct, I = Incorrect

Pronunciation Pre-Test
"Zero" Short Movie
Name

Anwaa Manar Anwaa Rawan Hiba

Amina Hiba

r (1)

(1)

(2)

No. Word
1.
2.
3.
4.

5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

Pronunciati
on
equal
\ikwl\
amongst
\mst\
mediocrity \midikti\
unremarkabl \
e
n'mkb
l\
battle
\bt\
opportunitie \p
s
tuntiz\
forbidden
\fbdn\
zero
\zi\
adult
\dlt\ \
dld\
numerical
\nmerkl\
negative
\negtv\
battered
\btrd\
unaware
\n'wer\
wonderful
\wndfl\
belonging
\bl\

r (2)

C
I
C
C

I
I
C
C

C
C
I
I

C
I
C
C

I
I
I
C

C
I
I
C

C
C
I
C

C
I

C
I

C
I

I
I

C
I

C
I

C
C

I
C
C

I
C
I

I
C
C

I
I
C

I
C
C

I
C
I

I
C
C

I
I
I
I
C
I

I
C
C
C
C
I

C
C
C
I
I
I

I
I
I
C
C
C

I
C
C
C
I
C

C
I
I
C
C
I

I
C
C
C
C
C

"Open Your Eyes" Song

Name
No. Word
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

around
you
floating
orbits
harmony
ourselves
enough
the
close
veins
they
in front of
miracle
forever
just

Pronunciati
on
\nd\
\\
\fltm\
\'bts\
\hmni\

\'selvz\
\nf\
\\
\kls\
\venz\
\e\
\n fn v\
\mkl\
\fev\
\dst\

Anwaa Manar Anwaa Rawan Hiba

r (1)
r (2)
(1)

C
I
I
C
I
C
C
I
C
I
I
C
C
I
I

I
I
C
C
C
C
I
C
C
I
I
C
I
C
I

C
C
I
C
I
C
C
I
I
I
I
C
I
C
C

I
I
I
I
I
C
I
C
I
I
I
C
I
C
I

I
C
C
C
I
C
C
C
I
C
C
I
I
C
C

Amina Hiba
h
(2)

C
I
I
C
C
I
I
I
C
I
C
I
C
I
I

C
C
C
C
I
C
I
C
C
C
I
C
C
C
C

Pronunciation Post-Test
"Zero" Short Movie
Name

Anwaa Manar Anwaa Rawan Hiba

r (1)
r (2)
(1)

No. Word
1.
2.
3.
4.

5.
6.

Pronunciati
on
equal
\ikwl\
amongst
\mst\
mediocrity \midikti\
unremarkabl \
n'mkb
e
l\
battle
\bt\
opportunitie \p
tuntiz\
s

Amina Hiba
h
(2)

7.
8.
9.

forbidden
zero
adult

10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

numerical
negative
battered
unaware
wonderful
belonging

\fbdn\
\zi\
\dlt\ \
dld\
\nmerkl\
\negtv\
\btrd\
\n'wer\
\wndfl\
\bl\

C
C
C
C

C
C
C
C

C
C
C
C

C
I
C
C

C
I
I
C

C
I
I
C

C
C
I
C

C
I

C
C

C
I

I
I

C
I

C
C

C
C

I
C
C

I
C
C

C
C
C

I
C
C

C
C
C

C
C
I

C
C
C

I
C
C
I
C
C

I
C
C
I
C
C

C
C
C
C
C
C

C
C
C
C
C
C

C
C
C
C
I
C

C
C
C
C
C
C

C
C
C
C
C
C

"Open Your Eyes" Song

Name
No. Word
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.

around
you
floating
orbits
harmony
ourselves
enough
the
close
veins
they
in front of
miracle

Pronunciati
on
\nd\
\\
\fltm\
\'bts\
\hmni\

\'selvz\
\nf\
\\
\kls\
\venz\
\e\
\n fn v\
\mkl\

Anwaa Manar Anwaa Rawan Hiba

r (1)
r (2)
(1)

C
I
C
C
C
C
C
C
I
I
C
C
C

I
I
C
C
C
C
I
C
C
I
C
I
I

C
C
C
C
C
C
I
C
C
C
C
C
C

C
C
C
C
C
C
I
C
I
C
C
C
C

C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
I
C
I
C
I

Amina Hiba
h
(2)

C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
I
C
C
I

C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C

14. forever
15. just

\fev\
\dst\

I
C

C
C

C
C

C
C

C
I

C
C

C
C