한국 초등학생들의 영어 l, r의 발음 오류에 관한 음향음성학적 연구

An acoustic study on pronunciation errors of English l and r by Korean elementary school children

This study attempted to get the accuracy rate of Korean elementary school children’s pronunciation of English l and r sounds and to test the critical period hypothesis (CPH) in the EFL situation. The subjects were 10 male and 10 female Korean elementary school children. They were asked to read the sentences which included words with l and r sounds. The accuracy of l and r sounds was tested with the spectrograms, using the CSL (Computerized Speech Lab). The result showed that the rate of accurate pronunciation of l was 74.5%, and that of r was 46.5%. They pronounced English l sound better than the r sound. The accuracy rates of two children who stayed in the United States for more than two years before age 6 were 95% for the l and 100% for the r sound. The rate of substituting r for l was 4.5% and that of substituting l for r was 30%. The rate of substituting the Korean liquid sound ㄹ for l was 15% and that of substituting ㄹ for r was 17%. It is notable that the rate of substituting the Korean liquid ㄹ for English l and r was higher for Korean children than middle school and university students in previous studies. The data in this study did not support the CPH in acquiring pronunciation in the EFL situation.