EFFECT OF INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET (IPA) SYMBOLS ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE OF SINDHI STUDENTS

Abstract

The paper investigates the effect of International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols on spelling command, listening comprehension and perception of students at secondary level. IPA Symbols have their unique importance in studying a second language. Without knowing the IPA symbols sounds the learners are unable to have grip on second English language. If a learner of English language has no command over the IPA Symbols then he will be weak in listening and spelling. Mainly two types of education systems are being run i.e. public and private in Pakistan, in public schools less focus is given to listening and spellings at elementary level but in private schools they are concentrating more on the teaching/learning of listening and spelling skills to improve the English language. The study was delimited to Boys public and private school of Sindh situated in Hingorja, Khairpur, Sindh, Pakistan. There were 2 public schools and 4 private schools in which elementary classes were being taught. One public and one private school were selected randomly from the population as a cluster. All the 85 students were included from public school and 53 students from private school. An Opinionnaire and 2-Achievement test were developed i.e. Listening Comprehension test and Spelling Command test. The opinionnaire comprised of two sections, section-I consisted of 6 statements on ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. Section-II of 17 statements on five point Likert scale used to find out opinion of learners. Results for achievement tests were tabulated and data was analyzed according to mean, standard deviation, t-test for significant difference. The opinionnaire was used to together the data about the perception of learners for IPA symbols then the statistical techniques were applied to investigate the data i.e. independent sample t-test and frequency. The learners who were aware about IPA symbols from basic from private school scored better as compared to public school learners unaware for IPA Symbols from basic level for tests of listening comprehension and spelling command. This present research recommends that introduction of IPA symbols should be a compulsory part of English curriculum from primary level for public schools also as it is for the private schools in Sindh.