The Development of Pinyin Phonetic Pronunciation Skills through Reading Aloud Practice Exercises for First-Year and Second-Year Students at Kanchanaburi Rajabhat University

Abstract

This research aimed to 1) compare the Pinyin phonetic pronunciation skills of Chinese language students and tourism students at Kanchanaburi Rajabhat University before and after using pronunciation practice exercises, and to 2) study the issues related to pronunciation as well as the students’ satisfaction with the development of pronunciation skills using these exercises. The sample consisted of 52 first and second-year students from the Chinese Language and Tourism programs. The research tools included Pinyin phonetic pronunciation practice exercises (pre-test and post-test), a satisfaction survey, and pronunciation practice activities. Data were analyzed using T-test statistics, mean (), and standard deviation (S.D.).

The research findings revealed that the students significantly improved their ability to pronounce consonants, vowels, and words (.sig < 0.05). The mean score for consonant pronunciation increased from = 5.44 to = 7.33, with the standard deviation decreasing from S.D. = 1.86 to S.D. = 1.08. For single and compound vowels, the mean score increased from = 3.17 to = 6.42, and the standard deviation decreased from S.D. = 1.65 to S.D. = 0.82. For two- and three-syllable words, the mean score increased from = 1.85 to   = 6.42, with a slight change in the standard deviation.

The results indicated that the Pinyin pronunciation exercises developed in this study effectively and improved students' Chinese pronunciation skills. Moreover, the research findings can be applied to enhance future strategies for Chinese language education.