There are linguistic differences between arabic and english that affect how easily a student can learn to form the english letter sounds. There are some of sounds which have similar sounds but have different meanings. Sounds lesson number that 40 thank 41 run 31 back 20 dad 22 gag 24 pack 19 tank 21 cap 23 hang 27 zoo sat 33 and34. Generally, pronunciation is really complicated process in foreign language teaching. Secondly, in many of the cases in which a learner seems to have trouble pronouncing a particular sound, it is easy to demonstrate that the. Despite the importance of pronunciation, it is often neglected in teaching english. Investigating pronunciation problems among 8 th level basic schools. The common problem of learning english pronunciation is caused by the differences between the sound systems of the two languages. Generally, if we want to change the way a learner pronounces words, we have to change the. Comments on english segmentals, suprasegmentals, 14 prosody and orthography 6. Pronunciation often gets pushed to the bottom of the list. Japanese learners keep the tip of their tongue too close to the back of their upper teeth while keeping their lips spread which results in a sound that falls between the english. But if students need or want to speak english understandably, pronunciation is.
A funny video about the problems students face when learning english. Clear explanations of natural written and spoken english. Esl pronunciation poses problems for students around the world, especially when it comes to r, l, th and sh sounds. English vowel data was the materials of the native speakers of english. How old were you when you started to learn english. Japanese pronunciation problems and solutions in english. Specific pronunciation challenges for ells 1516 and activities to improve pronunciation 1732 7.
In order to meet the demands of modern society, english teachers need to pay more attention to the development of learners competence and focus on a more effective and successful method. Pronunciation can be defined as the way in which a person sounds the words of a language while speaking. Pdf it is quite natural that the learners of english as a second or foreign language encounter problems in their pronunciation. While speaking english, arabic speakers of english try to unnecessarily emphasize consonants and add extra stress to the syllables. One of the main reasons for this is that many, many english words are not spelled as they are spoken. Pronunciation problems can be difficult to correct if students rely on their native arabic language rules for guidance. While these definitely may be some characteristics that mark foreigners abroad, do not forget pronunciation. Pronunciation is often a forgotten skill in the esl classroom. An action research study of pronunciation training, language learning strategies and speaking confidence english is a vehicle for international communication. It is quite natural that the learners of english as a second or foreign language encounter problems in their pronunciation. Pronunciation problems for arabic speakers of english. It is important at this point in time to make a distinction between speaking and pronunciation as it is sometimes wrongly applied interchangeably. This difference between pronunciation and spelling causes a. Effective english learning eltc selfstudy materials tony lynch and kenneth anderson, english language teaching centre, university of edinburgh 2012 3 the factors which turn out to be important for accurate pronunciation are those which.
Spelling and pronunciation errors in english language article history received. Students often think it isnt that importantafter all, it wont be tested on their college entrance exams. The pronunciation component in teaching english to. Proper english pronunciation requires learning new sounds and new rules. This study investigates the problems in english pronunciation experienced by learners. An english pronunciation guide for englishlanguage learners. Now we will list some of the common pronunciation problems faced by arabic speakers of english. As a matter of fact, many native speakers of english have problems with spelling correctly.
Pronunciation problems of chinese learners of english. Arabic is an official spoken and written language in 23. Pronunciation problems arab speakers encounter while. As english has become more and more internationalized many have stepped away from pronunciation with an attitude of taking whatever the student says and trying to decipher it. Participants were ten sudanese university learners of english who primarily speak arabic. Listen to the audio pronunciation in the cambridge english dictionary. They can learn that mine is pronounced majn in english and not. When speaking in english, it is necessary to take into account the many exceptions in pronunciation and to never take for granted that you have learned all of the rules. Pdf english pronunciation problems of the tertiary level students. Problems faced by asian students in english pronunciation. Sometimes, specific sequences of letters can alert the reader to the possible pronunciation required. Understanding pronunciation variations facing esl students.
Youre in need of some pronunciation lesson support, before either you or they become frustrated. English pronunciation part one the sound system of english. A way of speaking a word, especially a way that is accepted or generally understood. A learner with good stress and intonation and poor pronunciation of, say, th, is very easy to understand. This difference between pronunciation and spelling causes a lot of confusion. Pronunciation guide for english in the english writing system, many of the graphemes letters and letter groups have more than one possible pronunciation.
As far as consonant sounds are concerned, the efl learners encounter a great amount of problems. The paper discusses and explains the pronunciation problems by connecting the speakers mistakes to the pronunciation of the japanese language. This research is addressed particularly to those concerned with teaching. Japanese pronunciation problems speak english like a native. This paper analyzes some problems concerning pronunciation of english. Several researches were conducted on pronunciation problems of english language for sudanese students. On the basis of findings, some pedagogical implications and recommendations have been presented for the students and the teachers to improve existing english pronunciation problems of students gradually. The students of spoken english language or any other spoken language face the problems in the pronunciation of the particular language. A wellknown pronunciation problem, which even the highestlevel students find it hard to deal with, is the fact that spanish has no wordinitial consonant clusters such as sl,sm, sn, st, sp, sk. In some cases letters that are written are not pronounced. With a focus on five groups of esl students major problems in english articulation, this article. The study was expected to have problems with pronunciation of english vowels in both individual words and real communication. A nonenglish pronunciation of a phrase, word or group of.
So, your students just cant curl their tongues around certain english words. Problems in communication caused by mistakes in the. English pronunciation difficulties by korean students. But what should this goal look like in the kinds of research studies we conduct, in our classroom practice, and in the creation of selfstudy and computer assisted pronunciation materials. In fact, along with correct grammar, accuracy of pronunciation was a highpriority goal in both systems.
Based on the findings, the study concluded that factors such as. Many english teachers avoid teaching pronunciation, not because it is not necessary, but because they have little. As a pakistani student, i also face some problems in order to pronounce the english words. Problems faced in english pronunciation introduction. Graduates are often unfairly judged when they fail to convince others of their capabilities due to poor pronunciation and not having the language to express themselves well. The problems of pronunciation instruction have been demonstrated by some researchers. The pronunciation errors of l1 arabic learners of l2 english. By analyzing a recorded dialogue spoken by two japanese university students, the paper highlights problems the speakers have with segmental and suprasegmental features of english. English pronunciation part one the sound system of english chapter 0 the symbols 01 familiar consonant symbols voiced voiceless b boat verb p post stop d deed lead t tease seat g god dog k kiss sick case doc v verb brave f fish leaf m those smooth l thief teeth z zoo ooze s sick kiss cease nice i usual pleasure n shake cash. Pronunciation is a graphic representation of the way a. Although the role of english pronunciation is important in english language, many teachers do not pay enough attention to this important skill. Students of english whose language background is sudanese spoken arabic, had problems with the pronunciation of english vowels that have more than one way of pronunciation in addition to the consonant sound contrasts e. Pronunciation guide for english phonics international.
Describe the specific difficulties in english pronunciation met by a group of learners known to you. Pronunciation problems faced by the english department students in pronouncing ed ending a case of the sixth semester students of the english department of unnes in the academic year of 20082009 yang saya tulis dalam rangka memenuhi salah satu syarat untuk memenuhi gelar sarjana ini benarbenar. Pronunciation problems for spanish learners of english. In particular, it is useful for english teachers with chinese students to have some knowledge of the phonological differences between english and chinese as well as the major problematic areas in terms of pronunciation. Phonological problem areas in english for native french. Sewis scale on causes of problems in learning esl, prepared by the authors. A generally accepted goal of pronunciation pedagogy is to help learners achieve a comfortably intelligible pronunciation rather than a nativelike one. These phonological differences affect korean esl students pronunciation in a number of ways, causing pronunciation mistakes such as poor sentence rhythm, intonation and voice stress, being able to correctly sound diphthongs and consonant pairs, as well as long and short vowel sounds are all issues korean students will have problems with when speaking english. Spelling and pronunciation errors in english language. Phonological problem areas in english for native french speakers anne sheriff colorado state university. First you need to understand 2 major problems in understanding english pronunciation.
Consonants, as compared to vowels, are core to the word meaning in arabic. An action research study of pronunciation training, language. Morley 1991 said that it is necessary for teachers to teach english. What do you find most challenging abut english pronunciation. The segmental pronunciation here refers to the way consonant and vowel sounds are produced regarding of the phonetic aspects.
Pdf english pronunciation problems of the tertiary level. We will be using a famous poem called the chaos to help you improve your understanding of english pronunciation and spelling. Tertiary students, english pronunciation problems, l1 interference, bangladesh. Pronunciation problems arab speakers encounter while learning english mohammad alfehaid. Many teachers say theres just not enough time to teach pronunciation.
The main problem that second language learners have with pronunciation has to do. Investigating the causes behind pronunciation problems facing. The methodology employed in gathering information was a survey method. Abstract the paper talk about difficulties arab speakers encounter while learning englishin the matter of pronunciation. This can be causing much confusion to the learners. Place of teaching pronunciation english pronunciation is very difficult for foreign learners and it is due to the fact that spelling and pronunciation are two different matters. Specific american english pronunciation challenges for ells.