Problems in the Pronunciation of English: Introduction

     Learning another language beside your mother tongue is never seen as an easy task. Hence, during their quest to learn another language, learners are expected to encounter problems. These problems vary in complexity and difficulty based on the potentials of individual learners and the context in which they are learning. Such a statement might be discouraging to learners of English; however, it is not to be claimed that leaning another language is impossible to attain.  It is true that it is difficult; yet, it is possible to attain. Before we get into details, let us ask several questions and discuss them.    

·        What kind of learners are you?

ü You are foreign learners of English.

·        Why are foreign learners (EFL)? (Almbark, 2012)

1. You learn English in a non-native setting (Iraq). (Mother tongue Arabic)

2. You are taught by non-native teachers (teaching staff)

ý You do not have native exposure to English.

ý You do not have a chance to use the language outside the class.

ý You do not have real life situations. 

ý L1 is dominant in the community

v The difficulty increases when you start learning the English at a late age.

v In what sense this adds more difficulty?

CPH (Critical Period Hypothesis)

Scholars believe that learning another language in addition to the person's own language at a late age of his/her life makes the acquisition process even more difficult. Chomsky and several other important scholars argued in favor of a certain age after which learning a language becomes difficult but not impossible. They believe that this age is around (12-15) years. Here follows some reasons that hopefully explain why age matters in acquiring another language (Birdsong, 1999).

ü You need to put away L1 linguistic habits and information. (Lado, 1957).

ü Differences between L1 & L2.

     The conclusion here is in terms of learning another language, the earlier the better. This means that the earlier you start learning another language the more possibility that the process will pay off. The later the process starts, the more difficult it is expected to be. Many studies that conducted experimental works have confirmed this assumption.

     As far as differences between the first and the second language, many scholars reported that this aspect of second language (L2) or a foreign language (FL) acquisition could be the most important obstacle in the way of learning that L2. Here is an example related to Arab learners of English.    

Examples:

ü Sounds (v) it is difficult to learn it, (f) viber, fiber

ü Fan – it is not difficult because we have ?????  

     There are various examples regarding the spelling and the grammar of English and Arabic that may create various problems to learners. If we take spelling as an example, we notice that there is consistency between form (spelling) and pronunciation in Arabic i.e. we pronounce whatever letters we have in the word and always in the same pronunciation. On the other hand, there is a great discrepancy between spelling and pronunciation in English. More specifically, there are letters that are spelled but not articulated such as the letter (k) in the word (know) or the letters (gh) in the word (high).

     Moreover, there letters that are pronounced in more than one way in English such as the letters (ea) in words like:

ü Head  (the –ea- is pronounced as (e)

ü Heart  (the –ea- is pronounced as (a:)

ü Heat    (the –ea- is pronounced as (i:)

Is L1 interference always negative?

Despite the argument mentioned above that differences between L1 and L2/FL pose extra challenges to foreign or second language learners of English, L1 interference can be positive in the sense that it facilitates the process of learning another language. Though having differences between L1 and L2 is a well stated fact, similarities between the two languages are also present. These similarities make the process easier than expected. The presence of vowel length in both English and Arabic, for example, enables Arab learners to acquire the tense-lax distinction found in English. Arab learners are reported not to encounter much difficulty in acquiring short and long vowels (Al Abdely, 2016).

The conclusion here is that learning a second or a foreign language is not easy at all, but it is not impossible to attain. All what learners need to do is to work hard and practice a lot, especially when we talk about learning pronunciation.

ü Do you think learning English is difficult for you? If yes, what is the most difficult part for you?

Think of answers for this question, and write what you think about it. We may have a nice chat over there in the webpage.

References:

Al Abdely, A. A. (2016). Perception and Production of English Vowels by Native   Iraqi Arabic learners. Unpublished Ph.D thesis, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia.

Almbark, R. (2012). The perception and production of SSBE vowels by Syrian Arabic learners: The foreign language model. Unpublished Ph.D thesis, University of York, York, England.

Birdsong, D. (Ed.). (1999). Second language acquisition and the critical period hypothesis. Routledge.‏

Lado, R. (1957). Linguistics across cultures.