Analytical Study of Iraqi Students' English Consonant Pronunciation Errors

Abstract

 It is useful to diagnose the difficulties with pronunciation that second language (L2) learners have in order to ascertain the type of training that is necessary. By analyzing the test scores of Iraqi EFL students and finding out which English consonant phonemes and clusters they have the most trouble with, this study hoped to shed light on the challenges faced by Arab students when trying to pronounce English consonants correctly. Forty Iraqi female college students participated in the study; twenty volunteers were assigned to a lower-intermediate and twenty to an intermediate English proficiency level. Their mistakes in pronouncing specific groups of consonants in various word locations were highlighted using a four-part productive pronunciation test. The data analysis revealed that the following sounds—/ʌ/, /ʚ/, /p/, /ɴ/, and /ʧ/—as well as the regular past tense morphemes -ed (/t/ and /d/), and clusters of three and four consonants—contributed the most to the participants' pronunciation errors. And when it came to cluster and consonant sound pronunciation, lower-intermediate students were even more prone to making a fool of themselves than intermediate students. Also, learners' errors varied more in the beginning positions of words than in the middle or end ones. Consonants that are in the beginning or end of words are more prone to be difficult to pronounce than those that are in the center, according to the research.