Unlocking Learners’ Difficulties in Acquiring English Consonant Sounds ([ð] and [θ]) and the Implication for Teaching

DOI

10.2991/conaplin-18.2019.289How to use a DOI?

Keywords

acquisition; pronunciation; consonant sounds; difficulties; dental fricative; teaching implication

Abstract

Nowadays English is used to communicate not only to the native speakers but also to the non-Native English users. Instead of acquiring native-like pronunciation, ability to pronounce English with received- pronunciation and at least being understood by other users, called as intelligibility, become a new goal of pronunciation instruction in the recent language teaching development. However, the best way to approach such intelligibility remains a debate among researchers. While some believed that teachers should focus on stress and intonation in pronunciation instruction, other view that focusing on individual sounds or segments is also crucial as these segments include as a system in speech production that can influence one to another. Furthermore, diagnosing learners’ difficulties in acquiring English sounds seems to be one of essential actions to achieve the intelligible pronunciation. Thus, this study aimed to investigate learners’ difficulties in pronouncing consonant sounds. This was a case study toward a Chinese English learner studying in an international class in the University of Aberdeen. By interviewing the subject that emphasized on exploring the way the consonant sounds, /θ/ and /ð, were pronounced, transcribing and analyzing the recording of interview, it has been found that these dental fricative sounds were problematic for the learner. Moreover, through a followed- up interview, it could be explained that these difficulties occurred was due to the different phonological system between learner’s L1 and L2, the use of inappropriate teaching approach experienced by the learner, negative attitude toward English and the low motivation possessed. In addition, a number of teaching implications toward the findings was also been suggested such as using authentic pronunciation material and presenting the phonological sounds in a factual context, integrating pronunciation teaching with speaking and listening skill, providing corrective feedback, giving learners opportunity to do self-correction toward their pronunciation production.

Copyright

© 2019, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Alvina Yolanda
PY  - 2019/06
DA  - 2019/06
TI  - Unlocking Learners’ Difficulties in Acquiring English Consonant Sounds ([ð] and [θ]) and the Implication for Teaching
BT  - Proceedings of the Eleventh Conference on Applied Linguistics (CONAPLIN 2018)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 389
EP  - 394
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/conaplin-18.2019.289
DO  - 10.2991/conaplin-18.2019.289
ID  - Yolanda2019/06
ER  -