Pronunciation Problems by Sudanese English Language Learners: A case Study of Students at the Faculty of Education, Al-Zaeim Al-Azhari University

Abstract

This paper focuses on the pronunciation problems that encounter Sudanese English language learners and tries to shade lights on these problems, register them and suggests some solutions and recommendations. As the English language is widely spreads worldwide, there appears the necessity of the perfect understanding and the correct use of English. By studying both phonetics and phonology of English it is possible to acquire a full understanding of the use of English sounds in English speech. A relevant literature pertained to the study has been reviewed to sustain the required knowledge needed for the study, part of which is the framework for the study. This paper follows the descriptive analytical research methods and questionnaire supported oral tests were used for data collection. Descriptive statistics were used for presenting, analyzing, discussing and interpreting the collected data. The findings of the study showed that there are some problems of English language pronunciation encountered by Sudanese English language learners and these problems were caused by various reasons, for example, the differences in sound with regards to English and Arabic languages in general and between the sounds of the Sudanese colloquial Arabic sound system; the result of which is negative interference. In addition, the methods of teaching the English sounds do not seem to help Sudanese language learners due to different background accents. Moreover, there is lack of authentic teaching materials that required for teaching English pronunciation. The paper suggests that researchers can study the acoustic phonetics that studies the reception of sounds and other areas of language in respect to sound differences.