إطالة حروف العلة القصيرة بشكل غير صحيح تحت تأثير بعض العوامل كمشكلة تواجه طلاب جامعة الأنبار المعنيين بدراسة اللغة الإنجليزية كلغة أجنبية

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This study deals with a serious problem faced by Anbar University students studying English as a foreign language (EFL). These students tend to lengthen short vowels in English words incorrectly due to the effect of certain factors. The present study aims at investigating this problem because length is significant in English and any difference in the length of a vowel makes a different meaning. It is hypothesized that many students concerned with the study of EFL at Anbar University mispronounce English words by lengthening short vowels wrongly although they studied Phonetics and Phonology at the department of English, College of Education for Humanities due to certain factors. To achieve the aim of the study, a test consists of 50 English words that have simple vowels in different positions was prepared by the researchers. Twenty-five students were chosen randomly to participate in the test and they were asked to pronounce all the words which were selected purposely for the test. These students study English in the same grade and their native language is Arabic. The data were recorded in the first semester of the academic year 2019-2020 by using a cellphone. Then, the researchers analyzed them depending on Roach’s (2010) model which is adopted because it follows the B.B.C. pronunciation, the variety taught in Iraqi universities. The findings of this study validate its hypothesis. The study has arrived at certain conclusions among them and the most significant ones are the influence of the students’ native language upon the foreign language the students study because these two languages have two different vowel structures, besides the poor mastery of the English pronunciation. These causes and others play a great role in the occurrence of errors. Accordingly, the lengthening of short vowels is considered a problem that faces the students of the University of Anbar studying EFL which they need to overcome.