Pronunciation challenges of open and distance learning students in the B.A English programme at the National Open University of Nigeria

Abstract

This paper analyzes some pronunciation challenges of English learners newly admitted into the B.A English programme at the National Open University of Nigeria, Lagos. It was discovered that factors leading to these problems are interference of the students’ mother tongue, their ages, attitudes and their insufficient knowledge of sounds and the sound system of English. From this study, we could reiterate that having a clear understanding of the distinctions between phonetics as the general science of speech sounds and phonology as the sounds systems of particular languages can help to clarify what it is we have to deal with when we teach and learn pronunciation in the Open and Distance Learning environment. In the course of this study, it was subsequently discovered that the contrastive analysis of the target language and the learners’ Mother Tongue can greatly facilitate the second language acquisition. This is why we advocated that it is necessary to make learners in the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) system know the phonological differences between their languages and English and consciously compare the two languages themselves during the learning process. From the various observations acquired through this study, we postulated that in order to learn English well, the second language teachers and learners in the ODL system should pay attention to the need to learn English pronunciation effectively. Key words: Mother tongue interference, pronunciation, English sound system, open and distance learning (ODL).