Abstract
The paper describes the process and outcomes of an action research project with the aim of determining whether focusing classroom input on voiced and unvoiced consonant sounds has a positive effect on their production. Statistics were derived from English-speaking respondents listening to native Arabic speaking participants from an experimental group, who had received input on the difference between these sounds, and practiced their production, as well as to speakers from a control group who had received neither input nor practice. The rates of intelligibility were compared, with the conclusion being that the provision of limited input on this pronunciation issue does not, generally speaking, result in the ability to produce the sounds with greater clarity.
Highlights
Pronunciation tends to be undertaken on an ad hoc basis, if time permits, despite it being an integral component in the learning of English (Walker, 2014)
Her thesis is based on the research conducted on intelligibility errors among non-native speakers and includes the avoidance of deviant core sound production. Such a feature is differentiating between the voiced and unvoiced consonant sounds, which is regarded as being integral in producing intelligible language, apart from the aforementioned /0/ and /ð/, and is claimed to be eminently teachable. 1.1 Background Pronunciation instruction has been overlooked in language teaching to the extent that it has been called language input’s “orphan” (Gilbert, 2010, p.1)
As the participants’ speaking and listening skills teacher, for the purpose of the research, input was justifiably provided over the duration of the 16-week semester on pronunciation features which prove difficult for Arabic speakers, such as discerning and producing voiced and unvoiced minimal pairs
Summary
Pronunciation tends to be undertaken on an ad hoc basis, if time permits, despite it being an integral component in the learning of English (Walker, 2014). Native Arabic speakers have issues with such minimal pairs and struggle to differentiate between the two options in each, as their language doesn’t contain the voiced sound (Alfehaid, 2015).
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