Investigation into the Difficulties of Palestinian EFL Learners in Learning Intonation in Written and Spoken Context

The aim of this research study was to investigate the difficulties faced by the EFL (junior) learners at Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine in learning intonation in written and spoken contexts. To this end, two valid and reliable instruments were used-1) diagnostic test to measure the intonation-learning problem in written texts, and 2) the observation card to measure the intonation-learning difficulties in spoken contexts. The number of students who took diagnostic test and observation cards is 70 and 30 students respectively. Descriptive and analytic methods were used to analyze the data. The results showed that the EFL (junior) learners at Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine face various difficulties in learning intonation in written and spoken context. In addition, the students’ awareness of intonation in spoken context and simple intonation pattern was better than their awareness of intonation in written test and complex intonation pattern.