Author/Authors :
Hashemian, Mahmood Shahrekord University , Heidari Soureshjani, Kamal Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord Branch, Shahrekord, Iran
Abstract :
As oral skills are increasingly seen as a high priority, phonology and pronuncia
tion teaching are occupying a central position in the teaching and learning of other
languages. The present study is an attempt to shed some light on identifying and
exploring the diffculties of Iranian EFL learners in phonology and pronunciation.
To achieve this goal, 3 male language learners (elementary, intermediate, and advanced)
were randomly selected and were required to articulate 3 different types
of material. Having analyzed the data, the study revealed that, first, pronouncing
/ɪə/ as /eə/, /æ/ as /e/, /ɑ:/ as /ɔ:/, /ʊ/ as /u:/, /aɪ/ as /ɔɪ/, /ɪ/ as /i:/, /əʊ/ as /ɔ:/, /w/ as /v/,
/ð/ as /d/ or /z/, /θ/ as /t/ or /s/ and /ŋ/ as /ng/ and mispronouncing /ɒ/, /ʌ/, /ɜ:/, /ə/,
/ɔɪ/, /eə/, /r/ and /aʊ/ are the most frequent errors among Persian-speaking
learners. Second, the study indicated that the speed of reading was inappropriate
for all the beginning, intermediate, and advanced learners.
