An Error Analysis: Iraqi EFL College Learners Problems in British Diphthongs and Triphthongs Pronunciation

Abstract

This study investigates the difficulties that Iraqi EFL learners face in uttering English British complex vowels; diphthongs and triphthongs in connected speech. It reports on the pronunciation test performed by the fourth level college learners whose Baghdadi Arabic is their mother tongue. Gender is of interest to this study to find out if females experience more hardship and perpetrate more mistakes than females or vice versa. Poor pronunciation leads to miscommunication, that is why this study is concerned with the phonology, and how words are pronounced within sentences, as being the main channel of communication is speech, especially with correct pronunciation and as that the Iraqi college learners’ most noticeable pronunciation mistakes are with English vowels chiefly diphthongs and triphthongs.

Keywords

• phonology
• connected speech
• weak forms
• English diphthongs and triphthongs in a phonological aspect