EFL Learners’ Opinion on Difficulties in Pronouncing English Sounds

Kurnia Budiyanti; Nelvia  Ibrahim

doi:10.52760/jadila.v5i2.815

Authors

Kurnia Budiyanti UIN Sultan Syarif Kasim Riau
Nelvia Ibrahim UIN Sultan Syarif Kasim Riau

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52760/jadila.v5i2.815

Keywords:

Keywords: difficulties, opinion, pronouncing English sounds, segmental features, supra-segmental features

Abstract

This study investigated the students’ opinion on difficulties in pronouncing English sounds. The study employed a quantitative method with survey research design. Approximately 90 students of the third semester of English Education Department participated to answer a questionnaire which included the pronunciation features and the factors that affect the problem. The data collected were analyzed by employing descriptive analysis. The results indicated that the third semester students of English Education Department had negative opinion in pronouncing English sounds. The difficulties involved vowels, consonants, stress, and intonation. Related to factors that affect pronunciation, the findings revealed that native language was the most dominant factor compared with others. It could be concluded that pronouncing English sounds became a problem of the students due to different phonological system. These research findings have implication for learners to be aware of specific pronunciation challenges. Moreover, teachers also need to adopt phonetics-based approaches in teaching process. Further study could investigate research that explore more on research samples, research design, and instruments to gain more specific results.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Abdalla, M., Mohammed, A., Ali, S., & Idris, M. (2020). Challenges of pronunciation to EFL learners in spoken English. Multicultural Education, 6(5), 2020. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4408549

Ahmed, S. M. A., Ahmed, S. A. B., Noor, T. M. H., & Ishaq, E. (2022). Difficulties challenged by EFL students in utilizing suprasegmental features with reference to stress. International Journal of ELT, Linguistics and Comparative Literature, 10(6), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.33329/elt.10.6.1

Ali, E. M. T. (2013). Pronunciation problems: Acoustic analysis of the English vowels produced by Sudanese learners of English. International Journal of English and Literature, 4(10), 495–507. https://doi.org/10.5897/IJEL12.031

Brown, A. (2014). Pronunciation and phonetics. Routledge.

Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D., & Goodwin, J. (2007). Teaching pronounciation. Cambridge University Press.

Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. In Pearson (fourth, Vol. 11, Issue 1). Pearson Education, Inc.

Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (Fifth Edit). SAGE.

Dale, P., & Poms, L. (2005). English pronounciation: Made simple. Longman.

Dalton, C., & Seidlhofer, B. (1994). Pronounciation. Oxford University Press.

Dauer, R. M. (1993). Accurate English: A complete course in pronounciation. Prentice Hall Regents.

Dewi, D. C., & Astriyanti, D. (2021). An analysis of using minimal pairs in pronouncing consonants and vowels. Journal of English Language Teaching and Education (JELTE), 2(2), 99–117. https://doi.org/10.31571/jelte.v2i2.152

Ekanem, I. E., George, J. L., & Enang, V. S. (2022). A critical assessment of pronounciation challenges faced by preschool learners of English as a foreign langauge. Journal of Linguistics Languages, 4(1), 20–26.

Fadillah, A. C. (2020). Pronunciation difficulties of EFL learners in Indonesia: A literature study. Jurnalbudaya.Ub.Ac.Id, 1(2), 7–13. https://doi.org/https://dx.doi.org/10.15639/teflinjournal.v28i1/71-92

Fraser, H. (2000). Coordinating improvements in pronunciation teaching for adult learners of English as a second language. Coordinating Improvements in Pronunciation Teaching, 1–10. https://helenfraser.com.au/wp-content/uploads/ANTA-REPORT-FINAL.pdf

Garita Sánchez, M. D. R., González Lutz, M. I., & Solís Pérez, N. (2019). English vowel sounds: Pronunciation issues and student and faculty perceptions. Actualidades Investigativas En Educación, 19(3), 1–32. https://doi.org/10.15517/aie.v19i3.38629

Gay, L. ., Mills, G. ., & Airasian, P. (2012). Educational research (Tenth). Pearson Education, Inc.

Gilakjani, A. P., & Sabouri, N. B. (2020). How can EFL teachers help EFL learners improve their English pronunciation. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 7(5), 967–972. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/jltr.0705.18

Ha, V. H. (2023). An investigation into difficulties in teaching pronunciation to first-year English majors at Dong Nai university. Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 5(2), 135–150. https://doi.org/10.32996/jeltal.2023.5.2.17

Harmer, J. (2009). The practice of English language teaching. Longman.

Hoang, Q. (2025). Difficulties in pronunciation encountered by English major freshmen at Saigon University. English Education Applied Linguistics Journal, 08(01), 10–22. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.31980/eealjournal.v8i1.2603

Jenkins, J. (2000). The phonology of English as an international language. Oxford University Press.

Karim, K. (2021). Phonetic analysis of English vowel pronunciation by highly proficient L2 English speakers. Scholars International Journal of Linguistics and Literature, 8677, 268–274. https://doi.org/10.36348/sijll.2021.v04i09.001

Kelly, G. (2000). How to teach pronunciation. Longman.

Kenworthy, J. (1992). Teaching English pronunciation.

Khan, T. A. (2020). A descriptive study: Factors affecting the ronunciation of English language (L2). Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends, 1(2), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.32350/jcct.12.01

Lasi, F. (2020). A study on the ability of supra-segmental and segmental aspects in English pronunciation. Journal of Ethical Lingua, 7(2), 426–437. https://doi.org/10.30605/25409190.222

Pennington, M. C., & Rogerson-Revell, P. (2019). English pronounciation teaching and research. Continuum International Publishing Group.

Rajadurai, J. (2001). An investigation of the effectiveness of teaching pronunciation to Malaysian TESL students. English Teaching Forum, 39(1986), 10–15. http://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/01-39-3-c.pdf

Roach, P. (2009). English phonetics and Phonology: A practical course. Cambridge University Press.

Rogerson, P., & Gilbert, J. B. (2008). Speaking Clearly: Pronounciation and listening comprehension for learners of English. Cambridge University Press.

Rullu, S. M., Nggolaon, D., & Budahu, N. (2023). Error analysis of English vowels pronunciation made by the students of English Education Study Program. Qalam: Jurnal Ilmu Pendidikan, 12(1), 81–93. https://doi.org/10.33506/jq.v12i1.2542

Rusinak, T. (2025). Pronunciation skills: Mastering word stress, sentence stress, and intonation for your IELTS speaking test. https://ielts.idp.com/chile/prepare/article-pronunciation-skills-word-sentence-stress-intonation-ielts-speaking

Sudijono, A. (2008). Pengantar statistik pendidikan. PT Raja Grafindo Persada.

Ur, P. (2003). A course in language teaching. Cambridge University Press.

Uyen, P. T. M., & Diem, N. T. (2023). Difficulties in learning pronunciation of English-majored freshmen at Tay Do University. International Journal of Social Science and Human Research, 06(06), 3630–3636. https://doi.org/10.47191/ijsshr/v6-i6-51

Vančová, H. (2019). Current issues in pronunciation teaching to non-native learners of English. Journal of Language and Cultural Education, 7(2), 140–155. https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2019-0015

Zhang, Q.-M. (2009). Affecting factors of native-like pronunciation: A literature review. Korea Education & Research Institute, 27(2), 33–52.

Zsiga, E. C. (2013). The sounds of language: An introduction to phonetics and phonology. Joh Wiley & Sons, Inc.