Investigating the Difficulties Encountered by Sudanese Basic Government Schools’ Pupils in Articulating some English Consonant Sounds

Abstract

This study aims at investigating the difficulties encountered by Sudanese EFL basic government schools' pupils in articulating some consonant sounds. The participants of the study are forty pupils of the 6th level at Al Izba Basic School for Girls-Al-Amlak-Khartoum North, and twenty teachers of English language from the same school and others in same area. The study pursues descriptive analytical method. A pronunciation diagnostic test and questionnaire are used as tools to obtain data from pupils and teachers. The results show that the majority of Sudanese EFL basic school pupils mispronounce the consonant sounds which do not exist in Sudanese spoken Arabic. Based on the findings, the study revealed that some factors have negative impact on pronunciation, such as the sound systems differences between English and Arabic, inadequacy training in phonetics and phonology, in addition to irrelevancy of the syllabus to the Sudanese pupils'needs. Accordingly, the study concludes with suggested recommendations that can contribute in rectifying such a situation. The study is ended with some suggestions for further studies.