Abstract:
This study aims at investigating the awareness of syllable structure
and stress use among Sudanese University EFL learners. The aims of this
study are; investigate the students' awareness of English syllable
structure, and to know to what degree students are able to use stress
correctly. To achieve the objectives of the study, the researcher designed
and administered a test for a sample of 50 of the third year students
majoring in English. The researcher has followed the quantitative
analytical method to analyze the results. The validity and reliability of the
tool mentioned above were measured. The study was based on two
hypotheses, the first one stated that students are no aware of English
syllable structure, and it was rejected according to the participants'
responses. The second one claimed that students are not able to use stress
correctly, and it was confirmed according to their performance. The
findings of the study revealed that students are aware of English syllable
structure, and they are not able to use stress correctly. Based on the
findings the researcher recommended paying stress area more attention,
because of its importance in pronunciation. The researcher also
recommended giving phonological awareness a considerable portion in
the learners' store of linguistic information. Finally, the researcher
suggested the following; conducting studies in another area of stress,
which is sentence stress, applying the same study to other levels, using
other instruments for testing the subjects' syllable and stress knowledge.
In addition, comparative studies could be conducted to find the
similarities and dissimilarities between English and Arabic regarding the
characteristics of syllable and stress.
