Investigating the Problems of Pronouncing English Vowels by English Language Students at Omdurman Islamic University

Abstract

This study aims at Investigating the Problems of Pronouncing English Vowels encountered by English Language Students at Omdurman Islamic University. It has been noticed that Learners of English as foreign language are unable to pronounce English vowels well. Moreover, their mother tongue and the absence of a native speaker affect in pronouncing English vowels. The descriptive method has been adopted in the present study. A questionnaire was distributed to (30) teachers and a test for (20) students in their second year, Department of English Language, Faculty of Arts, Omdurman Islamic University. The sample has been chosen randomly. The researcher has used two programs to analyze the data, as follows: firstly SPSS program to analyze the questionnaire, secondly Praat program to analyze the test. The findings of this study show that misunderstanding the nature of English vowel sounds is the real cause of this problems. The students are not encouraged to practice the pronunciation of English vowel sounds in the class room. Finally the researcher recommends that, a discussion program should be included in the syllabus for learning the pronunciation of English language properly.