Investigating the Pronunciation Challenges Hindering EFL Students’ Speaking Skills Enhancement.

Abstract

The current research attempts to investigate the challenges of pronunciation while speaking. It aims to explore the major challenges of pronunciation for English as a foreign language learners’ encounter in speaking and to minimizing students ‘difficulties and improving their pronunciation of the words accurately in speaking a language. Additionally, it seeks to gather insights from both students and teachers by using questionnaires to understand their perspectives. Accordingly, within the context of this study, three main research questions are raised: (1) What are the pronunciation challenges faced by students while speaking? And at what levels can these challenges be found? (2) How these challenges can be tackle? (3) What are teachers’ perceptions in regarding pronunciation challenges in student speaking skills? To gather the necessary data, and in response to these questions a descriptive method is selected, two questionnaires are designed. The first questionnaire are submitted to fifty third-year English students in the Department of foreign languages at Mila University Centre, and the second questionnaire is administered to eight oral expression and phonetics teachers. The main findings of this study are to investigate the particular pronunciation difficulties that students encountered. It aims to identify the effectiveness of pronunciation challenges on their speaking skills in learning English as a foreign language. Hence, goal is to empower learners to develop confidence and proficiency in their communication skills within the language learning process