''Lost in pronunciation: Unraveling the Catchy Blunders!''

Evelin Escarleth Rodríguez Reyes.        20191004289

Hesler Joel Vallecillo Moncada.              20211002548

Gary Joshua Sánchez Aguilar                   20201005330

As a group, we would like to share some common English pronunciation errors with you in this blog. First, we must understand what Error Analysis is?

Error Analysis is a method use in lenguage learning and linguistics to identify and examine mistakes made by students in the process of acquiring the language. Identifying and examining the errors that students make in various linguistics aspects, such as grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and discourse, it is what involves. The primary purpose of error analysis is to gain insights into the language learning process by understanding they types of students make and the patterns that emerge. By doing so, researches and teachers can better comprehend the difficulties students face, the challenges posed by target language L2, and the influence of their native language L1 on their learning process. 

In language learning, errors are seem as a natural and essential part of the process. They are not perceived as something negative or discouraging, but rather as possibilities for growth and improvement. Languages students are encouraged to consider their mistakes as valuable learning experiences and not to be afraid to take risks when using the foreign language. Pronunciation errors are characterized by inaccuracies or devitations in how a student produce sounds, stress, rhythm, or intonation of the target language, mispronunciation of individual sounds, over-pronunciation, and confusing the different sounds. These errors can occur due to various reasons, such as the influence of the learner's native language L1, lack of exposure to native speakers, or limited practice in the target language's phonetic System.

It is important to keep in mind that perfect pronunciation is not the main object of language learning. Instead, the focus should be on clear and effective communication, and pronunciation mistakes should be seen as stepping stones towards language proficiency. Some teachers provide specific exercises and activities to help students improve their pronunciation skills, such as 1. listening and repeating also called model of repetition: The teacher models the correct pronunciation, and the students repeat after them to practice, 2. Phonetic exercises and enganging in conversations with native speakers. In the classroom, 3. Using peer interaction: Encouraging students to practice with each other can foster a supportive enviroment where they can help each other's pronunciation errors.

There are two tools that are hardly used today but that as future teachers we must take into account the individualized attention: Teachers can identify each student's specific pronunciation challenges and provide targeted support and guidance, and feedback and practice every single day: Regular feedback from the teachers allows students to identify and correct their pronunciation errors through continuos practice. It is needed to take into account that patience and encouragement are vital when helping students improve their pronunciation skills. 

Identification of Errors

Error #1:  Pronunciation of the letters R and L in English

When we pronounce the L, the tongue touches the top of the mouth behind the teeth. When we pronounce the R, the lips round and the middle part of the tongue rises a little. With both letters, the air runs along the sides of the tongue. The first word in each line has the letter R (phonetic /r/ sound). The second has the letter L (phonetic sound of /l/).

Exercise 1

Activity 1 is a minimal pairs activity. Minimal pairs are words which are the same, but one sound is different. For example, ‘lock’ and ‘rock’. Students listen and tick the sound (/l/ or /r/) in the words they hear. You can listen to the audio for the worksheet below.

Listen

Exercise 2 

Activity 2 is similar to Activity 1 but here they tick the word they hear. Again, it is a minimal pairs activity. You can listen to the audio for the worksheet below.

Listen

Error #2:  Pronunciation of the letters J and G in English

The Letter J

We always pronounce the letter J as /dʒ/ (phonetic symbol). The sound /dʒ/ is formed by touching the tongue to the palate. It is a vocalized sound. That means we use the vocal cords to produce this sound.

The Letter G

We pronounce the letter G as /dʒ/ when it comes before e, i, or y, but as /g/ when it comes before other letters. The letter G can also have the /g/ sound. It is pronounced the same as the G in the word "Guerra" in Spanish. It is a vocalized sound. We use the vocal cords to produce this sound.

Exercise 1

Fill in the blanks with the correct letter.

Exercise 2

Circle the correct use of the sound of the letter g in the following exercise.

Error #3:  Dropping consonant sounds at the end of words

When speaking English, Spanish speakers may drop consonants at the end of words. This is not a fatal mistake, but it is one that often falls through the net.

For example, instead of saying ‘text’, Spanish speakers may say ‘tex’ or ‘brefas’ rather than ‘breakfast’. Instead of ‘mind’ you might say ‘mine’.

This is because consonant clusters never appear at the ends of words in Spanish. As a result, you may drop the last consonant sound in English without even noticing.

Often this creates problems with ‘ed’ verb endings – meaning words like ‘worked’ or ‘loved’ may be pronounced ‘work’ or ‘love’.

Exercise 1

Final Deletion Minimal pairs practice:

Work with minimal pairs, which are pairs of words that differ only in the final consonant sound.

Listen to the words carefully, and try to pronounce them while dropping the final consonant sound in one of the words. Pay attention to the difference in pronunciation.

Here you can listen an audio with the first 6 minimal pairs, then you have to guess what is the correct pronunciation of the other ones. 

Listen 

Minimal Pair #1 – Bought / Boat / But

The sound in bought is like in the words saw, call, and automatic. Notice that this sound can be spelled several different ways – the spelling of English words is often very different from their pronunciation!

Try to pronounce!

bought / saw / call / automatic

The sound in boat is like in the words no, so, and slow

boat / no / so / slow

Finally, the sound in but is the same as in cut, what, and sun.

but / cut / what / sun

Minimal Pair #2 – Late / Let

The vowel sound in late is the same as in the words name, take, and eight

late / name / take / eight

The vowel sound in let is like in the words get, pen, and best.

late / let

pain / pen

wait / wet

main / men

Minimal Pair #3 – Bed / Bad

Here we have the difference between the “eh” sound like in bed, head, said, and mess – and the “a” sound like in bad, had, mass, sad, and apple.

said / sad

bed / bad

mess / mass

head / had

Minimal Pair #4 – Feel / Fell / Fill

The “ee” sound in feel is like in see, meet, and be

feel / see / meet / be

The “eh” sound in fell is like in the words egg, wet, and better

fell / egg / wet / better

The “ih” sound in fill is like in will, it, sick, and miss

fill / will / it / sick / miss

Minimal Pair #5 – Luck / Look

The sound in luck is like in but, what, bus, and fun

luck / but / what / bus / fun

The sound in look is like in took, book, and cook

look / took / book / cook

Now try the minimal pair again:

luck / look

Minimal Pair #6 – Hat / Heart / Hot

Let’s practice the “a” sound again:

hat / cat / back / map

Now practice the “ar” sound

heart / dark / start / park

Now practice this sound

hot / not / body / got

Second part 

You should follow the same instructions as the previous one but assuming the pronunciation without an audio. Then you can check if your answers are correct in internet.

Minimal Pair #7 – Cap / Keep

Rip / Reap

Hop / Hope

Nap / Knob

Minimal Pair #8 Sum / Some

Gum / Gloom

Ram / Ream

Slam / Slime

Minimal Pair #9 Less / Laze

Kiss / Case

Bus / Base

Class / Claws

Minimal Pair #10 Cuff / Cough

Huff / Hoff

Leaf / Leave

Laugh / Laf

Exercise 2 

Say the name of each object aloud and circulates the image that has a different sound at the end. 

Second image

In this exercise you are going to listen to your teacher pronounce the word and then you must write the last sound you hear in the box. 

Error #4: Sentence stress. 

Spanish is a syllable-timed language, which means you stress every syllable. English on the other hand, is a stress-timed language. This means that we don’t give the same emphasis to all the sounds that we make. Instead, we shorten unstressed syllables to fit the rhythm.

We often stress the important words. These are words that carry information – like nouns, adjectives and main verbs.

And we speed up on words with less importance – like articles ‘and’, ‘a’, and ‘the’ and auxiliary verbs ‘don’t’, ‘does,’ ‘will’ etc.

Exercise 1

Place a mark over the words that should be stressed in the following sentences. If a word has two syllables, place the stress mark over the syllable that should be stressed, and read each of the sentences aloud. 

Exercise 2 

In this exercise, you have to practice without the audio, and try to stress where the sentence is required. Then you have to listen the audio and check your answers.

Here’s the link where you can find the audio 

Listen

Conclusions: 

Searching information about errors and trying to find a way to correct them is really interesting, you realize how important is to take into account these types of things because it can be used for everyone, whether teachers and learners. It’s really helpful knowing that it happens to everyone and it’s normal, sometimes we may think that we don’t like the language just because we are having problems in a specific section, but as teachers we have the responsibility to teach learners how to cope with those problems. 

I had problems finding some exercises for this project, designing an exercise is difficult because you have to create a good one for a specific group of people experiencing the same situation and maybe you cannot find a complete one. So, you have to take some ideas from other exercises and design one that likes you. However, I have enjoyed the experience of identifying the errors and try to correct them using different sources. 

 Gary Sánchez.

For us as students learning foreign languages and as future teachers, it is important to know these types of pronunciation errors that are common, in order to work on our pronunciation and avoid making these errors in order to teach the foreign language in the best way. Know the different tools, types of exercises and elements to help our future students and try to avoid fossilization in pronunciation errors from the beginning of the learning process. In general I enjoyed this project a lot, it was a bit difficult to design the types of exercises but we learned new information and new ways to create new tools, and I think that patience, practice every day and supportive learning environment play essential roles in helping language learners improve their pronunciation skills over time.  

Evelin Rodriguez.

When we are learning a new language we may have certain difficulties since there are some sounds that we have never made before and in order to speak correctly we must identify these possible problems. By doing so, we can obtain better results in our learning exercise and it helps us because when we are teaching other people, we can make them see where they should improve in their learning process. It is difficult to find activities for certain pronunciation errors, since native speakers usually do not make them, so if a student of the new language does not stop to create activities for these common mistakes that Spanish speakers make, it becomes complicated the task of knowing how to practice and change our mistakes. In general, it is difficult to learn a new language, but by having the correct tools, we can make noticeable progress in a short time. 

Hesler Moncada.

 

 

References

https://campusvirtual.unah.edu.hn/mod/resource/view.php?id=522952
https://campusvirtual.unah.edu.hn/mod/resource/view.php?id=522954
Oxford House (2020, November 11). Pronunciation Errors Spanish Speakers Make in English (And How ToFix Them). Oxfordhouse Language Courses. Retrieved August 6, 2023, from https://oxfordhousebcn.com/en/6-pronunciation-mistakes-spanish-speakers-make-in-english-and-how-to-fix-them/
 
Speech and Language Kids (2018, September 2). Final Consonant Deletion | Activities, Words, and Goals. Speech and Language Kids by the SLP Solution. Retrieved August 6, 2023, from https://www.speechandlanguagekids.com/final-consonant-deletion/
 
Espresso English (2022, July 6). Minimal Pairs: English Pronunciation Exercises. Espressoenglish. Retrieved August 6, 2023, from https://www.espressoenglish.net/minimal-pairs-english-pronunciation-exercises-vowels/

Castrejon, J. (2023). Inglés Mundial. Obtenido de https://www.inglesmundial.com/Basico/Leccion13/Pronunciacion.html

Castrejon, J. (2023). Inglés Mundial. Obtenido de https://www.inglesmundial.com/Basico/Leccion7/Pronunciacion.html

L, D. (20 de July de 2019). ELECLASSROOM. Obtenido de https://eleclassroom.wordpress.com/2019/07/20/pronunciation-of-l-and-r/