Identifying and Correcting English Pronunciation Errors in Spanish Speakers

(Richards, 1971) Explains error analysis may be defined as dealing with the differences between the way people learning a language speak, and the way adult native speakers of the language use the language. Such differences may create interest for a variety of reasons. We may begin with the interests of those who study language "for its own sake." Since language is not simply a more complex instance of something found elsewhere in the animal world, Chomsky suggests that the study of human language is the most fruitful way of discovering what constitutes human intelligence. Some of the most insightful notions about what language is have come from observing how language is acquired by children. By looking at children's speech, comparing it with adult speech, and trying to account for the differences, psycholinguists have been able to speculate about the nature of the mental processes that seem to be involved in language.

(Khansir, 2012) wrote Error Analysis is a type of linguistic analysis that concentrates on the errors learners make. It consists of a comparison between the errors made in the target language and that target language itself. Error analysis emphasizes the significance of learners‟ errors in the second language. It is important to note here that Interferences from the learner’s mother tongue is not the only reason for committing errors in his target language.

By repeating the student’s sentence only up until the error was made, it is essential to repeat and notices what, and where the mistake is been most common like if the error is in the sound of the h in English is pronounced either as /θ/ or /ð/. The former is pronounced similarly as /t/ and the latter similarly as /d/, but the tongue touches the backside of upper teeth, not just the upper palate (the fleshy part behind the teeth, pronounced /ˈpælət/). They are not pronounced as “s” and “z”, this mistake is very common for Spanish native speakers because this sound doesn't exist in Spanish. Always notice how our mouth and lips move, how we move our mouth affects how we pronounce a word. The first step to correcting our mouth shape is to notice it and pay attention. There are a few ways you can check that your mouth and lips are making the correct shape. Using a mirror is by far the simplest method to tell what your mouth is doing while you talk.

Error 1. Change the /s/ for /z/ (For example, the word ‘’was’’ should have a /z/ sound, not an /s/ sound)

Why does this error occur?: It occurs when non-native speakers cannot distinguish the pronunciation of both letters /s/ and /z/ as they can sound the same and it is because both sounds are produced in the same part of the mouth. We can find some differences; The /s/ sound is voiceless, and the /z/ sound is voiced, this means that the /z/ sound is a voiced sound because the vocal cords vibrate when the sound is emitted, and the /s/ sound is a voiceless or non-vocal sound because the vocal cords do not vibrate when the sound is emitted. Instead, we use air to emit the sound.

Exercise 1: Practice the voiceless S sound and the voiced Z sound.

Instructions: Say these words out loud. The S sounds are in yellow, the Z sounds are in blue.

1. Is this house hers?

2. Six boys sat on the fence outside the store.

3. He was so sad last Sunday.

4. Sam is my son.

5. The seven dogs stay inside the house.

6. Please sit beside your friends.

7. The science quiz was easy.

8. The sun is so high in the sky.

9. He was so sad last Sunday.

10. The seven students took the first test for their driver's licenses.

Excercise 2: Identifying sounds.

Instructions: With a red pencil mark the words pronounced with /s/ and with a blue pencil mark the words pronounced with /z/.

Example: say- zip
1. Sister
2. Zoo
3. Friends
4. Sunday5. Sits
6. Science
7. Bags
8. His
9. Roses
10. Face

Error 2. The pronunciation of the morpheme -ed in the past and participles

Why does this error occur? Regular conjugations in English are very easy, the past simple and the past participle are formed simply by adding “-ed” to the end. However, you have to be careful with that ending, which is not always pronounced the same: It is pronounced / ɪd / when it is preceded by “t” or “d”, as in wanted, expected, needed, or awarded. When immediately preceded by any voiced vowel or consonant, it is / -d /, as in the cases of playing, dribbled, touched, or moved. Finally, when "-ed" is preceded by a hollow sound, it is pronounced as / t /, for example, I liked, hit, jumped or packed.

Excercise 1.

Instructions: Fill in the blanks and conjugate the verbs in the simple past tense:
Last night, my friends and I ____________ (decide) to go out. It was nice out, so we
_____________ (walk) downtown and _____________ (look) for a nice place to have drinks.
We all ____________ (settle) on a warm-looking and cozy pub, which ____________(ad-
vertize) a funk band playing that night. We ___________ (enter) and as we ___________ (glance) around, it _____________ (appear) that it was not too crowded. We ____________ (stay) anyway, and the concert was fantastic! We ____________ (dance) for hours and had a lot of fun!

Excercise 2.

Instructions: Classify the following verbs in the corresponding columns according to their final sound /d/, /t/ or /id/.

1. played 2. wanted 3. kissed 4. helped 5. asked

6. needed 7. loved 8. started 9. stayed 10. walked

/d/ /t/ /id/

loved walked started
_______ _________ _________

_______ _________ _________

Error 3. Pronunciation of the /th/ sound

Why does this error occur? As we know there are 2 sounds in English pronunciation / θ/ and / ð/ Both are fricatives and are made with the tongue between or behind the teeth. The first thing to do to help students overcome this bad pronunciation habit is to show them that they need to put their tongues between or behind their teeth and let a puff of air out of their mouth. In this way, they will be able to practice the pronunciation of this consonant.

Excercise 1. Say these words out loud

Instructions: Practice the voiced TH sound: ð

that

this

them

the

feather

weather

father

breathe

bathe

smooth

1.2 Practice the voiceless TH sound: θ

think

thin

thing

thanks

birthday

healthy

something

math

tooth

teeth

Excercise 2:

Instructions: practice pronouncing these sentences using the 2 th sounds, then mark the phonetic symbol above the word.

1. I thank my three brothers.

2. My birthday is on Thursday April third.

3. These three teeth hurt in my mouth.

4. They went with their mother to the theater.

5. There are thirteen thin women there.

6. She has a loose tooth in her mouth.

Error 4. Get confused with the sound /c/ and the sound /k/

Why does this error occur? In English the letter 'c' is commonly pronounced as a /k/ sound, that is one of the reasons why Spanish speakers get confused in some words with /c/ and /k/. The letter c that is pronounced as /k/ can come almost anywhere in the word and comes before the vowels a, o, and u. If the word needs to contain a short vowel sound before the /k/ sound.