A study of pupils’ difficulty in pronouncing critical sounds in English

Abstract

This study was made to survey pupils’ difficulties in pronouncing critical sounds in English, to evaluate the seriousness of these difficulties, to determine the probable causes of mispronunciation, and to draw implications for more effective teaching of critical sounds in English to elementary school children.

Four hundred nine pupils from Grade I to Grade VI in five central schools composed the subjects of the study. In Grade I and Grade II, pictures and real objects were used for the testing; in the higher grades, a written instrument was used. A record was kept of each child’s responses.

Test results were analyzed by schools, then by grade level. The extent of the errors committed was expressed in terms of an average frequency count of incorrect responses, the percentage of the pupils committing the errors in every grade, and in every school.