Shortening in English as recognized by Iraqi EFL learners AT the university level : a perceptual study

الملخص EN

The present research investigates the ability of EFL Iraqi learners at the University level in recognizing vowel shortening in English.

It consists of three parts : The theoretical part, the experimental part, and conclusion.

The theoretical part discusses some basic features of English vowel sounds, vowel versus consonants, the anatomy of a vowel, pure vowels and their articulatory, auditory and acoustic features.

It also displays definitions and cases of English vowel shortening.

The practical part is devoted to describe the test conducted by the researcher as well as showing the results of the subjects' performance in the test.

It introduces the objectives of the test , some basic details about the stimuli, subjects, CD–tape recording, the answer sheet, and the procedures.

The last part presents the conclusions based on the main results of the test .

The research terminates with references and an appendix .

* The present paper is extracted from an M.A.

Study conducted by the second author and supervised by the first one.