Case study of the acoustic vowel space of Iraqi students English vowels and standard American English vowels

Abstract EN

English language is taught in Iraqi schools in a wide and intensive manner, but many of Iraqi students have problems mastering the English Language.

The most significant issue is the correct pronunciation of words or sounds.

It is difficult to acquire the correct pronunciation since most of these sounds in phonetics system of English and Arabic languages are different.

This research will focus on the participant's English vowels production while making inferences to his social network, possible L1 interferences, comparisons to Standard US English, and Iraqi Students English vowels.

Furthermore, the researcher will use 13 words created by Peterson and Barney 1952 in the production analysis and for recording the words pronunciation Praat software will be used.

The results from the participant will compare with US English vowels and will be analyzed by the researcher.