Analysis of errors in the phonetic transcription of English consonants by Egyptian undergraduate language students

Abstract EN

Raising learners’ awareness of the target language phonology is one of the aims in foreign language teaching.

Phonetic transcription has traditionally been used in language teaching particularly at advanced levels.

This study examines the phonemic transcription of 30 English words by a number of 60 Egyptian learners studying an introductory phonetics course at undergraduate level.

It attempts to find out the errors made by students in transcribing English words involving consonants in particular.

It also seeks to explain the reasons for these errors, with the aim of raising learners’ awareness of them.

The study touches upon the deeper underlying structures involved in learning phonemic transcription.

Identifying the most frequent errors in phonemic transcription by Egyptian learners of English can help place more emphasis on them in teaching, thus helping the learning process to be more successful