Babkina, V. (2018). Phonological interference of mother tongue over the English

English Language 
and Literature Studies
, 4 (4): 31-44.

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13 
The subjects for the investigation were the students from 
University of Sudan of Science and Technology (SUST). The objective 
of the study was to observe the pronunciation of certain English language 
sounds produced by the university students with Sudanese Arabic 
language background during their speaking or reading in English. 
Moreover, the research was aimed at selecting some problematic L2 
consonant and vowel sounds, analysing the reasons for mispronunciation 
of these sounds and suggesting some solutions to help the learners 
overcome the pronunciation difficulty. 
The data was collected by means of observation, recording test and 
a questionnaire for the teachers from SUST. As a result of observation 
and recording tests, the most problematic cases of English sounds 
pronunciation for Sudanese EFL learners turned out to be as follows: /v/ 
(as in 
van, have, marvel
) is replaced with /f/; /p/ (as in 
pen, map, happy
) 
is replaced with /b/ and sometimes /b/ is replaced with /p/ (as in 
Big 
Ben
); /θ/ (as in 
think, math, mathematics
) is replaced with /s/; /tʃ/ (as in 
much, furniture
) is replaced with /ʃ/; /ð/ (as in 
then, weather
) is replaced 
with /z/. The pronunciation of some vowel English sounds also appeared 
to be problematic. In the provided questionnaire the teachers were asked 
to confirm the extent of problem cases of phonological interference and 
to mention the reasons for the sounds mispronunciation. 
According to the results of the questionnaire, the reasons for L2 
sounds mispronunciation were stated to be the following: lack of these 
English sounds in the sound system of Sudanese Arabic language, the 
difference between the sounds system of Arabic (general) and Sudanese 
Arabic, inconsistency of some English consonant and vowel sounds, 
variation of speech organ positions or breath control.
At the conclusion of the research, some general recommendations 
about how to deal with the pronunciation of the problem sounds were 
provided by the investigator. However, it is worth mentioning that no 
practical examples, instruction or pronunciation activities were suggested 
by the researcher to the teachers who work with Sudanese EFL learners. 
There were only some comments on the topic without giving any specific 
solution to help the Sudanese EFL learners overcome the difficulties in 
pronunciation of the sounds that were studied in the research. 

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14 
To conclude here, the author finds this investigation quite useful 
from the point of view of the type of data collection methods. The idea of 
using observation, recording methods and a questionnaire for teachers 
who work with Peruvian EFL learners were borrowed from the research 
done by Elkhair Muhammad Idriss Hassan. Moreover, the connection of 
the discussed research with the given investigation is related to some 
similarities in the L2 consonant sounds mispronunciation among 
Sudanese learners and Peruvian learners. For instance, such L2 consonant 
sounds as /v/, /θ/, /ð/ cause difficulties for both Sudanese and Peruvian 
EFL students due to their mother tongue influence: Sudanese Arabic and 
Spanish of Peruvian variant. Of course, it is only a coincidence, however, 
the results allow for contemplation about the reasons that brought about 
these problems for both Sudanese and Peruvian learners. As it has been 
mentioned above, the results of the questionnaire completed by the 
Sudanese teachers demonstrate that the reasons for mispronunciation are 
different. The author of the present investigation took into consideration 
the results of the mentioned questionnaire, did some research and studied 
the question about the reasons for mispronunciation of the consonant 
sounds among Peruvian learners. However, it was not the objective of the 
present paper, the results helped the author to plan the strategy in search 
for a solution.
The third research work is called “An action research study of 
pronunciation training, language learning strategies and speaking 
confidence” performed by Patchara Varasarin at Victoria University in 
2007
4
.
The subjects of the study were five volunteer teachers and twenty 
volunteer summer school students (from 12 to 13 years old) from 
Thailand whose mother tongue was Thai. The principal objective of the 
study was to examine pronunciation training and language learning 
strategies. Additionally, the study aimed at analysing the extent to which 
the proposed pronunciation training plan could cater for the improvement 
of communicative competence of the Thai EFL learners in the classroom.
4
Varasarin, P. (2007):