Improving English pronunciation among Arabic EFL school-age students using minimal pairs.

Abstract

This study investigated whether the use of the minimal pairs’ strategy improves English pronunciation of unfamiliar consonant sounds for native Arab student in a 2nd intermediate grade in Saudi Arabia. The minimal pair defines as patterns of words which sound similar but are in fact different in only one sound (phoneme). Thirteen of participants in this study were male Arabian school students who had been studying English as a foreign language. The type of research used in this study was action research which was designed to enhance teaching in the classroom. The researcher had used four phases in conducting this study; plan, act, observe and reflect. The intervention (use of minimal pairs) was used in this study for approximately fifteen minutes each time, four times per week over a four-week period. Three instruments were used in this study: pretest, post test and oral assessment (based on observation). This research was designed using pretest and post test to determine if there was any improvement with the pronunciation of specific English consonant phonemes (/p/, /ʒ/, /v/, /tʃ/ and /ŋ/) by the study participants. Finally, the findings revealed that teaching strategy, minimal pairs, is effective in improving the pronunciation of the 2nd intermediate grade Arab speakers.