English Speakers' Challenges in Spanish Pronunciation: A Study

This report presents a study investigating the pronunciation difficulties encountered by native English speakers when learning Spanish. The study delves into the core issues, including the phonetic differences between English and Spanish, and their pedagogical implications. It examines the specific challenges faced by English speakers, such as unfamiliar sounds and stress patterns. The research methodology involves a descriptive research design, utilizing a pragmatic research philosophy and a deductive research approach. Primary data is collected through interviews with two groups of individuals: those with Spanish language experience without living in a Spanish-speaking country and those with language exposure in a Spanish-speaking country, to evaluate the impact of language immersion. The study aims to identify the challenges, assess the impact of language exposure, and recommend ways to overcome these pronunciation difficulties, contributing to the understanding of second language acquisition and providing a framework for future research.

Running head: ENGLISH SPEAKERS AND SPANISH PRONUNCIATION DIFFICULTIES
A STUDY TO ANALYZE WHETHER NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS CAN
OVERCOME THEIR SPANISH PRONUNCIATION DIFFICULTIES
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Abstract

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Acknowledgement

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................5
1.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................5
1.2 Background of the Study.......................................................................................................5
1.3 Research Aim.........................................................................................................................6
1.4 Research Objectives...............................................................................................................6
1.5 Research Questions................................................................................................................6
1.6 Significance of the Study.......................................................................................................7
1.7 Summary................................................................................................................................7
Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW..............................................................................................8
2.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................8
2.2 Concept of Phonetics.............................................................................................................8
2.3 Differences between the English and Spanish Phonetics......................................................8
2.4 Pedagogical implications for the differences between the English and Spanish Phonetics. .8
2.5 Issues faced by native English speakers related to Spanish pronunciation...........................8
2.6 Literature Gap........................................................................................................................8
2.7 Summary................................................................................................................................8
Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...................................................................................9
3.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................9
3.2 Research Philosophy..............................................................................................................9

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3.3 Research Approach................................................................................................................9
3.4 Research Design..................................................................................................................10
3.5 Data Collection Method.......................................................................................................10
3.6 Data Analysis Method.........................................................................................................11
3.7 Ethical Considerations.........................................................................................................11
3.8 Limitations of the Study......................................................................................................11
3.9 Summary..............................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13

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Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
This chapter introduces the important facets or the aspects of the study like its aim,
objectives, questions and others which will form the central lacuna of the entire. Furthermore,
the researcher had also highlighted the importance or for that matter the significance of this study
as well.
1.2 Background of the Study
As stated by Zárate-Sández (2019), Spanish is the official language in more than 21
different nations and territories and perhaps the most used language in the world after English
and French. Bienzobas, Herrarte and Vázquez (2019) are of the viewpoint that it is seen despite
the extensive usage of the Spanish language all over the world the native English speakers still
find it very difficult to master the Spanish pronunciation and thereby find it very difficult to
speak or to understand the concerned language. This difficultly that the native English speakers
find related to the Spanish language can not only be attributed to the differences in stress pattern
in these two languages but also to the fact that some of the Spanish words like Sobremesa,
Estrenar, Pena Ajena/Verguenza Ajena, Antier/Anteayer, Desvelado, Tuerto and others have no
translations in English (Benedetti 2020).
More importantly, the difficultly faced by the native English speakers becomes even
more grave when the fact that some of the Spanish sounds like [ɲ], [ɸ], [x], [β], [ɣ], [r], [ʀ], [pʰ],
[tʰ], [kʰ], [θ], [ʃ], [ʒ], [dʒ] and others are absent in English (Colina 2019). In addition to these, it
is seen that Spanish pronunciations are more nasal in comparison to English and thus the native
English speakers find it difficult to effectively pronounce the Spanish words effectively despite

6ENGLISH SPEAKERS AND SPANISH PRONUNCIATION DIFFICULTIES
undertaking Spanish language learning classes (Rao 2019). It is in the background of these
aspects that the researcher will conduct this study.
1.3 Research Aim
The aim of this study is to find and analyze the native English speakers’ difficulties in
Spanish pronunciation and also determine if these difficulties can be mitigated after a year of
language exposure in a Spanish speaking country.
1.4 Research Objectives
1. To identify the difficulties faced by the native English speakers related to Spanish
pronunciation
2. To evaluate whether the difficulties faced by the English speakers related to Spanish
pronunciation can be overcome after a year of language exposure in a Spanish speaking
country
3. To recommend ways through which the native English speakers can overcome their
difficulties related to Spanish pronunciation
1.5 Research Questions
1. What are the difficulties faced by the native English speakers related to Spanish
pronunciation?
2. Can the difficulties faced by the English speakers related to Spanish pronunciation be
overcome after a year of language exposure in a Spanish speaking country?
3. What are the ways through which the native English speakers can overcome their
difficulties related to Spanish pronunciation?

7ENGLISH SPEAKERS AND SPANISH PRONUNCIATION DIFFICULTIES
1.6 Significance of the Study
Pennington and Rogerson-Revell (2019) are of the viewpoint that Spanish is presently
being spoken in the majority of the nations of the world and thus it had become important for the
individuals to have a working knowledge of the concerned language. However, the pronunciation
difficulties that the native English speakers related to the pronunciation of the Spanish words
often deter them from learning Spanish (Munro 2018). More importantly, significant amount of
research work have not been undertaken regarding the pedagogical implications of the
differences which exists between English and Spanish phonetics and also the manner in which
the native English speakers’ can overcome the difficulties that they face related to Spanish
pronunciation. Thus, the significance of this study lies in the fact that it will try to overcome this
particular research gap and thereby would serve as a framework for the future researchers willing
to undertake future research on the same or related topics.
1.7 Summary
To sum up, in the above discussion the researcher had highlighted the different important
aspects of the study like research aim, objectives and research questions on the basis of which
the entire study would be conducted. This chapter would be followed by Chapter 2 wherein the
researcher had undertaken a review of past literature related to the research topic.

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Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Concept of Phonetics
2.3 Differences between the English and Spanish Phonetics
2.4 Pedagogical implications for the differences between the English and Spanish Phonetics
2.5 Issues faced by native English speakers related to Spanish pronunciation
2.6 Literature Gap
2.7 Summary

9ENGLISH SPEAKERS AND SPANISH PRONUNCIATION DIFFICULTIES
Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
This section presents an overview of the research methodological framework that had
been used for the completion of this study. This chapter also offers reasons for the selection of
the different aspects of the research methodological framework like research philosophy,
approach, design, data collection and analysis methods and others.
3.2 Research Philosophy
Pragmatic research philosophy had been selected for the conduct of this study rather than
the usage of the positivism research philosophy or the interpretivism research philosophy.
According to Clarke and Visser (2019), the usage of the pragmatic research philosophy offers the
opportunity to the researchers to analyze the research topic that they have selected through the
usage of multiple perspectives or viewpoints. This in turn significantly enhances the scope of the
study and thereby its quality as well (Daniel and Harland 2017). Thus, it is likely that the
researcher through the usage of this particular philosophy would get the opportunity to analyze
the research topic through multiple perspectives and thereby enhance the scope of the study.
3.3 Research Approach
Deductive research approach had been selected for the conduct of this study rather than
the usage of the inductive research approach. Bresler and Stake (2017) are of the viewpoint that
deductive research approach offers the opportunity to the researchers to undertake an analysis of
the research topic that had selected through the usage of different observations, models,
theoretical frameworks and others. Thus, it is likely that the researcher through the usage of this
particular approach will get the opportunity to analyze the issues faced by the native English

10ENGLISH SPEAKERS AND SPANISH PRONUNCIATION DIFFICULTIES
speakers’ related to Spanish pronunciation through the help of different models, theoretical
frameworks, observations and others.
3.4 Research Design
Descriptive research design had been selected for the conduct of this study rather than the
exploratory research design or the explanatory research design. As discussed by Khupe and
Keane (2017), the most important feature of the descriptive research design is that it offers the
opportunity to the researchers to correlate the findings that they have obtained from the analysis
of the primary or the secondary data with the research objectives formulated by them. This in
turn helps the researchers to enhance the quality of their study by enhancing the coherence of the
study (Ledford and Gast 2018). Thus, it is likely that the researcher through the usage of this
design would be able to enhance the coherence as well as the quality of the study by linking the
findings obtained from the primary data with the objectives of the study.
3.5 Data Collection Method
Primary data collection method rather than the secondary data collection method had
been used by the researcher for the completion of this study. Primary data had been collected by
the researcher through the usage of the tool of interview from two groups of individuals, each
comprising of five individuals. The first group consists of individuals who had been studying
Spanish for the last 5 years but never lived in a Spanish speaking nation whereas the second
group consists of individuals who have studied the language for the same period of time but have
taken part into the Erasmus Program living in a Spanish speaking nation for a year. The
interview will be conducted in two parts. In the first part, the individuals will be asked be asked
questions which will be focused on the issues related to Spanish pronunciation that they face and
the questions in the second part will try to evaluate whether difficulties faced by the English

11ENGLISH SPEAKERS AND SPANISH PRONUNCIATION DIFFICULTIES
speakers related to Spanish pronunciation be overcome after a year of language exposure in a
Spanish speaking country.
3.6 Data Analysis Method
Qualitative data analysis method rather than the quantitative data analysis method had
been used for the analysis of the primary data. This can be explained on the basis of the fact that
the researcher had collected non-numerical or non-statistical data which is usually being
analyzed through the qualitative data analysis method. Thus, the usage of this particular data
analysis method will help the researcher to effectively analyze the primary data or the
information collected from the participants in the interview.
3.7 Ethical Considerations
The researcher had adhered to the ethical standards of conducting academic research. For
instance, the participants in the interview were not being asked any personal, private,
confidential or financial information and the information offered by them had been protected as
per the Data Protection Act and thereby used only for the completion of this study. Furthermore,
the researcher had offered due credit to the scholars or the authors whose works have been used
in this study via in-text citations and references so as to avoid plagiarism.
3.8 Limitations of the Study
The researcher because of time and resource constraints had not been able to conduct
survey for the collection of primary data. Furthermore, the researcher was able to interview only
10 individuals because of accessibility issues. These two in short are the most important
limitations of the study which had significantly narrowed down the scope of the entire study.

12ENGLISH SPEAKERS AND SPANISH PRONUNCIATION DIFFICULTIES
3.9 Summary
To sum up, the researcher in the above discussion had outlined the different components
of the research methodological framework that had been used for the conduct of this study. The
chapter is followed by the chapter “Findings and Discussion”.

13ENGLISH SPEAKERS AND SPANISH PRONUNCIATION DIFFICULTIES
References
Benedetti, A. 2020. 10 Spanish Words That Have No English Translation. [online]
Huffingtonpost.in. Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/spanish-words-no-
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errer_sig=AQAAAKj4hYlfWIdt7hxpYQ2shsDRoyrcJQe7d1A8Nf9Gm-
0Qijk5ldMqRw4pT5S4EY_kQGZR9u4bFbgyRZzHjJjv5NJ5TD9RvUMPcDkZblVRAxf7-
6n1pgdFx-uvj6ZUZoS1ac5Yz-75Wp7iVEBZ6wzBQulHdrislzDoZYO2eyY6crMU [Accessed 2
Mar. 2020].
Bienzobas, A.D., Herrarte, D.L. and Vázquez, V.P., 2019. The integration of language and
content in English-medium instruction courses: Lecturers’ beliefs and practices. Ibérica: Revista
de la Asociación Europea de Lenguas para Fines Específicos (AELFE), (38), pp.151-176.
Bresler, L. and Stake, R.E., 2017. Qualitative research methodology in music education.
In Critical Essays in Music Education (pp. 113-128). Routledge.
Clarke, E. and Visser, J., 2019. Pragmatic research methodology in education: possibilities and
pitfalls. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 42(5), pp.455-469.
Colina, S., 2019. Incorporating syllable structure into the teaching of Spanish pronunciation. Key
Issues in the Teaching of Spanish Pronunciation: From Description to Pedagogy.
Daniel, B.K. and Harland, T., 2017. Higher education research methodology: A step-by-step
guide to the research process. Routledge.

14ENGLISH SPEAKERS AND SPANISH PRONUNCIATION DIFFICULTIES
Khupe, C. and Keane, M., 2017. Towards an African education research methodology:
decolonising new knowledge. Educational Research for Social Change, 6(1), pp.25-37.
Ledford, J.R. and Gast, D.L., 2018. Single case research methodology: Applications in special
education and behavioral sciences. Routledge.
Munro, M.J., 2018. How Well Can We Predict Second Language Learners' Pronunciation
Difficulties?. CATESOL Journal, 30(1), pp.267-281.
Pennington, M.C. and Rogerson-Revell, P., 2019. Beyond the Language Classroom: Wider
Applications of Pronunciation Research and Practice. In English Pronunciation Teaching and
Research (pp. 343-399). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Rao, R. ed., 2019. Key Issues in the Teaching of Spanish Pronunciation: From Description to
Pedagogy. Routledge.
Zárate-Sández, G., 2019. Spanish pronunciation and teaching dialectal variation. Key Issues in
the Teaching of Spanish Pronunciation: From Description to Pedagogy.