Bortoluzzi Graciela and Rodriguez, Ruth

Universidad Nacional del Litoral

Licenciatura en Inglés
cohorte 5

Seminario: Adquisición del lenguaje.

Profesora: Lic., Mariana Sottile.

Alumnas: Bortoluzzi Graciela and Rodríguez Ruth.

Tema: Difficulties encountered by adult learners of

English as a foreign language when pronouncing the

alveolar plosives /t/ and /d/.

2018
Bortoluzzi Graciela and Rodriguez, Ruth

Introduction

Language is a complex but amazing system developed to stretch communicative boundaries

among individuals. Every language is made up of a set of rules, which makes it possible to
produce and understand phrases and utterances necessary in order to socialize with others.
Learning to communicate is an intricate process, which can take place either in an
educational environment or just as part of everyday life. Acquiring a first language implies
an unconscious effort to produce utterances since the person is surrounded by the linguistic
input and needs to master it in order to coexist with others in the community. On the other
hand, sometimes learning a language does not take place in a natural environment because
the target language is different from the speaker’s. Instead, the language is deeply analyzed
and studied in an artificial environment especially created to learn and practice the
linguistic input. Acquiring a different language is a complex but interesting process people
go through. There are many factors, which can positively and negatively affect mastering a
foreign language. One of these aspects is the acquisition of the appropriate pronunciation of
the target language. When it comes to pronunciation, age, motivation and correct
instruction regarding pronunciation play an important role in learning how to produce
speech sounds in any foreign language. For Spanish-speaking learners of English,
attempting to achieve accuracy in English pronunciation may be a big deal since English
has a great variety of vowel and consonant sounds which not only makes pronunciation
difficult but also implies a complete challenge to certain age groups, especially adults.
Although Spanish-speaking learners of English have to cope with many difficult sounds at
a time, there are particular sets of consonants sounds, which can be very problematic. For
Spanish-speaking learners getting to the correct pronunciation of the alveolar plosives /t/
and /d/ implies a challenge since they have to recognize the place of articulation to produce
sounds that are similar in their mother tongue but articulated at different places within the
oral cavity.

Foreign language learning: major distinctions and purposes

Language is an essential part of people’s lives. It goes beyond the simple act of producing
utterances since the meaning of language is to share ideas, needs, and opinions, which are
necessary in order to live in a particular society. That is why people learn them at the very
beginning of their lives mainly through social contact and interaction. This is specially the
case of first language and second language acquisition where individuals acquire the
language because they are exposed and surrounded by it. However, when referring to
foreign language acquisition, a distinction must be made. A foreign language is a language
that is not used or spoken by the native people of a country. It is a form of language that is
said to be learnt rather than acquired. At this point, it is necessary to make a distinction
between the terms “acquisition” and “learning” which imply quite different processes.
Bortoluzzi Graciela and Rodriguez, Ruth

According to Krashen (1982), acquiring a language does not demand a conscious effort and
attention to understand and produce a language. It occurs naturally and usually without
explicit teaching or correction. The acquisition of a language is connected to the L1 and L2,
due to the fact that it happens without any kind of formal instruction, that is, without being
taught. People acquire the language through daily interaction with other members of
society. However, foreign languages are learnt in a formal specially designed context,
usually with the help of a teacher. (Ellis. 1995)

In Argentina, Spanish is the mother tongue of most learners of English as a foreign

language. English is considered a foreign language that is not necessary for survival in our
country. It is included as a subject in educational curriculums and it is considered an
essential instrument to successfully develop in many areas of work and travelling. The
distinction made between foreign and second language also relies on the geographical
boundaries where the languages are spoken. Usually, a second language is shared among
nearby communities that need to communicate for many reasons such as commerce and
tourism. To give an example, some parts of Argentina share its boundaries with Brazil. As a
result, Portuguese is spoken as an L2 mostly for commercial reasons in such areas.

One of the most interesting topics when talking about foreign language learning has to do
with the different purposes related to it. It is widely accepted that learning a foreign
language is an excellent opportunity to expand people´s knowledge about a culture different
from our own, appreciate the connection among the content areas and integrate a new
linguistic system. (Merrit, 2013) Perhaps, most importantly, English provides the chance of
being able to communicate with people from all over the world. In this case, English works
as a “lingua franca”, that is to say, a language adopted as a common tongue among people
from different speaking communities. Learning to communicate in English is an amazing
task although learners may encounter some difficulties in their path. Becoming bilingual
increases people´s mental abilities and helps to integrate a new linguistic structure to the
L1. A foreign language is not only a set of grammar rules and structures but it also
embraces a new culture and way of thinking that can improve and enrich people’s general
perspective.

Language learning and age

Learning a language involves a challenge to learners´ cognitive abilities, social skills and
self-esteem. The famous English naturalist Charles Darwin concluded on his many
researches and studies that learning a language is “an instinctive tendency to acquire an art”
On the other hand, the cognitive linguist Noam Chomsky on his works related to first
language, claims that people are born with an innate capacity of building the rules of
language. He introduces the theory of Universal Grammar which is based on the fact that
language is divided in categories, for example noun category and verbal category. This
categorization of grammar facilitates first language acquisition. In this sense, humans are
Bortoluzzi Graciela and Rodriguez, Ruth

able to understand and produce utterances in a first language even though the linguistic
input from the context is poor.

Moreover, it is important to mention that the age in language acquisition as well as the
stimuli the child receives plays a decisive role for successful language competence in L1.
Human beings start to acquire language even from the very beginning of their lives. When
the baby is still in its mother uterus, he or she starts listening to the sounds of a language
and is able to recognize sounds and words. As Doctor Maria Montesori (n.d) explains, the
sensitive period for learning how to speak a language starts when the baby is around the age
of seven months old and is boosted by the linguistic stimulus he received during the
prenatal period. Almost by the age of three, the child is ready to speak simple sentences of
three or five words at least. Therefore, the child unconsciously constructs the language
using the linguistic input he receives from the surrounding context and gradually starts
building in a sense the grammar of his mother tongue.

When referring to second or foreign language learning, the question whether there is a
specific age to better learn another language is a never ending discussion among scholars
and people in general. The extent to which a certain age enhances language learning
remains as an open debate since there are many factors that affect language learning apart
from age. Harmer (2015) explains that the age of the learner plays an important part during
the learning process due to the fact that learners at different maturational levels have
different types of educational needs and abilities. Usually, the artificial situations are
mostly in schools or other types of educational institutions where the language is analyzed
and studied. However, the contextual experiences are most of the times impoverished and
do not provide enough time and tools for using the language. It is commonly believed that
children who start learning a language at an early age have a remarkable facility to acquire
the pronunciation of a foreign language If they are provided with the appropriate practice
and instruction, they are able to acquire and produce the sounds of the target language with
notable accuracy.

While the child is growing up, other aspects of their cognitive abilities start developing as
well, allowing them to benefit from abstract knowledge related to the language. Children
and teenagers during their maturational process develop many cognitive abilities, which
facilitate language learning, especially during the critical period. This is the main reason
why adult learners struggle a lot to produce sounds in English and sometimes tend to feel
frustrated or embarrassed when they do not achieve accuracy in pronunciation. However,
being an adult does not hinder successful language learning, on the contrary, they can make
use of other abilities, which can boost the acquisition of another language. One ability,
perhaps the most important one, is the capacity of using abstract thought. Different from
other age groups, adults have a clear understanding of their learning purpose and therefore,
they struggle to keep motivated during the whole process. In addition, as they have a whole
range of life experience to draw on, they are also willing to try different types of activities
Bortoluzzi Graciela and Rodriguez, Ruth

to practice and improve the target language. Despite the advantages previously mentioned,
pronunciation is still a major problem for adults and maybe the main reason is that they
tend to respond more slowly to auditory stimuli than younger learners (Harmer 2015). In
addition to this, it is believed that after puberty, elder learnes find it more difficult to
acquire a native- like pronunciation of any foreign language. Consequently, activities
including listening and speaking cause them the most stress.

Another aspect that has a great impact in language learning and age has to do with
motivation. Harmer (2015) in his studies claims that keeping high learning motivation is
crucial for successful acquisition of a different language and it obviously varies according
to the age of the learner. Children have a shorter attention span than other age groups and,
as a result, tend to get bored easily. Adolescents, on the other hand, do not enjoy activities
that last too long and do not include content and exercises relevant to their age. Adults, on
the other hand, as they are more disciplined than younger people are more likely to keep
motivated despite tiredness or boredom. Overall, it can be said that although learning
English as a foreign language from an early age is important in order to successfully
develop linguistic competence in the language, much of the success depends not only upon
age but also on the development of cognitive abilities, appropriate instruction and
motivation.

Description of the alveolar plosives /t/ and /d/ in English

English and Spanish languages are perhaps the most widely spoken languages around the
world. The linguistic origins of both languages are quite different though they share some
similarities. When we are speaking, we construct words and phrases with individual
sounds, and we also use pitch change, intonation and stress to convey different meanings.
(Harmer, 2015) This aspect of language has to do with the phonic substance, that is to say,
with the human vocal sounds. Every language has its own rules regarding pronunciation
and its implications in meaning. That is why it is one of the most important aspects of
language learning that learners have to master in order to communicate appropriately. The
English language has a great variety of consonant and vowel sounds, which combined with
voice pitch and intonation, are used to produce meaning. Intonation and correct
pronunciation in the English language is a crucial factor when speaking the language
because changes in the oral production of words may lead to serious misunderstandings.
Consequently, concentrating on pronunciation, place of articulation, stress falls and sounds
not only improves people´s speaking but also helps them achieve accuracy and
intelligibility in their utterances.

Different from Spanish, the English language has a great variety of consonant sounds,
which differ from Spanish sounds. As Finch and Ortiz Lira state, the English language
makes use of twenty-six consonant sounds whereas Spanish uses just seventeen or nineteen.
Some of the English sounds are difficult to produce for Spanish speakers mainly because
Bortoluzzi Graciela and Rodriguez, Ruth

they do not use them in their mother tongue. One of the most important errors that Spanish
speakers produce is concerned with the production of the voiced alveolar plosive /d/ and the
voiceless alveolar plosive /t/. Both consonant sounds are articulated by the contact
produced between the tip of the tongue and the upper alveolar ridge and side teeth. The air
stream is compressed behind this closure and the vocal cords remain wide apart for /t/ and
may vibrate for /d/. (Gimson, 1989) The lip position when producing the alveolar plosives
will depend upon the following sound; example: For articulating the word “teeth”, the lips
remain spread and the lung air is released upon the alveolar closure. Although some
varieties of Spanish language do use the alveolar ridge to produce certain sounds like the
English post alveolar frictionless continuant /r/, they do not articulate the equivalent to the
English alveolar plosives /t/ and /d/ in the same place. Instead, these consonants are mainly
dental sounds articulated using the tip of the tongue and the upper teeth in words such as
“también” and “día”. In addition, in English the voiceless alveolar plosive sound is
normally an aspirated consonant whereas in Spanish it is not. This means that in English,
the voiceless alveolar plosive is articulated using a strong air release from the lungs.

Analysis of errors Spanish speakers produce when pronouncing the alveolar plosives
in English

In order to analyze and describe the types of errors and difficulties Spanish students face
while pronouncing this particular set of consonants, a brief study was carried out. The
subjects of the study were a group of adult learners who voluntarily offered to participate
in this work. It is important to mention that these people study English as a subject within a
particular career. Consequently, they have very limited access to the language; in fact, they
have English only two hours a week. In Spanish, there is just one variation of the /t/ sound
but when referring to the Spanish consonant /d/, the main variants include a plosive
realization [d], and a fricativized or approximant one [ð]. English phonology has two
different sounds: the voiced alveolar plosive /d/ and the voiced dental fricative /ð/. So /ð/ is
a phoneme in English and an allophone in Spanish.

The group of adults were asked, at first, to pronounce the set of words “day” and “they”.
These words were specially chosen because they are commonly mispronounced. Both
words “they “and “day” were pronounced with the same consonant sound: the English
voiced dental fricative /ð/. As a result, learners made no difference when pronouncing those
words although they are quite different regarding their meanings and category. After that,
learners were shown how to produce these sounds by exaggerating the articulation of the
two different consonants. Of course, all the participants were able to pronounce the word
/they/ appropriately but problems arouse when they attempted to articulate the alveolar
plosive /d/ in “day”. It was difficult to make them identify the place where the voiced
alveolar plosive is produced in the mouth, mainly because this sound is not used in any
word in Spanish. In addition, working with the correct pronunciation of /d/ it was noticed
that many learners produced the voiced palato alveolar affricate /d͡ʒ/ which is articulated
Bortoluzzi Graciela and Rodriguez, Ruth

through the closure made between the tip, blade and rims of the tongue towards the alveolar
ridge and hard palate. It was easier for the participants to produce this sound because they
already use it in Spanish in words like “yogur”, “inyección” o “yeso”. One of the strategies
used to show language learners the correct way of pronouncing the consonants was through
the use of a picture of the speech apparatus, where they could appreciate the different
cavities and articulators in the vocal tract. After showing them the place of articulation and
making them practice, they started working progress. One aspect in favor is that as the
participants on this work were adults, they were able to understand the explanations
referring to the articulation of sounds and they were also very collaborative through the
whole process. However, some of them found it really hard to imitate the words
individually. On the other hand, they were also asked to pronounce words containing the
voiceless alveolar plosive /t/ in words such as “take” and “time”. Once more, the same
problem emerged as participants uttered either palatal or dental sounds instead. However, in
the case of the pronunciation of this particular consonant, the error was even more evident
since they could not reach to the alveolar plosive /t/ but they pronounced the voiceless
palato alveolar affricate /tʃ/. Consequently, the volunteers pronounced words like “time”
with a very strong friction and release of air, distinctive of affricate consonants. These are
very common errors among Spanish learners of English especially because these sounds, as
stated before, do not form part of the Spanish phonemic inventory and also because they are
sometimes not correctly taught by teachers. The learners were able to notice how different
both pronunciations were and how important pronunciation is for intelligibility. After the
explanations given, they made a huge effort to overcome the difficulties they had.

Finally, analizing the errors, it was possible to appreciate that the aspiration of the alveolar
plosive [th] was challenging for the participants so; they were given some sheets of paper to
practice aspiration. To do this, they had to put the sheets of paper in front of their mouths
and pronounce the alveolar consonant with the necessary air release to make the sheet of
paper flap. Through these activities, learners improved their pronunciation significantly and
they were able to distinguish different sounds with relative ease.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be said that learning a foreign language implies opening people’s
minds to a world full of new words, structures, sounds, meaning and culture. It is an
amazing path where cognitive abilities are boosted and allow the mind to integrate and
adapt a whole new communication system to the existing one. In order to acquire fluency in
any language, the age at which learners start learning plays an important role since, as
already stated, there is a particular period where the learner is more efficient for language
acquisition. However, when it comes to pronunciation, mastering pronunciation of any
target language is a challenge for any age group. For children, the fact of being exposed to
the foreign language at an early age is a huge advantage since they are more likely to
acquire and produce the sounds of a foreign language. In contrast, for adults, the task of
Bortoluzzi Graciela and Rodriguez, Ruth

becoming proficient in the area of pronunciation seems to be even harder especially for
those who have never been exposed to the language before. Many factors including
motivation, lack of contextual evidence and practice, incorrect instruction and age affect
learning significantly. Above all, it is relevant to mention that acquiring accurate
pronunciation of a different language is always a complex task that needs appropriate and
accurate instruction so as to help learners to produce sounds that are not familiar to them. It
is important for teachers to take all of these aspects into account in order to provide learners
with the appropriate teaching techniques, materials and practice in order to help learners
overcome their errors.

Reference list
 Armendariz, Ana y Sottile, Mariana. (2011): Cuadernillo “Adquisicion del
Lenguaje” Universidad Nacional del Litoral.
 Ellis, R. (1995): “The Study of Second Language Acquisition”. OUP
 Finch. Diana and Ortiz Lira Hector “A course in English Phonetics for
Spanish Speakers” Heinemann. 1982
 Gimson, A. C. (1989): “An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English”
Third Edition.
 Harmer, Jeremy. (2015): “The Practice of English Language Teaching” Fifth
Edition. Pearson.
 Montessori, Maria. “Sensitive Period for Language (Birth to Six Years)”.
Daily Montessori. Retrieved from http://www.dailymontessori.com/sensitive-
periods/sensitive-period-for-language/
 Selinker, L. “Fossilissation: What We Think We Know”.
 Stephen D Krashen. (1998): “Second Language Acquisition and Second
Language Learning”. University of Southern California.
 Wells, J. C. “Longman Pronunciation Dictionary” Third Edition. Pearson.