Pronunciación, repetición e identificación de los sonidos del español por aprendices qataríes de E/LE en su primer semestre

Abstract

This study explores pronunciation and sound perception difficulties faced by Qatari students in their first semester of Spanish. Participants completed three tasks (reading, word repetition, word identification) requiring different types of knowledge (sound production with and without orthography and sound identification) at the beginning and end of their first course. The results show that this group struggles with mid and high-vowel contrasts, the palatal nasal, bilabial plosives, and trills. These issues, however, do not manifest equally in tasks with and without orthography, suggesting different underlying causes. It concludes that future needs analyses on the pronunciation profile of Spanish as a Foreign Language (SFL) students who share the same native language should include tasks that assess sound production under varied conditions (with and without orthography). This will help to correctly evaluate the origin of difficulties and improve methods to address them.