Students’ Awareness of the Segmental Phonology Differences Between Received Pronunciation and General American

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the students’ awareness of the segmental phonology differences between two of the most common standard and official varieties of English: Received Pronunciation (RP) and General American (GA). It also investigates whether students at the department of English at Mohammed Esseddik Ben Yehia stick to one reference accent, and whether inconsistencies and difficulties in pronunciation can be attributed partly to mingling unconsciously between RP and GA and to current instruction. Data are gathered through the use of a questionnaire administered to 10 teachers who have taught Oral Expression and Phonetics at the department of English, Mohammed Esseddik Ben Yahia, Jijel. Furthermore, a test was conducted with two groups of second year students at the same university. The results obtained from the teachers questionnaire and the students test demonstrate that not all students are fully aware of the segmental phonology features of RP and GA nor are they consistent in the use of a single accent in speech, due to lack of instruction and readings on the matter. Thus, the teachers need to provide systematic and explicit instruction on model accents.