Abdulkadir Turgay

The current study was carried out to probe into both the types and potential causes of problems Turkish learners of English face in the pronunciation of English numbers and words. The population of this descriptive research study was the ELT freshmen in the 2019-2020 academic year. As part of convenience sampling method, a total of 70 freshmen from the two existing ELT classes, including 51 females and 19 males, were included in the study.
At the beginning of the spring semester, the students were given a list of 50 numbers (1 through 50) and a set of 50 words used frequently in English. They were then asked to read the number in front of each word and then pronounce the word following that number as part of a pronunciation exercise called “Pronunciation Practice”. They were recorded via a voice recorder as they were articulating the numbers and the words. They were later provided with feedback as to how well they were able to articulate both the numbers and the words both individually and as a class.
The statistical analysis of the data collected provided feedback with regard to the students’current level of mastery of English pronunciation and enabled the researcher to unearth and categorize the types of common pronunciation problems facing the students in question. The study’s overall outcome is expected to spark eager and unflagging interest in English-language learners and teachers toward new ways and means to learn and teach English pronunciation much more effectively.