Exercises to improve oral expression through the pronunciation of consonants in fourth year students of Bachelor in Education English Major at the University of Holguin

Abstract

This paper deals with a key aspect of language learning which is still overlooked by many teachers of English: the teaching of pronunciation which is as basic as any other aspect of language. Usually the main obstacle students face when learning a foreign language is neither vocabulary nor grammar but precisely pronunciation. This phenomenon is such complicate that even when students know how to read and write, sometimes they can barely understand or being understood when communicating with natives. After applying different empirical methods at the University of Holguin, the author noticed that pronunciation is not given the correct attention and students present some difficulties regarding the production of certain consonant sounds. The author decided to investigate about the topic and to elaborate exercises to improve oral expression through pronunciation. The theoretical and empirical methods applied helped to detect such difficulties in the English teaching - learning process. The information acquired aided to define the regularities in fourth year students, so as to elaborate the exercises to ameliorate their pronunciation.