The Influence of L1 Tonal Patterns on English Word Stress: Phonetic Interference in Arabic-Speaking EFL Learners

The present study explores the effects of Arabic L1 tonal/prosodic properties on the production of English word stress produced by speakers of English as a foreign language (hereafter, EFL) with Arabic as L1. Due to its non-fixed stress system and dependency on tonal variation and pitch, the allocation of stress on English words can cause difficulty for Arabic speakers when they become English learners as English stress is fixed and has a major role both in hidden meaning and structure of a sentence, meaning that if not all stress is put in the correct part of a word, the meaning becomes lost or irreparably changed. The study indicates systematic errors in stress placement for English words – especially multisyllabic – and investigates how L1 interference occurs in the English pronunciation of these learners. The study illustrates the challenges to intelligibility and fluency in the speech of Arabic speakers learning English, by analyzing the transfer of Arabic tonal patterns (e.g., flat pitch contours, even stress distribution). The major conclusions highlight the needs for targeted instruction for identification and correction of L1 interference (specifically in both the vowel-stress placement and pitch) and it provides information for better methods of EAFL instruction to this group of students.

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