Causes of Phonological Transfer in English Learners of Primary Schools

Abstract

This paper aims to discover the causes of phonological transfer that many sixth-grade learners face during their English classes at primary schools in the region of Tierra Caliente, Guerrero. Previous research (Flege, 1981; Coe, 2001) has been carried out on the topic but little of this has addressed the nature of a phenomenon in which the pronunciation of words in English is literally based on their spelling. A sample of 12 participants in public education was selected in order to carry out an exploratory case study. In addition, three participants were exposed to extra listening practice as to confront this research’s findings with the role that literature has placed on exposure and other variables affecting the phonological acquisition process of young English learners.