Joanne Kenworthy Peter MacCarthy
 High Priority: vital for intelligibility  Category A is for
 Low priority: do not affect intelligibility distinctions between
 Optional attention: features which contribute to one phoneme of a
a noticeable foreign accent but do not affect language and another
intelligibility. phoneme of the same
language, giving rise to
HP: The areas of rhythm, word stress, and minimal pairs. No
sentence stress are high priority areas for all pronunciation of a
learners. foreign language can
HP: For content words in stressed position be considered
should be given high priority but for adequate that doesn’t
function words ‘the, this, that’ OA is appropriate. satisfactorily distinguish
between all its separate
Problems with consonants for Spanish speakers. phonemes.
HP: Confusion between andThere is a  Category B is for
sound in Spanish which is a kind of combination anything in a person’s
of the two sounds, which they tend to substitute way of speaking a
for the two English consonants. foreign language which
HP: may be too close to  is judged to be a gross
so the word day sounds like they or marked foreign
accent.
HP: as in thin is absent in some varieties of  Category C is for
Spanish. Watch out for as in 'fin’ or 'sin' as mispronunciations that
substitutes. are not particularly
HP: and  (sue-zoo) In some varieties these serious in themselves
sounds do not occur. but might well receive
HP: as in ‘shoe’. This sound does not occur in attention because they
many varieties. are comparatively easy
LP: and  They are unfamiliar sounds and to put right without
much expenditure of
learners will either substitute or the sound time.
represented by letter ‘y’ in Spanish. The latter will
 Category D covers
sound foreign but still be intelligible.
matters that may be
HP: as in yet. Learners will either use the quite difficult for the
Spanish sound ‘y’ or they may substitute  foreign learner to get
HP: as in wet. Learners may pronounce this right, even with the
as a  or they may insert a before the sound expenditure of some
HP: and Speakers of some South time and trouble, but
American varieties may not use sufficient which contribute
aspiration and may tend to delete at the end of notably to authenticity
of pronunciation. Items
a word. HP:  as in ‘hold’. Learners will either in this category deserve
delete the sound or pronounce it with a great deal
attention with students
of ‘hissing’ quality. There may also be confusion who are aiming at a
between  and , so ‘ham’ may sound like really high overall
‘jam’
standard.
LP: as in ‘sing’. The learner may pronounce  Category E.
the  so the word ends with a consonant cluster. Miscellaneous items of
a phonetic nature that
might be held to
Collins and Mees
To establish a hierarchy of
error we must take into
account the reactions of native
speakers. In general, we can
rank errors in:
1: errors which lead to
breakdown of intelligibility
2: errors which give rise to
irritation or amusement
3: errors which provoke few
such reactions and may even
pass unnoticed.
Category 1:
1. Confusion of crucial
phonemic contrasts in
vowel system 
(widespread)
2. Confusion of fortis/lenis
3. Consonant clusters
(Spanish)
4. Crucial consonant
contrasts (Spanish) 
5. Deletion of or
replacement by 
(Spanish)
6. Word stress
Category 2:
1. Inappropriate
articulations, strong
alveolar trills
2. Dental fricative problems
(widespread)
3. Incorrect allophones of 
4. Weak and contracted forms
(widespread)
5. Inappropriate rhoticism
6. Strong retroflex setting
Category 3:
1. Intonation errors
(widespread)
2. Lack of syllabic consonants
(widespread)
3. Compound stress
(widespread
HP: as in ‘sing’. The learner may substitute  constitute finer points in
so ‘wing’ may be pronounced as ‘win’ the pronunciation of a
language. University
Consonant clusters and sequences students and teachers
in training will benefit
HP: Two and three element clusters beginning from this.
with (small, slow, scream, school). Learners may
insert a vowel before the so small sounds like
‘a-small’.
LP: Learners will tend to add for noun plurals,
even where  is required, so ‘pens’ will sound
like ‘pence’
HP: Speakers may delete  in final consonant
clusters (picks, bets)
HP: Final consonant clusters with and are
problematic (test, laughed). Learners may delete
the final  or  or insert a vowel between the
two consonants

Word Stress

HP: One area of difficulty is the stress of

compound words and adjective + noun
combinations. (blackbird, white house, white
house)

Sentence Stress
HP: Many meanings which are conveyed in
English through sentence stress are conveyed in
Spanish through particular words.

Intonation (Pitch range, final falling pitch

movement, the rise-fall difficulty)

Problems with vowels.

HP:  ages-edges confusion. Encourage
lip spreading for
HP: learners may substitute a sound that is
similar to making ‘must’ sound like ‘most’ , or
 so it sounds like ‘mast’.
HP:   (bit-beat) confusion. Learners will use
the latter for both vowels
HP: confusion (bat-bet) Learners will tend
to use the latter for both vowels
OA: confusion. The former will be used by most
learners for both vowels.
HP:  does not occur in Spanish. Learners will
substitute the vowel suggested by the spelling.
HP: There is no variation in length in Spanish
vowels. Learners will tend to make vowels equally
long, which will be too short for the English ear.