/ Department of English entitled ‘An Investigation of Ease of Articulation of the English Diphthongs as Experienced by Iraqi EFL Learners at the University Level. The Examining Committee: Chairman Prof. Abdulkareem Fadhil Jameel (University of Baghdad/College of Education), Member Prof. Fatima Raheem Abdulhussein (University of Misan/College of Basic Education), Member Asst. Prof. Iqbal Sahib Dishr (University of Misan/College of Education) and Member and Supervisor Prof. Balqis I. G. Al-Rashid (University of Basrah/College of Education for Human Sciences).
The study investigates the phenomenon of Ease of
Articulation that Iraqi EFL learners at the university/postgraduate MA
level might experience when articulating the English diphthongs. The
study falls into five chapters. The first chapter introduces the
preliminaries of the study which consist of: the problem, the research
questions, the hypotheses, the procedures, the objectives, the limits and
the significance of the study.
The second chapter is devoted to reviewing the literature related to
the topic of the study. It reviews Iraqi, Arabic and foreign studies that
investigate the topics of articulatory effort and English diphthongs.
The third chapter is assigned to exploring the theoretical part of the
study. It begins with explaining the concept of Ease of Articulation,
discussing its definitions and its demonstrations in various linguistic
phenomena. Then, the chapter deals with the notion of articulatory effort;
how it can be conceptualized and what parameters can be employed to
regulate it. The chapter also outlines the model of Articulatory Phonology
and finally describes the English and Iraqi Arabic pure vowels and
diphthongs.
The fourth chapter is concerned with the practical part of the study. It
presents details about the subjects, stimuli, procedure and method and
statistical tests. It also includes a scale of easiness of the production of the
English diphthongs as experienced by the subjects of the study and the
factors that are responsible for such easiness or difficulty.
The final chapter includes the conclusions, recommendations and
further research suggestions. The results validate the three hypotheses of
the study. The study also comes up with the conclusion that the closing
diphthongs are easier than the centring diphthongs, and that the factors of
foreign language and mother tongue sounds resemblance, the precision
and direction of the tongue displacement required for the articulation of
the English diphthongs are the most decisive factors in the experienced
easiness or difficulty.
