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Difficulties Of Second Language Phonology

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1. Introduction
The mastery of second language phonology refers to the acquisition of the second language (English) sound system, listening comprehension and speaking skills. The acquisition of the L2 phonology is an area of language that has not been thoroughly investigated like other parts of language such as syntax or grammar. In fact, it is only in the last quarter of the twentieth century that studies about this area of language have emerged. As such, research studies about this aspect of second language learning are quite small and recent.
The aim of this essay is to present some difficulties that L2 speakers face when learning English phonology, to analyse the importance of phonology in L2 speech and to discuss second language transference of L1 in the L2.
2. Difficulties
English phonology is a rather difficult part to master; this is due to various things:
• In English the correspondence between symbols and sounds is not regular, but inconsistent.
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This occurs because children are able to create new categories for the L2 sound system. This ability, however, starts to decrease at the age of two and stops when children reach puberty. Therefore, people who were exposed to the second language at an early age may achieve native-like proficiency, but people who were exposed to the L2 language later on in life may not be able to attain native-like proficiency. However, while many studies have demonstrated that children are able to learn second language phonology much more easily and rapidly, there are people who started to learn a second language in adulthood and talk like a native speaker, and there are other people who started this process in childhood and were not able to achieve

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