GAZA UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF ENGLISH LEXICAL STRESS: REASONS AND FACTORS

Enas Hammad, Heba Mohamednor

Abstract


English word stress has been long considered a problematic area for those learning and speaking English as a foreign language (Waniek-Klimczak, 2014). In fact, English lexical stress has not received adequate attention from Palestinian researchers. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine Gaza University students' recognition and oral production of English lexical stress. A lexical stress recognition test and a production test were administered to a group of students, and two semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 students and three instructors. Results indicated that the students' recognition of English word stress patterns was very low. Moreover, the interview data revealed the reasons behind the students' poor recognition of English syllable stress, such as lack of teacher instruction and assessment of English word stress, due to their beliefs in the unimportance of English word stress to comprehension. Finally, the study recommended that the English linguistics instructors at A-Aqsa University should focus on conscious instruction and assessment of English syllable stress so as to raise the students' awareness of syllable stress.

 

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English lexical stress, Gaza students, perception, production

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejfl.v9i1.5964

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