Intuitive-imitative Approach Versus Analytic-linguistic Approach toward Teaching /T/, /Δ/, and /w/ to Iranian Students

Every language chooses and uses a limited number of vowels and consonants from the list of all the sounds humans can produce. This means that some sounds are absent in every language. It turns into a problem when one is learning a new language. For Iranian EFL learners, the three consonants /T/, /Δ/, and /w/ which are totally absent in Persian are really problematic. Therefore, this paper aims at investigating the effectiveness of intuitive-imitative and analytic-linguistic approaches for the instruction of these consonants to Iranian high school students. The participants were 24 grade two high school students, studying in two classes in Shahrekord. In one class, these were taught using intuitive-imitative approach, and in the other using analytic-linguistic approach, then both groups have been audio-recorded reading a text containing words with these consonants. The results of the independent samples t-test indicated that there was no significant difference between /T/, /Δ/, and /w/ mean production scores of the intuitive-imitative and analytic-linguistic groups. However, the authors suggest starting teaching with intuitive-imitative approach to make students more motivated to pay attention, and then continuing with analytic-linguistic approach to make students acquire the exact pronunciation.