Pronunciation Problems of English Diphthongs Sounds Encountered by Saudi Students at Albaha University, Saudi Arabia. A case Study in Almandag

The present study highlights the pronunciation problems of English diphthongs sounds. The significance of this study some Saudi students as EFL sometimes face many problems when they speak English language. Pronunciation of diphthongs sounds is one of these problems. Students do not pay attention to diphthongs’ pronunciation in speaking. Consequently, they do not concentrate on diphthongs sounds. The researcher used Statistical Analytical Method. The data were collected by two tools; oral recorded and written tests. Students asked to pronounce twenty-five words contained diphthongs sounds on written sheets. Also, a written test took place for the same words, to put them into correct columns. The study participants contained twentyfive students from English department. The study arrived at the following results: Saudi students face problems in pronouncing centering diphthongs sounds ending in /ɪə/, /eə/ and /ʊə/ sounds. They mispronounced diphthongs words contain closing diphthongs sounds ending in /eɪ/, /aɪ/ and /ɔɪ/sounds. Students did not have enough ability to pronounce closing diphthongs sounds ending in /əʊ/ and /aʊ sounds. The recommendations of this study: students need more exercises about centering diphthongs sounds. They need more practices about closing diphthongs in general. Saudi students highly need to check their dictionaries to correct their pronunciation.


INTRODUCTION
Pronunciation is a key to understand other people's speech production and words to get their messages correctly. (Harmer, 2006, p.183) stated that 'pronunciation will give the advantage not only in production, but also in the understanding of spoken language'. Pronunciation defines by many dictionaries one of them (Hornby,1995, p.928) defined 'Pronunciation can be defined as 'the way of producing the sounds used to make meaning when speaking'. This study concerns with pronunciation problems of diphthongs sounds. So, the definition of the term diphthongs is very important. A diphthong is an action of moving one sound to another easily without stopping and without effort or noise to pronounce as one sound. It is a combination of two vowels, the first vowel indicates where the tongue starts and the second indicates where it ends. Another definition of a diphthong sound defines as a vowel sound in which the tongue changes position to produce the sound of two vowels. There are three main diphthongs sounds groups /i/,/e/ ,and /ʊ/. The description of the diphthong depends on four main points: The type of diphthongs, the tongue's positions, the lips' position and the jaw opening situations. Pronunciation of diphthongs sounds causes problems to some Saudi students at faculty of Scienc-

THEORETICAL FRAME WORK
A diphthong is derived from Greek. It literally means 'having two sounds', it is an action of moving one sound to another easily without stopping and without effort or noise to pronounce as one sound. It is a combination of two vowels, the first vowel indicates where the tongue starts and the second indicates where it ends. There are two main diphthongs groups centering include /ə / and closing includes / ɪ / and /ʊ/. According to, (O'Connor, 1980,p.84) defined 'A diphthong is a glide from one vowel to another, and the whole glide acts like one of the long, simple vowels; so we have biː, bɑː, bɔː and also beɪ, bəʊ, baɪ, baʊ,bɔɪ, bɪə ,beə ,and bʊə'. The description of the diphthongs sounds depends on four main points: (a)The type of diphthongs (b) position of the tongue (c) Position of the lips (d) opening between the jaws. The English diphthongs are three groups: which end in /ə/, /ɪ/, and / ʊ/ sounds. (See Figure 1 diphthongs main groups below).
In addition to, (Crystal, David, 2008.p,84) defined diphthong as 'A term used in the Phonetics classification of vowel sounds on the basic of their manner of articulation: it refers to a vowel where there is a single perceptual noticeable change in quality during syllable, as in English beer, time, loud'. Furthermore, (Malik, Munawar, 2012, p. 57) defined "A diphthong may be defined as a vowel which changes its quality in the course of its production: it begins as one vowel and end as another. It is on account of this reason that a diphthong is indicated in phonetics transcription by writing two symbols, the first symbol showing the starting position of the tongue and the second symbol showing the final position of the tongue". (Ramelan,1999, p.59) stated that "a diphthong is a vowel sounds in which there an intentional glide is made from one vowel position to another vowel position, and which is produced in one single impulse of breath". According to, (Ogden,2009,p.64) defined "Diphthongs are monosyllabic vowels which have two discernibly different points, one at the start and one at the end".

DIPHTHONG CENTERING ENDING /Ə/ The Centering Diphthong /ɪə/.
This diphthong sound is a central position; the tongue moves from /ɪ/ towards the position of the vowel /ə/. The lips position changes from neutral to a bit rounded. The jaws are narrow at the beginning and then increase. (See figure 2). Example of this /ɪə/ sounds as in fear, dear, clear, ear and here.

Centering Diphthong /eə/.
This English diphthong glide /eə/ we can say that it is centering, the tongue starts near half-open position and then moves to vowel /ə/towards the vowel /e/. The lips are in a neutral shape. The jaws are medium as in there, prepare, stair, bare and bear and hair. See (figure 3) below.

Centering Diphthong /ʊə/.
The diphthong /ʊə/ is from the back half-close position, the tongue moves from /ʊ/ to the direction of the vowel /ə/. The lips change from loosely rounded to neutral. The jaws are medium in the beginning and then increasing. (See figure 3). Examples as in Europe, mature, secure, poor, your, pure, and manicure.

Close Diphthongs Ending /eɪ/.
This type of English diphthong /eɪ/ is close narrow, and the position of front half open/e/. The tongue moves from the central direction /ɪ/. The lips spread and more open at the beginning and then end. The jaws start at medium position and    Closing Diphthongs Ending /ʊ/sounds.

Closing Diphthongs Ending /əʊ/sound.
This English glide begins at the central position of vowel /ə/ and moves in the direction of the vowel /ʊ/ (see figure 5 below). The tongue position is near half-close, lips are rounded and the jaws are medium. We can find this diphthong in words as in do, foe, boat, coast, low, know and toe. See

METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY
In this study the researcher used Statistical Analytical Method to analysis students' data. The researcher used oral recorded test as main tool to collect the students' data. Also, written test took place to support the oral recorded test results. The researcher analysed the data by SPSS program, Social Package for Scientific Sciences.

Participants
The participants of the study consisted of twenty-five university students who study English language as their major specialization. They were randomly selected from the Faculty of Sciences and Arts level five and six, in Almandag, at Albaha University in Saudi Arabia. Their ages average between twenty to twenty-three years old. All of the students speak Arabic language as (L1).

Tools of the Study
The researcher used oral recorded and written tests as tools to collect the data. Students asked to pronounce certain words (twenty-five words) which contain diphthongs sounds and compare them with the (SPSS) Standard British Pronunciation.

Procedures
Saudi students asked to pronounce twenty-five words on written sheets contain diphthongs sounds. Also, a written test took place for the same words, to put them into two columns correctly. The researcher recorded, corrected and compared students' recorded tests results with Standard British Pronunciation. The written test corrected manually and analysed by the SPSS program.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
This study is limited for English language students at English department, Faculty of Sciences and Arts at Albaha University in Almandag, Saudi Arabia. This study took place in the academic year 2019-2020.

DATA ANALYSIS
The data of this study collected in the second semester of 2019-2020 by two tools. The first one was direct oral recorded test. The second one was written test to support the oral recorded test results, both tests analysed by the SPSS program. The researcher used twenty-five words as data for both tests.
The tests' results corrected out of 100 marks, 4 marks for each correct answer. The final results of the oral recorded test discussed because, the study concerned about pronunciation. The written test mentioned without specific details just the overall results to avoid confusion and the final results were as follow: Centering Diphthong Ending in ɪə/, /eə/ and /ʊə/ Sounds Recorded Test.
Centering diphthongs ending in /ɪə/, students pronounced words contained /ɪə/, /eə/ and /ʊə/sounds. There were three certain words ending in /ɪə/, ear, here and fear. The word ear results were as follows; the correct answers were 8.0% which meant 32.0% and the wrong answers were 17.0% which meant 68.0%. The word here 8.0% of the answers were correct and 17.0% wrong answers which indicated 32.0% correct and 68.0% were wrong answers. The word fear scored 9.0% correct answers which meant 36.0% and 16.0% wrong answers which meant 64.0% were wrong answers. (See table 1 below for oral recorded test and table 2 for written results in general).

Centering Diphthongs Ending in/ eə/.
Four words included in this part bare; square, hair and bear. The students' results were as follows; bear 12.0% were correct answers and 13% were wrong, which meant 48.0% correct and 52.0% were wrong answers. The word squire scored 9.0% correct answers which meant 36% correct and 16.0% wrong answers which targeted 64.0% wrong answers. The word hair scored 7.0% correct answers which meant 28.0% and 18.0% were incorrect answers which indicated 72.0% were wrong answers. The last word bear scored 11.0% correct answers which meant 44.0% and 14.0% were wrong answers which meant 56.0% were wrong answers. (See table 3  The overall results of the oral recorded test to these three centering diphthongs were 33.3% correct answers and 66.7% were wrong answers to the words end in /ɪə/ sounds. The words contained /eə/ sounds scored 39.0% correct and 61.0% wrong answers. The /ʊə/ sound words scored 41.3% correct answers and 58.7% wrong answers. See figure 6 below overall recorded oral test results of the centering diphthongs sounds. The total results of the written test were / ɪə/ 40.0% were correct and 60.0% were wrong answers. The   There are five closing diphthong sounds three end in /ɪ/; / eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/, and two end in /ʊ/: /əʊ/ and /aʊ/. The close end diphthong /eɪ/ contained three words sail, late and remain. The word sail scored 12.0% right answers which accounted for 48.0% of the total answers and 13.0% wrong answers which meant 52.0% of the total answers. The word late graded 14.0% right answers which marked 56.0% and 11.0% were wrong answers which meant 44.0%. Lastly, closing diphthong word remain targeted 11.0% correct answers which meant 44.0% and amounted 14.0% wrong answers which indicated 56.0% wrong of the total answers.  Figure 7. Shows written test overall results for the same words. shows closing diphthong ending in /eɪ/ oral recorded test. The overall results of the written test in Table 8. The closing diphthong sounds /aɪ/ targeted three words sight, light and cry. The word slight which got 13.0% right answers which meant 52.0% and 12.0% wrong answers which meant 48.0%. The second word was light scored 16.0% right answers and 9.0% wrong answers which indicated 64.0% correct and 36.0% for wrong answers. The last word in closing was cry scored 14.0% correct answers which meant 56.0% correct answers and 11.0% wrong answers which meant 44.0% wrong answers of the total. (See table 9 for oral recorded test overall results and See also table 10 for the written test overall results below) Diphthongs closing ending in /ɔɪ/ targeted three words annoy, boy and toy. The word annoy scored 11.0% correct answers and 14.0% for wrong answers which meant 44.0% were correct answers and 56.0% were wrong answers. The word boy got 12.0% correct answers which meant 48.0% and 13.0% wrong answers which meant 52.0%. Lastly, the word toy targeted 11.0% correct answers which meant 44.0% and 14.0% wrong answers which meant 65.0% of the total answers. (See table 11 for oral recorded test results. Also, table 12 for written test overall results too) The overall results of these closing diphthong sounds ending in /ɪ/ for the oral recorded test as follow /eɪ/ sounds the total correct answers were 49.3% and the total wrong       answers were 50.7%. The /aɪ/, 57.3% were total correct answers and 42.7% were wrong answers. The diphthong words end in /ɔɪ/, 45.3% correct answers and 54.7% were incorrect answers. See (Figure 7) below for oral recorded test overall results. The written test general results as follows; /eɪ/ sounds the total correct answers were 37.3% and the total wrong answers were 62.7%. The words ending in / aɪ/ sound, 37.3% were total correct answers and 62.7% were wrong answers. The diphthong words end in /ɔɪ/, 38.7% correct answers and 61.3% were incorrect answers. Also, see (figure 8) for written test overall too.

Closing Diphthongs Sounds Ending in /ʊ/.
The two diphthongs closing ending in /ʊ/ are /əʊ/ and /aʊ/ sounds. The /əʊ/ contained three words foe, toast and know. The first word foe scored 10.0% correct answers and 15.0% wrong answers which means 40.0% correct and 60.0% were wrong answers. The word toast got 12.0% correct answers which means 48.0% and 13.0% wrong answers which means 52.0%. Lastly, the word know targeted 14.0% correct answers which meant 56.0% and 11.0% wrong answers which balanced 44.0% of the total answers. (See table 13 for closing diphthong sound ending in /ʊ/oral recorded test results. Then see Table 14 for written test overall results too).
The closing diphthong sound /aʊ/ contained three words loud, now and owl. The first word loud which measured 13.0% correct answers and 12.0% as wrong answers which indicated 52.0% and 48.0% for correct and wrong answers. The second word now targeted 13.0% right answers which meant 52.0% and 12.0% wrong answers which meant 48.0%. The last word was owl scored 11.0% correct answers which meant 44.0% and 14.0% wrong answers which meant 56.0% wrong answers of the total answers. (See table 15 for oral recorded test results. See also table 16 for written test results too).
The overall results concerning the oral recorded test of the closing diphthong sound /əʊ/ were 48.0% correct answers and 52.0% were wrong answers. The closing diphthong sound /aʊ/ overall 49.3% correct and 50.7% were wrong answers. See figure 9. Also, for written test total results /əʊ/ sounds 32.0% for correct 68.0% were wrong answers. The /aʊ/ sounds words scored 32.0% correct and 68.0% for wrong answers. See figure 10 for the overall results of the written test. See also, table 17 for the summary of oral recorded test overall analysis. table 18 shows summary indicated the overall analysis results of written test too. Also see figure 11 a summary of all diphthongs sounds recorded test results. Figure 10 shows a summary of overall written test results of diphthongs sounds.      Figure 10. Shows written test overall results of the closing diphthongs sounds end in /əʊ/ and /aʊ/ sounds.

DISCUSSION OF THE STUDY
This section will present and discuss results of the data analysis in relation to the three study questions and hypotheses stated before.
The first hypothesis in this study Saudi students pronounce words contain centering diphthongs end in /ə/ sounds correctly. There were certain words targeted centering diphthong sounds which included /ɪə/, /eə/ and /ʊə/sounds. Ten  Figure 11. Shows summary of overall diphthong sounds oral recorded test.
words examined in this part. Three words concern with centering diphthong sounds /ɪə/, ear, here and fear. See (table 1  oral  To conclude, the overall results of these three centering diphthongs were 33.3% correct answers and 66.7% were wrong answers to words end in /ɪə/ sounds. The words contained /eə/ sounds scored 39% correct and 61% wrong answers. The /ʊə/ sound words scored 41.3% correct answers and 58.7% wrong answers. See (figure 6) overall oral recorded test. The written test overall results as follow; /ɪə/, words sounds scored 40.0% correct and 60.0% wrong answers. The words end in /eə/ sounds scored 35.0% correct and 65.0% wrong answers. The last, /ʊə/ words sounds targeted 34.7% wrong answer and 65.3% wrong answers. See (figure 7) overall written test. By looking at the overall results to centering diphthong sounds no results scored over 50%, if we go back to the study question; do Saudi students pronounce words contain diphthongs words ending in /ə/ sounds correctly? The results arrived to Saudi students faced problems in pronouncing centering diphthong sounds contain diphthongs end in /ə/ which included /ɪə/, /eə/ and /ʊə/sounds.
The second hypothesis of this study they pronounce words contain diphthongs ending in /ɪ/ sounds without mistakes. By looking to the /eɪ/ sounds results the word sail 48.0% correct and 52.0% wrong answers. The word late 56.0% correct and 44.0% wrong answers. The last word remain targeted 44.0% correct and 56.0% wrong answers. See (figure 7 oral test) and (figure 12 for the written test). The word contain /aɪ/sounds their results as follow; sight 52.0% correct and 48.0% wrong answers. The word light 64.0% correct and 36.0% wrong answers. The last word cry targeted 56.0% correct and 44.0% wrong answers. See (figure 8 oral test) and (figure 9 for written test). Words contain /ɔɪ/ sounds annoy 44.0% correct and 56.0% wrong answers. The word boy 48.0% correct and 52.0% wrong answers. The last word toy targeted 44.0% correct and 56.0% wrong answers. See (table 11 oral test) and (table 12 for the written test).
By looking to the overall results we found that /eɪ/ scored 49.3% correct answers and 50.7% wrong answers. They just passed in words contain /aɪ/, scored 57.3% correct answers and 42.7% wrong answers. Also, words contain /ɔɪ/ sounds targeted 45.3% and 54.7% for correct and wrong answers. See ( figure 12 overall recorded test). The written test overall results as follows /eɪ/ sounds correct answers were 37.3% and the wrong answers 62.7%. The words end in /aɪ/ sound scored 37.3% correct answers and 62.7% for wrong answers. Lastly, the words end in /ɔɪ/ sound targeted 38.7% correct To conclude, the overall results we found that no results scored over 50.0% for correct answers for both tests. Concerning the study question do they pronounce words contain diphthongs ending in /ɪ/ sounds without mistakes? For the above results, Saudi students face problems in pronouncing words contain diphthongs end in /eɪ/ and /ɔɪ/ except words contain aɪ/sounds.
The third hypothesis students pronounce words contain diphthongs end in /ʊ/ sounds accurately. The word end in /əʊ/ sounds foe, toast and know their results as follow; foe 40.0% correct and 60.0% wrong answers. Toast 48.0% correct and 52.0% wrong answers. The word know scored 56.0% correct and 44.0% wrong answers. See (table 13 oral test ) and (table 14 the written test). Lastly, words contain / aʊ/; loud 52.0% and 48.0% for correct and wrong answers, now 52.0% correct and 48.0% wrong answers and owl 44.0% correct and 56.0% wrong answers.
The overall scored of the closing diphthong soun d / əʊ/ were 48.0% correct answers and 52.0% were wrong answers and the closing diphthong sound /aʊ/ overall 49.3% correct answers and 50.7% were wrong answers. See (figure 9 overall oral test). The written test overall results /əʊ/ 32.0% correct and 68.0% were wrong answers. The words end in /aʊ/ also scored 32.0% correct and 68.0% incorrect answers. See (table 11 the oral written test). Relating to the study question do Saudi students pronounce words contain diphthongs ending in /ʊ/ sounds accurately? By looking to the overall results we found that the students face problems in pronouncing words contain /əʊ/ and /əʊ/ sounds.

FINDING OF THE STUDY
This study arrived at the following findings: Saudi students faced problems in pronouncing centering ending in /ɪə/, /eə/ and /ʊə/sound. They mispronounced diphthongs words contain closing ending in /eɪ/, /aɪ/ and /ɔɪ/ sounds. Students did not have enough ability to pronounce diphthongs closing ending in /əʊ/ and /aʊ sounds.

CONCLUSION OF THE STUDY
To conclude, this study reflected the problems of pronouncing English diphthongs sounds by some Saudi students. It discovered that there were problems in pronounce diphthongs words end in /ə/ and /ɪ/ sounds. Also, this study revealed that students face difficulties in pronouncing English diphthongs words end in /ʊ/. In addition, it considered as a reference to correct students' pronunciation problems.

RECOMMANDATIONS OF THE STUDY
The researcher recommends the following: 1. Saudi students need more exercises about centering diphthong sounds. 2. They need more practices about closing diphthongs in general. 3. Saudi students highly need to check their dictionaries to correct their pronunciation. 4. English club to control pronunciation problems and find solutions. 5. A specific course of pronunciation starting from semester one until eight.