Phonetic difficulties in learning Spanish for Iraqi students: Challenges of linguistic interference and phonetic correction solutions

Abstract

This paper aims to highlight the relationship between the teaching of phonetics, correct pronunciation in Spanish, and oral communication as an effective tool for learners to acquire language skills, develop their ability to communicate, and avoid mistakes. Furthermore, we encourage teachers to dedicate more classroom space to this method and not focus solely on teaching grammar and writing, but rather to pay attention to the introduction of educational materials that improve students' pronunciation when communicating directly with the community. This is because incorrect pronunciation can cause misunderstandings on the part of the recipient, and because the main objective of teaching any second language is not only the ability to read and write, but also to enable students to communicate with their environment and convey the message they wish to convey to others in an understandable way. Furthermore, we attempt to identify the difficulties faced by Iraqi learners in this area during their study of Spanish as a second language in Spain. We present a model of one of the teaching methods based on phonetic correction to help language teachers and students overcome phonetic difficulties.