English consonant pronunciation accuracy among Arabic speakers: Impact of learning onset age and educational context

Second language phonological acquisition among Arabic speakers remains underexplored despite Arabic's significance and English's status as the primary foreign language in Arabic-speaking countries. This study examines English consonant production accuracy among Arabic speakers from educational contexts: early starters began English at age 7 in private schools (n = 10), versus late starters who began English at age 14 in government schools (n = 10), matched for total exposure duration. Participants completed pronunciation tasks targeting six English consonants absent from Arabic: /p/, /v/, /ɹ/, /ŋ/, /ʧ/, and /ʒ/. The quasi-experimental design employed a three-stage assessment adapted from the Test of Spoken English, with audio recordings analyzed for error identification and statistical comparison. Results revealed substantial differences favoring the early starter/private school group (8.9% vs. 30.8% error rates, d = 3.31), with phoneme-specific analysis revealing distinct patterns: /p/, /ʧ/, and /ʒ/ showed dramatic advantages; /ɹ/ and /ŋ/ proved challenging for both groups despite differences; and /v/ presented minimal difficulties regardless of context. The systematic relationship between age of onset and educational context provides insights into how maturational and instructional factors interact in naturalistic learning environments. Differential phoneme responsiveness challenges traditional contrastive analysis predictions. This suggests pronunciation curricula should acknowledge variation in L2 phonological acquisition hierarchies, with implications for Arabic-English instruction policy and practice.