Current Pronunciation Issues of Japanese English Learners: An Analysis of Segmental Features in Speech Samples

This paper presents key findings from my Ph.D. project on the pronunciation difficulties Japanese students face when speaking English.Based on analyses of recorded speech samples, this paper examines the pronunciation difficulties faced by Japanese EFL learners and identifies their underlying causes.Previous research has consistently shown that Japanese learners of English experience persistent pronunciation difficulties due to substantial phonological differences between Japanese and English.At the segmental level, studies have identified vowels such as /ae/, //, //, and // as particularly challenging, largely because Japanese has a more limited vowel inventory and lacks equivalent phonemic contrasts (Higurashi, 2020; Kitao, 1995a;Nishikiori, 2007).Consonantal difficulties have also been widely reported, especially with English liquids /l/ and /r/ (Bada, 2001;