ABSTRACT

The paper examines the phonological deviation of Koro Ashe learners of English in Karu Local Government Area, Nasarawa State, with the view of helping them to improve in their spoken aspect of English. A survey research design was employed to carry out the study. The population of the study comprises of 50 randomly selected Koro Ashe learners of English from the 20 hamlets of Koro Ashe English in Karu Local Government Area, Nasarawa State. Oral Production Test (OPT) in form of reading test was administered to the 50 randomly selected Koro Ashe learners of English from the 20 hamlets of Koro Ashe in Karu Local Government Area, Nasarawa State. The respondents were asked to speak on topics that are of interest to them in which their speeches were tape recorded, played and listened to ascertain their deviations from the standard pronunciation. Contrastive Analysis model is the theoretical framework for this study. the English monothongs /?/, / ?:/, /?/; the diphthongs /?u /, /i?/, /e?/, /u?/; the dental fricative / stop /?/, and /ð/; the consonant clusters that have the dental fricative /?/ and /j/; the plural morphemes /-iz/ and /–z/, the past tense morpheme /–id/ and /–t/ were among that the Koru Ashe do deviate from the standard pronunciation. The deviations in the use of English by the Koro Ashe learners of English do result to unintelligible speeches and misinterpretations. It is in this regard that CA model maps these areas of difficulties for improved pedagogy.