THE RELATION BETWEEN THE PHONOLOGICAL COMPETENCE AND ORTHOGRAPHY IN THE ACQUISITION OF SPANISH (L2) BY ROMANIAN STUDENTS

THIS PAPER LOOKS AT THE RELATION BETWEEN PHONOLOGY / PHONETICS, ON ONE HAND, AND ORTHOGRAPHY, ON THE OTHER HAND, IN THE PROCESS OF TEACHING / LEARNING SPANISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE. MORE PRECISELY, WE WILL ANALYSE THE ACQUISITION OF THE PHONOLOGICAL COMPETENCE AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN USING ACCURATE ORTHOGRAPHY. ALTHOUGH SPANISH IS GENERALLY CONSIDERED AN “EASY” LANGUAGE FROM THE ANGLE OF ORTHOGRAPHY, WE CLAIM THAT, DUE TO THE SPANISH DIATOPIC VARIETIES, SPREAD ALL OVER THE WORLD, AND THE PHONETIC PHENOMENA THEY PRESENT (SESEO, CECEO, YEÍSMO), STUDENTS OF SPANISH (L2) COULD ENCOUNTER SOME DIFFICULTIES IN ACQUIRING PRONUNCIATION AND SPELLING. IN LATIN AMERICA, THERE IS NO PHONOLOGICAL DISTINCTION BETWEEN /θ/ AND /s/, OR /ʝ/ AND /ʎ/. THESE DISTINCTIONS ARE PERTINENT, FOR INSTANCE, IN THE PENINSULAR SPANISH AND THEY CAN BE HELPFUL FOR THE ACQUISITION OF SPANISH ORTHOGRAPHY. NOT ONLY FOREIGN STUDENTS, BUT ALSO NATIVE SPEAKERS ENCOUNTER SOME SPELLING PROBLEMS (DIFFERENCE BETWEEN S/Z OR Y/LL). IN CONCLUSION, SPELLING AND PRONUNCIATION SHOULD BE TAUGHT AND LEARNT TOGETHER AND TEACHERS SHOULD INCLUDE IN THEIR SPANISH CLASSES A GREAT DEAL OF PRONUNCIATION AND SPELLING ACTIVITIES IN ORDER TO IMPROVE THESE TWO INTERRELATED ASPECTS.

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