Abstract
English is one of various languages such as Swedish, Korean, Telugu and Arabic which studied gender’s effect on voice onset time (VOT.). This research mainly investigates the impact of gender on the VOT of the voiceless stop consonants related specifically to Iraqi Mosuli EFL learners to see if there are certain variations in their VOT values or not. In this research, 20 Mosuli Iraqi EFL (male and female) learners from fourth- year, the Department of English, College of Education for Humanities and College of the Arts, the University of Mosul took part. VOT. values of /p, t, k/ are followed and are preceded by the long vowel /i:/, in three different positions in isolation are measured to give an overall view of the students’ production of the stops and to see if there is certain variation between the subjects, measurements or not. Results show that there are certain variations between male and female averages of the stops in which male participants tend to produce longer values than female one in isolation. This research concludes that males’ production of stops are better than females’ ones in initial and medial positions while female production of unreleased stops are better than male in final position. In addition to the physiological articulators’ differences, we may also infer that academic and practical study in first and second year for both genders are not sufficient to enhance better pronunciation of the stops. Therefore, this research may recommend further practical and academic study for both genders
