A study on common pronunciation errors of first year students at english faculty, thuongmai university and some possible solutions

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY GRADUATION PAPER A STUDY ON COMMON PRONUNCIATION ERRORS OF FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT ENGLISH FACULTY, THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY AND SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS Supervisor Pham[.]

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY

-GRADUATION PAPER

A STUDY ON COMMON PRONUNCIATION ERRORS OF YEAR STUDENTS AT ENGLISH FACULTY, THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY AND SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

FIRST-HANOI - 2022

Hanoi - 2022

HA NOI - 2022

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY

-GRADUATION PAPER

A STUDY ON COMMON PRONUNCIATION ERRORS OF YEAR STUDENTS AT ENGLISH FACULTY, THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY AND SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

According to survey results and records, now English is present everywhere, isthe most popular language in the world English plays an important role in daily lifefrom communication to opportunities in studying, working, expanding relationships

to business cooperation… Being equipped with a solid English foundation will helppeople communicate, exchange learning, and business experience with friends fromother countries

Currently, in Vietnam, English is considered a second language Studentslearn English from elementary school to high school And until the university level,there are also many English-related majors to supplement learners with Englishknowledge and skills , helping them to have solid English skills to apply to workfor a living later

In fact, most Vietnamese students in general and students of ThuongmaiUniversity in particular, have pretty good grammar and vocabulary But manystudents are still not confident enough to communicate in English There are manyreasons for this, but the most common reason is that students do not pronouncecorrectly and do not understand the pronunciation rules This not only makesstudents not confident enough when speaking but also affects other skills

In this graduation thesis, the author focus on highlighting commonpronunciation errors, related to ending sound, phonetics, pronunciation of difficultsounds, stress, and intonation of sentences of first-year students of the EnglishFaculty, Thuongmai University At the same time, analyze and find out objectiveand subjective causes leading to incorrect pronunciation Since then, some solutionshave been proposed to solve this problem Hopefully, in the near future, thepronunciation ability of students at Thuongmai University will be improved

Secondly, I would like to especially thank the 90 first-year students of theEnglish Faculty of Thuongmai University for their enthusiastic cooperation andassistance in helping me answer questions to complete my thesis.

Thirdly, I would like to thank all the lecturers of the English Faculty ofThuongmai University very much, because they have taught me so wholeheartedlyduring my four years of study at the University

Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends who have alwayssupported and encouraged me to complete this graduation to the best of my ability

I am very happy for all those who have supported my graduation And I'mhonored to receive any comments from readers

Hanoi, April 15, 2022

Student

Nguyen Thi Thu Hoai

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vi

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Previous studies 2

1.3 Aims of the study 3

1.4 Research subject 4

1.5 Scope of the study 4

1.6 Research methodology 5

1.7 Organization of the study 5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 English pronunciation 6

2.1.1 Definition of pronunciation 6

2.1.2 The importance of pronunciation 6

2.1.3 Aspects of pronunciation 7

2.2 Types of pronunciation errors 16

2.2.1 Sound substitution 16

2.2.2 Don’t prolong the previous sound 16

2.2.3 Remove sound 16

2.2.4 Add redundant sounds 17

2.3 Main factors affecting English pronunciation 17

2.4 Some common pronunciation errors of English learners 18

2.4.1 Ending sound errors: 18

2.4.2 Stress errors: 19

2.4.3 Intonation errors: 19

2.4.4 Short vowel – long vowel errors: 19

2.4.5 Confusion between some consonants 20

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 21

3.1 Research methods 21

3.1.1 Participants 21

3.1.2 Research instruments 21

3.1.3 Data collection process 21

3.2 Data analysis 22

3.3 Research Findings 22

3.3.1 The reality of first-year English majors’ pronunciation, Thuongmai University 22

3.3.2 The result of the survey questionnaire 23

3.4 Summary 31

CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 32

4.1 Summary of the study 32

4.2 Some possible solutions to improve pronunciation skills of first-year English majors 32

4.2.1 Practicing Difficult Phonemes and Syllables 32

4.2.2 Learning from native speakers 33

4.2.3 Speaking slowly 33

4.2.4 Paying attention to intonation and stress 33

4.2.5 Studying English pronunciation 34

4.2.6 Mimicking English Sounds 34

4.3 Some suggested books for English learners to study pronunciation 35

4.3.1 Ship or Sheep 35

4.3.2 Tự Tin Phát Âm Chuẩn – A J Hoge 35

4.3.3 Mastering the American accent 36

4.3.4 Pronunciation Workshop 36

4.4 Limitations and suggestions for further study 37

4.4.1 Limitations of the study 37

4.4.2 Suggestions for further study 37

CONCLUSION 38 REFERENCES I APPENDIX II

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

No

.

1 TMU ThuongMai University

2 i.e Id Est (Latin)

5 AMEP Adult Migrant English Program

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Articulatory phonetics 8

Figure 2.2: Bilabial articulation 9

Figure 2.3: Articulatory classification of English consonants 12

Figure 2.4: Palato-alveolars 13

Figure 2.5: Velar articulation 14

Chart 3.1: The most favorite skill of first year English majored students 23

Chart 3.2: The percentages of important factors in speaking 24

Chart 3.3: The importance of pronunciation in English speaking 25

Chart 3.4: Students’ interest in pronunciation 25

Chart 3.5: Students’ frequency of making pronunciation mistakes 26

Chart 3.6: Sounds that students found harder to pronounce 27

Chart 3.7: Students’ common pronunciation mistakes 28

Chart 3.8: Reasons for difficulties when pronouncing ending sounds 30 Table 3.1: Percentage of ending sounds faced by first-students of English Faculty.29

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

1.1 Rationale

In today's globalization trend, the importance of English cannot be denied andignored because it is a commonly used language in all parts of the world Vietnam

is one of the countries that use English as a second language and therefore English

is considered the most important subject at all levels of education in Vietnam'seducational program However, teaching and learning English in Vietnam focusesmore on reading and writing skills than on listening and speaking skills while forany language, speaking skill is still the most important skill To be able to speakEnglish also needs some factors such as pronunciation, vocabulary, reflexes inwhich, pronunciation is a skill that many Vietnamese people still make manymistakes

In the process of teaching and learning foreign languages in general andlearning English in particular, standard pronunciation always plays an importantrole It has a direct effect on learning basic skills to grasp a foreign language,especially listening and speaking skills However, in Vietnam, most Englishlearners from primary school to high school are only taught and learned grammar,reading, and writing skills to take exams and tests without being taught a lot aboutlistening and speaking skills leading to them being quite afraid of speaking English.When speaking English, the students can say enough vocabulary and very correctgrammar because they have learned a lot about those two things over the past 12years of learning English, but there is one very common mistake that most studentsmake when saying it is pronunciation

Stemming from that fact combined with the assessment of the pronunciationability of students of Thuongmai University in general and first-year students of theEnglish Faculty of the university in particular, the author chose to research the topic

"A study on common pronunciation errors of first-year students at English Faculty, Thuongmai University and some possible solutions" to find out the common

errors and propose some solutions to improve the correct pronunciation of thesestudents, and at the same time contribute to improving the quality of teachingEnglish courses in Thuongmai University.

1.2 Previous studies

There have been many analysis articles on pronunciation errors in English bylinguists or students, graduate students in foreign countries and Vietnam Eachstudy pointed out the English pronunciation errors of each subject The commonpoint is that they help readers better understand the common pronunciation errors offoreigners learning English and some solutions to overcome those pronunciationerrors

Many studies have shown that the pronunciation errors of speakers of otherlanguages when pronouncing English are systematic and justified errors, notrandom Moosa (1972) and Homeidan (1984) demonstrated that Arabic studentshave problems pronouncing sounds that they do not have in their language, forexample: /v/, /p/, /ŋ / Ronald Carter and David Nunan, 2001 and O'Connor, 2003note that the pronunciation errors made by English learners from non-Englishspeaking countries are systematic and not random Therefore, they have concludedthat the errors in pronunciation of speakers of other languages when learningEnglish come from them replacing sounds that are not present in their nativelanguage with the sounds they used to say every day For example, replace /p/ with /b/, /θ/ with /s/, etc

Jaroslav Ondráek published a paper titled "Communication problems caused

by Czechs' faults in English pronunciation" (April 11, 2011) The purpose of the

study was to discover the errors in English pronunciation made by first-yearstudents in Masaryk University's English Department of the Faculty of Education.The study was based on an analysis of recordings made by 88 first-year Englishmajors at Masaryk University's Faculty of Education Three assessors assessed therecordings: two educated native speakers (one American, one English) who werenot phonetically trained, and a Czech assessor who was The study's two objectives

were to determine the students' awareness of mistakes and attitudes aboutpronunciation The second aim is to determine the perceived errors in CzechEnglish pronunciation from the perspective of a typical native speaker, as well asthe characteristics that most limit "comfortable intelligibility." The two nativespeakers described the study's primary issues as incorrect word stress, wordspronounced as if they were Czech, and a general lack of diction clarity.

In Vietnam, there are also many studies on pronunciation errors Ms NguyenThi Thanh Huyen, working at the Department of English Theory, Faculty ofEnglish, Thuongmai University, did a school-level scientific research paper (March

3, 2017) with the topic: "Survey on pronunciation errors in English of a first-year student at Thuongmai University " In her research paper, she outlined in great

detail the concepts of pronunciation, and the differences in the sound systembetween English and Vietnamese As well as analyzing the survey results with thefirst-year students to point out pronunciation errors and have solutions to overcomethose errors The doctoral thesis in linguistics by author Le Thanh Hoa (2016) with

the topic "English pronunciation errors of Vietnamese students - the case of students of Dong Nai University" has shown the error types and causes of errors in

pronunciation of English extracts about consonants at the beginning of the syllable,

at the end of the syllable, as well as the errors in pronouncing English vowels byVietnamese people, and then propose solutions to overcome these types of errors for

Vietnamese people Another study (2018) with a similar topic: "A study on common pronunciation mistakes of the third year English major students at Haiphong Private university and some suggested solutions" by student Tra My at Hai Phong

Private University It helped the students to have a good awareness of pronunciationproblems and gave some suggestions to solve the errors of final sound and stress

1.3 Aims of the study

The study focuses on the English speaking difficulties of freshmen in theEnglish Faculty at TMU Through this study, the researcher wanted to find answers

to three questions:

1 What is the pronunciation status of first-year English students at TMU?

2 What are common pronunciation errors?

3 How to fix those errors?

The purpose of this research paper is to help first-year students of the EnglishFaculty, Thuongmai University finds the mistakes in their English pronunciationand know how to correct and improve them This study has 3 main aims:

Finding out first-year students' perceptions and attitudes towardsmispronunciation in English communication

Point out common pronunciation mistakes that first-year students oftenmake

Suggest measures to overcome those mistakes to help studentscommunicate confidently

1.4 Research subject

Realized that most of the first-year students of the English Faculty have a verystrong vocabulary and grammar background, but there are quite a few mistakeswhen it comes to pronunciation This makes the conversation ineffective becauseyou have mispronounced words and made the other person not understand, therebyleading to a loss of confidence when communicating

Therefore, the author chooses a research topic about common pronunciationerrors of first-year English students at Thuongmai University This is a target group

of students who have a good background in English at lower grades, but are onlygood at grammar, reading and writing skills Listening and speaking skills are notgood, especially pronunciation ability is still limited The students still make a lot ofpronunciation mistakes when speaking Hopefully, this research paper will help thefirst-year students recognize those pronunciation errors as well as suggest somesolutions to overcome them

1.5 Scope of the study

This study is to point out the common pronunciation mistakes that first-yearstudents at English Faculty, Thuongmai University In pronunciation, there aremany different mistakes that English learners can make However, in this study, theauthor will focus mainly on some pronunciation errors that students often encountersuch as consonants, vowels, and ending sounds Hopefully, after this study, the first-year students can understand and overcome those pronunciation errors.

1.6 Research methodology

To answer questions related to the research as well as collect survey data fromresearch subjects (first-year students), a questionnaire was designed These surveyquestions focus on analyzing mistakes and finding solutions to them

The questionnaire was carefully designed with reference to previous studyauthors and instructors First of all, a survey questionnaire is conducted among 90K57N students in order to collect information and data for the research

The questionnaire consists of 10 multiple-choice questions The questionnaire

is expected to help the researcher save much time because they can be given largegroups at the same time The question can conduct easily without the researcher’spresence

Furthermore, the author conducted a survey utilizing primary data in order toidentify and assess the faults in pronunciation

After completing the survey and gathering data, the author does a mistakenanalysis, categorizes questions, and searches the data for common errors

1.7 Organization of the study

The study consists of four main chapters:

Chapter 1 - Overview of the study

This chapter presents the theoretical basis, and previous studies Besides, itprovides the research object, scope, methodology, and organization of the research

Chapter 2 - Literature review

This chapter aims to clarify theories and characteristics of pronunciation,pronunciation errors as well as causes of pronunciation errors

Chapter 3- Research findings

Based on data collection from survey questionnaires, the problems will beanalyzed in-depth to provide practical information about some common mistakes offirst-year English majors.

The investigation results on pronunciation problems also pointed out thepronunciation errors, causes, and some solutions to help students pronounce well

Chapter 4 – Recommendations and suggestions

This chapter outlines some measures to overcome the pronunciation errorsmentioned above to help freshmen not make the same mistakes again

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 English pronunciation

In the AMEP Fact sheets that have been funded by the Department ofImmigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs through the AMEP Special

Project Research Program, the pronunciation was defined as: “The production of sounds that we use to make meaning It includes attention to the particular sounds

of a language (segments), aspects of speech beyond the level of the individual sound, such as intonation, phrasing, stress, timing, rhythm (suprasegmental aspects), how the voice is projected (voice quality) and, in its broadest definition, attention to gestures and expressions that are closely related to the way we speak a

language Each of these aspects of pronunciation is briefly outlined below, and references for further study are suggested”.

In addition, there are also many pronunciation definitions that are concise andeasy to understand According to the Oxford dictionary, pronunciation is defined as

"the way in which a word is pronounced” and in the Cambridge Dictionary's definition, pronunciation is “the way in which a word or letter is said, or said correctly, or the way in which a language is spoken”.

2.1.2 The importance of pronunciation

When it comes to transferring information amongst people, sounds are crucial.The link between the speakers and the listeners is known as sound transmission.The speaker must ensure that the listener understands what he or she is trying tocommunicate

Every learner learning English needs to be able to pronounce words correctly.And each learner's primary goal is to be able to pronounce words in the same orcomparable ways as native speakers Even though pupils have a strong grammarfoundation and a large vocabulary, if they cannot pronounce words correctly, theyare not well received and may be difficult to comprehend by foreigners

According to Fangzhi (1998:39), it is critical to pay attention to pronunciationsince it determines whether a message can be passed on to others or not.Furthermore, according to Gilbert (quoted in Otlowsky, 2004:3), someone whocannot hear English effectively is cut off from the language And if someone isdifficult to understand, they are cut off from conversing with native speakers

Researching pronunciation goals, Joanne Kenworthy wrote in Teaching English Pronunciation that “We come now to the question of what goals should be

set for individual learners or groups of learners How “good” should the learner’spronunciation aim to be? Whereas some time ago it might have been said that thegoal should always be native-like pronunciation, even though it was realized thatthis would be achieved by relatively few, most people now think that this is an

inappropriate goal for most learners The great majority of learners will have a verypractical purpose for learning English and will derive no particular benefit fromacquiring a native-like pronunciation”.

Pronunciation is particularly crucial to starters, according to Higgs Graph ofLearner Needs It makes individuals feel more at ease when speaking No one candeny the importance of proper pronunciation It is regarded as one of the mostimportant aspects of English communication

As a result, in order to have effective speaking skills, learners need to considertheir pronunciation

2.1.3 Aspects of pronunciation

2.1.3.1 Articulatory phonetics

Articulatory phonetics refers to the “aspects of phonetics which looks at howthe sounds of speech are made with the organs of the vocal tract” Ogden(2009:173)

Articulatory phonetics can be separated into three domains to characterizeconsonants These are voice, place, and manner Each of these will be examinedseparately presently, although all three are intertwined in the production of speech

Figure 2.1: Articulatory phonetics

A Voice:

In English, we have both voiced and voiceless sounds According to how thevocal folds respond when producing a speech sound, a sound falls into one of thesecategories

 Voiced: Voiced sounds are sounds that involve vocal fold vibrations when

they are produced Examples of voiced sounds are /b, d, v, m/.

You should feel a vibrating feeling if you lay two fingers on either side of thefront of your neck, right below your jawbone, and make a sound This indicates that

a sound has been voiced

 Voiceless: Voiceless sounds are sounds that are produced with no vocal

fold vibration Examples of voiceless sounds in English are /s, t, p, f/.

B Place

The vocal tract is made up of different sections, which play a pivotal role inthe production of speech These sections are called articulators and are what makespeech sounds possible They can be divided into two types

The active articulator is the articulator that moves towards another articulator

in the production of a speech sound This articulator moves towards anotherarticulator to form a closure of some type in the vocal tract (i.e openapproximation, close, etc.)

The passive articulator is the articulator that remains stationary in theproduction of a speech sound Often, this is the destination that the active articulatormoves towards (i.e the hard palate)

The author will now talk about the different places of articulation in the vocaltract:

 Bilabial: Bilabial sounds involve the upper and lower lips In the

production of a bilabial sound, the lips come into contact with each other to form an

effective constriction In English, /p, b, m/ are bilabial sounds.

Figure 2.2: Bilabial articulation

 Labiodental: Labiodental sounds involve the lower lip (labial) and upper

teeth (dental) coming into contact with each other to form an effective constriction

in the vocal tract Examples of labiodental sounds in English are /f, v/ Labiodental

sounds can be divided into two types: Endo Labial and Exo Labial

 Dental: Dental sounds involve the tongue tip (active articulator) making

contact with the upper teeth to form a constriction Examples of Dental sounds in

English are / θ, ð/ If a sound is produced where the tongue is between the upper

and lower teeth, it is attributed to the term ‘interdental’

 Alveolar: First of all, before I explain what an alveolar sound is, it’s useful

to locate the alveolar ridge itself If you place your tongue just behind your teethand move it around, you’ll feel a bony sort of ridge This is known as the alveolarridge Alveolar sounds involve the front portion of the tongue making contact withthe alveolar ridge to form an effective constriction in the vocal tract Examples of

alveolar sounds in English are /t, d, n, l, s/.

 Postalveolar: Postalveolar sounds are made a little further back (‘post’)

from the alveolar ridge A postalveolar sound is produced when the blade of thetongue comes into contact with the post-alveolar region of your mouth Examples of

post-alveolar sounds in English are / ʃ, ʒ /.

 Palatal: Palatal sounds are made with the tongue body (the big, fleshy part

of your tongue) The tongue body raises up towards the hard-palate in your mouth(the dome shaped roof of your mouth) to form an effective constriction An example

of a palatal sound in English is /j/, usually spelt as [y].

 Velar: Velar sounds are made when the back of the tongue (tongue dorsum)

raises towards the soft palate, which is located at the back of the roof of the mouth.This soft palate is known as the velum An effective constriction is then formedwhen these two articulators come into contact with each other Examples of velar

sounds in English are /k, g, ŋ /.

C Manner

In simple terms, the manner of articulation refers to the way a sound is made,

as opposed to where it’s made Sounds differ in the way they are produced Whenthe articulators are brought towards each other, the flow of air differs according tothe specific sound type For instance, the airflow can be completely blocked off ormade turbulent

 Stop articulations:

Stop articulations are sounds that involve a complete closure in the vocal tract.The closure is formed when two articulators come together to prevent air fromescaping between them Stop articulations can be categorized according to the kind

of airflow involved The type of airflow can be oral (plosives) or nasal (nasals) Iwill now talk about both plosives and nasals separately

Plosives are sounds that are made with complete closure in the oral (vocal)tract The velum is raised during a plosive sound, which prevents air from escaping

via the nasal cavity English plosives are the sounds /p, b, t, d, k, g/ Plosives can be

held for quite a long time and are thus also called ‘maintainable stops’

Nasals are similar to plosives in regards to being sounds that are made withcomplete closure in the oral (vocal) tract However, the velum is lowered duringnasal sounds, which allows airflow to escape through the nasal cavity There are 3

nasal sounds that occur in English /m, n, ŋ/

 Fricatives:

Fricative sounds are produced by narrowing the distance between the activeand passive articulators causing them to be in close approximation This causes theairflow to become turbulent when it passes between the two articulators involved in

producing a fricative sound English fricatives are sounds such as / f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ,

ʒ /

 Approximants:

Approximant sounds are created by narrowing the distance between the twoarticulators Although, unlike fricatives, the distance isn’t wide enough to create

turbulent airflow English has 4 approximant sounds which are /w, j, r, l/.

2.1.3.2 Consonant and vowel sounds

A Consonant sounds

 Definition:

In the Cambridge English Dictionary, consonant is “one of the speech sounds

or letters of the alphabet that is not a vowel Consonants are pronounced bystopping the air from flowing easily through the mouth, especially by closing thelips or touching the teeth with the tongue.”

In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated withthe complete or partial closure of the vocal tract Examples are [p] and [b],pronounced with the lips; [t], pronounced with the front of the tongue; [k],pronounced with the back of the tongue; [h], pronounced in the throat; [f] and [s],pronounced by forcing air through a narrow channel (fricatives); and [m] and [n],which have air flowing through the nose (nasals) Contrasting with consonants arevowels

In English phonetics and phonology (Peter Roach, 2000:10), the termconsonant can be defined as: “sounds in which there is an obstruction to the flow ofair as it passes the larynx to the lips” In the production of sounds, consonant wasdefined: “Consonant are the sounds in the production of which one articulatormoves towards another or two articulators come together, obstructing the air streamand the air stream can’t get out freely.”

 Classification of consonants:

Figure 2.3: Articulatory classification of English consonants

In order to form consonants, the air-stream through the vocal cords must beobstructed in some way Therefore, consonants are often classified by being given aso-called VPM-label VPM stands for Voicing, Place and Manner:

 The term "voicing" refers to the utilization of the vocal folds; if they arenot, the sound is voiceless

 The place of articulation is the place at which the airflow is more or lessimpeded

 The manner is determined by the nature of the impediment

 The place of articulation:

 The place of articulation is the location of the obstruction of the air-stream

in the articulation of consonants It describes the point at which the articulatorsactually touch or are at their closet

 The most important places of articulation for the production of Englishconsonants are listed in the table below

Bilabials: are the sounds made with the two lips pressed together or coming

together, including: /p/, /b/, /m/, /w/

Labiodentals: are the sounds which are produced with the lower lip touching

the upper front teeth, including: /f/, /v/

Dentals: are the sounds which are produced with the tip or blade of the tongue

touching the upper front teeth, including: /θ/, /ð/

Alveolars: are the sounds which are produced with the tip or blade of the

tongue touching or approaching the alveolar ridge, including: /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /n/, /l/

Retroflex: is the sound which is produced with the tip of the tongue curling

back towards the back of the alveolar ridge, including: /r/

Palato-alveolars: are the sounds which are produced with the tongue tip or

blade coming close to the area between the back of the alveolar ridge and the front

of the hard palate, including: /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/

Figure 2.4: Palato-alveolars Palatal: is the sound which is produced with the front of the tongue coming

close to the hard palate, including: /j/

Velars: are the sound which is produced with the back of the tongue touching

the soft palate, including: /k/, /g/, /ŋ/

Figure 2.5: Velar articulation Glottal: are the sound which is produced without the active use of the tongue

and other parts of the mouth, including: /h/

The manner of articulation

Plosives: are the sounds, which are produced with the air-stream being stopped

in the oral cavity and the soft palate is raised blocking off the nasal cavity Then thetwo articulators come apart quickly and the air escapes through the oral tract E.g

/p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/

Nasals: they are produced with the airstream being stopped in the oral cavity

but the soft palate is down so that the air can go out through the nose E.g /m/, /n/, /

ŋ/

Fricatives: are the sounds in the production of which two articulators come

close together but there is still a small opening between them so the air-stream is

partially obstructed and an audible friction noise is produced E.g /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/,

/s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/

Affricates: are the sounds, which are produced when a plosive is immediately

followed by a fricative E.g /tʃ/, /dʒ/

Lateral: is the sound which is made when the air-stream is obstructed at a

point along the center of the oral tract, with incomplete closure between one or bothsides of the tongue and the roof of the mouth There is only one lateral in English,

/l/.

Approximants: are the sounds in the production of which two articulators

come close together but without the vocal tract being narrowed to such an extent

that a friction noise is produced /w/, /r/, /j/

Vowels are the sounds in the production of which none of the articulatorscome very close together so the passage of air-stream is relatively unobstructed andthe air can get out freely

 Classification of vowels:

Vowel sounds are classified according to the length of the vowels, the height

of the tongue, the position of the tongue and the degree of lip rounding

The length of vowels:

 Long vowels: There are usually marked with a colon such as /i:/, /ɑː/, /u:/

 Short vowels: other vowels are short vowels such as /e/, /i/, /u/

The height of the tongue:

 High vowels: are those in the production of which the tongue is high in the

mouth It is raised above its rest position such as /u:/, /u/, /i:/, and /i/

 Middle vowels: are those made with the tongue neither high nor low in the

mouth such as /e/, /ɜː/, /ə/, /ɔ:/

 Low vowels: are those made with the tongue below its rest position such as

/æ/, /ʌ/, /ɑː/, /ɒ/

The position of the tongue in the mouth:

 Front vowels: are the ones in the production of which the front part of the

tongue is raised the highest such as /i:/, /i/, /e/, /æ/

 Central vowels: are those made with neither the front nor the back of the

tongue is neither high nor low in the mouth such as /ɜː/, /ə/, /ʌ/

 Back vowels: are those in the production of which the back of the tongue is

the highest point such as /u:/, /u/, /ɔ:/, /ɒ/, /ɑː/

Degree of lip rounding:

 Rounded vowels: are those made with rounded lips The corners of the lips

are brought towards each other and the lips are pushed forwards such as /u:/, /u/,

/ɔ:/….

 Unrounded vowels: are those made with the lips spread The corners of the

lips are moved away from each other for a smile such as /e/, /æ/ , /ʌ/…

2.2 Types of pronunciation errors

2.2.1 Sound substitution

For vowels, there are 6 long vowels: /iː, æ, ɑː, ɜː, uː, ɔː/ English learners oftenpronounce incorrectly when these sounds appear in syllables or words with finalconsonants Learners tend to substitute sounds such as pronouncing long vowelswith short vowels, for example, /ɑː/ into /æ/, /ɜː/ into /ə/, or /iː/ into /ɪ/ It's a degreeerror

For consonants, the most common is the confusion of consonants /t, tr, ʧ, ʃ, ʤ,

s, θ/ Speakers often mispronounce many consonants /ʤ, s, t, z, ʧ/ Specifically, thepronunciation is wrong when replacing the consonants: /ʤ/, /z/ to /d/, /ʧ/ to /t/.Pronouncing /t/ instead of /ʧ/, according to the theory of English phonological rules(Roach, 2000), the consonant /t/ is an emergent consonant, so when pronouncing /t/

we only blow the air at the tip of the tongue, and the consonant /ʧ/ is a scuffedsound created by a slightly longer contact between the vocal organs and frictionwith the crown

2.2.2 Don’t prolong the previous sound

For diphthongs, speakers tend to pronounce the first and last syllables equallywithout paying attention to the pronunciation of each diphthong The reason whylearners pronounce it incorrectly is because these vowels do not exist inVietnamese

2.2.3 Remove sound

For consonants, the most common mistake is omitting sounds, especiallyending consonants like ( /ʤ, ks, s, t, v, z/ ) The reason is that in Vietnamese theselast consonants are not pronounced For example, cheeks [ʧiːks], chicks [ʧiks]sound /s/ are omitted

In addition, some consonants, such as /ʒ, ʤ, ʧ/ are really difficult for learnersespecially when they are at the end of words To overcome this, teachers need tospend a lot of time helping students practice those consonants

2.2.4 Add redundant sounds

Finally, another type of error is the extra sound error that occurs when somelearners tend to add the sound /s/ or /z/ at the end of any word or sometimes in themiddle of a word as in the case of the word “ good” many people pronounce it as/gʊds/, similar to the word "people" to "peoples" /'pi:pl/, or add /ə/ to difficultpronunciation phrases like /tr/ in "train" to become /tərein/ instead of /trein/, or /pr/

in "surprising" /sə'praiziη/ is read as /sə'pəraiziη/ This is an inappropriate practice

in phonetics and easily leads to misunderstanding the meaning of words that need to

be corrected

2.3 Main factors affecting English pronunciation

It is a fact that learning English is easy in terms of grammar and vocabulary,especially in countries with Latin scripts But in terms of listening and speaking,many English learners find it difficult because of the difference in communicationlanguage, the key thing is English pronunciation And it's no surprise that peoplefind it difficult to speak English fluently There are several key factors thatinfluence pronunciation learning Kenworthy (1987, cited in Brown, 2007, pp 340-341) summarizes the most important learner variables affecting pronunciationlearning These include native language, age, exposure, innate phonetic abilities,linguistic identity and ego, motivation and interest in good pronunciation

 Native language: It is undeniable that the native language plays a critical

role in learners' pronunciation Every language on the planet has a diverse set ofphonological components These differences will make it difficult for learners topronounce words correctly in the target language As a result, learners' knowledge

of the obstacles they have and their efforts to overcome them, as well as theirfamiliarity with the sound system of their original language, will considerably aidthem in improving their English pronunciation

 Age: Children under the age of puberty have been demonstrated to be able

to keep flawless or native pronunciation in a foreign or second language if they are

exposed to authentic circumstances on a regular basis Adults, on the other hand,can obtain the same natural accent as children, however, it takes more work andhoned skills.

 Exposure: The social context is critical since learners have a tremendous

opportunity to be exposed to the target language If true, exposure to the targetlanguage is a key element in determining learners' success Learners must be givennumerous opportunities to get appropriate comprehensible input They need to besurrounded by input in the target language through opportunities to hear authenticoral discourse from native speakers of the target language both within and outsidethe classroom

 Phonetic coding ability: Innate phonetic ability is also known as phonetic

coding ability (Brown, 1992) According to popular belief, some language learnersare better at discriminating between two sounds and imitating them than others Inmany circumstances, learners who were born and raised in an English-speakingenvironment have a better chance of learning and hearing native-like pronunciationthan those who were not However, this is not always the case because it depends onthe phonetic, biological and physiological abilities of each person Mainly peoplewho can hear and pronounce well are due to their regular exposure to the targetlanguage

 Identity and language ego: According to a large body of research on the

relationship between identity and language ego and pronunciation, learners withpositive attitudes and an open mind toward the target language and the people whospeak it are more likely to learn and improve their pronunciation faster and moresuccessfully (Ahmed, 2017; Brown, 1992; Dörnyei, 2003)

 Motivation and concern for good pronunciation: Perhaps this is the most

powerful influence of all six elements When a learner's intrinsic drive is high, theycan achieve native-like pronunciation On the other side, students may not be driven

to do well if they do not pay close attention to their pronunciation

2.4 Some common pronunciation errors of English learners

2.4.1 Ending sound errors: