Luận văn an investigation on common errors in pronouncing english consonants made by 6 to 10 year old students at linkinworld english skills center dong anh hanoi

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, ITA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ee ETErieirereerrrererirtitoetiyy TRẤN TIIỊ PHƯƠNG THẢO AN IN

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, ITA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

ee ETErieirereerrrererirtitoetiyy

TRẢẤN TIIỊ PHƯƠNG THẢO

AN INVESTIGATION ON COMMON ERRORS LN PRONOUNCLNG

ENGLISII CONSONANTS MADE BY 6 TO 10 YEAR OLD TUDENTS

AT LINKINWORLD ENGLISH SKILLS CENTER, DONG ANH, HANOI

Tìm hiểu những lỗi phát âm phụ âm tiếng Anh thường gặp của

học sinh từ 6 đến 1( tuổi tại trung tâm kĩ năng Anh ngữ

Linkinworld, Dong Anh, Hà Nội

MLA MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Language Teaching Methedology Code: 60.14.0111

Ha Noi, 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, ITA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

ee ETErieirereerrrererirtitoetiyy

TRẤN TIIỊ PHƯƠNG THẢO

AN INVESTIGATION ON COMMON ERRORS IN PRONOUNCING ENGLISH CONSONANTS MADE BY 6 TO 10 YEAR OLD TUDENTS

AT LINKINWORLD ENGLISH SKILLS CENTER, DONG ANH, HANOI

'Tìm hiểu những lỗi phát âm phụ âm tiếng Anh thường gặp của

học sinh từ 6 đến 1) tuổi tại trung tâm kĩ năng Anh ngữ

Linkinworld, Đông Anh, Hà Nội

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.0111

Supervisor: Do Tuan Minh, Ph.D

Tla Noi, 2014

CANDIDATE’S STATEN

Thereby certify that the thesis entitled “An investigation on common errors in

pronouncing English consonants made by 6 to 10 year old students at

Linkinworld English skills center, Dong Anh, Hanoi” is a result of my

research for the degree of Master of Arts al University of Languages and

International Studics — Victnam National University, Hanoi This thesis has

not been submitted for any degree at any other university or tertiary

inslitulion

Signature

‘Tran ‘Thi Phuong ‘Thao

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support

from a number of people

First and foremost, | would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr Do

Tuan Minh, my supervisor, whe has palicnily and constantly supporled me

through the stages of the study

Also, thanks are sent to my colleagues and students at Linkin’world

English skills center, Dong Anh, Hanoi, without whose support and encouragement it would he never have been possible for me to have this

thesis accomplished

Last but not least, T am greatly indebted to my family for the sacrifice

they have devoted to the fulfillment to this academic work

ABSTRACT

This minor thesis aims at identifying the most common mistakes of

students aged [rom 6 to 10 years old at Linkin’ world English skills center,

Dong Anh, Hanoi” when they pronounce English consonants as well as

investigating the main causes of these mislakes and the possible pedagogical

solutions to assist them to correct their mistakes

In the course of fulfilling this study, the researcher used 2 data collection

instruments: tape recording of the informants’ pronunciation ol’ selccled

words and words within sentences and dialogues to find out the most common

mistakes in pronouncing English consonants and questionnaire for teachers to

investigate the causcs of these mistakes and some possible solutions teachers use to help their students improve these mistakes

The dala analysis reveals the following mayer findings The most common

mistakes of students when pronouncing English consonants are sound

omission and sound deviation The main causes of mispronuneiation arc as

follow: (1) Students do not know how to use their mouth, tongue, lip to

pronounce (2) Negative influence of the mother tongue: the students are too

much affected by the way they pronounce Vietnamese (3) Students are not

confident to pronounce English sounds These results are taken into account

and lead to some pedagogical suggestions to deal with these found problems

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1: Consonants in English

Table 2: Number of students wilh rouble of English consonanls

‘lable 3: Number of students pronouncing sound omission

Table 4: Number students making mistakes of sound deviation

Figure 1: Teachers’ perceptions of causes of students’ mistakes

Figure 2: Teachers’ methods used to help students correct mistakes

1V

TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: LNTRODUCTION

Scope of the study

§ Significance of the study

2.2.1 Data collection instruments

2.2.2 Data collection procedures

2.3 Data analy

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

3.1 Findings and discussi T19

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Gur world is developing every hour and international cooperation is

onc of the important strategies of cach country Lo promote its socie-cconomic

development ‘lo integrate successfully into the global economy, foreign

language is considered to be indispensable Understanding the importance of

forcign language in general and of English m particular, the Victnamese

government has set up a curriculum for English learning for children from 6

years old onwards The number of English language centers has been remarkably increasing during the past two decades ‘hus, many Vietnamese,

especially the young people can speak English; however, many foreigners

have commented “many Victnamesc speakers can speak Fnglish, but only a few have intelligible Knglish pronunciation so that they can be understood

easily in direct communication with foreigners.” It is true that learners can not

succeed in studying Hnglish without mastering Knglish pronunciation because

pronunciation is one of the most important components of a language it 15

really important for leamers Lo have communication of the largel language as

correct possible right from start

While I teach English to students age from 6 to 10 years old at

Linkin'’world English skills center, Dong Ảnh, Hanoi, I lind that they make

many mistakes when they pronounce English sounds, especially English

consonants It is very necessary to find oul students’ mislakes in pronouncing

English consonants and help them correct thosc mistakes as soon as possible

With the expectation to help students pronounce English consonants correctly when they start to learn English, I decided to conduct the study “ da

investigation on common errors in pronouncing English consonunts made

by 6 to 10 year ald students at Linkin'world Lnglish skills center, Dong

Anh, Hanoi" 1 is hoped that this sludy will contribute to the goal of

enhancing students’ performance in teaching and learning foreign language

2 Aims and objectives

2.1 Am:

- bmproving students’ pronunciation of English consonants

2.2 Objectives of the study

- Identify what English consonants that arc often mispronounced hy 6

to 10 year old students at Linkinworld English skills centre, Dong Anh, Hanoi

- Identify what common mistakes students make in pronouncing those English consonants

- Find out causes of mistakes made by students in pronouncing those

Fnglish consonants

- Suggest some possible solutions to help students improve their

pronunciation of English consonants

3 Research questions

- Question 1: What are English consonants that are often mispronounced

ty 6 to 10 year old students al Linkin’ world English skill centre, Dong Anh,

Hanoi

- Question 2: What common mistakes do students make in pronouncing

those Enghsh consonants?

- Question 3: What are the causes of those mistakes?

- Question 4: What are leachers’ possible solutions to those mislakes?

4, Scope of the study

There are many problems in Vietnamese students’ pronunciation

Ilowever, because of limited time and the scale of the minor thesis, I only

focus on common mistakes in pronouncing some English consonants and

causes of those mistakes as well as possible solutions to eliminate them And I

only focus on students aged [rom 6 to 10 years old at Linkin’ world English

skill center, Dong Anh, Hanoi

5 Significance of the study

Thoorclical significance: The research provides both teachers and

learners with revision of phonological characteristics and articulation of the

sounds It is a basie foundation in tcachmg and leaning English

pronunciation

Practical significance: The study identifies young students’ mistakes in

pronouncing English consonants Therclore, it supplics teachers with the understanding and practical view to have pedagogical suitable solutions to

help students improve their pronunciation as soon as possible

6 Organization of the study

‘Yo achieve the aims of the study, this paper is divided into five chapters:

Fart A: “Introduction” includes the reasons of choosing the thesis, the

aims, the objectives, the research questions, the scope, the significance and

the organization of the study

Part B: Development

Chapter 1 “Literature review” is devoted to the presentation of the

theoretical background relevant to the research Firstly, the review of

pronunciation as well as factors allecling pronunciation leaming is

introduced ‘hen the literature related to mistakes is given

Chapter 2: “Methodology” describes in detail the research methodology

which comprises the principles based on which the study is carried out

Chapter 3: “Findings and discussions” presents the findings and

discussions from the data analysis

Part C: “Conclusion” summarizes the findings and gives limitations and

suggestions for further research

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Theory background

1.1.1 The role of pronunciation in language teaching

“A leamer who constantly mispronounces a range of phonemes can be

extremely difficult for a speaker from another language community to

understand A consideration of learners’ pronunciation errors and of how

these can inhibit successful communication is a usclul basis on which to

assess why it is important to deal with pronunciation in the class” Kelly

(2000:11)

While saying why it is important to teach pronunciation, Hewings

(2004:10) “ Difficulties with pronunciation might mean that students fail to

get their message across, even when the correct words are being used, or they

might fail to understand what is said to them.”

Sound is the core of the language so thai is the reason why when

teaching a language the first thing the leacher should lo is to Jet the learners

have chances to explore the sounds of that language Moreover,

communicative approach is considered as the major language teaching in the

twenty first century as what the learners really nocd aller graduating is that

they can communicate successfully in their work and their life ‘That is the

reason why pronunciation leaching has been paid more and more allenlion by

all teachers

Pronunciation is as important as any other aspects of language like

syntax and vocabulary Correct pronunciation is considered to be a

prerequisite to develop the speaking skill ‘That is why teaching pronunciation

should occupy an important place in the study of any language

1.1.2 English consonants

General description of English consonants

“Consonants are formed by interrupting, restricting or diverting the

airflow ina varicly of ways” (Kelly.G, 2003:24)

‘there are three ways of describing the consonant sounds: the manner

of articulation, the place of articulation, the force of the articulation

‘the soft palate being raised and the nasal resonator shut off, the primary

obslacle to the air-stream is provided by the closure of the lips Lung air is

compressed behind this closure, during which stage the vocal cords are held wide apart for /p/, but may vibrate for all or part of the compression stage for

‘bf according lo its situation in the utlcrance Then the closure is released

suddenly for the air to escape with a kind of explosion

+ Alveolar Plosives: /t, d/

‘The soft palate being raised and the nasal resonator shut off, the primary

obstacle to the air-stream is formed by a closure made between the fip and

rims of the tongue and the upper alveolar ridge and side teclh Lung air is

compressed behind this closure, during which stage the vocal cords are wide apart

for //, but may vibrate for all or part of the compression slage for /d/ according La

its situation in the utterance ‘Ihe air escapes with noise upon the sudden

separation of the alveolar closure

* Velar Plosives: /k, g/

The soft palate being raised and the nasal resonator shut off, the primary

obstacle to the air-stream is formed by a closure made between the back of the

tongue and the soft palate | ung air is compressed behind this closure, during

which stage the vocal cords are wide apart for /k/, but may vibrate for all or

part of the compression stage for /g/ according to ils situation in the ullerance

‘The air passage escapes with noise upon the sudden separation of the velar

closure

All six plosives can oceur at the beginning af a word (inilial position),

between other sounds (medial position) and at the end of a word (final

posilion)

® Labio-dental Fricatives: /f, v/

The soft palate being raised and the nasal resonator shut off, the inner

surface of the lower lip makes a light contact with the edge of the upper teeth,

so that the escaping air produces friction For /f/, the friction is voiceless,

whereas there may be some vocal cord vibration accompanying /v/, according

to its situation,

® Dental Fricatives: /3, 6/

(Rxamples words: thumb, thus, either, father, breath, breathe)

‘the soft palate being raised and the nasal resonator shut off, the tip and

ims af the tongue make a light contact with the edge and inner surface of the

upper incisors and a firmer contact with the upper side teeth, so that the air

escaping between the forward surface of the tongue and the incisors causes

friction For / Q/ the friction is voiceless, whereas for / 3/ there may be some

vocal cord vibration

* Alveolar Fricatives: /s, 2/

(Rxamples words: sip, zip, facing, rise, rice)

The soft palate being raised and the nasal resonator shut off, the tip and

blade of the longue make a light contact with the upper alveolar ridge, and the

side rims of the tongue a close contact with the upper side teeth ‘The air-

stream escapes through the narrow groove in the centre of the tongue and

causes {riclion between the tongue and the alveolar ridge In other words, in

the articulation of these sounds the air escapes through a narrow passage

along the centre of the tongue, and the sound produces is comparatively

inLensc

* Palatu-alveolar Fricatives: ‘J ; 3/

(cxample words: ship, Russia, measure, Trish, garage)

The fricatives are so called palato-alveolar, which can be taken to mean

that their place of articulation is partly palatal, partly alveolar The tongue is

in contact with an area slightly further back than that for /s/, /7/ If you make

‘sf then / J /, you should be able to feel your tongue move backwards ‘Ihe air

escapes lhrough a passage along the centre of the tongue, as in s/ and /z/, but

the passage is a little wider Most speakers of KP have rounded lips for / J /

and / 3/, and this is an important dilTerence between these consonants and /s/

and /7/ In addition, the escape of air is diffuse (compared with that of /s, Z2),

the friction occurring between a more extensive area of the tongue and the roof of the mouth In the case of / J /, the friction is voiceless, whereas for / 3 / there may be some vocal cord vibration according to its situation

All the fricalives described so far can be found m initial, medial and Linal

positions In the case of / 3 /, however, the distribution is much more limited

Very few English words begin with / 3 / (mast of them have come into the

language comparatively recently from French) and not many end with this

consonant Only modially, m words such as “measure”, ‘usually? is it found at all commonly

* Glottal Fricative: sh/

The place of articulation of this consonant is glottal, This means that the

narrowing that produces the friction noise is between the vocal folds When

we produce /h/ in speaking English, many different things happen in dillerent

contexts In the word ‘hat’, the /h/ must be followed by a / # / vowel ‘The tongue, jaw and lip positions for the vowel are all produced simultaneously

with the /h/ consonanl, so that the glotial [nicalive has a / « / quality The

same is found for all vowels following /h/

* Affricates: /( ; dã 7

(Palato-alveolar affricates)

The term “affricates” denotes a concept which is primarily of phonetic

importance Any plosive, whose release stage is perlormed in such a way thal

considerable friction occurs approximately at the point where the plosive stop

is made, may be called “affrialive” The friction present in an affricale is of

shorter duration than that which characterizes the Irivalives proper Tn the articulation of Af, d3/ the solt palate being raised and the nasal resonator shut

off, the obstacle to the air-stream is formed by a closure made between the tip,

blade, and rims of the tongue and the upper alveolar ridge and side teeth At

the same lime, the front of the tongue is raised Lowards the hard palate im

readiness for the fricative release ‘lhe closure is released slowly, the air

escaping in a diffuse manner over the whole of the central surface of the

longue with friction occurring bolwcen the blade/front region of the tongue

and the alveolar/front palatal section of the roof of the mouth During both stop

and fricative slages, the vocal cords are wide apart for / tf /, bul may be vibrating

for all or part of / d3 / according to the situation in the utterance

* Bilabial Nasal: “m/

"The lips form a closure as for /p, bé, the soft palate is lowered, adding the resonance of the nasal cavity to those of the pharynx and the mouth chamber

closed by the lips; the longue will generally anticipate or relain the position of

the adjacent vowel

* Alveolar Nasal: /n/

‘The tongue forms a closure with the teeth ridge and upper side teeth as for

it, di‘, the soft palate is lowered, adding the resonance of the nasal cavity to

those of the pharynx and of that part of the mouth chamber behind the

alveolar closure; the lip position will depend upon that of adjacent vowels

* Velar Nasal: /g/

A closure is formed in the mouth hetween the back of the tongue and the

velum as for /k, g/ (the point of closure will depend on the type of vowel

preceding), the soft palate is lowered, adding the resonance of the nasal cavity

to that of the pharynx and that small part of the mouth chamber behind the

velar closure

« Alveolar Lateral //

Only one alveolar, lateral phoneme occurs in English, there being no

opposition between fortis and lenis, voiced or voiceless, or fricative and non-

fricative Within the /I/ phoneme three main allophones occur:

- Clear []], with a relatively front vowel resonance, before vowels and /j/

- Voiceless [I°], following aspirated /p, k/

- Dark [2], with a relatively back vowel resonance, finally after a vowel,

before a consonant, and as syllabic sound following a consonant

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For clear [1], the front of the longue is raised in the direction of the hard

palate at the same time as the tip contact is made For dark [I], the tip contact

is again made on the teeth ridge, the front of the tongue being somewhat

doprossed and the back raised in the direction of the soll palate, giving a back

vowel resonance

Both [1] and [1] are voiced, though partial devoicing may lake place when

a preceding consonant is fortis The actual point of contact of the tongue for

[1] is conditioned by the place of articulation of the following consonant; thus,

in healih, will they, the |1| has a dental coniact, but in already, ultra, all dry, the contact for [] is likely to be post-alveolar

* Alveolar Approximant: /r/

The most common allophune of RP // is a voiced post-alveolar [nctionless

approximant The soft palate being raised and the nasal resonator shut off, the

lip of the Longuc is held in a position near lo, bul nol touching, the rear part of

the upper teath ridge; the central part of the tongue is lowered with a general

contraction of the tongue The air stream is thus allowed to escape freely,

without {riclion, over lhe centre part of the tongue

* Palatal Approximant: /j/

The vocalic allophones of RP /)/ are articulated by the Longue assuming

the position for a front half-close to close vowel and moving away immediately to the position of the following sound; the lips are generally

neutral or spread When /j/ lollows a lortis consonant such as /p/, /k/,

devoicing takes place

« Labia-velar Anproximant: /w/

‘The vocalic allophones of RP /w/ are articulated by the tongue assuming,

the position for a back half-close to close vowel and moving away

immediately to the position of the following sound, the hps are rounded The

11

soli palate is raised and the vocal cords vibrate, but when /w/ follows a fortis

consonant, some devoicing takes place

1.1.3 Mistakes in language learning

Mistakes are said to be unsystematic in nature and correctable when

allontion is drawn to ils producers Mistakes are caused by temporary lapses

of memory, confusion, and carclessness and so on According to Adrian

(1994: 131), the term “mistake” is used to refer to something that at that

moment is not accoplable He suggested thal “il could tum out to be cither a slip or an error” ‘The mistake is a “slip” when the leamer already has the

inner criteria for self-correction but isn’t applying them at the moment,

perhaps hecausc her attention is elsewhere, or perhaps at the moment she is not recalling the criteria, though she might recognize them At some level she

already knows what is required for correctness By “error” he meant that the

learner does not have the criteria for correctness ‘his is something new that

she cannot work out for herself Furthermore, many people only pay attention

lo “the what”, 1.¢ whal is conveyed, not “the how” ie the way words are

said, nor the stress and intonation of the sentence Regardless of the

distortion of some fricatives and affricates in pronunciation, in many English

classes in Vietnam, teaching focuses on ideas (what), but very little or almost

no attention is paid to the way (how) the ideas are expressed orally ‘This

negative ailitude lowards pronuncialion mistakes more or less indulges

poople with pronunciation mistakes, thus degrades the standard of English in

Vietnam Nevertheless, recently, there has been some improvement in

learning English with more focus on pronunciation, stress and intonation in

some English training institutions in Vietnam, ranging from secondary

schools and evening English centers to tertiary educational institutions such

12

as colleges and universities of foreign languages As a result, more phonetic drills and practice are included in Knglish teaching programs as well as in

examinations now

1.1.3.1 Types of mistakes

According io Adrian (1994: 133), mistake is “orror” when the leamer

docs nat yet have the eritcria for correctness This is something new that she

cannot work out for herself There have been different ways to classify errors

because rescarchers look at crrors dillerently

Hendrickson (1980: 206) divided errors into 2 types: local errors and

global errors because he focused on the influence of errors on the sense of a

sentence or an utterance According to him, the global cuors not the lecal ones could make the sentence ambiguous or senseless uley, Burt and

Krashen (1982: 53) classified ezrors relating to their observable

characteristics For them there are 4 types of errors, namely omission,

addition, misformation and misordering

Abbot (1980:82) divided errors into competence exrors and performance

errors ‘lhe competence errors consists of transfer, intralmgual and induced

Performance errors include errors of processing problems and errors of

typical crrors Common crrers are those which are committed by any second

language leamers when learning the same target language even when they come from different countries These errors normally appear at the beginning

of the learning process and consist of competence errors with errors in

phonology, vocabulary and grammar and performance errors with

13

Intralingua| and interlingual errors Tirrors thaL are typical oŸ certaim groups of

learners who speak the same first language or live in the same culture are

called typical errors Those errors include two main types: interlingual errors

and culture interference errors

Richards (1984:19-27) distinguishes three main major types of errors

interlingual errors, intralingual errors and developmental errors Interlmgual

errors result trom language transfer, that is, which is caused by the loamer’s

native language

However, with their classifications, they showed very little concern about error types and did not reflect the process of making errors and causes of

ewors made by learners as well

Ha Cam Tam (2005: 9-10) set up a reasearch question involving the most commen pronunciation problems of the students in the English Departement

of the university of Languages and Intemational Studies According to her,

the most frequent errors of Vietnamese learners in pronunciation are sound

ommision, sound confusion and sound redundancy

1.1.3.2 Possible causes of mistakes in language learning

A variety of factors have been investigated to account for the problems

related to English pronunciation {aced to foreign learners

Considered the most influential factor, mother tongue inference has been

studied thoroughly As showed by Kenworthy (1988), Rivers and Temperly

(1978), as well as Chan and T.i (2000) learners’ native language plays an

important role in their acquisition In terms of English sounds, it was emphasized by two latter researchers that “English sounds which have no

counterpart in the native language will at first he difficult for students to

distinguish (p 162)

14

Other faclors may affect the leaming English are learner age, interest and

motivation they raise on the issue, amount of exposure to English language as

perceived by Kenworthy (1988:4 -7) Gardner (1985:10) defined “Motivation

is the prosent context refers to the combination of clfort plus dosire lo

achieve the goal of leaming plus favorable attitudes towards learning the

language” A key issue in Gardner’s motivation theory is the relationship

botween motivation and oricntation (goal) Thus, in his view, “motivation”

refers to a kind of central metal “engine” or “energy-centre” that subsumes

ellort, warrvwill and task enjoyment, However, they arc‘internal factors not

external factors Motivation is affected by both internal and external factors According to Ellis (1997:75), leamers’ attitude and effective staies constitue

the leamers' effort degree when learning an 1.2 belong to “motivation”

In an action research on the role of continuous feedback in students’

pronunciation improvement, Tran Thanh Phuc (2006) reviewed seven factors

that affect the pronunciation of Vietnamese leamers A part from those

causes: native language leamers’ ages, she emphasizes the influence of the

amount of exposure to English, students’ own phonetic ability, their attitude

to the learning of the language, motivation and the teacher’s role

In attempt to discuss Vietnamese learners’ pronunciation of English

sounds, Dr Duong Thi Nu (2009) showed four main reasons that account for

thei failure in making the truly English consonants: (1) failure in

distinguishing the difference, (2) influence of mother tongue, (3) perception

af mistakes, (4) inadequate drills and practice

To sum up, the above studies have revealed the most typical pronunciation mistakes made by Vietnamese learners of English and some

researchers mentioned factors that imfluence learners’ pronunciation of

English Ilowever, many previous studies found in books, linguistic

magazines or on the Internet are only about general pronunciation problems

of wide issue And most studies only concentrate on participants who are

students at high schools or universities For these reasons, my research is

carried vul to find out common mistakes in specific sounds ( consonanls} and

my research focus on participants who are young leamers ( students aged

16

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 The informants of the study

There were 35 informants in the study including thirty students aged [rom

6 to 10 years old of 4 classes Hal.5, Fal.6, Kal.7, and Fal.8 at Linkm”world

English skill contre and five English Wwachers al Linkin’ world English contre

Most students have learnt English for one year, some have learnt for more

than one year and they have just finished the same course book “Family and

friends 1”, Oxford university press All of teachers have at Icast one ycar experience in teaching students age from 6 to 10 years old

2.2 Research method

In order to answer the research questions, the survey method was adapted

in which a survey questionnaire and recording informants’ pronunciation

were the data collection instruments

2.2.1 Data collection instruments

Instrument 1: Recording informants’ pronunciation

The use of a recorder is undoubtedly the most common method of

recording inlervicw dala because it has the obvious advantage of proserving

the entire verbal part of the interview for later analysis Moreover, the writer

can stop and play back some of the interview to see and get the dala more

clearly and cxactly This is the reason why tape recording is utilized to

recognize the students’ problems in pronouncing English sounds

The task was designed to record the students’ pronunciation including 3

parts: In part 1, students read aloud sounds and words containing consonants

in all positions of a word (initial, middle, final) In part 2, students read aloud

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8 sentences These sentences have many words with the sounds students

usually mispronounce In part 3, each pairs of students read 2 dialogues All

words, sentences, dialogues used in the task in the course book “Family and

friends 1”, Oxford university press

Instrument 2: Questionnaire

The researcher chuoses survey questionnaires because they are useful

ways of gathering information about “affective dimensions of teaching and

learning, such as beliefs, attitudes, motivation and preferences” (Richards and Lockharl, 1994:10) and enable a researcher to collcet a large amount of

information relatively quickly

In this study, a great number of question types categorized by Youngman

(1986, as cited in Nunan, 1992-144) including frequency, list, category and ranking questions had been applied

As the basic for the completion of the study, the questionnaire is carefully

designed with 11 questions to get the most effective investigation

lhe questionnaire is designed to clarify

- Teachers’ attitude toward pronunciation,

- ‘Teachers’ perception about their student’s pronunciation mistakes

- Teachers’ perception about causes of students’ mistakes in

pronouncing consonants

- ‘Teachers’ methods to help students eliminate their mistakes in pronouncing English consonants

2.2.2 Data collection procedures

In the first phrase, the researcher used the tape recording Thirty students

were gathered to be informed of the materials the researcher had prepared for

18