Luận văn difficulties encountered by second year students at thai nguyen university of agriculture and forestry in producing some english consonants

My desire is to conduct a research in order to find out the difficulties encountered by second year students of English at TUAF in producing the English consonant sounds: /0/, /ð/, /ƒ

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUTHES:

NGUYÊN TII THIU IƯƠNG

DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY SECOND YEAR STUDENTS

AT TIIAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND

FORESTRY IN PRODUCING SOME ENGLISH CONSONANTS

Những khó khăn trong việc phát âm một số phụ âm Tiếng Anh

của sinh viên năm thứ hai trường Đại học Nông Lâm , Thái Nguyên

M.A MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: ó0 22 15

TIA NOI - 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUTHES:

NGUYÊN TII THIU IƯƠNG

DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY SECOND YEAR STUDENTS

AT TIIAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND

FORESTRY IN PRODUCING SOME ENGLISH CONSONANTS

Những khó khăn trong việc phát âm một số phụ âm Tiếng Anh

của sinh viên năm thứ hai trường Dại học Nông Lâm , Thái Nguyên

MLA MINOR TILESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

CODE: 60 22 15 SUPERVISOR: : Assoc Pref Dr VO DAI QUANG

HANOI - 2010

I Rationale

IL Aims of the study

LLL Research questions

IV The scope of the study

V Design of the study

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.2 Factors affecting pronunciation in language learning,

2.2.1 Tho native language

2.2.2 The learners’ background

2.2.3 Pronunciation ability

2.2.4 Molivation lo lowing English

2.2.5, Teaching and learning environment

1.3.Phonolegical characteristics and articulation of the sounds /8/, /2/,

1J?, /g, HÚI, /d5/

1.3.1 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the consonant /6/

1.3.2 Phonological characlzrislics and articulation af the consonant (0/

1.3.3 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the consonant /J!

1.3.4 Phonological characteristics and arliculation of the consonant /3/

1.3.5 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the consonant ‘1f/

eas

Glottis

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students’ pronunciation ability and so on Unfortunately, this is not only the situation at my

university but also the case for many other colleges and universilics in Vicltarn

My desire is to conduct a research in order to find out the difficulties encountered by second

year students of English at TUAF in producing the English consonant sounds: /0/, /ð/, /ƒ, /3/, Aff,

/đ3/ as well as to explore the causes of the difficulty and some proposal approaches to improve

traching and tcarning some English consonant sounds at TUAF and then help my students dealing with the pronmeiation’s difficulties

LL Objectives of the study

With the necessily of pronunciation teaching and learning above and the rteatily of the difficulties in producing some English consonant sounds, the objectives of the research presented hare are as follows:

1 To identify difficulties in producing some English consonant sounds (0, /0/, if, /3,

jf, fag’ by second year in - service English major students at 'UAF (Academic Year 2009- 2010)

2 To explore the causes of these difficulties

3 To provide some possible solutions to the identified problems

It is hoped that this study makes a contribution in teaching pronunciation, especially the consonant sounds /6/, /8/

3}, Aff, fg? to the best results in courses at TUAF in particular and

to those who are in favor of improving ths student’s pronunciation and the result of ths study is considered to be useful for students of English to ideutify their difficulties in producing these English consonant sounds and to self improve their pronunciation,

TH Rescarch questions

Due to limited time and knowledge, it is impossible to cover alll difficulties which the students may fice in their using English, Hence this study mainty focused on the questions thal have boon raised:

1 What are the difficulties encountered by second year students of English at TUAF in producing these English consonant sounds: 49, A0, (1/81 4

2 What are the causes of the difficulties?

3 What are the possible solutions to the difficulties?

IV The scope of the study

students’ pronunciation ability and so on Unfortunately, this is not only the situation at my

university but also the case for many other colleges and universilics in Vicltarn

My desire is to conduct a research in order to find out the difficulties encountered by second

year students of English at TUAF in producing the English consonant sounds: /0/, /ð/, /ƒ, /3/, Aff,

/đ3/ as well as to explore the causes of the difficulty and some proposal approaches to improve

traching and tcarning some English consonant sounds at TUAF and then help my students dealing with the pronmeiation’s difficulties

LL Objectives of the study

With the necessily of pronunciation teaching and learning above and the rteatily of the difficulties in producing some English consonant sounds, the objectives of the research presented hare are as follows:

1 To identify difficulties in producing some English consonant sounds (0, /0/, if, /3,

jf, fag’ by second year in - service English major students at 'UAF (Academic Year 2009- 2010)

2 To explore the causes of these difficulties

3 To provide some possible solutions to the identified problems

It is hoped that this study makes a contribution in teaching pronunciation, especially the consonant sounds /6/, /8/

3}, Aff, fg? to the best results in courses at TUAF in particular and

to those who are in favor of improving ths student’s pronunciation and the result of ths study is considered to be useful for students of English to ideutify their difficulties in producing these English consonant sounds and to self improve their pronunciation,

TH Rescarch questions

Due to limited time and knowledge, it is impossible to cover alll difficulties which the students may fice in their using English, Hence this study mainty focused on the questions thal have boon raised:

1 What are the difficulties encountered by second year students of English at TUAF in producing these English consonant sounds: 49, A0, (1/81 4

2 What are the causes of the difficulties?

3 What are the possible solutions to the difficulties?

IV The scope of the study

students’ pronunciation ability and so on Unfortunately, this is not only the situation at my

university but also the case for many other colleges and universilics in Vicltarn

My desire is to conduct a research in order to find out the difficulties encountered by second

year students of English at TUAF in producing the English consonant sounds: /0/, /ð/, /ƒ, /3/, Aff,

/đ3/ as well as to explore the causes of the difficulty and some proposal approaches to improve

traching and tcarning some English consonant sounds at TUAF and then help my students dealing with the pronmeiation’s difficulties

LL Objectives of the study

With the necessily of pronunciation teaching and learning above and the rteatily of the difficulties in producing some English consonant sounds, the objectives of the research presented hare are as follows:

1 To identify difficulties in producing some English consonant sounds (0, /0/, if, /3,

jf, fag’ by second year in - service English major students at 'UAF (Academic Year 2009- 2010)

2 To explore the causes of these difficulties

3 To provide some possible solutions to the identified problems

It is hoped that this study makes a contribution in teaching pronunciation, especially the consonant sounds /6/, /8/

3}, Aff, fg? to the best results in courses at TUAF in particular and

to those who are in favor of improving ths student’s pronunciation and the result of ths study is considered to be useful for students of English to ideutify their difficulties in producing these English consonant sounds and to self improve their pronunciation,

TH Rescarch questions

Due to limited time and knowledge, it is impossible to cover alll difficulties which the students may fice in their using English, Hence this study mainty focused on the questions thal have boon raised:

1 What are the difficulties encountered by second year students of English at TUAF in producing these English consonant sounds: 49, A0, (1/81 4

2 What are the causes of the difficulties?

3 What are the possible solutions to the difficulties?

IV The scope of the study

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CILAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Theoretical Background

1.1.1 What is pronunciation?

The notion of “pronunciation” has been defined in different ways by many writers Ur (1996)

affirm that “Zhe concept of “pronunciation” may be said to conduce the sounds of the language

or phonology; sires and rhythm; intonation; combination of sounds; linkage of sounds’

Dalton, (1994:3) stated pronunciation can be defined “ay she production af significant sound

in two senses First, sound is significant because it is used as part of a code of a particular language In this sense we can talk about pronunciation as the production and reception of sounds of speech, Second, sound is significant because it is used to achieve meaning in corext of use Here the code combines with other factors to make canmunication possible in this sense we can talk about pronunciation with reference to acts of speaking”

In Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary of curent English (1995), “pronunciation” is

defined “the way in which a word ix pronounced” and the pronunciation of a word is represented

through alphabetic spelling

In this paper, the author has no intention of analyzing all definitions of pronunciation but only

gives some simple definitions above that are close to the thesis

1.1.2 The role of pronunciation in language leaching

Nowadays pronunciation tends to be de-emphasized in language courses Advocates of modern comprehension based or communicatively oriented language curricula generally take the view that pronmnistign should nơi be taught explicilly but should rather be allowed to develop naturally as a by product of attempts by students to communicate However, there has been little systematic research to discover if certain teaching practices or condition of training can have positive cflecls on pronunciation, Haneo, we have no firm basis for asscrting calogorically that pronunciation is not teachable or that 1s not worth spending time on pronunciation training in a language course New ways of teaching pronmciation are still developed and tested, then there

still a need for careful experimentation Lo determination and cfeetivencss of methods.

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CILAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Theoretical Background

1.1.1 What is pronunciation?

The notion of “pronunciation” has been defined in different ways by many writers Ur (1996)

affirm that “Zhe concept of “pronunciation” may be said to conduce the sounds of the language

or phonology; sires and rhythm; intonation; combination of sounds; linkage of sounds’

Dalton, (1994:3) stated pronunciation can be defined “ay she production af significant sound

in two senses First, sound is significant because it is used as part of a code of a particular language In this sense we can talk about pronunciation as the production and reception of sounds of speech, Second, sound is significant because it is used to achieve meaning in corext of use Here the code combines with other factors to make canmunication possible in this sense we can talk about pronunciation with reference to acts of speaking”

In Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary of curent English (1995), “pronunciation” is

defined “the way in which a word ix pronounced” and the pronunciation of a word is represented

through alphabetic spelling

In this paper, the author has no intention of analyzing all definitions of pronunciation but only

gives some simple definitions above that are close to the thesis

1.1.2 The role of pronunciation in language leaching

Nowadays pronunciation tends to be de-emphasized in language courses Advocates of modern comprehension based or communicatively oriented language curricula generally take the view that pronmnistign should nơi be taught explicilly but should rather be allowed to develop naturally as a by product of attempts by students to communicate However, there has been little systematic research to discover if certain teaching practices or condition of training can have positive cflecls on pronunciation, Haneo, we have no firm basis for asscrting calogorically that pronunciation is not teachable or that 1s not worth spending time on pronunciation training in a language course New ways of teaching pronmciation are still developed and tested, then there

still a need for careful experimentation Lo determination and cfeetivencss of methods.

students’ pronunciation ability and so on Unfortunately, this is not only the situation at my

university but also the case for many other colleges and universilics in Vicltarn

My desire is to conduct a research in order to find out the difficulties encountered by second

year students of English at TUAF in producing the English consonant sounds: /0/, /ð/, /ƒ, /3/, Aff,

/đ3/ as well as to explore the causes of the difficulty and some proposal approaches to improve

traching and tcarning some English consonant sounds at TUAF and then help my students dealing with the pronmeiation’s difficulties

LL Objectives of the study

With the necessily of pronunciation teaching and learning above and the rteatily of the difficulties in producing some English consonant sounds, the objectives of the research presented hare are as follows:

1 To identify difficulties in producing some English consonant sounds (0, /0/, if, /3,

jf, fag’ by second year in - service English major students at 'UAF (Academic Year 2009- 2010)

2 To explore the causes of these difficulties

3 To provide some possible solutions to the identified problems

It is hoped that this study makes a contribution in teaching pronunciation, especially the consonant sounds /6/, /8/

3}, Aff, fg? to the best results in courses at TUAF in particular and

to those who are in favor of improving ths student’s pronunciation and the result of ths study is considered to be useful for students of English to ideutify their difficulties in producing these English consonant sounds and to self improve their pronunciation,

TH Rescarch questions

Due to limited time and knowledge, it is impossible to cover alll difficulties which the students may fice in their using English, Hence this study mainty focused on the questions thal have boon raised:

1 What are the difficulties encountered by second year students of English at TUAF in producing these English consonant sounds: 49, A0, (1/81 4

2 What are the causes of the difficulties?

3 What are the possible solutions to the difficulties?

IV The scope of the study

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

TUAK: Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry

No of Students: Number of Sturtents

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1; Diagram of the vocal organ

igure 2: English consonants

Figure 3: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /0/

Figure 4; Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /5/

Figure 5: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /f/

Figure 6: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /3/

Figure 7: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /tJ/

Figure 8: Place and manner of articulation ofthe consonant /d3/

iy, Afi, fag

‘Table 3: Students’ methods to improve their pronunciation

Table 4: Sludents’ reasoms for learning English

Table 5: Students’ opinions on pronunciation

‘Table 6: Teachers’ methods on teaching pronunciation

Glottis

WON aAuaRWH

centre

back

Inan overview of the Linglish sound system, its alphabet is based on Latin which

contains Wwenly six letters: twenly- four consonants, twelve vowels, cight diphthongs

anda total of 44 phonemes (Sousa, 2005, p 37) It should be noted that other

authorilies vary slightly from this, bul the number is between 43 and 45 phonemes, Iowever,

Vietnamese learners do not have difficulty in pronouncing all the English sounds but some of them only in both consonants and vowels With the limitaton of the type of the thesis, the researcher does not have the desize for finding out all the sounds causing problems for the

author's sludents but articulatory and acouslic features of some lypieal consemant ones like /8/,

iff, 73, Aff, Jay’ Also, due to the researcher’s limited ability, time constraints and narrow- sealed stndy, this sludy only involves in finding oul crrors and mistukes commonly committed by sccond-year students of English at TUAF in producing these consonants of a small number of

‘TUAF-English major students in their second academite year

‘VIL Design of the study

The thesis consists of five chapters The first chapter is an introduction to the thesis The review of related fiterature, the role of pronunciation in language teaching factors affecting

prommeiation learning, phonological charseteristics and articulation of the sounds 10/585 1§)./3.A§f, /ag/ are presented in the second chapter ‘The third chapter is about methodology used for the research study ‘he findings and discussion of relevant difficulties in pronunciation teaching and Icaming viewed from subjective and objective causes arc presented in the fourth chapter ‘he final chapter is the conclusion of the study, which discusses the overview that can be drawn from the siudy, voices some conchuting marks from objectives given in the first chapter with recommendations for teachers and students to overcome the obstacles and improve the quality of their teaching and learning pronunciation in general and consonant sounds in particular

In addition to this, moreover, the limitations of the thesis and suggestions for fiuther study are also pointed ont

students’ pronunciation ability and so on Unfortunately, this is not only the situation at my

university but also the case for many other colleges and universilics in Vicltarn

My desire is to conduct a research in order to find out the difficulties encountered by second

year students of English at TUAF in producing the English consonant sounds: /0/, /ð/, /ƒ, /3/, Aff,

/đ3/ as well as to explore the causes of the difficulty and some proposal approaches to improve

traching and tcarning some English consonant sounds at TUAF and then help my students dealing with the pronmeiation’s difficulties

LL Objectives of the study

With the necessily of pronunciation teaching and learning above and the rteatily of the difficulties in producing some English consonant sounds, the objectives of the research presented hare are as follows:

1 To identify difficulties in producing some English consonant sounds (0, /0/, if, /3,

jf, fag’ by second year in - service English major students at 'UAF (Academic Year 2009- 2010)

2 To explore the causes of these difficulties

3 To provide some possible solutions to the identified problems

It is hoped that this study makes a contribution in teaching pronunciation, especially the consonant sounds /6/, /8/

3}, Aff, fg? to the best results in courses at TUAF in particular and

to those who are in favor of improving ths student’s pronunciation and the result of ths study is considered to be useful for students of English to ideutify their difficulties in producing these English consonant sounds and to self improve their pronunciation,

TH Rescarch questions

Due to limited time and knowledge, it is impossible to cover alll difficulties which the students may fice in their using English, Hence this study mainty focused on the questions thal have boon raised:

1 What are the difficulties encountered by second year students of English at TUAF in producing these English consonant sounds: 49, A0, (1/81 4

2 What are the causes of the difficulties?

3 What are the possible solutions to the difficulties?

IV The scope of the study

Inan overview of the Linglish sound system, its alphabet is based on Latin which

contains Wwenly six letters: twenly- four consonants, twelve vowels, cight diphthongs

anda total of 44 phonemes (Sousa, 2005, p 37) It should be noted that other

authorilies vary slightly from this, bul the number is between 43 and 45 phonemes, Iowever,

Vietnamese learners do not have difficulty in pronouncing all the English sounds but some of them only in both consonants and vowels With the limitaton of the type of the thesis, the researcher does not have the desize for finding out all the sounds causing problems for the

author's sludents but articulatory and acouslic features of some lypieal consemant ones like /8/,

iff, 73, Aff, Jay’ Also, due to the researcher’s limited ability, time constraints and narrow- sealed stndy, this sludy only involves in finding oul crrors and mistukes commonly committed by sccond-year students of English at TUAF in producing these consonants of a small number of

‘TUAF-English major students in their second academite year

‘VIL Design of the study

The thesis consists of five chapters The first chapter is an introduction to the thesis The review of related fiterature, the role of pronunciation in language teaching factors affecting

prommeiation learning, phonological charseteristics and articulation of the sounds 10/585 1§)./3.A§f, /ag/ are presented in the second chapter ‘The third chapter is about methodology used for the research study ‘he findings and discussion of relevant difficulties in pronunciation teaching and Icaming viewed from subjective and objective causes arc presented in the fourth chapter ‘he final chapter is the conclusion of the study, which discusses the overview that can be drawn from the siudy, voices some conchuting marks from objectives given in the first chapter with recommendations for teachers and students to overcome the obstacles and improve the quality of their teaching and learning pronunciation in general and consonant sounds in particular

In addition to this, moreover, the limitations of the thesis and suggestions for fiuther study are also pointed ont

Glottis

WON aAuaRWH

centre

back

Glottis

WON aAuaRWH

centre

back

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CILAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Theoretical Background

1.1.1 What is pronunciation?

The notion of “pronunciation” has been defined in different ways by many writers Ur (1996)

affirm that “Zhe concept of “pronunciation” may be said to conduce the sounds of the language

or phonology; sires and rhythm; intonation; combination of sounds; linkage of sounds’

Dalton, (1994:3) stated pronunciation can be defined “ay she production af significant sound

in two senses First, sound is significant because it is used as part of a code of a particular language In this sense we can talk about pronunciation as the production and reception of sounds of speech, Second, sound is significant because it is used to achieve meaning in corext of use Here the code combines with other factors to make canmunication possible in this sense we can talk about pronunciation with reference to acts of speaking”

In Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary of curent English (1995), “pronunciation” is

defined “the way in which a word ix pronounced” and the pronunciation of a word is represented

through alphabetic spelling

In this paper, the author has no intention of analyzing all definitions of pronunciation but only

gives some simple definitions above that are close to the thesis

1.1.2 The role of pronunciation in language leaching

Nowadays pronunciation tends to be de-emphasized in language courses Advocates of modern comprehension based or communicatively oriented language curricula generally take the view that pronmnistign should nơi be taught explicilly but should rather be allowed to develop naturally as a by product of attempts by students to communicate However, there has been little systematic research to discover if certain teaching practices or condition of training can have positive cflecls on pronunciation, Haneo, we have no firm basis for asscrting calogorically that pronunciation is not teachable or that 1s not worth spending time on pronunciation training in a language course New ways of teaching pronmciation are still developed and tested, then there

still a need for careful experimentation Lo determination and cfeetivencss of methods.

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CILAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Theoretical Background

1.1.1 What is pronunciation?

The notion of “pronunciation” has been defined in different ways by many writers Ur (1996)

affirm that “Zhe concept of “pronunciation” may be said to conduce the sounds of the language

or phonology; sires and rhythm; intonation; combination of sounds; linkage of sounds’

Dalton, (1994:3) stated pronunciation can be defined “ay she production af significant sound

in two senses First, sound is significant because it is used as part of a code of a particular language In this sense we can talk about pronunciation as the production and reception of sounds of speech, Second, sound is significant because it is used to achieve meaning in corext of use Here the code combines with other factors to make canmunication possible in this sense we can talk about pronunciation with reference to acts of speaking”

In Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary of curent English (1995), “pronunciation” is

defined “the way in which a word ix pronounced” and the pronunciation of a word is represented

through alphabetic spelling

In this paper, the author has no intention of analyzing all definitions of pronunciation but only

gives some simple definitions above that are close to the thesis

1.1.2 The role of pronunciation in language leaching

Nowadays pronunciation tends to be de-emphasized in language courses Advocates of modern comprehension based or communicatively oriented language curricula generally take the view that pronmnistign should nơi be taught explicilly but should rather be allowed to develop naturally as a by product of attempts by students to communicate However, there has been little systematic research to discover if certain teaching practices or condition of training can have positive cflecls on pronunciation, Haneo, we have no firm basis for asscrting calogorically that pronunciation is not teachable or that 1s not worth spending time on pronunciation training in a language course New ways of teaching pronmciation are still developed and tested, then there

still a need for careful experimentation Lo determination and cfeetivencss of methods.

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

L Rationale of the study

English has been playing ils significant role in Victnarn sinee 1986 duc to the “Open Policy’ of Vietnamese government Many foreigners ftom English language backgrounds came to Vietnam for their investments and traveling This has created the movement of leaming English among people from rwal to urban areas in Vietnam, Currently, English has been a compulsory subject at all levels in education except in lower primary school in rural areas in Viemam, Although communicative language caching method has been employed instead of the Grammar Translation method with the hope that Vietnamese students will have better speaking skill, they are still poor in oral communication As commented by a native English speaker (Ha, hp/jsvnueduvr) “Many Vietnamese speakers can speak [English but only a few have intelligible English pronunciation so that they can be understood easily in direct communication with foreigners”

One of the main reasens laading to poor pronunciation of Vietnamese learners of English is the difficulties in producing the English sounds that are unfamiliar with their native language, Vietnamese, such as 0// 8/ or consonants occurring at the final position of the word such as /2/, iff (3/, Aff, etc; consonant clusters; vowels, and some English features not existing in their frst language such as syllable stress and connected speech (Honey, 2001, Tran, 2002; Zielinski,

2006, Yates, 2002)

Most of the learners of English agree that the ability to express themselves ficcly in communication is of great importance for their future career, especially in modem societies where contacting with foreigners often occurs However, there still exist many difficulties in learning and toaching English in Victnamn in gencral and at Thal Ngnyon Universily of Agriculture and Forestry (TUAF) in particular Many Vietnamese learners can write and read English quite well but they cannot speak it correctly and fluently in real-life situations, which makes ths listeners misunderstand, even results in communication breakdown Surcly, there are many reasons for this reality, After teaching in some courses at TUAF for 7 years, I have recognized some big obstacles which prevent Dnplish language teachers and lsaruers in Vietramn from reaching their aims These obstacles are unprofessional enviroranent, students" low level of English language prafigiency, low

Glottis

WON aAuaRWH

centre

back

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

L Rationale of the study

English has been playing ils significant role in Victnarn sinee 1986 duc to the “Open Policy’ of Vietnamese government Many foreigners ftom English language backgrounds came to Vietnam for their investments and traveling This has created the movement of leaming English among people from rwal to urban areas in Vietnam, Currently, English has been a compulsory subject at all levels in education except in lower primary school in rural areas in Viemam, Although communicative language caching method has been employed instead of the Grammar Translation method with the hope that Vietnamese students will have better speaking skill, they are still poor in oral communication As commented by a native English speaker (Ha, hp/jsvnueduvr) “Many Vietnamese speakers can speak [English but only a few have intelligible English pronunciation so that they can be understood easily in direct communication with foreigners”

One of the main reasens laading to poor pronunciation of Vietnamese learners of English is the difficulties in producing the English sounds that are unfamiliar with their native language, Vietnamese, such as 0// 8/ or consonants occurring at the final position of the word such as /2/, iff (3/, Aff, etc; consonant clusters; vowels, and some English features not existing in their frst language such as syllable stress and connected speech (Honey, 2001, Tran, 2002; Zielinski,

2006, Yates, 2002)

Most of the learners of English agree that the ability to express themselves ficcly in communication is of great importance for their future career, especially in modem societies where contacting with foreigners often occurs However, there still exist many difficulties in learning and toaching English in Victnamn in gencral and at Thal Ngnyon Universily of Agriculture and Forestry (TUAF) in particular Many Vietnamese learners can write and read English quite well but they cannot speak it correctly and fluently in real-life situations, which makes ths listeners misunderstand, even results in communication breakdown Surcly, there are many reasons for this reality, After teaching in some courses at TUAF for 7 years, I have recognized some big obstacles which prevent Dnplish language teachers and lsaruers in Vietramn from reaching their aims These obstacles are unprofessional enviroranent, students" low level of English language prafigiency, low

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CILAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Theoretical Background

1.1.1 What is pronunciation?

The notion of “pronunciation” has been defined in different ways by many writers Ur (1996)

affirm that “Zhe concept of “pronunciation” may be said to conduce the sounds of the language

or phonology; sires and rhythm; intonation; combination of sounds; linkage of sounds’

Dalton, (1994:3) stated pronunciation can be defined “ay she production af significant sound

in two senses First, sound is significant because it is used as part of a code of a particular language In this sense we can talk about pronunciation as the production and reception of sounds of speech, Second, sound is significant because it is used to achieve meaning in corext of use Here the code combines with other factors to make canmunication possible in this sense we can talk about pronunciation with reference to acts of speaking”

In Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary of curent English (1995), “pronunciation” is

defined “the way in which a word ix pronounced” and the pronunciation of a word is represented

through alphabetic spelling

In this paper, the author has no intention of analyzing all definitions of pronunciation but only

gives some simple definitions above that are close to the thesis

1.1.2 The role of pronunciation in language leaching

Nowadays pronunciation tends to be de-emphasized in language courses Advocates of modern comprehension based or communicatively oriented language curricula generally take the view that pronmnistign should nơi be taught explicilly but should rather be allowed to develop naturally as a by product of attempts by students to communicate However, there has been little systematic research to discover if certain teaching practices or condition of training can have positive cflecls on pronunciation, Haneo, we have no firm basis for asscrting calogorically that pronunciation is not teachable or that 1s not worth spending time on pronunciation training in a language course New ways of teaching pronmciation are still developed and tested, then there

still a need for careful experimentation Lo determination and cfeetivencss of methods.

Glottis

WON aAuaRWH

centre

back

Inan overview of the Linglish sound system, its alphabet is based on Latin which

contains Wwenly six letters: twenly- four consonants, twelve vowels, cight diphthongs

anda total of 44 phonemes (Sousa, 2005, p 37) It should be noted that other

authorilies vary slightly from this, bul the number is between 43 and 45 phonemes, Iowever,

Vietnamese learners do not have difficulty in pronouncing all the English sounds but some of them only in both consonants and vowels With the limitaton of the type of the thesis, the researcher does not have the desize for finding out all the sounds causing problems for the

author's sludents but articulatory and acouslic features of some lypieal consemant ones like /8/,

iff, 73, Aff, Jay’ Also, due to the researcher’s limited ability, time constraints and narrow- sealed stndy, this sludy only involves in finding oul crrors and mistukes commonly committed by sccond-year students of English at TUAF in producing these consonants of a small number of

‘TUAF-English major students in their second academite year

‘VIL Design of the study

The thesis consists of five chapters The first chapter is an introduction to the thesis The review of related fiterature, the role of pronunciation in language teaching factors affecting

prommeiation learning, phonological charseteristics and articulation of the sounds 10/585 1§)./3.A§f, /ag/ are presented in the second chapter ‘The third chapter is about methodology used for the research study ‘he findings and discussion of relevant difficulties in pronunciation teaching and Icaming viewed from subjective and objective causes arc presented in the fourth chapter ‘he final chapter is the conclusion of the study, which discusses the overview that can be drawn from the siudy, voices some conchuting marks from objectives given in the first chapter with recommendations for teachers and students to overcome the obstacles and improve the quality of their teaching and learning pronunciation in general and consonant sounds in particular

In addition to this, moreover, the limitations of the thesis and suggestions for fiuther study are also pointed ont

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

L Rationale of the study

English has been playing ils significant role in Victnarn sinee 1986 duc to the “Open Policy’ of Vietnamese government Many foreigners ftom English language backgrounds came to Vietnam for their investments and traveling This has created the movement of leaming English among people from rwal to urban areas in Vietnam, Currently, English has been a compulsory subject at all levels in education except in lower primary school in rural areas in Viemam, Although communicative language caching method has been employed instead of the Grammar Translation method with the hope that Vietnamese students will have better speaking skill, they are still poor in oral communication As commented by a native English speaker (Ha, hp/jsvnueduvr) “Many Vietnamese speakers can speak [English but only a few have intelligible English pronunciation so that they can be understood easily in direct communication with foreigners”

One of the main reasens laading to poor pronunciation of Vietnamese learners of English is the difficulties in producing the English sounds that are unfamiliar with their native language, Vietnamese, such as 0// 8/ or consonants occurring at the final position of the word such as /2/, iff (3/, Aff, etc; consonant clusters; vowels, and some English features not existing in their frst language such as syllable stress and connected speech (Honey, 2001, Tran, 2002; Zielinski,

2006, Yates, 2002)

Most of the learners of English agree that the ability to express themselves ficcly in communication is of great importance for their future career, especially in modem societies where contacting with foreigners often occurs However, there still exist many difficulties in learning and toaching English in Victnamn in gencral and at Thal Ngnyon Universily of Agriculture and Forestry (TUAF) in particular Many Vietnamese learners can write and read English quite well but they cannot speak it correctly and fluently in real-life situations, which makes ths listeners misunderstand, even results in communication breakdown Surcly, there are many reasons for this reality, After teaching in some courses at TUAF for 7 years, I have recognized some big obstacles which prevent Dnplish language teachers and lsaruers in Vietramn from reaching their aims These obstacles are unprofessional enviroranent, students" low level of English language prafigiency, low

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

L Rationale of the study

English has been playing ils significant role in Victnarn sinee 1986 duc to the “Open Policy’ of Vietnamese government Many foreigners ftom English language backgrounds came to Vietnam for their investments and traveling This has created the movement of leaming English among people from rwal to urban areas in Vietnam, Currently, English has been a compulsory subject at all levels in education except in lower primary school in rural areas in Viemam, Although communicative language caching method has been employed instead of the Grammar Translation method with the hope that Vietnamese students will have better speaking skill, they are still poor in oral communication As commented by a native English speaker (Ha, hp/jsvnueduvr) “Many Vietnamese speakers can speak [English but only a few have intelligible English pronunciation so that they can be understood easily in direct communication with foreigners”

One of the main reasens laading to poor pronunciation of Vietnamese learners of English is the difficulties in producing the English sounds that are unfamiliar with their native language, Vietnamese, such as 0// 8/ or consonants occurring at the final position of the word such as /2/, iff (3/, Aff, etc; consonant clusters; vowels, and some English features not existing in their frst language such as syllable stress and connected speech (Honey, 2001, Tran, 2002; Zielinski,

2006, Yates, 2002)

Most of the learners of English agree that the ability to express themselves ficcly in communication is of great importance for their future career, especially in modem societies where contacting with foreigners often occurs However, there still exist many difficulties in learning and toaching English in Victnamn in gencral and at Thal Ngnyon Universily of Agriculture and Forestry (TUAF) in particular Many Vietnamese learners can write and read English quite well but they cannot speak it correctly and fluently in real-life situations, which makes ths listeners misunderstand, even results in communication breakdown Surcly, there are many reasons for this reality, After teaching in some courses at TUAF for 7 years, I have recognized some big obstacles which prevent Dnplish language teachers and lsaruers in Vietramn from reaching their aims These obstacles are unprofessional enviroranent, students" low level of English language prafigiency, low

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

TUAK: Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry

No of Students: Number of Sturtents

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1; Diagram of the vocal organ

igure 2: English consonants

Figure 3: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /0/

Figure 4; Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /5/

Figure 5: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /f/

Figure 6: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /3/

Figure 7: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /tJ/

Figure 8: Place and manner of articulation ofthe consonant /d3/

iy, Afi, fag

‘Table 3: Students’ methods to improve their pronunciation

Table 4: Sludents’ reasoms for learning English

Table 5: Students’ opinions on pronunciation

‘Table 6: Teachers’ methods on teaching pronunciation

Inan overview of the Linglish sound system, its alphabet is based on Latin which

contains Wwenly six letters: twenly- four consonants, twelve vowels, cight diphthongs

anda total of 44 phonemes (Sousa, 2005, p 37) It should be noted that other

authorilies vary slightly from this, bul the number is between 43 and 45 phonemes, Iowever,

Vietnamese learners do not have difficulty in pronouncing all the English sounds but some of them only in both consonants and vowels With the limitaton of the type of the thesis, the researcher does not have the desize for finding out all the sounds causing problems for the

author's sludents but articulatory and acouslic features of some lypieal consemant ones like /8/,

iff, 73, Aff, Jay’ Also, due to the researcher’s limited ability, time constraints and narrow- sealed stndy, this sludy only involves in finding oul crrors and mistukes commonly committed by sccond-year students of English at TUAF in producing these consonants of a small number of

‘TUAF-English major students in their second academite year

‘VIL Design of the study

The thesis consists of five chapters The first chapter is an introduction to the thesis The review of related fiterature, the role of pronunciation in language teaching factors affecting

prommeiation learning, phonological charseteristics and articulation of the sounds 10/585 1§)./3.A§f, /ag/ are presented in the second chapter ‘The third chapter is about methodology used for the research study ‘he findings and discussion of relevant difficulties in pronunciation teaching and Icaming viewed from subjective and objective causes arc presented in the fourth chapter ‘he final chapter is the conclusion of the study, which discusses the overview that can be drawn from the siudy, voices some conchuting marks from objectives given in the first chapter with recommendations for teachers and students to overcome the obstacles and improve the quality of their teaching and learning pronunciation in general and consonant sounds in particular

In addition to this, moreover, the limitations of the thesis and suggestions for fiuther study are also pointed ont

students’ pronunciation ability and so on Unfortunately, this is not only the situation at my

university but also the case for many other colleges and universilics in Vicltarn

My desire is to conduct a research in order to find out the difficulties encountered by second

year students of English at TUAF in producing the English consonant sounds: /0/, /ð/, /ƒ, /3/, Aff,

/đ3/ as well as to explore the causes of the difficulty and some proposal approaches to improve

traching and tcarning some English consonant sounds at TUAF and then help my students dealing with the pronmeiation’s difficulties

LL Objectives of the study

With the necessily of pronunciation teaching and learning above and the rteatily of the difficulties in producing some English consonant sounds, the objectives of the research presented hare are as follows:

1 To identify difficulties in producing some English consonant sounds (0, /0/, if, /3,

jf, fag’ by second year in - service English major students at 'UAF (Academic Year 2009- 2010)

2 To explore the causes of these difficulties

3 To provide some possible solutions to the identified problems

It is hoped that this study makes a contribution in teaching pronunciation, especially the consonant sounds /6/, /8/

3}, Aff, fg? to the best results in courses at TUAF in particular and

to those who are in favor of improving ths student’s pronunciation and the result of ths study is considered to be useful for students of English to ideutify their difficulties in producing these English consonant sounds and to self improve their pronunciation,

TH Rescarch questions

Due to limited time and knowledge, it is impossible to cover alll difficulties which the students may fice in their using English, Hence this study mainty focused on the questions thal have boon raised:

1 What are the difficulties encountered by second year students of English at TUAF in producing these English consonant sounds: 49, A0, (1/81 4

2 What are the causes of the difficulties?

3 What are the possible solutions to the difficulties?

IV The scope of the study

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

L Rationale of the study

English has been playing ils significant role in Victnarn sinee 1986 duc to the “Open Policy’ of Vietnamese government Many foreigners ftom English language backgrounds came to Vietnam for their investments and traveling This has created the movement of leaming English among people from rwal to urban areas in Vietnam, Currently, English has been a compulsory subject at all levels in education except in lower primary school in rural areas in Viemam, Although communicative language caching method has been employed instead of the Grammar Translation method with the hope that Vietnamese students will have better speaking skill, they are still poor in oral communication As commented by a native English speaker (Ha, hp/jsvnueduvr) “Many Vietnamese speakers can speak [English but only a few have intelligible English pronunciation so that they can be understood easily in direct communication with foreigners”

One of the main reasens laading to poor pronunciation of Vietnamese learners of English is the difficulties in producing the English sounds that are unfamiliar with their native language, Vietnamese, such as 0// 8/ or consonants occurring at the final position of the word such as /2/, iff (3/, Aff, etc; consonant clusters; vowels, and some English features not existing in their frst language such as syllable stress and connected speech (Honey, 2001, Tran, 2002; Zielinski,

2006, Yates, 2002)

Most of the learners of English agree that the ability to express themselves ficcly in communication is of great importance for their future career, especially in modem societies where contacting with foreigners often occurs However, there still exist many difficulties in learning and toaching English in Victnamn in gencral and at Thal Ngnyon Universily of Agriculture and Forestry (TUAF) in particular Many Vietnamese learners can write and read English quite well but they cannot speak it correctly and fluently in real-life situations, which makes ths listeners misunderstand, even results in communication breakdown Surcly, there are many reasons for this reality, After teaching in some courses at TUAF for 7 years, I have recognized some big obstacles which prevent Dnplish language teachers and lsaruers in Vietramn from reaching their aims These obstacles are unprofessional enviroranent, students" low level of English language prafigiency, low

Inan overview of the Linglish sound system, its alphabet is based on Latin which

contains Wwenly six letters: twenly- four consonants, twelve vowels, cight diphthongs

anda total of 44 phonemes (Sousa, 2005, p 37) It should be noted that other

authorilies vary slightly from this, bul the number is between 43 and 45 phonemes, Iowever,

Vietnamese learners do not have difficulty in pronouncing all the English sounds but some of them only in both consonants and vowels With the limitaton of the type of the thesis, the researcher does not have the desize for finding out all the sounds causing problems for the

author's sludents but articulatory and acouslic features of some lypieal consemant ones like /8/,

iff, 73, Aff, Jay’ Also, due to the researcher’s limited ability, time constraints and narrow- sealed stndy, this sludy only involves in finding oul crrors and mistukes commonly committed by sccond-year students of English at TUAF in producing these consonants of a small number of

‘TUAF-English major students in their second academite year

‘VIL Design of the study

The thesis consists of five chapters The first chapter is an introduction to the thesis The review of related fiterature, the role of pronunciation in language teaching factors affecting

prommeiation learning, phonological charseteristics and articulation of the sounds 10/585 1§)./3.A§f, /ag/ are presented in the second chapter ‘The third chapter is about methodology used for the research study ‘he findings and discussion of relevant difficulties in pronunciation teaching and Icaming viewed from subjective and objective causes arc presented in the fourth chapter ‘he final chapter is the conclusion of the study, which discusses the overview that can be drawn from the siudy, voices some conchuting marks from objectives given in the first chapter with recommendations for teachers and students to overcome the obstacles and improve the quality of their teaching and learning pronunciation in general and consonant sounds in particular

In addition to this, moreover, the limitations of the thesis and suggestions for fiuther study are also pointed ont

students’ pronunciation ability and so on Unfortunately, this is not only the situation at my

university but also the case for many other colleges and universilics in Vicltarn

My desire is to conduct a research in order to find out the difficulties encountered by second

year students of English at TUAF in producing the English consonant sounds: /0/, /ð/, /ƒ, /3/, Aff,

/đ3/ as well as to explore the causes of the difficulty and some proposal approaches to improve

traching and tcarning some English consonant sounds at TUAF and then help my students dealing with the pronmeiation’s difficulties

LL Objectives of the study

With the necessily of pronunciation teaching and learning above and the rteatily of the difficulties in producing some English consonant sounds, the objectives of the research presented hare are as follows:

1 To identify difficulties in producing some English consonant sounds (0, /0/, if, /3,

jf, fag’ by second year in - service English major students at 'UAF (Academic Year 2009- 2010)

2 To explore the causes of these difficulties

3 To provide some possible solutions to the identified problems

It is hoped that this study makes a contribution in teaching pronunciation, especially the consonant sounds /6/, /8/

3}, Aff, fg? to the best results in courses at TUAF in particular and

to those who are in favor of improving ths student’s pronunciation and the result of ths study is considered to be useful for students of English to ideutify their difficulties in producing these English consonant sounds and to self improve their pronunciation,

TH Rescarch questions

Due to limited time and knowledge, it is impossible to cover alll difficulties which the students may fice in their using English, Hence this study mainty focused on the questions thal have boon raised:

1 What are the difficulties encountered by second year students of English at TUAF in producing these English consonant sounds: 49, A0, (1/81 4

2 What are the causes of the difficulties?

3 What are the possible solutions to the difficulties?

IV The scope of the study

Inan overview of the Linglish sound system, its alphabet is based on Latin which

contains Wwenly six letters: twenly- four consonants, twelve vowels, cight diphthongs

anda total of 44 phonemes (Sousa, 2005, p 37) It should be noted that other

authorilies vary slightly from this, bul the number is between 43 and 45 phonemes, Iowever,

Vietnamese learners do not have difficulty in pronouncing all the English sounds but some of them only in both consonants and vowels With the limitaton of the type of the thesis, the researcher does not have the desize for finding out all the sounds causing problems for the

author's sludents but articulatory and acouslic features of some lypieal consemant ones like /8/,

iff, 73, Aff, Jay’ Also, due to the researcher’s limited ability, time constraints and narrow- sealed stndy, this sludy only involves in finding oul crrors and mistukes commonly committed by sccond-year students of English at TUAF in producing these consonants of a small number of

‘TUAF-English major students in their second academite year

‘VIL Design of the study

The thesis consists of five chapters The first chapter is an introduction to the thesis The review of related fiterature, the role of pronunciation in language teaching factors affecting

prommeiation learning, phonological charseteristics and articulation of the sounds 10/585 1§)./3.A§f, /ag/ are presented in the second chapter ‘The third chapter is about methodology used for the research study ‘he findings and discussion of relevant difficulties in pronunciation teaching and Icaming viewed from subjective and objective causes arc presented in the fourth chapter ‘he final chapter is the conclusion of the study, which discusses the overview that can be drawn from the siudy, voices some conchuting marks from objectives given in the first chapter with recommendations for teachers and students to overcome the obstacles and improve the quality of their teaching and learning pronunciation in general and consonant sounds in particular

In addition to this, moreover, the limitations of the thesis and suggestions for fiuther study are also pointed ont

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

TUAK: Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry

No of Students: Number of Sturtents

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1; Diagram of the vocal organ

igure 2: English consonants

Figure 3: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /0/

Figure 4; Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /5/

Figure 5: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /f/

Figure 6: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /3/

Figure 7: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /tJ/

Figure 8: Place and manner of articulation ofthe consonant /d3/

iy, Afi, fag

‘Table 3: Students’ methods to improve their pronunciation

Table 4: Sludents’ reasoms for learning English

Table 5: Students’ opinions on pronunciation

‘Table 6: Teachers’ methods on teaching pronunciation

1.3.6 Phonological charaetorislics and articulation of the consonanl /đ3/ 1.4 Previous works

3.2.1 Doscriplion of in — service training Engti

3.2.2 Description of service students atTUAF 2.3 Research design

3.3.1, Sample and sampling

3.3.2, Rescarch Distruments 0 ceeccscseesescsneesietnseneeee

3.3.4 Dala analysis,

2.4 Sub- conclusion

CHAPTER THREE: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Difficulties due to subjective causes

3.1.1, Low pronunciation ability

3.1.2 Passive way of learning

3.1.3 Low motivation to language learning English

3.2 Difficulties due to objective causes

3.2.1 Mother tongue’s influence

3.2.2 Poor learning background

3.2.3 Articulatory features of the eonsơnants tnđer reszarch 3.2.4 Teaching and learning environment efficiency

3.2.5 Simple techniques used by the teacher

PART THREE: CONCLUSIONS

IT Concluding marks

II Limitations of the study

TV Suggestions for further study