An investigation into the pronunciation of the fricatives θ and ð experienced by the students of grade 10th at thanh binh 2 high school – problems and solutions

Vietnamese students study not only four language skills: Listening, speaking, reading and writing but also language focuses including grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation simultaneousl

INTRODUCTION

1 Motivation of the study

Nowadays, the tendency of globalization has raised the important role of English spectacularly As a result, more and more people learn English as an international communicative tool In Vietnam, English has become an obligatory subject in

schools for many years Vietnamese students study not only four language skills:

Listening, speaking, reading and writing but also language focuses including grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation simultaneously in English courses However, they find difficult in communicating with native speakers and non-native speakers as well and many foreigners have made comments that a large number Vietnamese can speak English, yet a few have intelligible English pronunciation which help them be understood easily by foreigners In domain of international communication, English speaking skill need to be proficient The core of speaking

is producing sound and meaning intentionally Mastering pronunciation is the priority of speaking because “up to a in certain proficiency standard, the fault which most severely Impairs the communication process in EFL/ESL learners is pronunciation, rather than vocabulary or grammar, according to Hinofitis and Baily(

1980, pp.124-125)

Vietnamese students in High Schools learn pronunciation at language focus lessons

In comparison to grammar and vocabulary, it is usually not paid much attention In forty-five minute classroom hour, it takes about from five to ten minutes for the teachers to instruct the focused sounds and help their students practice them because they need more time to study grammar In a very short time, the teachers only can guide the students to pronounce the noticed sounds in words and sentences by modeling and repeating them, they don’t have enough time to instruct how articulation the sounds employ and what articulators the sounds use and the learnt sounds are rarely compared with similar Vietnamese sounds The students mostly listen to the teachers’ model, sometimes native speakers’ tape recording; however, many teachers are not very proficient at pronunciation which leads to wrong input

language As a consequence, the students gradually find hard to take in real English and perform correct pronunciation

In term of language transfer, many learners use their mother tongue to help them create their language system Hardly can the students tell differences between English texts and English sounds They don’t know what sounds represent for what letters and vice versa because they spend much time on English texts, using their eyes to adsorb English not their ears In process of learning pronunciation, English sound need to be both the ears and the mouths work together and their brain helping them remember the sounds Many students borrow Vietnamese texts, as a mean of storing English pronunciation in their book or note book, to correspondence to English sound How their ears and their brains perceive the English sounds is much more important

In real contexts, the students love to use most common used words Thanking people and replying to thanks, as a vivid example; when someone give them a hand

or receiving compliments, wishes of success, an offer of help, an invitation, they usually respond as “thanks”, “thank you” This seems to be simple and easy when they use the word “thank’’ However, there are a dozen of both sad and happy situations occurring when “thank” is performed They often mispronounce “thank”

as “tank” or “sank” or “thanh” of Vietnamese Imagining that how funny and embarrassed they are when they say “sank you, my mother” Pronouncing “mother”

is also a dizzy problem, replacing “mother” as “murder” for example “Thank you,

my mother” become “Sank you, my murder” which is a horrible respond when their mothers give praises on them Speaking words such as “father and brother”, as another example, are usually not performed beautifully by many students The problematic sounds which they are dealing with are /θ/ as in “thank” and /ð/ as in

“mother”, which can create many obstacles in both formal and informal communication

Located at Tan Binh commune, Thanh Binh district, Dong Thap province, Thanh Binh 2 high school is my old warmhearted school As a future teacher, helping my future students learn pronunciation well is my ambition The fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ are really hard sounds which many students cream at, students at Thanh Binh 2 are not an exception Introduced at Unit 15 of English 10, the fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ need

to be paid more attention because they are first taught at high school They will learn consonant clusters containing fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ next grades If they are not guided carefully, many students will suffer from disaster’s /θ/ and /ð/ pronunciation

“A good beginning makes a good ending” Indeed, supporting the students at my old school to get over the problems of pronouncing the two sounds is very meaningful to me

Because of these above reasons, I decided to do research on Thanh Binh High School grade 10th students’ difficulties in learning two fricatives /θ/ and /ð/, teachers’ obstacles of teaching the two sounds, entitled: “An investigation into the pronunciation of the fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ experienced by the students of grade 10th

at Thanh Binh 2 high school – problems and solutions” The study was conducted to seek the answers to the question of what difficulties the students and teachers of grade 10th at Thanh Binh 2 high school face when they learn and teach the fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ pronunciation, what phonemes which the replace /θ/ and /ð/ with, what solutions to the difficulties for both the students and the teachers

2 Aims of the study

With the mentioned reasons, this study was conducted to gain some following aims:

-Finding out realities of learning and teaching dental fricative /θ/ and /ð/ at Thanh Binh 2 high school

-Discovering what English sounds and Vietnamese sounds, which the students replace /θ/ and /ð/ with

-Making some suggestions for both teachers and students to overcome the difficulties

3 Theory of the study

This study was conducted based on two following theories

- The students have difficulties in distinguishing /θ/ and /ð/ with other English fricatives and plosives when listening to them in context

- The students have substituted /θ/ and /ð/ for Vietnamese sounds: /t’/, /d*/ and /s*/

4 Research methods

In the process of doing the study, three research methods: classroom observation, questionnaire, and experiment, were used to secure relevant information First, listening experiment was carried out Then pre recording experiment was conducted Next, classroom observations were employed Coming after that, the students’ questionnaires delivered After that, the researcher carried out teaching experiments Finally, post-recording experiment was put in action

5 Scope of the study

The thesis focuses on research learning and teaching /θ/ and /ð/ pronunciation of students’ grade 10th

and teachers at Thanh Binh 2 High School Because I have practiced teaching four classes 10cb1, 10cb2, 10cb3, 10cb4 in my teaching practice

period, my study was only researched on the four classes

6 Significance of the study

The study, the researcher’s ambition on doing educational scientific research, has paid the researcher many experiences than before, has contributed certain benefits for learning and teaching pronunciation It is a chance for the researcher to do scientific research, to practice writing skill, to enhance his social skills as well Because the thesis focused researching θ/ and /ð/, it helped the researcher experiment his own methods of teaching /θ/ and /ð/ Consequently, the researcher could seek good solutions for both teachers and learners when teaching and

learning these challenging phonemes Furthermore, the thesis is about to wake the students up to see how crucial pronunciation is, and how interesting pronouncing correctly /θ/ and /ð/ is Many students will take pride on themselves when they can pronounce /θ/ of a famous interjection “thank you” correctly, even more, can speak /ð/ of wonderful words like “mother, father” wonderfully In addition, it also highlights difficulties of pronunciation /θ/ and /ð/ Accordingly, teachers will pay more attention to these hard phonemes In brief, the study brought advantages for

the researcher, teachers and students

7 Related previous study

-The effectiveness of using game in teaching and learning pronunciation for grade

11 students at Sa Dec town high school by Do Nguyen Xuan Thao,

-Improving the pronunciation of English final sounds / k/, t ʃ/ / ʃ/,/θ/ and /dʒ/ for the second- year students of bachelor of English at Dong Thap University by

Nguyen Thi Truc Giang

Although the two studies have contributed to improving the students’ pronunciation, they are weak at methodologies of study, giving recommendations When analyzing the learners’ error pronunciation, Nguyen Thi Truc Giang just used qualitative methods not quantitative ones Also, Do Nguyen Xuan Thao did not make clear pronunciation difficulties of the learners They didn’t also focus on

researching /θ/ and /ð/

8 Organization of the thesis

The present study comprises three parts The first one is the introduction bearing motivation of the study, aims of the study, scope of the study, the theory of the study, research methods, and significance of the study, related previous studies, and organization of the study The second one is the content of the study which includes three chapters Chapter 1 is concerned about literature review, chapter 2 the methodology of the study, and chapter 3 the results and discussion The last one

is the conclusion of the study consisting of overview of the study, limitations of the

study, and suggestions for further research

CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents some theories related to the study It is made up of six sections: introduction of pronunciation in general; introduction to English fricatives;

a brief introduction to Vietnamese consonants; comparison between /θ/, /ð/ and /t’ /, /d*/, /s*/ of Vietnamese; factors influencing on studying pronunciation;

pronunciation teaching methodologies

1.1 Pronunciation

1.1.1 Definition of pronunciation

Learning to speak a foreign language, English as an example, means dealing with a new way of producing a wide range of new sounds In term of both native and nonnative speakers’ perception, it takes time to practice and produce them comprehensibly Producing sounds of speech with certain meanings refers to

pronunciation Encarta Dictionary defines pronunciation as “the way in which a

sound, word, or language is articulated, especially in conforming to an accepted standard’’ Another explanation, “Pronunciation is the act of uttering with articulation; the act of giving the proper sound and accent; utterance; as the pronunciation of syllables of words; distinct or indistinct pronunciation”, adapted

from Lac Viet dictionary can be more detail Far beyond the spoken individual sounds, pronunciation also conveys the soul of the language such as intonation, stress words, rhythm and speakers’ unique voice quality Because of varieties of English, people can pursuit different English accents which they like A model of English pronunciation was used mostly is BBC English (British English); however American English pronunciation is also popular What models of English Pronunciation can be used by the learners; comprehension by both native and non-

native speakers is the ambitious goal of most of them

1.1.2 The important role of pronunciation

Language is a magic communicating tool People can communicate through spoken language or written one as well It is oral communication that people typically use

in not only daily life but also academic cases Thus, pronunciation plays an important role of communication Clear and confident speech can enhance what we speak even polish our unique characteristics Kenworthy(1987, p34) stated that

“poor, unintelligible speech will make their attempts at conversing frustrating and unpleasant both for themselves and for their listeners.”, so the goal of English pronunciation is to be understood, to be proud of the ways we pronounce English

Furthermore, good pronunciation can create many interests on listeners in communication When the listeners can taste the beauties of the speakers’ spoken language through their ways of producing English sounds, they can comment that

“you have good English” or “you speak English so well” What they primarily react

to the speakers is usually their pronunciation Also, good pronunciation, sub-skill of speaking skill, can be magic communicating attraction As an example, in tourism, both native and non native visitors would rather spend hours on listening to easily- comprehended spoken English of a tour guide than try to listen deadly choppy and incomprehensible of a manager in just thirty seconds since they are fell comfortable and respectful Therefore, good spoken English often creates much attractive to listeners, regardless of whom the speakers are

Pronunciation also plays an important role of both perceptive and productive language skills For the most part, speaking skill is the ability to produce the comprehensible sounds When learners have good spoken English, they easily understand others and vise versa No matter how good grammar and vocabulary the speakers employ, they can be incomprehensible speaker when they earn much pidgin pronunciation In the process of speech, speaking and listening skill work

together at the same time Listening skill is very crucial if the listeners want to respond the speakers appropriately Both listeners and speakers can understand together when their spoken language at a same interchangeable language rate In term of bottom up listening, people need to have ability to decode spoken language based on their phonetic ability As a sequence, perfect pronunciation is convenient for both listeners and speakers

In short, pronunciation is very essential for learners in both foreign communication and language skill improvement The better pronunciation they gain the better speakers they are When their pronunciation is more proficient, their communication will be more effective, their listening skills and speaking ones are good as well

1.2 The brief introduction to English fricative consonants

Roach, P (1999, p34) defined “fricatives are consonants with characteristics that,

when they are produced, air escapes through a small passage and makes a hissing sound” Another explanation by Kennedy, G (2000, p123), “the airflow can be made turbulent in friction, thus producing fricative consonants”, can be clearer

Nine fricatives /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/ are described with terms of place

of articulation, manner of articulation, and degree of noise in the following table below

Table 1.2 English fricatives

1.2.1 Dental fricative /θ/ and /ð/

In English, combination of two letters t and h is very popular in English They stand for one of two different sounds:

-The voiced dental fricative /ð/

-The voiceless dental fricative /θ/

The popularity of /θ/ and /ð/ is shown in the below table, according to Kennedy, G (2000, p 100).

Table 1.2.1a Frequency of English phonemes

The /θ/, /ð/ phonemes exist at three positions: initial position, medial position, final position in word, are shown at the below tables

The /θ/ phoneme

Table 1.2.1b Positions of phoneme /θ/ in word, adapted from

http://vi.englishcentral.com/pronunciation/sound/TH

/θ/

*At the beginning

e.g bathroom,

anything, nothing, something

* The adjective

suffix -y normally leaves terminal /θ/

unchanged: earthy,

healthy, pithy, stealthy, wealthy

* Most loan words

- From Greek:

athlete, cathedral, anthem, Athens,, etc

- From Latin:

author, authority, Bertha, etc

- From Celtic

languages: Arthur,

Abernathy, Abernethy, etc

- From Hebrew:

Ethan, Jonathan, Bethany, etc

- From German:

Luther

* Nouns and adjectives ending

with “-th”, e.g

teeth, width, warmth, width, strength, etc

* Cardinal numbers ending with “-th”: e.g

fourth, fifth, sixth, ect

-The th is pronounced /t/ in

Thailand, Thomas , Thames

- The only other native words with medial /θ/ would

seem to be brothel and Ethel

- Worthy and swarthy have /ð/

The /ð/ phoneme

/ð/

*At the beginning

of the function

words including

-5 demonstratives:

the, this, that,

these, those, etc

- 2 personal

pronouns each with

multiple forms:

thou, thee, thy,

thine, thyself; they,

them, their, theirs,

*-th preceded by /r/, e.g.:

Worthington, farther, further, northern, etc

*-th followed by

/r/, e.g.: brethren

* Greek words

with the combination -thm-:

algorithm, logarithm, rhythm

Also asthma, etc

*Verbs ending in a

dental fricative usually have /ð/, and are frequently spelled “the”:

bathe, breathe, clothe, loathe, scathe, scythe, seethe, sheathe, soothe, teethe, tithe, wreathe,

writhe, etc

- “-th” of with,

bathed, bathing, bathes; frothing

has either /θ/ or /ð/

- Froth has either

/θ/ or /ð/ as a verb, but only /θ/ as a noun

1.2.1.1 The features and mispronunciation of /θ/

*Place and manner of /θ/ pronunciation

The /θ/ sound has been described in term of place of articulation and manner of articulation, degree of noise, adapted from http://www.learning-english- online.net/areas/pronunciation/the-english-th/

-Its manner of articulation is fricative That means the sound is produced by letting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation In comparison to the voiced /ð/, the /θ/ is pronounced by making more air flow

-Its place of articulation is dental However, in contrast to /ð/, the sound is pronounced with the blade of the tongue resting against the lower part of the back

of the upper teeth The tip of the tongue sticks out of the mouth slightly

-Its phonation (degree of noise) is voiceless That means the sound is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords

It can be more visual when the /θ/ is described by the picture below, according Jonathan Marks (pp 38)

Picture 1.2.1.1a Place and manner of articulation of /θ/

When spoken /θ/ is analyzed by speech analyzer program, the sound is much more graphic

Picture 1.2.1.1b Waveform and frequency of /θ/

**Mispronunciation of /θ/

Many learners have replaced /θ/ with /s/, /t/ because they don’t know how their articulators work when pronouncing /θ/ Most of the learners have difficult in /θ/ at beginning and final positions They tend to substitute /θ/ with /t/ at the beginning position and /s/ at the ending positions These pictures, as an example, according to Lisa Mojsin, (pp44-47) give a comparison /θ/ with /s/, /t/ can be make clear their problems

Picture 1.2.1.1c A comparison between /θ/ and /t/ in term of place of articulation

The picture shows that /θ/ employs dental articulator (inter-dental) to make the sound but /t/ earns alveolar one In addition, /t/ is plosive while /θ is a fricative

Picture 1.2.1.1d A comparison between /θ/ and /s/ in term of place of articulation

The picture also illustrates that /θ/ is different from /s/ in term of place of articulation The /θ/ is pronounced at inter-dental position, but /s/ is pronounced at alveolar position though the two sounds are fricatives

1.2.1.2 The features and mispronunciation of /ð/

*Place and manner of /ð/ pronunciation

The sound /ð/ has the following features described by online.net/areas/pronunciation/the-english-th/

-Its manner of articulation is fricative That means the sound is produced by letting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation

-Its place of articulation is dental That means the sound is articulated with the tip

of the tongue against the back of the upper teeth

-Its phonation (degree of noise) is voiced That means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation

It can be more visual when the /ð/ is described by the picture below, according Jonathan Marks (2000, pp 38)

Picture 1.2.1.2a Place and manner of articulation of /ð/

When spoken /ð/ is analyzed by speech analyzer program, the sound is much more graphic

Picture 1.2.1.2.b Waveform and frequency of /ð/

**Mispronunciation of /ð/

Majority of learners have replaced /ð/ with /d/ because they don’t know how their places of articulation work when pronouncing /ð/, and they can hear /ð/ be similar with /d/ Most of the learners have difficult in /ð/ at all positions, especially the final position They usually omit /ð/ at the final position Furthermore, they tend to substitute /ð/ with /d/ at the initial position, medial one Even worse, the final /ð/ position is often omitted The picture, as an example, according to Lisa Mojsin, (pp44-47) gives a comparison /ð/ with /d/ can state more explicitly their difficulties

Picture 1.2.1.2c A comparison between /ð/ and /d/ in term of place of articulation

The picture demonstrates the differences from place of articulation of /ð/ and /d/

The voiced /ð/ is pronounced with tongue placed at inter-dental position whereas

the voiced /d/ is pronounced with tongue placed at alveolar one

1.3 The brief introduction to Vietnamese consonants

Thien Thuat, D stated that Vietnamese owns 30 consonants, including 22 initial

consonants and 8 final ones Vietnamese do not have any medial consonants The

conson ants ar e show n in two ta bles be l ow

Table 1.3a Initial Vietnamese consonants, according to Thien Thuat, D ( 1995,

In a dditi on, Viet na mes e, a monos yllab i c lan gua ge, has so me disti nct

phonol o gy fea ture s of cons onan ts:

-Final consonants are not pronounced

-Medial consonants are not pronounced

-No consonant clusters are in Vietnamese consonants

-Linking and assimilation of consonants are not found in Vietnamese contexts

Manner of articulation

Point of articulation

1.3.1 Pronunciation features of /t’ /, /d*/, /s*/ of Vietnamese

1.3.1.1 The features of / t’ / pronunciation

Based on table 1.3 a Initial Vietnamese consonants, /t’/ is the voiceless aspirated

flat laminal (alveolar or apico-dental) plosive consonant; it is produced with a strong aspiration And phoneme /t’/ is an initial consonant, In Vietnamese, the

combination between letter t and h is ‘th’ corresponded to /t’/, ex: thi: ‘to take an

exam’; thơ : ‘poetry’; thắng : ‘to win’

1.3.1.2 The features of /d*/ pronunciation

Table 1.3a Initial Vietnamese consonants shows that the phoneme /d*/ is the obstruent, voiced unaspirated, flat laminal (alveolar) plosive consonant Phoneme /d*/ is also an initial consonant In Vietnamese, the letter “đ” is stood for /d*/, Ex:

đi: ‘to go’; đầu : ‘head’; điếc : ‘dead’

1.3.1.3 The features of /s*/, /ʂ/ pronunciation

Table 1.3a Initial Vietnamese consonants demonstrates the two similar fricatives

- /s*/ is the voiceless flat laminal (post-dental sibilant) fricative In Vietnamese the

letter “x” is corresponded phoneme /s*/ E.g.: xé (to tear); xấu (ugly); xin (to ask for)

-/ ʂ / is a voiceless fricative articulated like the English /s*/ with laminal flexion of the top of the tongue back further behind the alveolar ridge with weak

retro-friction; In Vietnamese, the letter ‘s’ stands for /ʂ/ E.g.: số (number); sai (wrong);

sướng (happy)

In reality, many southern Vietnamese cannot distinguish /s/ and /ʂ/, so the two phonemes can be considered the same They are simply described as voiceless laminal fricatives In order to do conduct the thesis easily, the researcher intentionally equalized /s*/ and /ʂ/ as /s*/

1.4 The comparison between /θ/, /ð/ and /t’ /, /d*/and /s*/ of Vietnamese

The table 1.4 A comparison between /θ/, /ð/ and /t’ /, /d*/ and /s*/ of Vietnamese

The table concerns some basic pronunciation features of English /θ/ and /ð/ and Vietnamese /t’/ and /d*/, /s*/ From the table, the phoneme /θ/, /ð/ and Vietnamese /s*/ are fricatives When /θ/ is pronounced, it makes hissing sound and /s*/ also shares the same characteristics However, /θ/, /ð/ employ dental articulator, /s*/ earns laminal blade of tongue In addition, the /θ/, /ð/ are inter-dental fricatives whereas /t’/, /d*/ are alveolar plosives Vietnamese students often confuse /θ/ and /t’/ because they have the same represented letter ‘th’ They also hardly distinguish /ð/ and /d*/ as well The Vietnamese phonemes: /t’/, /d*/, /s*/ are just appeared at the initial positions in words while /θ/, /ð/ are found at all positions

1.5 Factors influencing on studying pronunciation

English /θ/ and /ð/ Vietnamese /t’ / and /d*/, /s*/

Initial, medial, final

Initial Initial Initial

pp183) It is true that the more different sound systems of their languages from

English are, the more difficult they can acquire English pronunciation

1.5.2 Age

Age deserves to be a concerning factor According to Kenworthy, age is not the

crucial only factor that affects learning or improving pronunciation abilities of

learners As many linguistic experts believed that adults acquire English

pronunciation slower than young children And they usually have foreign accent while the children often achieve native-like pronunciation As Krashen (1988; p43) stated that acquirers who begin to exposure to a second language during childhood generally achieve higher second language proficiency than those beginning as adults However, this does not mean that no adults can achieve native-like pronunciation Brown (1992) represented that adults will be able to learn second language phonology as well as children do, in a direct way, using a traditional listen and repeat exercises, minimal pairs in the context of the sentences, conversation and role playing In short, both young learners and adults can achieve good pronunciation

to English, chatting with English speakers on internet, as an example In brief, the learners can improve their pronunciation if they spend more time on interchanging spoken English

1.5.4 Phonetic ability

The learners’ phonetic ability pays more success on acquisition of good pronunciation Kenworthy (1987) presented that every human being has ability to imitate sounds, but some people are capable of seeing the difference between them than other people, which means that they own good phonetic ability than other Therefore, they can imitate spoken English more accurately More interesting, many learners can speak like famous English speakers, Bill Clinton, as an example In

short, everyone has phonetic ability but various

1.6 Pronunciation teaching methodologies

Language teaching methodology has developed dramatically English now is taught mainly through communicative approaches Consequently, many teachers of English have paid more attention to spoken English not written one and learners need to spend more time on listening and speaking English than before In old grammar translation method, the learners can be considered as deaf and mute English learners In matter of English speaking, they were not able to pronounce English correctly If the teachers want their students perform good spoken English, their teaching pronunciation methodology needs more consideration

Having good teaching pronunciation methodology, the teachers initially need to perfect their important roles of teaching pronunciation The most crucial role of the teachers is to help their learners perceive the sounds because “learners will have strong tendency to hear the sounds of English in terms of the sounds of their native

language”, according to Joanne Kenworthy (1987, p1) Since the teacher is the

magic powerful controllers in class, they help the learners with enormous things such as helping those making sounds by explaining the sounds or giving some hints, providing feedbacks on their pronunciation, pointing out what is going on, establishing priorities, devising activities, assessing progress When the teachers can manage these stuffs successfully, they will be able to help their students a lot

No matter what methods and approaches the teachers use to teach English

pronunciation, they aim that their students can produce intelligible pronunciation, which means that their students can speak comprehensible English at a given time

in a given situations As a sequence, the keys of pronunciation teaching is that the teachers have to be smart to decide when to teach pronunciation, what pronunciation techniques they employ, what models of pronunciation they follow

In short, teaching pronunciation is hard task And teachers are the crucial factor helping the learners to learn pronunciation Methodologies of teaching pronunciation are important but how the teachers use them, which is much more important

CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY

This chapter provides the general description of how the study has been conducted The chapter comprises five sections: research questions, research participants, data collection instruments, research procedure, and techniques of data analysis

2.1 Research questions

The study makes great efforts to seek the answers to the three following questions:

(1)What problems can the students and teachers at Thanh Binh 2 high school face when learning and teaching /θ/ and /ð/?

(2)What phonemes the students replaced /θ/ and /ð/ with?

(3)What solutions to the problems for both teachers and the students?

There are 427 students (320males and 107 females) in Thanh Binh 2 High School The teachers all commented that most of the grade 10th students were not good at English, particularly at speaking In fact, there were only 2.35% of the students getting over 5 marks in English in the school’s entrance exam This is shown in the

2.3 Data collect instrument

In the process of doing the study, three research methods: classroom observation, questionnaire, and experiment, which were used to secure relevant information First, listening experiment was carried out to check how well the students perceive /θ/, /ð/ and distinguish them with other English sounds Then, pre recording experiment was carried out to check how well the students can pronounce /θ/, /ð/, to find out what English sounds and Vietnamese ones they students replace /θ/, /ð/, with Next, classroom observations were employed to examine the realities of

The students ' score of English in the entrance exam in

2011

teaching and learning /θ/, /ð/ Following that teachers’ questionnaires were delivered to check realities of teaching /θ/, /ð/, to analyze the textbook the textbook

as well Coming after that, the students’ questionnaires delivered to check realities

of learning /θ/, /ð/ After that, the researcher performed teaching experiments on unit 14, lesson E language focus lesson focusing teaching /θ/, /ð/ Finally, post- recording experiment was carried out to check how proficient the students pronounce /θ/, /ð/, to compare the students’ proficiency of the classes taught by the

teachers and of the classes taught by the researcher

2.3.1 The questionnaire

Questionnaires are believed to help researchers save a lot of time since “They are self-administered and can be given to large groups at the same time” (Salinger & Elena, 1989) The information can be obtained easily without the researcher’s presence Moreover, respondents including teachers and students may feel free to answer the questions since their anonymity is assured Because of the above reasons, the questionnaires were employed in the study.

2.3.1.1 The questionnaire for teachers

The questionnaire (see appendix 2) consisting 22 items was designed for five

teachers of English The aims of the questionnaire are described as follows:

Items 1, 2 are to find out the teachers’ attitudes towards the teaching pronunciation Item 3 is to find out how much time which the teachers use to teach fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ of language focus lesson

Item 4, 5 are to discover teachers’ opinion about teaching /θ/ and /ð/ in language focus lesson

Item 6, 7, 8 are to investigate teachers’ opinions about bettering textbook

Item 9, 10, 11 are to figure out the teachers’ combination with other lessons to teach /θ/ and /ð/

Item 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 are to investigate the teachers’ hints of teaching /θ/ and /ð/

Item 22 is to survey what pronunciation activities the teachers often used to teach /θ/ and /ð/

2.3.1.1 The questionnaire for students

The other questionnaire (see appendix 1) consisting 17 items was designed for

students To preventing students’ difficulties from misunderstanding the questions,

the students’ questionnaire translated in Vietnamese (see appendix 7) The

questionnaire was handed out to 140 students (82 female, 60 male) of four classes:

10cb1, 10cb2, 10cb3, 10cb4 and only 140 questionnaires were collected The questionnaire investigates students’ attitude to English learning in general, English pronunciation, and realities of students’ study /θ/ and /ð/pronunciation The aims of the questionnaire are described as follows:

Item 1, 2, 3 are to investigate the students’ attitude to English learning and English pronunciation

Item 4 is to survey the students’ psychology to learning pronunciation with their teachers

Item 5 is to investigate the students’ ways of learning English pronunciation

Item 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 are to investigate realities of English environment to students

Item 13 is to survey the students’ interests in lessons teaching /θ/ and

2.3.2 The classroom observation

Classroom observation is believed to provide researchers with rich and authentic data The purposes of observations are to crosscheck data from the future questionnaires as well as investigate how pronunciation activities, warm up activities are applied and how they affect on students’ /θ/ and /ð/ pronunciation To

prevent teachers and students from preparing themselves, the exact objectives of the observation was not informed to them in advance

Four forty- five minute classroom hour observations were conducted on language focus lessons taught by the two different teachers of English 10 Unfortunately, unit

15 Cities teaching /θ/ and /ð/ of English 10 was removed to lighten the course, so

the researcher suggested these teachers taught /θ/ and /ð/ in unit 12 Film and Cinema, unit 14 The World Cup In order to observe simply, observation sheets

were designed to record the information (see appendix6)

2.3.3 The experiment

It is believed experimental methods are very helpful ways to evaluate the study if it

is successful In the process of doing the study, three experiments: listening

experiment, teaching experiment, recording experiments, were carried out

2.3.3.1 Listening experiment

Many linguistics experts believed that the input language is very important to acquire good pronunciation As Stephen Krashen (1992.p234) asserted that comprehensible input is all that is necessary for second language acquisition Spoken English is the most crucial factor effecting the students’ pronunciation The listening experiment was employed to check the students’ ability of perceiving

/θ/ and /ð/ and distinguishing with other English consonants The listening

experiment checks the students’ distinguishing /θ/ with /s/; /θ/ with /t/ /; /θ/ with /f/; /ð/ with /d/; /ð/ with /z/; /ð/ with /v/ at the initial and final positions in words The medial position was not included because there are not many minimal pairs obtaining the target sound pairs When the students cannot distinguish /θ/ and /ð/ with the experimental sounds, they have tendency to substitute /θ/ and /ð/ with

them As a result, the listening experiment predicts the students’ errors of /θ/ and /ð/

pronunciation It also oriented to redesign recording experimental samples when conducting recording experiment, to decide suitable pronunciation activities when

running teaching experiment later The listening sample is shown at appendix 3 (see

appendix 3)

Listening experiment was carried out on four classes 10cb1, 10cb2, 10cb3, 10cb4

2.3.3.2 Teaching experiment

Gu (2003) stated that personalities including language proficiency, gender, and age are the most important factors that influence one’s success as a language learner Therefore, it is essential to consider those factors considerately before teaching experiment so that the experimental results will be trustworthy Two classes: 10cb3,

10cb4, taught /θ/ and /ð/ by the researcher, were selected as the experimental

groups Also two classes: 10cb1, 10cb2, taught /θ/ and /ð/ by two teachers of English 10, were as the control groups

Table 2.3.3.2 Some information about 10cb1, 10cb2, 10cb3, 10cb4

Average score of English

The teaching experiment was carried out on Microsoft PowerPoint to the two classes 10CB1, 10CB2 The researcher taught 10cb3 /θ/ and /ð/ in lesson speaking

of unit 12 Music The class 10cb4 was taught /θ/ and /ð/ in language focus lesson 14 The World Cup

It took fifteen minutes for the researcher to teach /θ/ and /ð/ in the two lessons The warm up activities were combined with pronunciation activities The warm up and pronunciation activities of unit 12 Music and unit 14 The World were shown in CD

accompanied with the thesis (watch attached CD)

2.3.3.3 Recording experiment

The recording method is a very useful tool to evaluate students’ pronunciation

It also helped the researcher compare the pronunciation of 10cb1, 10cb2 with

10cb3, 10cb4

2.3.3.3.1 Pre recording

The four classes 10cb1, 10cb2, 10cb3, 10cb4 was chosen to carry out the experiment The pre recording was carried out to check how well the students pronounced /θ/ and /ð/, to evidence the students’ error pronunciation, to confirm the listening experiment as well It was carried out with a recording sample formed in two parts: reading individual words containing /θ/ and /ð/, reading sentences using words comprising /θ/ and /ð/ There are carefully-selected 18 words which are very popular The words are shown at the below table

Table 2.3.3.3.1a Phoneme’s position of individual words in pre recording sample

Final position

Initial position

Medial position

Final position

Think

Three

Thank

Something Anything Nothing

Month Mouth Math

The This There

Mother Brother Father

With Breathe Clothe

There are 14 sentences using 24 common words containing/θ/ and /ð/ These are shown below

Table 2.3.3.3.1b Words bearing /θ/ and /ð/ used in sentences in pre recording

sample

Final position

Initial position

Medial position

Final position

Math Death Tenth Mouth

The Those There They

Mother Father Weather Worthy

Breathe Both Bathe Clothe

Moreover, the researcher used four sentences (1, 2, 3) using minimal pairs of /θ/ and /ð/ to check the distinguish /θ/ with /t/, /θ/ with /s/, /ð/ with /d/ Those minimal pairs were employed based on predictions of the listening experiment Intentionally, the number of words using /θ/ and /ð/ are equalized by the researcher so as to collect and analyze the data easily later The full pre recording sample was added in

appendix 4(see appendix 4)

2.3.3.3.2 Post recording (see appendix 5)

The post recording is to compare the pronunciation of experimental 10cb1, 10cb2 group and control 10cb3, 10cb4 group The format is like pre recording

2.4 Research procedure

The data collection was conducted in the following basic steps taken at different period to ensure the progress of the research

Step 1: Writing the thesis proposal (1/11/2011 – 31/12/2011)

Step 2: Contacting the participants (30/01/2012 – 12/02/2012)

Step 3: Carrying out the research methods (05/03/2012-24/03/2012)

The process of research methods is shown below

Table 2.4 The process of research methods

methods

The researcher’s tasks

5→9/03 The students

of 10cb1, 10cb2,

10cb3, 10cb4

The researcher

Listening First, The

researcher explained the listening test Then, took turn to play minimal pairs 11/03 The students

of 10cb1, 10cb2,

10cb3, 10cb4

The researcher

Pre recording The researcher

recorded the four classes by recorder

program 13- 14/ 03 The two

teachers, the students of 10cb1, 10cb2

The researcher

Observation The researcher

observed two language focus lessons

teaching

/θ/and/ð/

delivered by two different teachers

15/03 The students

of 10cb3,

The researcher

Teaching experiment

The researcher gave two

10cb4 language focus

lessons teaching /θ/, /ð/

15-17/03 The five

teachers

The researcher

Questionnaire The researcher

delivered questionnaires

to the five teachers who are teaching English 10 18-20/03 The students

of 10cb1, 10cb2,

10cb3, 10cb4

The researcher

Questionnaire The researcher

delivered questionnaires

to the students 22-24/03 The students

of 10cb1, 10cb2,

10cb3, 10cb4

The researcher

Post recording The researcher

recorded the students’/θ/, /ð/

pronunciation performed by 10cb1, 10cb2, 10cb3, 10cb4

Step 4: Analyzing the data and write the report (31/03/2012 – 5/05/2012)

2.5 Techniques of collecting and analyzing data

The study employed many modern technologies: Natural Reader program, Recorder

program, Speech Analyzer program, Microsoft Excel

-Composing sample listening sample with Natural Reader program

- Recording the students with laptop helping with Recorder program and headphone hardware attached microphone

- Analyzing the students’ pronunciation error by Speech Analyzer program

- Analyzing data with Microsoft Excel

CHAPTER 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 3.1 Results

3.1.1 Result of listening experiment

The researcher let the students listen to spoken minimal pairs made by natural

reader program The result is shown below

Table 3.1.1 The students’ ability of distinguishing minimal pairs of /θ/, /ð/

No Minimal pairs Options, number and percentage

thought-taught was another problem There were 130 students out of 140 (130-92,

9%) ticking same In contrast, the students could figure out difference of bat and

bath (138-98.6%).Then, the experimental minimal pair: dare-there was also hard to

the students There were 139 students (139-99.3%) choosing the same scale Finally, the students could pick the rest minimal pairs out In brief, the students got stuck at making clear minimal pairs bearing /s/ vs /θ/; /t/ vs /θ/; /d/ vs /ð/ at the both initial and final position of words

3.1.2 Result of pre-recording experiment

The pre recording was carried out with 140 students The students read 18 words containing / θ/, /ð/ and 14 sentences using words containing /θ/, /ð/ The results are shown below

Table 3.1.2a The percentage of right /θ/, /ð/ pronunciation of the students in individual words and in sentences