Practices and challenges of teaching English pronunciation - The case of grade 11 in Phan Dinh Phung High school, Hanoi = Việc giảng dạy và những khó khăn trong

LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Pronunciation matters mentioned in English 11 Table 2: How often students discuss their pronunciation problems Table 3: How often students use phonetic transcrip

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

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TRẦN HỒNG HẠNH

PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES OF TEACHING

ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION: THE CASE OF GRADE 11 IN

PHAN DINH PHUNG HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI

(Việc giảng dạy và những khó khăn trong việc giảng dạy Ngữ âm tiếng Anh

cho học sinh lớp 11 trường THPT Phan Đình Phùng, Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Major: English Teaching Methodology Code : 60 14 10

Hanoi - 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

TRẦN HỒNG HẠNH

PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES OF TEACHING

ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION: THE CASE OF GRADE 11

IN PHAN DINH PHUNG HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI

(Việc giảng dạy và những khó khăn trong việc giảng dạy Ngữ âm tiếng Anh

cho học sinh lớp 11 trường THPT Phan Đình Phùng, Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Major: English Teaching Methodology Code : 60 14 10

Supervisor: NGUYỄN THỊ VƯỢNG, M.A

Hanoi - 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration………

Acknowledgements………

Abstract………

List of abbreviations………

List of tables………

List of charts………

PART I: INTRODUCTION………

1 Rationale of the study………

2 Aim and objectives of the study………

3 Scope of the study………

4 Methods of the study………

5 Significance of the study………

6 Design of the study………

PART II: DEVELOPMENT………

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW………

1.1 Pronunciation and its nature………

1.1.1 The significance of pronunciation………

1.1.2 Importance of pronunciation to language learners………

1.2 English pronunciation teaching to second language learners………

1.2.1 What to teach………

1.2.2 Approaches to the teaching………

1.2.3 Methods to teach ………

1.2.4 Challenges………

1.3 Consonant sounds in English………

1.3.1 Definition of English consonants………

1.3.2 Raising awareness of consonant sounds………

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY………

2.1 Practices of teaching pronunciation for 11th graders in Phan Dinh Phung High school………

2.1.1 Introduction of pronunciation lessons designed in English 11 ………

2.1.2 Introduction of language teaching and learning conditions in Phan

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Dinh Phung high school………

2.2 The study………

2.2.1 Research questions………

2.2.2 The subject………

2.2.3 Data collection instruments ………

2.2.3.1 Questionnaire………

2.2.3.2 Classroom observation………

2.2.3.3 Informal interview………

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS………

3.1 Questionnaires………

3.1.1 Questionnaires for students………

3.1.1.1 Reality of learning pronunciation………

3.1.1.2 Challenges that students have to face when learning pronunciation … 3.1.2 Questionnaires for teachers………

3.1.2.1 Reality of teaching pronunciation………

3.1.2.2 Challenges that teachers have to face………

3 2 Classroom observation and discussion………

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND FEASIBLE SOLUTIONS………

4.1 Findings………

4.1.1 Teaching practices………

4.1.2 Challenges in teaching………

4.2 Feasible solutions………

PART III: CONCLUSION………

1 Limitations of the study………

2 Suggestions for further studies………

REFERENCES………

Appendix 1: Questionnaire for students………

Appendix 2: Questionnaire for teachers………

Appendix 3: Informal interview scripts………

Appendix 4: Worksheet for Story-telling activity………

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For example Verse

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Pronunciation matters mentioned in English 11

Table 2: How often students discuss their pronunciation problems

Table 3: How often students use phonetic transcription in note- taking

Table 4: Pronunciation matters that challenge students

Table 5: Frequency of teaching pronunciation

Table 6: Techniques used to teach pronunciation

Table 7: Students‟ attitude towards pronunciation, in teachers‟ observation

Table 8: Challenges teachers have to face when teaching pronunciation

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 1: Importance of pronunciation to students

Chart 2: Students‟ feeling towards pronunciation lessons in class

Chart 3: Reality of teaching and learning pronunciation through students‟ yes answer Chart 4: Quality of pronunciation teaching in students‟ opinion

Chart 5: Difficulties students have during their pronunciation acquisition

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

When discussing the role of English language in current society, it is believed that a guy can get promotion in the management ladder only if he can speak English fluently If your English is poor, even though you may have well- qualified qualifications, and brilliant brain and can come up with brilliant business ideas, you may still find yourself languishing at the bottom of the management ladder since you will find difficulty in expressing your brilliant ideas That is an important and needless- to- question matter in our society However, when observing and basing on the real teaching, the researcher has found out that many students, otherwise most of them, feel discouraged towards English just because they can not, or in another word, do not know how to pronounce English words appropriately The reason is explained by Gerald Kelly (2000) that a learner who consistently mispronounces words can be extremely difficult for the listener to understand In the way round, the situation will also become very frustrating for himself/ herself even though he/ she has very good knowledge of grammar and vocabulary

Therefore, in the pilot English book for students in high school, pronunciation lessons are designed with the hope of giving both teachers and learners some basic cues

of English pronunciation matters The reality of teaching pronunciation in general, and teaching pronunciation for students of grade 11 in PDP high school in particular, however, seems not to be as ideal as hoped From the real experience in teaching, the researcher attempts to carry out a research to make the problem clear

2 Aim and objectives of the study

Within the frame work of a minor thesis, the study is aimed at finding out some feasible solutions to pronunciation teaching for grade 11 in PDP high school

In order to achieve this aim, the study concentrates on:

 Clarifying the practices of teaching and learning pronunciation in grades 11 in PDP high school

 Finding out the challenges that teachers and students in grades 11 in PDP high school have had to undergo

 Suggesting some feasible solutions to the teaching of pronunciation for grade 11

It may appear contradictory that in the first two concentrations, the study attempts to investigate both teaching and learning of pronunciation whereas the main topic raised in the title of the study is only about the teaching However, it is not a contradiction “if we look at the teaching process as the facilitation of learning ” (H Douglas Brown, 2007)

3 Scope of the study

Learning a second language as a scholar once said “is a long and complex undertaking” Therefore, teachers of a second language certainly have many problems during their teaching In the scope of this research, however, the researcher only has ambition to investigate the challenges that have been causing the teaching of pronunciation for 11th graders in PDP high school to be not as smooth and successful as hoped Besides, the study is also to suggest some implications for the teaching of pronunciation matters designed in English 11, i.e English consonantal matters

Therefore, within such a limited scope, it is not expected that the study can bring solutions to the teaching of all English pronunciation matters or to the pronunciation teaching for students of all levels

4 Methods of the study

The study is designed to use both qualitative and quantitative methods Besides, many resources such as books, magazines, articles, newspapers and some sources on the internet have been read by the researcher

In order to gain the most reliable results, the quantitative data will be collected through two survey questionnaires One survey questionnaire is for 200 students from classes of two different groups: English- gifted and English- non- gifted in grade 11 in PDP high school and the other survey is for 6 teachers teaching English for grades 11 during the time they took part in the survey The data, then, will be processed and analyzed to yield conclusions for the study

Along with the quantitative method, the qualitative data has been obtained by classroom observation and informal interviews with some students and teachers to

collect further information about the real situations of teaching and learning pronunciation in grades 11 at PDP high school

5 Significance of the study

The piloted syllabus for grade 11th of high school level was designed with hopes that students could have a complete sight into English consonantal sounds However, there has not been much investigation into the fact that whether lessons of pronunciation are suitable and comprehensible for students; or whether the teaching of pronunciation for students of grade 11 is easy- undertaken This research provides an insight into the problems that are often met by teachers teaching English for grades 11

in PDP High school In addition, this research also points out some feasible solutions which are, hopefully, beneficial for both teachers and students

6 Design of the study

The study is divided into three parts

The first part “Introduction” presents the rationale, the aim and objectives, the scope, the methods, significance and the design of the study

The second part, “Development”, consists of four chapters:

Chapter 1 provides a thorough literature review relevant to the study It presents the theoretical background: the concepts relating to pronunciation, its importance to language learners and pronunciation teaching as a second language Consonant sounds are also mentioned in this chapter

Chapter 2 describes precisely practices of teaching pronunciation for 11thgraders in PDP high school This chapter also deals with the introduction of the research methods which are: research questions, subject, questionnaire, class observation and informal interview

Chapter 3 is for analyzing the data collected from two questionnaires as well as classroom observation

Chapter 4 concludes the findings the researcher has from the study and proposes some solutions to the teaching of pronunciation for grade 11 in PDP high school

The last part of the study “Conclusion” gives a brief description of the study and states the limitations as well as recommendations for further research

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Pronunciation and its nature

In the book of Pronunciation Skills (1981), Paul Tench stated that

“Pronunciation is not an optional extra for the language learner, any more than grammar, vocabulary or any other aspect of language is” The statement is worth remembering for both language learners and teachers With a view to clarifying the importance of pronunciation and the reasons making it important, the first part in this chapter will be the introduction about the significance of pronunciation, and the importance of pronunciation to language teaching and learning

1.1.1 Significance of pronunciation

When learning a new language, most learners try their best to remember words with their meaning The case is the same for Vietnamese students who learn English as the second language However, pronunciation is far from, otherwise is not based on spelling Some language scholars stated that although there are some regulations between sound system and written symbols in English language, English spelling is still a poor reflection of pronunciation That is to say that the teaching and learning of vocabulary separately from pronunciation proves to be backward

The problem raised is what makes English pronunciation significant

“Pronunciation is itself a complex of sounds (consonants, vowels and diphthongs), syllables (word accent and rhythm) and intonation.” (Paul Tench, 1981)

Another way to approach the matter comes from Charles W Kreidler (2004) According to him, in discussing the pronunciation of English we can focus on one or both of two aspects On one hand, we may want to describe what people do when they are speaking English This is the aspect of speech, an activity carried on by people who use English for communicating On the other hand, we may address the question about the characteristics of English words and sentences that are realized in speech This is the aspect of language, a code which exists, handed down from the past with slight changes made by each generation

1.1.2 Importance of pronunciation to language learners

It is said that without adequate pronunciation skills the learner's ability to communicate is severely limited Many linguistics researchers share a belief in the need for professional responsibility that pronunciation is a very beginning point for language learners to start with If a given non-native speaker's pronunciation is not comprehensible, he or she will not be able to communicate orally no matter how good his or her control of English grammar and vocabulary might be

Bad pronunciation is a communication error that cannot be understood by the listener

A speaker who mispronounces a variety of words would cause great difficulties for listeners to understand Then, it can be frustrating and discouraging for students if they have repeated experiences where communication breaks down due to the problems with their English pronunciation

On the opposite side of conversation, bad pronunciation also affects learner‟s listening ability When a learner has already been familiar with the wrong way of pronouncing particular language sounds and utterances, it is unlikely that he or she will be able to recognize the authentic pronunciation by native speaker

About the problems that pronunciation causes to communication, Gilbert (1993) believes the skills of listening comprehension and pronunciation are interdependent "If they can not hear well, they are cut off from language If they cannot be understood easily, they are cut off from conversation with native speakers."

1 2 English pronunciation teaching to second language learners

1 2 1 What to teach

English pronunciation teaching and learning has been the subjects for many researches by linguists and educators Because of that fact, therefore, there are various opinions towards features of pronunciation that should be taught for second language learners

The first opinion raised by Martin Hewings (2004) is that the “top five” things which are important to be taught and learnt are consonants, consonant clusters, vowel length, word stress, and tonic words

There exists another idea towards the problem of what are the most important features of pronunciation to teach According to some linguists, pronunciation teaching works better if the focus is on larger chunks of speech, such as words, phrases and sentences, than if the focus is on individual sounds and syllables This does not mean

that individual sounds and syllables should never be referred to; it simply means that the general focus should be on the larger units

The idea above is the succession from an earlier idea by David Abercrombie, (1956_ cited in Teaching English pronunciation: a book of reading, 1991) In Abercrombie‟s theory, “The learners, instead of being taken systematically through each English vowel, and each consonant, and later if there is time, through the complexities of intonation and rhythm would have presented to him certain carefully chosen features on which to concentrate, the rest

of his pronunciation being left to be no more than of general supervision”

Those ideas have co-existed in the development of English teaching as a second language It seems contradictory However, Christiane Dalton and Barbara Seidlhofer (1994) stated that “pedagogic competence does not necessarily follow from linguistic competence, since it involves the abilities to identify specific aspects of language, to select and combine them for presentation and practice in ways which are effective for learning.” That means the problem of what pronunciation features are appropriate or suitable is totally dependent on the purpose of learning and teaching

1 2 2 Approaches to teaching

There are many ways of approaching pronunciation teaching The researcher, however, only has an ambition to mention ideas that the researcher found the closest to what Vietnamese teachers and students are applying when teaching and learning English pronunciation at schools The ideas come from two books, which the

researcher intended to introduce separately below, namely Pronunciation (1994) by Christiane Dalton and Barbara Seidlhofer, and How to teach pronunciation (2000) by

Gerald Kelly

Pronunciation (1994)

This book divides approaches to teaching pronunciation into two directions to deal with what the learner considers as precedence, separate segment of sound or the larger prosodic unit, which after all depends on the purpose of his/ her language learning

Bottom- up approach: the pronunciation learner should begin with the

articulation of individual vowels and consonants, and then work up towards intonation

Top- down approach: on the contrary to bottom- up approach, this approach

advises language learner to start with patterns of intonation and bring separate sounds into sharper focus when required

In choosing either of these two directions, however, the teacher must keep in mind that certain aspects of pronunciation need to be overtly taught to provide the conditions whereby other aspects are covertly learnt

How to teach pronunciation (2000)

According to the author, pronunciation lessons can be classified into three main types:

Integrated lessons: In this type, pronunciation forms an essential part of the

language analysis, the planning process, the language presentation and practice within

the lesson

Remedial lessons or creative lessons: different from the first type, remedial or

creative lessons are where pronunciation difficulty which arises in class is dealt with there and then in order to facilitate the successful achievement of classroom tasks

Practice lessons: in this type, a particular feature of pronunciation is isolated

and practiced for its own sake, forming the main focus of a lesson period

From the types of lessons described, we can conclude that pronunciation lessons, differently from the way Christiane Dalton and Barbara Seidlhofer (1994) approached, should be regarded as an integral part to language analysis and lesson planning Therefore, a lesson which focuses on particular language structures or lexis needs to include features of pronunciation so as to provide students “the full picture,

and hence a better chance of being able to communicate successfully”

1 2 3 Methods to teach

There have been three methods mentioned in Teaching pronunciation: a reference for teachers of English to speakers of other languages (1996) by Marianne Celce-Murcia, Donna Brinton, and Janet M Goodwin

Direct method: In direct method, pronunciation is taught through intuition and

imitation- student imitate a model - teacher or a record, and do their best to

approximate the model through imitation and repetition

Naturalistic method: including comprehension methods which devote a period

of learning solely to listening before any speaking is allowed in order to give learners the opportunities to internalize the target sound system When learners speak the language later on, their pronunciation is supposedly quite good despite their never

having received pronunciation explicit instruction Total Physical Response (1977) by

Asher‟s; Natural Approach (1983) by Krashen and Terrell‟s are two books which

describe clearly this method

Audiolingual (American) and Oral Approach (Britain): according to linguists

who are with these methods, pronunciation is very important and is taught from the very start Teacher models the sound, and then students imitate and repeat, however, the teacher also makes use of information from phonetics, such as visual transcription system (modified IPA or other systems) or charts that demonstrate the articulation of sound

The three methods can be applied through teaching activities like drilling (chaining, and substitution drilling), minimal pairs, using homophones and homographs, taping students‟ English, listening comprehension exercises and reading exercises

Drilling simply involves the teacher saying a word or structure and getting the class to repeat it

Minimal pairs can be used as a way of focusing on sounds which have been

causing difficulties for students (e.g „paper‟ / peipə/ vs „pepper‟ / pepə/; or „soap‟ / səup/ vs „soup‟ /su:p/)

Using homographs and homophones can provide useful opportunities for students to practice words which have the same spelling but with different

pronunciation (e.g „wind‟ / wind/ as in weather vs „wind‟ / waind/ as in what you do

to a clock) or on the contrary have the same pronunciation but different spellings („write‟ /rait/ vs „right‟ /rait/ or „there‟ / ðeə/ vs „their‟ / ðeə/ and „they‟re‟ / ðeə/)

Taping students‟ English: tapes can be made while students are engaged in language practice activities and used for all manner of language difficulties, but especially those concerned with pronunciation

Listening comprehension activities play a key role in helping students to notice the existence of a pronunciation feature because, after all, classroom activities aim to help students reproduce as far as possible the authenticity of day- to- day communication

Reading exercises: reading aloud offers opportunities for the study of the links between pronunciation and spelling, of stress and intonation, and of the linking of

sounds between words in connected speech

1 2 4 Challenges

When starting to teach pronunciation, language teachers in general are aware of the theoretical backgrounds of the pronunciation matter they are going to teach, of the techniques and activities they should use to make their teaching more understandable and effective However, during the teaching of pronunciation, most teachers have difficulties

Among the problems, the fundamental problem is between communicative vs

noticing Insights rising from both descriptions of language use and research into

conditions for successful second language acquisition have led to the claim that language teaching should be communicative, i.e based on meaningful interaction rather than on the practice of isolated forms On the other hand, this „communicative claim‟ creates a problem for language pedagogy: in order for language items to be learnt, they need to be highlighted- learners need to be exposed to the forms they are to acquire When it comes to the teaching and learning of the sounds of the target language, then, this means that the problem is how to make sure that these sounds occur in a sufficient concentration to be noticed while at the same time avoiding meaningless drills (Schmidt, 1990- cited in Teaching English pronunciation: a book of reading, 1991)

The second problem is of teachability and learnability More than any other aspects of language, pronunciation is affected by personal factors such as learners‟ attitude towards the target language, individual differences in ability and motivation to learn, ect Therefore, in pronunciation there can never be a one- to- one relationship between what is taught and what is learnt For example, the distinction between voiced and voiceless consonants is rather easy to describe and generalize, so it is teachable Attitudinal function of intonation, however, is dependent on individual circumstances, therefore, it is nearly impossible to isolate out for direct teaching

Another problem is of English language itself In English, there exists the lack

of correspondence between the spelling system and the pronunciation system, which can lead learners to initially or repeatedly misspell words and mispronounce them For instance, for „ough‟ there are 6 ways to pronounce such as in the words „bought‟ /bɒːt/,

„bound‟/baʊnd/, „rough‟ /rʌf/, „through‟ /θrʊː/, „thorough‟ /θʌrə/, and „cough‟ / kɒf/ For Vietnamese learners whose native language has similar alphabetic script to that of

English, there arises a further problem Occasionally, a letter which is associated with a particular sound in Vietnamese may be linked to a different sound in English For example, „th‟ is pronounced as / θ/ in English which is similar to /th/ in Vietnamese or

as / ð/ which is similar to / d/

Other problems can also be listed such as teaching materials, time duration spent

on pronunciation lessons - which is designed beforehand of the teaching at schools, class size, students‟ level of language in comparison with the knowledge of pronunciation which is supposed to be understood and achieved, and methodology that the teacher choose to convey the lessons

The last but not least challenge that teachers have to face when teaching pronunciation is learners‟ aptitude Individual capacity for learning languages has been debated Some researchers believe that the ability to recognize and internalize foreign sounds may be unequally developed in different learners

Above are the challenges faced by language teachers during their pronunciation teaching In the next part, attempts are made to make clear about consonant sounds in English which make up the pronunciation knowledge designed for students at grade 11

at high schools

1 3 Consonant sounds in English

When mentioning consonants in English pronunciation system, Hewings (2004) said that if the language user substitutes a consonant by another one, the communication will be more easily to be broken down than when a vowel is used That speech implies the unquestionable importance of consonants In this part of the chapter, the researcher attempts to make a concise description of English consonant sounds

1 3 1 Definition of English consonants

In the book “Sound Founds- Learning and Teaching Pronunciation” by Adrian Underhill (2004), consonant sounds are defined in two different ways The first way is

of sound‟s articulation, which defines “Consonant sounds are made by restricting or blocking the air flow in some physical way, and this restriction, or the release of the restriction, is what gives the consonant its characteristic sound” Meanwhile, the second definition is of phonemic or functional which states “Consonants, either singly

or in clusters, mark the beginnings and ends of syllables”

Consonants can also be described in three ways namely the manner of articulation, the place of articulation and the force of articulation

The manner of articulation refers to the interaction between the various articulators and the air stream For example, with plosive sounds, the articulators act in such a way that the air is temporarily trapped, and then suddenly released The manners of articulation are plosive, affricate, fricative, nasal, lateral, and approximant

Describing the consonant sounds in terms of the place of articulation gives more information about what the various articulators actually do According to place of articulation, consonants are classified into bilabial, labio-dental, dental, alveolar, palato-alveolar, palatal, velar and glottal

With regard to the force of articulation, consonants are divided into fortis (strong) and lenis (weak) In spoken English, „fortis‟ happens to equate with unvoiced sounds whereas „lenis‟ sounds happen to be voiced As far as English consonants are concerned, the distinction is the most useful when it comes to distinguishing between sounds that are articulated in essentially the same way, one using the voice, the other not

1 3 2 Raising awareness of consonant sounds

Many people, including both teachers and learners, believe that pronunciation problems are caused by difficulty with articulation: that the learner does not know how

to articulate the sounds of the new language However this is a minor element of pronunciation difficulties By far the majority of pronunciation problems stem not from physical, articulatory causes, but from cognitive causes In other words, the problem is not that the person can‟t physically make the individual sounds, but that they don‟t

conceptualize the sounds appropriately– discriminate them, organize them in their

minds, and manipulate them as required for the sound system of English Therefore, teachers should always integrate pronunciation aspects into lesson planning and language analysis in order to raise students‟ general awareness Specifically for consonants, teachers can apply the cues below to get their students aware of

Using diagrams and ‘learner- friendly’ explanations

The articulation of consonants is somehow easy to describe With consonants,

we can talk about the parts of the mouth and throat which touch and how they restrict,

interrupt or divert the airflow The following diagram is the illustration of introducing the articulation of /d/ sound in English

The hard bump behind the teeth

Throat and

„voice box‟

When explaining, teachers should use „easy‟ terms Instead of describing /d/ as

an alveolar sound, the teacher can demonstrate and describe it as follows „Touch your tongue with the hard bump behind your teeth Release your tongue suddenly, using your voice at the same time.‟ The teacher, if necessary, needs to use learners‟ native language to make sure all the students can get the way to articulate this sound

The teacher can give further illustration so that his/ her students can feel or sometimes „observe‟ the sound The first example is using a small slip of paper to distinguish /p/ and /b/ sounds A small slip of paper is dangled in front of the lips, the two sounds are made in turn; the paper should move more with /p/ due to the greater degree of aspiration (air) involved in producing the sound Other aids can be used such

as a match, a lighter whose flame will be flickered differently for different consonants;

or your palm in front of your mouth to feel the air, ect

How to refer to the consonants

There is the question of what to „call‟ the consonants when discussing them with students In general, some teachers „name‟ consonants with the addition of /ə/; thus / p/

is named as /pə/, and /f/ as / fə/ and so on However, that system only makes sense if one is dealing with voiced sounds For voiceless sounds, it is better to use a whispered / ə/ after the sound so that the whole remains voiceless After all, whatever techniques the teacher uses, he/ she must aim to be consistent with students in how he/ she refers

to the sounds

In summary, in this chapter of literature review, the researcher attempts to deal with theoretical background of the study In the next chapter, the researcher will concentrate on the study with its real situations and data

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY

2.1 Practices of teaching pronunciation for 11 th graders in PDP High school

2.1.1 Introduction of pronunciation lessons designed in English 11

In the light of communicative approaches, Pronunciation is designed in English books for high- school students For each book among English 10, 11 and 12, pronunciation accounts for 10 percent of the designed amount of knowledge More precisely, in English 11 in particular, each unit (among 16 units of the whole book) is made up of by five parts The first four parts are to help learners develop their language skills of Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing and the last part is Language Focus which consists of Pronunciation and Grammar

In pronunciation program designed for English 11, consonantal problems are mentioned in the succession of vowels; and voiced and voiceless pairs of consonants taught in English 10 The details of pronunciation lessons in English 11 are shown in the table below

Unit 16 / ft / ; / vd / ; / fs / ; / vz /

Table 1: Pronunciation matters mentioned in English 11

From the table, we can come to a conclusion that in English 11, pronunciation matters are various, including affricates, nasal consonants, lateral consonant, fricatives, approximants and clusters

Affricates / dʒ /; / tʃ /

In description, affricates occur when a complete closure is made somewhere in the mouth, and the soft palate is raised Air pressure increases behind the closure, and

is then released more slowly than in plosives These two consonants are characterized

as palato- alveolar sounds

Nasal consonants / m /; / n/ ; / ŋ /

In order to pronounce nasal sounds, there must be a complete closure made somewhere in the mouth, the soft palate is lowered, and air escapes through the nasal cavity However, for each nasal consonant individually, there exist distinct characteristics

Nasal consonant Characteristics

/ m / - Bilabial sound, total closure is made by both lips

- If followed by / f / or / v/  the closure may be labio- dental

- / m/ is voiced but if preceded by / s/  devoiced / n/ - Alveolar sound, the tongue blade closes against the alveolar

ridge, and the rims of the tongue against the side teeth

- If followed by / f/ or / v /  the closure may be labio- dental

Lateral consonant / l /

As described in its name, / l / is a lateral sound A partial closure is made by the blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge Air is able to flow around the sides of the tongue, the soft palate is raised / l / is voiced

Fricative / h /

/h / is a glottal sound Air passes from the lungs through the open glottis, causing audible friction Tongue and lip position is that of the following vowel sound The soft palate is raised, / h/ is unvoiced

Approximants / r / ; / w / ; / j /

Approximants occur when one articulator moves close to another, but not close enough to cause friction or to stop the airflow Following is the description of each approximant‟s characteristics

Approximant Characteristics

/ r / - A post alveolar sound as the tongue tip is held just behind

(not touching) the alveolar ridge Back rims of tongue touch upper molars The soft palate is raised

- / r / is voiced / w / - A labio- velar semi- vowel The tongue is in the position of a

close back vowel The soft palate is raised The sound glides quickly to the following vowel

- / w / is voiced, and does not occur as a final sound

/ j / - A palatal semi- vowel The tongue is in the position of a

close front vowel The soft palate is raised The sound glides quickly to the following vowel

- / j / is voiced, and does not occur as a final sound

Consonant clusters are consonants occurring together, with no intervening vowel, e.g

/ sl/ or / sp/ English has a great many consonant clusters which can have up to three

consonants together at the beginning ( e.g scratch / skrætʃ/) and up to four consonants

at the end (e.g glimpsed / glimpst / , which are difficult for the learners of English as a

second language

All of the above are what teachers and students of grade 11 in high schools in general and PDP high school in particular have to deal with in order to fulfill the syllabus requirement Needless to say, that huge amount of knowledge, when desired to

be fulfilled in a relatively short period of time (as being introduced at the beginning of this chapter), is quite problematic notwithstanding the conditions provided for the teaching and learning

2.1.2 Introduction of language teaching and learning conditions in PDP high school

During the teaching and learning of English, subjective factors (human factors) objective factors (equipment, duration, and so on) both have vital role in helping learners to gain knowledge With that fact, in this part of the chapter, attempts are done

to make those decisive elements in PDP high school clarified

2.1.2.1 Subjective factors_ Human

The learners

Students in high schools, in general, are supposed to have at least four years learning English in Lower Secondary school i.e their language ability is at pre-intermediate level With that presupposition, students can manage quite well the general requirements in English 10, 11 and 12

However, as a matter of fact, some students entering PDP high school have nearly nothing (both knowledge and motivation) towards English, which creates difficulties for teachers during lessons

The teachers

In PDP high school, teachers teaching English are grouped separately from teachers teaching other subjects Therefore, it is comfortable and convenient for us to discuss our problems in teaching during group meetings

In so-called English group, there are 11 teachers, most of whom are under 40 years old This is considered as a strong point since young language teachers are supposed to have more updated and flexible ways of teaching a new language

2.1.2.2 Objective factors_ The teaching and learning conditions

Teaching aids

In the light of communicative language teaching, teachers of English are provided with a set of CD disc which gives students a chance to hear native speakers‟

voice in Reading, Listening and Pronunciation lessons ( as for pilot curriculum) and in Reading and Listening ( as for Advanced curriculum) Along with their book, students can have both visual and audio aids to master English words‟ sound as well as practice listening skills more often

Furthermore, PDP high school, in particular, provides every English teacher with a well- qualified CD player With audio system (a microphone and two speakers)

in the classroom, CD player, and especially two lab rooms, students in my school are hoped to have all possible chances to learn English

Duration

Students in high schools, in general, have English three periods a week; each period which is supposed to deal with one lesson in a unit lasts 45 minutes In PDP high school, responding to students‟ demand as well as ability of English, the school divides students into two main groups The first group, group A, consists of students who choose English as their general subject; the other, group D, is composed of those who choose English as their advanced subject The difference between the two groups

is, therefore, shown in the duration, group A has 3 periods of English per week whereas group D has 4 periods

Class size

The average number of students in a class in PDP high school ranges from 42 to

45 Students are arranged to sit at desks in four rows, each of which includes 5 - 6 desks of two students

Above are the brief introductions of the pronunciation knowledge which is designed in English11 book and of the factors having influence on the process during which students acquire pronunciation matters In the next part of the research, the researcher will make effort to study more detailed into the two- sided relationship between the knowledge and the factors mentioned

2 What are the challenges that teachers and students in grade 11 have to face?

3 What are the implications to the teaching of English pronunciation for students

2.2.3 Data collection instruments

In order to obtain in- depth, rich data and information for investigating the situation and the difficulties that teachers and students have in teaching and learning pronunciation, the study used three methods of data collection: questionnaire (conducted in late April when students generally fulfill their pronunciation lessons in English 11), classroom observation (done from February to May) and informal interview (done from February to May)

2.2.3.1 Questionnaire

Basing on certain knowledge about students‟ problems in pronunciation learning, the investigator designed two kinds of questionnaires which include both closed questions ( students and teachers only choose one option) and open- ended questions ( with more possibilities at their disposal) The purpose of the questionnaire

is to find out participants‟ attitude towards pronunciation teaching (or learning), realities of pronunciation teaching and learning in their class and difficulties they encounter Besides main part, questionnaires for students and teachers both have a question to find out how long the participant has taught/ learnt English

 The students’ survey questionnaire

The survey questionnaire for students consists of 11 questions in which 8 questions are for participants to choose One option among the given; the rest 3

questions are for students to choose as many options as they wish basing on their own problems and situation

The first question is to find out how important pronunciation learning is among students The second one is for students to express their attitudes towards pronunciation learning The next five questions (question 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) are to investigate the reality of pronunciation teaching and learning in the students‟ opinion Question 8

is the chance for students to mention difficulties they have to face in pronunciation learning After that, question 9 lists some typical pronunciation matters that students often find challenging In these two questions, if there is any personal pronunciation problem, participants can write down (in English as well as in Vietnamese) With the last two questions, the researcher intended to find out students‟ ways of learning pronunciation through their note- taking in class ( question 11) and through their consideration about pronunciation matter after class ( question 10)

 The teachers’ survey questionnaire

The teachers‟ survey questionnaire consists of 6 questions with the hope to indicate the current teaching methods taken by the teachers teaching English for students in grade 11 in PDP high school Among the questions, half of them are one- option, the other half allow the participants to choose more than one answer The first question is to ask whether phonetics and phonology is important in pronunciation teaching or not The next two questions (question 2-3) are about the practices of teaching pronunciation for students of grade 11 In question number 4, the researcher tries to investigate students‟ attitude towards pronunciation teaching and learning through the eyes of the teachers The fifth question is the chance for the participant to talk about the challenges they have to face when teaching pronunciation And in the last question, techniques to teach pronunciation that the participant is using are listed, the teachers can tick at as many options as they wish

After collecting all the questionnaire responses from both teachers and students, the researcher has calculated the numbers of responses and the percentages respectively

of the questions in each questionnaire The results, then, have been arranged to two main items basing on the first two research questions

 Reality of teaching and learning pronunciation in grade 11 in PDP high school

 The challenges that teachers and students in grade 11 have to face

2.2.3.2 Classroom observation

Apart from two survey questionnaires for teachers and students, classroom observation is also applied in order to clarify and test the validity of information about the current situation of teaching and learning pronunciation among grades 11, the challenges in teaching and learning have to face up with The observation was carried out before the time the questionnaires were conducted in two Language Focus periods

of two different classes taught by two different teachers in grade 11 Hopefully, the results from the classroom observation will contribute much to finding out the solutions

to the improvement

2.2.3.3 Informal interview

In order to understand better about the reality of pronunciation teaching and learning and challenges that teachers have to face during pronunciation lessons, the researcher had unconventional talk with some students and teachers The questions in the interview were basically based on those in the questionnaire in order to find out real reasons for their answers as well as to understand more about reality of teaching and learning pronunciation through points of view that the researcher could not think of when designing the questionnaires Therefore, the data of the informal interview will

be shown as the explanation after analysis of every question in both questionnaires instead of appearing as a separate part in the next chapter of data analysis and discussion

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS

The comments and perceptions made by the teachers of English and students of grade 11 in PDP High school in response to the questionnaire were consolidated and categorized by the researcher These results were converted to percentages for the conveniences of analysis Side by side with the questionnaires, information gained through observation and interviews was added to assist interpretation

3.1 Questionnaires

3.1.1 Questionnaires for students

3.1.1.1 Reality of learning pronunciation

* What do you think about pronunciation learning?

Group A Group D

b_ It‟s necessary when speaking only 55% 22%

c_ It‟s not as important as grammar and language

Chart 1: Importance of pronunciation to students

From the chart, it can be seen that all students taking part in the survey are aware of the importance of pronunciation in language learning However, their opinions are various 40% of students from group A think pronunciation is vital in