Problems in english pronunciation of freshmen at english faculty of thuong mai university and some suggested solutions

This paper investigates what problems in English pronunciation areencountered by English-majored freshmen at Thuong Mai University and suggeststhe best solutions for their English pronun

This paper investigates what problems in English pronunciation areencountered by English-majored freshmen at Thuong Mai University and suggeststhe best solutions for their English pronunciation improvement

To answer this question, the researcher needed the participation andcooperation of 30 students from class K54N2 of Thuong Mai University Theresearcher used both qualitative and quantitative methods to collect and analyzedata from the participants The qualitative method was applied to collect andanalyze the pronunciation errors in the recordings of the participants while thequantitative method was used to accumulate information relating to pronunciationlevels, study methods and difficulties in pronouncing English sounds of thosestudents

The results of this paper shown that the freshmen’s pronunciation levelsvaried, but they all have encountered several problems in their Englishpronunciation The results revealed that they made a lot of mistakes or had troubleswhen producing consonants, vowels and ending sounds A number of strategies ortechniques to improve pronunciation were proposed and their effectiveness wasagreed by the participants

It is hoped that this paper would help students recognize their pronunciationproblems and have suitable strategies to improve their pronunciation

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During the process of writing my graduate paper, I received many helps andsupports First and foremost, I highly appreciate the assistance of my teacher, Ms.Thanh Ha, for enthusiastically gave many significant instructions for my graduatepaper Without her help, I cannot complete the paper accurately

I am delighted to express my gratitude to English teachers at Thuong MaiUniversity for giving helpful courses and invaluable knowledge in this field of thestudy

Thanks to the cooperation of first-year students, especially those from N2class, I collected sufficient data to conduct the research

I look forward to your comments to improve my graduate paper and hope that

it will help freshmen as well as the other students at Thuong Mai University toenhance their English

Hanoi, March 7, 2019

Hoang Minh Giang

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vi

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Previous studies 1

1.3 Aims of the study 3

1.4 Research subjects 3

1.5 Scope of the study 3

1.6 Research of methodology 3

1.7 Organization of the study 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Definition of pronunciation 5

2.2 Standard English pronunciation 5

2.3 Aspects of pronunciation 6

2.3.1 Articulatory phonetics 6

2.3.2 English sounds 7

2.3.3 Ending sounds 12

2.4 Common problems in pronunciation of Vietnamese people 13

2.4.1 Problems with vowels 13

2.4.2 Problems with consonants 14

2.5 Techniques to improve English pronunciation 16

2.5.1 Doing pronunciation exercises 16

2.5.2 Listening and imitating 16

2.5.3 Reading aloud and clearly while recording produced sounds 17

2.5.4 Tongue twisters 17

2.6 Summary 18

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CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINGINDS 19

3.1 Participants 19

3.2 Setting 19

3.3 Data collection 19

3.3.1 Data collection instruments 19

3.3.2 Data collection procedure 21

3.4 Data analysis 22

3.4.1 Data analysis instruments 22

3.4.2 Data analysis procedure 22

3.5 Research findings and discussion 22

3.5.1 Results from recording 22

3.5.2 Results from survey questionnaire 25

3.5.3 Discussion 35

CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATION AND SUGGESTIONS 37

4.1 Limitation of the study 37

4.2 Suggestion for further study 37

CONCLUSION 39

REFERENCE 40

APPENDIX 41

4

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AMEP: Adult Migrant English Program

BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation

CNN: Cable News Network

ELT: English Language Teaching

ESL: English as a Second Language

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURE

Table 2.1: English consonants 12

Table 3.1: Vowel sound errors 23

Table 3.2: Consonant sound errors 23

Table 3.3: Ending sound errors 24

Table 3.4: The errors relating to vowels, consonants and ending sounds 24

Table 3.5: Students’ English learning experience 25

Table 3.6: Reasons for students’ erroneous pronunciation 32

Y Diagram 2.1: Articulators 7

Diagram 2.2: English vowels 9

Diagram 2.3: English diphthongs 9

Diagram 2.4: The structure of English syllabus 12

Diagram 3.1: The mean daily time spent on pronunciation practicing of students .26 Diagram 3.2: Students’ levels of pronunciation 27

Diagram 3.3: Students’ views of pronunciation teaching at schools 28

Diagram 3.4: Students’ perspectives of English pronunciation 28

Diagram 3.5: The importance of native-like pronunciation to students 29

Diagram 3.6: Students’ feeling towards communicating with English-native speakers 30

Diagram 3.7: English-learning methods or programs used to learn English 31

Diagram 3.8: Students’ difficulties in English pronunciation 33

Diagram 3.9: Students’ solutions to correct pronunciation 34

Diagram 3.10: Students’ strategies to improve pronunciation 34

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CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

1.1 Rationale

In the era of globalization and integration, foreign languages play a crucialrole, serving as tools to connect people with people from different countries.English is considered as an international language in many fields such as business,science, technology, etc The number of English learners has increased dramatically

in recent years English becomes a requisite for schooling and job opportunities.Unfortunately, to master English is quite challenging Most Vietnamese peoplecannot pronounce English properly, which is an obstacle in communication

In many Vietnamese universities and colleges, teaching specialized subjects inEnglish, as well as setting English requirements for graduates, is generally applied.Thuong Mai University is not an exception

However, nearly all freshmen of English faculty of Thuong Mai Universityface to problems in their pronunciation They tend to make a great number ofpronunciation mistakes relating to vowels and consonants sounds; word stress;intonation; connected speech; etc The fact is that pronunciation makes up efficientconversations Therefore, these mistakes prevent students from achieving native-like English and confidently speaking to native speakers or any good English users;and even put them in unexpected situations

Besides, the first-year students of English faculty of Thuong Mai Universitywill use English as the main tool in their occupations Enhancing their English skills

is extremely important for them as they would have better career opportunities Theforemost thing students should do is recognizing their problems This paper with the

title “Problems in English Pronunciation of Freshmen at English faculty of Thuong Mai University and some suggested solutions” is expected to help them to improve

their pronunciation

1.2 Previous studies

Pronunciation has been studied for a long time and has become a science field.However, researches on pronunciation are not completed and there is still a greatamount of work to carry on From the previous studies, it is pointed out that

pronunciation problems faced by learners are not given much concern and studies

on how to help learners correct their pronunciation have not been fulfilled yet

In some periods, pronunciation was considered extremely important while atother times it did not draw much attention Not until 1890s when the InternationalPhonetics Alphabet (IPA) was developed did pronunciation become a science study.Although “Intelligible pronunciation is an essential component of communicativecompetence” (Morley, 1991), Brown (1991) shown that pronunciation was still aminimal skill in many language programs He surveyed the number of documentswritten on pronunciation in Applied Linguistics, Language learning, TESOLQuarterly and ELT journal between 1975 and 1988 and concluding that only 11,9%

of articles were written on pronunciation However, last decade saw the increase inthe interest of teachers and scholars to pronunciation Surveys indicated the growth

of pronunciation literature in language textbook (Orlando, 2013) Pronunciation isnot only about the individual sound Intonation, stress, rhythm, connected speechshould be emphasized (Celce-Murcia et al., 2010) In recent years, researches onpronunciation have been more practical Pronunciation problems of learners areidentified, which makes English acquisitions more efficient

The studies on English pronunciation problems of Vietnamese people also wereconducted Pronunciation errors recognized are related to ending sounds, consonantsounds, stress (Ngo, 2009; Tuan, 2011; Thao, 2007) Researchers also found reasonsfor English poor pronunciation of most Vietnamese people Ha, C T (2005) pointedout that Vietnamese people encounter difficulties in learning English because “Firstly,the English sound system has several sounds foreign to Vietnamese speakers Secondly,the way English speakers pronounce the ending sounds is completely different from theone deeply rooted in Vietnamese speakers” In Ha, C T (2005), students from anexamination room were surveyed There were about 20 English-majored students andmost of them were female The researcher, also the examiner, collected data fromstudents’ performance in the final oral exam The results shown that those studentsoften omitted ending sounds and mispronounced /z/; /ʒ/; /dʒ/; /θ/; /ð/ Obviously, themain reason is the affection of mother tongue However, the study is not fulfilled anddoes not suggest any solutions

Based on prior researches, the author carries on the study to investigate themost typical pronunciation problems facing English-majored freshmen at ThuongMai University and suggests some solutions.

1.3 Aims of the study

This study is written to improve pronunciation of students at Thuong MaiUniversity Generally, it aims at:

- Determining pronunciation problems facing English-majored freshmen atThuong Mai University

- Suggesting some practical solutions to overcome these obstacles and enhancepronunciation

1.4 Research subjects

The research subjects are problems in English pronunciation The participants

of this study included the first-year students at English faculty of Thuong MaiUniversity Those students have just left high schools and their pronunciation isweaker than others at English faculty

1.5 Scope of the study

Pronunciation is a wide field including consonant sounds, vowel sounds, wordstress, sentence stress, etc Regarding its wide scope, the research just focuses onidentifying problems in some consonant sounds, some vowel sounds, and consonantclusters of English-majored freshmen at Thuong Mai University The other parts ofEnglish pronunciation are not investigated

Due to the limitation of time and ability of the researcher, this studyinvestigated pronunciation problems of only 30 students from N2 class They areboth female and male from rural and urban areas These students took part in asurvey and were required to answer questions and record their English

1.6 Research of methodology

The research was conducted to gather data to answer the following question:

- What are problems in pronunciation of English- majored freshmen at ThuongMai University?

- What are techniques or strategies to improve their pronunciation?

This research is designed to apply both quantitative and qualitative methods It

is because of its purposes to identify the problems in English pronunciation offreshmen based on collecting and analyzing data from the recording and the surveyquestionnaire

The quantitative data was mostly collected from the survey questionnaire Toanswer the questions of this study, the author collects data from students As thesurvey questionnaire was created with the significant advice of the superior, itcovered all issues needed to collect data The questionnaire sheets were handed out

to the students from N2 class and latter were collected

On the other hand, the recording provided qualitative data The researcherrecorded English pronunciation of these students by giving them somepronunciation exercises and asking them to pronounce English words andsentences Meanwhile, the way the students did the exercises was observedcarefully

1.7 Organization of the study

This study is divided into 4 chapters: Overview of the study, literature review,research findings, recommendations, and suggestions

Chapter 1 gives an overview of the study in which rationale, previous studies,aims of the studies, research questions, research subjects, scope of the study,research methodology as well as the organization of the study are briefly presented.Chapter 2 reviews literature relating to the study including definitions ofpronunciation In this chapter, some pronunciation aspects are presented andcommon problems in English pronunciation of Vietnamese people are shown Fromthat, some solutions are suggested

Chapter 3 discusses the methods used in the research It also concludes theresults of the survey The common English pronunciation problems of English-majored freshmen and the most effective techniques to better pronunciation arepointed out

Chapter 4 is about the limitations of this research and gives somerecommendations for the next studies

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definition of pronunciation

Pronunciation is the first thing that every English-speaking learner needs tolearn This part will provide information about definition of pronunciation for allstudents

“What is pronunciation?” Many authors with different perspectives haveanswered this question in several ways

According to Oxford Advance Learner’s Encyclopedic (1992:718),pronunciation is shortly defined as “the way in which a language is spoken”

AMEP research centre (2000) gives another definition: “Pronunciation refers

to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning It includes attention to theparticular sounds of a language (segments),aspects of speech beyond the level ofthe individual sound, such as intonation, phrasing, stress, timing, rhythm(suprasegmental aspects), how the voice is projected (voice quality) and, in itsbroadest definition, attention to gestures and expressions that are closely related tothe way we speak a language.”

Richards et al (2001:175) indicates that: “Pronunciation (as known asphonology) includes the role of individual sounds and sound segments, that is,features at the segmental level as well as supra-segmental such as stress, rhythm,and intonation.”

There are so many different definitions of pronunciation and pronunciation hasseveral segmental and supra-segmental aspects Yet only a small part ofpronunciation is taken into the research

2.2 Standard English pronunciation

English is one of the most used languages in the world as it is the officiallanguage in 67 countries, out of 195 countries on the globe In fact, it is theinternational language that serve as an official language in the Union Nations.Therefore, there are a great number of English, such as America English, BritishEnglish and Australian English, to name a few Roach (2000) stated that “One of that

everybody knows about languages is that they have different accents They arepronounced differently by people from different geographical places, from differentsocial classes, of different ages and different educational backgrounds” The UK is anexample There are many different accents in English, but the range becomes verymuch wider if the accents of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are taken intoaccount As a result, a Standard of English was set for English learners to follow.Streven in Larry Smith’s edition (1983:88) defines Standard English as “aparticular dialect of English, being the non-localized dialect, of global currencywithout any significant variation, universally accepted as the appreciate educationaltarget in teaching English; which may be spoken with an unrestricted choice ofaccent” In other words, Standard English can be any dialect of English that isacknowledged in their countries in the world However, Vietnamese people andmany people from other countries tend to learn RP (received pronunciation) which

is “the accent used by most announcers and newsreaders on serious national andinternational BBC broadcasting channels” (Roach, 2000) In this study, theresearcher will use RP as the criteria for investigating students’ problems in theirpronunciation and the IPA will be used to transcribe the speech samples though outthe research

as a few However, articulators are not only parts of the mouth

Roach (1995) stated that the different parts of the vocal tract are calledarticulators and the study of them is called articulatory phonetics

According to Wikipedia, “The field of articulatory phonetics is a subfield ofphonetics In studying articulation, phoneticians explain how humans producespeech sounds via the interaction of different physiological structures Generally,

articulatory phonetics is concerned with the transformation of aerodynamic energyinto acoustic energy Aerodynamic energy refers to the airflow through the vocaltract Its potential form is air pressure; its kinetic form is the actual dynamic airflow.Acoustic energy is variation in the air pressure that can be represented as soundwaves, which are then perceived by the human auditory system as sound.”

Articulators include a number of different parts: nose, upper lip, lower lip,upper teeth, lower teeth, alveolar ridge, tongue, hard palate, soft palate, velum,pharynx, and larynx

The diagram below shows exactly the place of each articulator

Diagram 2.1: Articulators

(by Roach 2000) 2.3.1.2 Production of speech sounds

Kelly (2000:5) describes the production of speech sounds: “When we aremaking sounds, the air from the lungs comes up through the wind-pipe and arrivesfirst at the larynx Then it goes though the vocal cords into the pharynx and up thepharynx to uvula At this point, it may go in either way It may go into the oralcavity (if the soft palate is raised) and go out of the mouth Or it may go into thenasal tract (if the soft palate is lowered) and get out through the nostrils”

2.3.2 English sounds

There are 44 sounds in English They are divided into 2 types: 20 vowels,including 12 pure vowel and 8 diphthongs, and 24 consonants

2.3.2.1 Vowel sounds

Roach (2000:10) defined vowels as “sound in the production of which there is

no obstruction to the flow of air as it passes the larynx to the lips” There are 20vowels divided into 12 monothongs and 8 diphthongs

a Pure vowels (monothongs)

“A vowel which remains constant and does not glide is called a pure vowel.”(Roach 2000: 28)

Vowels are different from each other According to Roach (2000), vowels areclassified by four criteria:

- Part of the tongue which is raised

Front vowels: The front of the tongue is the highest point: /æ/, /e/, /ɪ/, /i:/ Back vowels: The back of the tongue is the highest point: /ʊ/, /u:/, /ɔ:/, /ɒ/, /ɑ:/ Central vowels: The central of the tongue is the highest point: /ʌ/, /ə/, /ɜ:/.

- Degree of lip rounding

Rounded vowels: The corners of the lips are brought towards each other and

lips are pushed forward: /ʊ/, /u:/, /ɒ/, /ɑ:/, /ɔ:/

Unrounded vowels: The corners of the lips are moved away from each other as

for a smile: /ɜ:/, /ʌ/, /ə/

Neutral vowels: The lips are neither rounded or spread: /æ/, /i:/, / ɪ /, /e/.

- The length of the sounds:

Short vowels: /ʌ/, /æ/, /ə/, /e/, /ɪ/, /ɒ/, /ʊ/.

Long vowels: /ɑ:/, /ɜ:/, /i:/, /ɔ:/, /u:/.

The diagram below illustrates 12 pure vowels classified:

Diagram 2.2: English vowels

(by Roach 2000)

b Diphthongs

According to Roach (2000), diphthongs are “sounds which consist of amovement or glide from one vowel to another”

English has 8 diphthongs easily divided into 3 groups as follow:

Diagram 2.3: English diphthongs

(by Roach 2000)

They are also divided into: centering diphthongs (/eə/, /ɪə/, /ʊə/) - glidingtowards the (schwa) vowel- and closing diphthongs (/aɪ/, /aʊ/, /eɪ/, /oʊ/, /ɔɪ/) -gliding towards a closer vowel

2.3.2.2 Consonant sounds

In English phonetics and phonology (Roach 2000:10), the term “consonant” isdefined as “sounds in which there is obstruction to the flow of air as it passes thelarynx to the lips”

In English, there are 24 consonants: b/; /d/; /f/; /g/; /h/; /j/; /k/; /l/; /m/; /n/; /ŋ/; /p/; /r/; /s/; /ʃ/; /t/; /tʃ/; /θ/; /ð/; /v/; /w/; /z/; /ʒ/; /dʒ/

Consonants are often classified in 3 ways:

a The place of articulation

The place of articulation is the location of the obstruction of the air-stream inthe articulation of consonants

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

-Palato- alveolars: are the sounds which are produced with the tongue tip orblade coming close to the area between the back of the alveolar ridge and the front

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

-Palatal: is the sound which is produced with the front of the tongue comingclose to the hard palate, including: /j/

-Velars: are the sounds which are produced with the back of the tonguetouching the soft palate, including: /k/, /g/, /ŋ/

-Glottals: are the sounds which are produced without the active use of thetongue and other parts of the mouth, including /h/.

b The manner of articulation

Manner of articulation is the way in which the air-stream is obstructed oraltered in the production of speech sounds

-Nasals: are the sounds, which are produced with the airstream being stopped

in the oral cavity but the soft palate is down so that the air can go out through thenose, including: /m/, /n/, /ŋ/

- Plosives: are the sounds, which are produced with the airstream beingstopped in the oral cavity and the soft palate is raised blocking off the nasal cavity,including: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/

- Fricatives: are the sounds in the production of which two articulators comeclose together but there is still a small opening between them so the airstream ispartially obstructed and an audible friction noise (a hissing sound) is produced,including: /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /h/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /θ/, /ð/

- Affricates: are the sounds, which are produced when a plosive is immediatelyfollowed by a fricative They begin like a plosive, with a complete closure, butinstead of a plosion, they have a very slow release, moving backwards to a placewhere a friction can be heard (palate-alveolar), including: /tʃ/, /dʒ/

- Lateral: is the sound which is made when the airstream is obstructed at apoint along the centre of the oral tract, with incomplete closure between one or bothsides of the tongue and the roof of the mouth, including: /l/

- Approximants: are the sounds in the production of which two articulatorscome close together but without the vocal tract being narrowed to such an extentthat a friction noise is produced, including: /r/, /w/, /j/

c The state of vocal cords

No vibration means voiceless (9 sounds): /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /s/, /h/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /θ/.Vibration means voiced (15 sounds): /b/, /d/, /g/, /v/, /z/, /m/, /n/, /l/, /r/, /w/,/j/, /ŋ/, /ð/, /ʒ/, /dʒ/

The table below show the classification of the consonant sounds:

Table 2.1: English consonants

(by Roach 2000)

2.3.3 Ending sounds

Ending sounds is pretty familiar to every English speaker because they occur

at the end of many English words Ending sounds are called Codas: “The coda is thefinal consonant or consonant cluster.” (Barbara and Brian, 1997)

In Roach (2000), the structure of English syllabus is shown below:

Diagram 2.4: The structure of English syllabus

(by Roach 2000)

According to English phonetics and phonology of Peter Roach (2000):

There is the possibility of up to 4 consonants in a coda If there are noconsonants at the end of the word, it has a zero coda When there is one consonantonly, this is called the final consonant Any consonant may be a final consonant,

except h, r, w, j

When there are two or more consonants in the final cluster, the terms final’ and “post-final” consonants are used

“pre-Pre-final consonants include: /m/, /n/, /l/, /s/, / ŋ/

Post-final consonants include: /s/, /z/, /t/, /d/, / θ/

Two consonant clusters:

Pre-final followed by a final consonant (e.g: help, ask)

Consonant plus post-final (e.g: bets, bent)

Three consonant clusters:

Pre-final plus final plus post-final (e.g: helped, banks, bonds)

Final plus post-final plus post-final (e.g: next, lapsed)

Four consonant clusters:

Most are pre-final plus final plus post-final (e.g: prompts, twelfths)

Occasionally there is one final and three post final consonants (e.g: texts,sixths)

2.4 Common problems in pronunciation of Vietnamese people

According to Some common pronunciation problems facing Vietnam learners

of English (Dung, 2014) and the website

http://englishspeaklikenative.com/resources/common-pronunciation-problems/vietnamese-pronunciation-problems/, Vietnamese learners face to several

pronunciation problems and the below are the problems which are investigated inthis research

2.4.1 Problems with vowels

Mother tongue has considerable influence on learning English pronunciation

of Vietnam people In Honey (1987), English and Vietnamese vowel systems havesome similarities There are some alternatives in Vietnamese language to the closetpure vowel in pronouncing the pure vowel in English, such as: lam /lam/ for lime

and luc /lúc/ for look Pronouncing that way, Vietnamese speakers face severalproblems when speaking English.

Avery and Ehrlich (1992) showed that, "the distinction between tense and laxvowel pairs of English almost always creates problems" They also found thatsecond language learners could pronounce "neither the tense nor the lax vowel, but

a vowel between the two Failure to make these distinctions can lead tomisunderstandings" Like that, almost Vietnamese learners of English erroneously

pronounce the two vowels of each pair, such as words like sleep, taste, and stewed.

When Vietnamese speakers pronounce these words, English native speakers may

hear slip, text, and stood, instead.

2.4.1.1 Problem with /i:/ versus /I/

Vowel /ɪ/ is quite frequently spelled as letter [i] in Vietnamese and sinceVietnamese rely on spelling to produce the English sounds, they are prone toconfuse /ɪ/ for /i:/

/i:/: Heat; bead; seed; cheat; keen; lean

/ɪ/: Bid; chill; kill; will; sit; hill

2.4.1.2 Problem with the schwa sounds/ə/ with / ɜ:/

The schwa sounds /ə/, the smallest sound in the English language, is essentialfor reasonably accurate production of stress and rhythm and without it, theVietnamese speakers, as well as all English learners, will never be able to achievenatural and native-like English speech

2.4.2 Problems with consonants

According to Honey, "the Vietnamese consonant system is very different fromthat of the English, and there is considerable variation between dialects Vietnameselearners of English can be expected to come across particular difficulty with some

or all of the following sounds: /f/, /θ/, /ð/, /z/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /ʒ/, /dʒ/"

Vietnamese speakers can produce words with final voiceless stopconsonants /p/, /t/ and /k/, which occur at the end of a word in Vietnamese.However, they pronounce these consonants with extremely short duration, which isvery difficult for English native speakers to hear these sounds from Vietnamese

speakers For example, a Vietnamese learner of English pronounces the word seat may sound like see (Avery and Ehrlich, 1992, p 153).

2.4.2.1 Problems with final consonants

Like other Asian speakers, Vietnamese speakers have trouble pronouncingwords ending with consonants; learners are usually very confused with finalconsonants, therefore, they delete or substitute most of them

The consonants Vietnamese students commonly struggle with are: /z/, /s/,/t/, /v/, /ks/, /ʤ/

Example:

/z/: plays; rose; rise; pods

/s/: pets; chance; stress; louse

/t/: night; might; bait; treat; let

2.4.2.2 Problems with voiced-voiceless distinction

Vietnamese speakers are often confused with voiced and voiceless consonantsand thus pronounce them incorrectly

Example:

/v/: fan; of; very; prove; halve; save; vine; vast

/f/: van; off; ferry; proof; half; safe; fine; fast

/b/: belt; bay; bore; bear; blank; braise; blaze; tab

/p/: pelt; pay; poor; pair; plank; prays; plays; tap

2.4.2.3 Problems with silent sounds

Many words in English contain silent sounds However, Vietnamese speakersoften mispronounce them by producing English sounds based on its spelling

Example:

bomb (/bom/)

dumb (/dum/)

2.4.2.4 Problems with consonants clusters

The consonants clusters are quite unfamiliar to the Vietnamese language andhence complex, Vietnamese speakers often struggle to correctly pronounce them

Example:

/pr/: praise; prank; process; prime; preach

/pl/: plague; plain; pledge; plight; plunge

/tr/: tribe; troop; true; try; tree

2.5 Techniques to improve English pronunciation

There are numerous techniques or strategies that are proposed by severallinguistics in their phonetics books or the other English learners from theirexperience Below are some of the most used techniques

2.5.1 Doing pronunciation exercises

Aim: Only learning theorical knowledge about English pronunciation from

textbook would not help students much in achieving good pronunciation Doingphonetics exercises is the best way for student to recall what they have learned, andstrengthen their pronunciation skills

How: There are numerous of pronunciation exercises in the internet or

textbooks for students to choose

Example:

I Write the appropriate words.

1 [' kɪŋ ] 2 [ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ ] 3 [ˈspænɪʃ ] 4 [ˈbrʌðə(r) ] 5 [ˈærəʊ ]

6 ['hɔ:(r)s ] 7 [ˈfəʊtəɡrɑ:f ] 8 ['dɒɡ ] 9 [ˈtelɪˌvɪʒnn̩ ] 10 ['dʒi:p ]

II Choose the correct words.

11 [' kæt ] cat cut cot

12 [' ʃɪp ] cheap ship sheep

13 [' hæt ] hut hat hot

14 [' li:v ] live life leave

15 [' θɪn ] thing think thin

16 [' ðeɪ ] day they grey

17 [' pi:s ] peace piss pace

18 [' nekst ] nest neck next

19 [' æʃ ] as ass ash

20 [' tʃɪp ] ship cheap chip

2.5.2 Listening and imitating

Aim: Native-like pronunciation is the ultimate goal that all English learners

aim to This technique improves listening skills of students However, at the

meantime, it can help students recognize the distinction between their pronunciationand the pronunciation of English native-speakers From that, pronunciation errorsare recognized and students can fix these errors by imitating pronunciation ofnative-speakers Furthermore, students’ English accents are also modified to bemore native-like.

How: There are plentiful sources of English videos or sound tracks that can be

used However, English videos or sound tracks made by English native-speakers aremore recommended, such as CNN news, BBC news, English movies, English songsand other English videos and sound tracks Student should pay attention to thevideos and sound tracks and imitate them

2.5.3 Reading aloud and clearly while recording produced sounds

Aim: This technique is one of the most efficient techniques However, it

consumes a great amount of time and requires a big determination Reading aloudhelps students feel more confident when speaking English and avoid concealingpronunciation errors Recording what they speak can help students recognize theseerrors and compare to English native-speakers accents to see the different betweentheir English speaking Therefore, students can amend their pronunciation tobecome more English native-like

How: Students can prepare a computer equipped with recording software and

a head phone or just a smart phone and recording applications Then, an Englishparagraph or an English video, to name a few, should be chosen After that, studentsread aloud while recording what they speak Finally, they should listen to their voiceand concentrate on their pronunciation errors and fix them

2.5.4 Tongue twisters

Aim: A Tongue twister is a phrase which is hard to articulate properly In

many books written by linguists such as Celce-Murcia (2010) and Kelly (2000), thistechnique is recommended for English learners This technique is considered to helpstudents speak English smoother and avoid mispronouncing easily-confused words

How: Tongue twisters can easily be found in books and on the internet.

Students choose tongue twister to read They should keep practicing untilpronouncing every words of the tongue twister correctly at a fast speed

2.6 Summary

In summary, this chapter shows basic knowledge relating to pronunciation thatwill serve as the background for the researcher to carry on the study In this chapter,some problems in pronunciation of Vietnamese speakers are presented that help theresearcher investigate the problems in pronunciation of English-majored freshmen

at TMU easier

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINGINDS 3.1 Participants

In order to study problems in pronunciation of English-majored freshmen atTMU, the researcher invited 30 students from K54N2 class to participate in asurvey They are both boys and girls with different accents and from differentprovinces of Vietnam

3.2 Setting

As the data collected were from survey questionnaire and the recording, theresearcher prepared a survey questionnaire and 2 pronunciation exercises forrecording The survey started at 14 o’clock on March 30, 2019 Firstly, studentswere asked to fill the list of question Then, each student was required to read thepassages and words from the exercises clearly while the audio recorder wasworking

3.3 Data collection

3.3.1 Data collection instruments

In order to answer the research question on the Chapter 1, two different kinds

of data collection instruments were used: the recording and the surveyquestionnaire

3.3.1.1 The recording

a The purposes of the recording

Recording is considered as the most effective instrument to investigate theproblems in pronunciation of students As students’ English-pronounced soundswere recorded, it was easy for the researcher to exactly estimated the levels ofEnglish pronunciation skills of each of them The typical pronunciation errorsdetermined from the recording assisted the researcher to investigate the mostchallenging areas of pronunciation to students

b Recording design

The researcher prepared two pronunciation exercises and a smart phone with

an audio recorder application

The first exercise is a pronunciation poem with 6 passages, cited from

https://www.learnenglish.de/pronunciation/pronunciationpoem2.html / The second