HELPING STUDENTS TO PRONOUNCE ENGLISH VOWELS IN THE ENGLISH TEXT 10 CORRECTLY

[Every speech sound must be identified as one of the phonemes and writtenwith the appropriate symbol.]1 In reality, I notice that 20 vowel sounds are introduced briefly in the textbook o

PART I: INTRODUCTION

I Reason for the study

Pronouncing words correctly is very important in learning languages It notonly helps us speak accurately, hear one’s speech sound easily but also helps us tounderstand what people say However, many students are confused and they don’t

know how to pronounce some phonemes correctly in the IPA (International

Phonetic Alphabet) because they don’t understand what phonemic transcription is.

They don’t know when letter A is pronounced as sound / ei /, / æ /, / a: /, / eə /

And how differently vowel sounds /I/ and /i:/ are pronounced

[Every speech sound must be identified as one of the phonemes and writtenwith the appropriate symbol.]1

In reality, I notice that 20 vowel sounds are introduced briefly in the textbook

of English 10 with a short period of limited time and most of the students in Mai

Anh Tuan High School are not familiar with the phonemic transcription

From the reasons mentioned above, I have decided to write my ownexperience initiative on the topic: “HELPING STUDENTS TO PRONOUNCE

ENGLISH VOWELS IN THE ENGLISH TEXT 10 CORRECTLY” with a effective way.

II Aim of the study

With this experience initiative, I wish to help my students pronounce the 20vowel sounds correctly and understand more about the phonemic transcription.Besides, through this experience initiative, I hope to contribute some ideas on issuesrelated to phonology to the teaching experience sources for my colleagues to use as

a reference in their teaching English

III Objective and Scope of the study

In this experience initiative, I give a basic chart of phonemic symbols of thevowels, giving some pictures to present how each sound to be pronouced to helpstudents understand easily and practise them with more exercises

In this page:

- Section I [1] – I consult from English phonetics and Phonology – A practical course, by Peter Roach, Second

edition, Cambridge University Press, word for word; I myself write the rest.

- I myself write contents in Sections II, III.

The topic was studied in the English programme at high school level (Thebasic English textbook 10) It is applied to the grade -10 students at Mai Anh TuanHigh School in the school-year 2020-2021 to help them pronounce words correctlywhen they learn new words and do the “pronunciation part” well in the tests andexaminations.

IV Bases of the study:

The experience inititative has been studied based on my own practicalteaching experiences, referring to documents related to the research topic, observingother teachers’lessons, and consulting my colleagues

PART II: PROBLEM SOLVING

I INTRODUCTION

* Firstly, I introduce the 20 vowel sounds in the IPA with one picture for each

sound and the way how to pronounce each phoneme These sounds are presented bynative speakers through the videos

INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET (IPA)

(BẢNG KÝ HIỆU NGỮ ÂM HỌC QUỐC TẾ)

Vowels: monophthong and diphthongs (double vowels)

(/ˈmɒn.əf.θɒŋɒŋ - /ˈmɑː.nəf.θɒŋɑːŋ/ and /ˈdɪf.θɒŋɒŋ/ - /ˈdɪf.θɒŋɑːŋ/)

(Nguyên âm: nguyên âm đơn và nguyên âm đôi)

1 Monophthong (nguyên âm đơn)

2 Dipthongs (nguyên âm đôi)

* Secondly, I introduce each sound seperatedly and let the students practise them

through the exercises

1 /i:/

/iː/ is a long vowel sound

Make your mouth wide, like a smile /iː/

Your tongue touches the sides of your teeth /

iː/

It's pronounced /iː/ /iː/

THE WORDS IN UNIT 1 – ENGLISH 10: E LANGUAGE FOCUS AND THE LIKE

A piece of pizza, please

/ə piːs əv ˈpiːtsə pliːz/

She received her teaching degree

/ʃiː rɪˈsiːvt hər tiːtʃɪŋ dɪˈɡriː/

There are only three people in the museum

/ðer ər ˈəʊnli θɒŋriːˈpiːpl ɪn ðə mjuˈziːəm/

2 /I/

/ɪ/ is a short vowel sound

Make your mouth a bit less wide than for /i:/

Your tongue is a bit further back in your

mouth than for /i:/

/ʊ/ is a short vowel sound.

Make your lip a little rounded

Your tongue is not so far back as for /u: /

4 /uː/

/uː/ is a long vowel sound

Make a lip into a circle

Put your tongue up and back

It's pronounced /uː/ /uː/

THE WORDS IN UNIT 5 – ENGLISH 10: E LANGUAGE FOCUS AND THE LIKE

Are you doing anything on Tuesday?

/ɑːr juː 'duːɪŋ 'eniθɒŋɪŋ ɒn ˈtuːzdeɪ/

You must chew your food

/juː mʌst tʃuː jɔːr fuːd/

He proved he knew the truth

/hi pruːvd hi nuː ðə truːθɒŋ/

The group flew to New York in June

/ðə gruːp fluː tuː njuː jɔːrk ɪn dʒuːn/

Who ruined my new blue shoes?

/wuː 'ruːɪnd maɪ njuː bluː ʃuːz/

5 /e/

/e/ is a short and relaxed sound

Open your mouth wide

It's pronounced /e/ /e/

THE WORDS IN UNIT 3 – ENGLISH 10: E LANGUAGE FOCUS AND THE LIKE

Met /met/

Bell /bel/

Many /'meni/

Breakfast /'brekfəst/

Send his friend a letter!

/send hɪz frend ə 'letər/

Let's rent a tent

/lets rent ə tent/

Ben never gets upset

/ben nevər gets ʌp'set/

Fred said it again and again

/fred sed ɪt ə'gen ən ə'gen/

Peg slept from six until ten and then left

/peg slept frəm sɪks ʌn'tɪl ten ən ðen left/

6 /ə/

/ə/ is a short vowel sound

Open your mouth very slightly and simply

The lips and tongue are relaxed

My cousin will arrive at seven

/maɪ ˈkʌzn wɪl əˈraɪv ət ˈsevn/

Complete today's lesson please

/kəmˈpliːt təˈdeɪz ˈlesn pliːz/

Don’t complain about the problem

/dəʊnt kəmˈpleɪn əˈbaʊt ðə ˈprɒbləm/

7 /ɜː/

/ɜː/ is a long vowel sound

Your mouth and tongue should be relaxed

My birthday's on Thursday the thirty first

/maɪ ˈbɜːrθɒŋdeɪz ɔːn ˈθɒŋɜːrzdeɪ ðə ˈθɒŋɜːrti fɜːrst/

That is the worst journey in the world

8 /ɔː/

/ɔː/ is a long vowel sound

Put the front of your tongue down

Round your lips

George talked to Corey at the airport.

/dʒɔːdʒ tɔːkt tə 'kɔːri ət ði ˈerpɔːrt/

10 /ʌ/

/ʌ/ is a short, relaxed vowel sound

Open your mouth wide

Your tongue should rest in the middle of your

I’d love to come on Sunday if it’s sunny

/aɪd lʌv tə kʌm ɒnˈsʌndeɪ ɪf ɪts 'sʌni/

The mother won some of the money, but not enough

/ðə mʌðər wʌn sʌm ʌv ðə 'mʌni bʌt nɒt ɪˈnʌf/

11 /ɑː/

/ɑː/ is a long vowel sound

Open your mouth wide

Your tongue should rest in the bottom of

/ɒ/ is a short vowel sound.

To make this sound, round your lips a little

The front of your tongue is low and towards

the back of your mouth

1 /ɪə/

/ɪə/ is a long vowel sound

It starts with /ɪ/ and moves to /ə/

/eɪ/ is a long vowel sound

It starts with /e/ and moves to /ɪ/

It’s pronounced /eɪ/ /eɪ/

THE WORDS IN UNIT 7 – ENGLISH 10: E LANGUAGE FOCUS AND THE LIKE

He came a day later.

/hi keɪm ə deɪ ˈleɪtər/

It was the grey day in May

/ɪt wəz ðə ɡreɪ deɪ ɪn meɪ/

Is this the way to the station?

/ɪs ðɪs ðə weɪ tə ðə ˈsteɪʃn/

We pray the grey day will go away

/wi preɪ ðə greɪ deɪ wɪl ɡəʊ əˈweɪ/

Wait at the gate, I'll be there at eight

/weɪt ət ðə geɪt aɪl bi ðeər ət eɪt/

3 /ʊə/

/ʊə/ is a long vowel sound

It starts with /ʊ/ and moves to /ə/

4 /ɔi/

/ɔɪ/ is a long vowel sound

It starts with /ɒ/ and moves to /ɪ/

/əʊ/ is a long vowel sound

It begins with /ə/ and move to /ʊ/

Phone /fəʊn/ Tomorrow /təˈmɔːroʊ/

/eə/ is a long vowel sound

It starts with /e/ and moves to /ə/

It’s pronounced /eə/ /eə/

THE WORDS IN UNIT 9 – ENGLISH 10: E LANGUAGE FOCUS AND THE LIKE

fairy tale /ˈfeəri teɪl/

Look at that airplane

/lʊk ət ðæt ˈeəpleɪn/

Up there, in the air, of course

/ʌp ðeər ɪn ði eər əv kɔːrs/

The fair hair man ran in the sand

/ðə feər heər mæn ræn ɪn ðə sænd/

Where are the spare pairs Stan and Dan wear?

/weər ər ðə speər peərz stæn ən dæn weər/

They're cramming for their exam over there

/ðeər 'kræmɪŋ fər ðeər ɪɡˈzæm ˈəʊvər ðeər/

7 /ai/

/aɪ/ is a long vowel sound

It starts with /ɑː/ and moves to /ɪ/

It’s pronounced /aɪ/ /aɪ/

THE WORDS IN UNIT 7 – ENGLISH 10: E LANGUAGE FOCUS AND THE LIKE

tour guide /tʊər ɡaɪd/

Drive on the right

/draɪv ɒn ðə raɪt/

Why don't you try?

/waɪ dəʊnt juː traɪ/

Do you like dry wine?

/du ju laɪk draɪ waɪn/

I'm twice your size, Lisa

/aɪm twaɪs jʊr saɪz 'lɪzə/

That guy might buy my cycle

/ ðæt ɡaɪ maɪt baɪ maɪ 'saɪkl/

8 /aʊ/

/aʊ/ is a long vowel sound

It starts with /ɑː/ and moves to /ʊ/

It's pronounced /aʊ/ /aʊ/

THE WORDS IN UNIT 8 – ENGLISH 10: E LANGUAGE FOCUS AND THE LIKE

Our townhouse has a brown mouse.

/ˈaʊər ˈtaʊnhaʊs hæz ə braʊn maʊs/

Are we allowed to speak aloud?

/ɑːr wi əˈlaʊd tə spiːk əˈlaʊd/

We found our gowns downtown

/wi faʊnd ˈaʊər gaʊnz 'daʊntaʊn/

Shower the flower for an hour

/ˈʃaʊər ðə ˈflaʊər fɔːr ən ˈaʊər/

How’s the loud vowel sound?

/haʊz ðə laʊd ˈvaʊəl saʊnd/

3 Some exercises in tests, exams.

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word whose underlined part differs from the other three in pronunciation in each of the following questions.

Question 1: A eleven B elephant C examine D exact

Question 2: A work B form C stork D force

(University Entrance Examination by Ministry of Education and Training, in 2013)

Key

Question 3: A deal B teach C break D clean

(University Entrance Examination by Ministry of Education and Training, in 2014)

Key

Question 4: A justice B campus C culture D brush

(University Entrance Examination by Ministry of Education and Training, in 2015)

Key

Question 5: A lose B chose C close D rose

(Examination for gifted students in Thanh Hoa province, 2012 – 2013)

Key

Question 6: A famous B nervous C favourite D mountain

(Examination for gifted students in Thanh Hoa province, 2015 – 2016)

Key

PART III: CONCLUSION

I Study results:

After I provided the students some rules of phonemic transcription of Englishvowels and the way how to pronounce them, our students have pronounced thevowel sounds correctly and have known how to resolve “pronunciation part”

Below are the results of the study before and after being applied to teach theways of pronunciation and some rules of phonemic transcription of Englishlanguage in the classes 10D and 10M at Mai Anh Tuan High School in the school-year 2020-2021

+ Before applying

Lớp

Number of students

Number of students give incorrect answers

Number of students give correct answers

Number of students give incorrect answers

Number of students give correct answers

II Suggestions:

This experience initiative is the result of my private experience collectedduring teaching period, hence it has some limitations I am grateful to get as manyconstructive ideas or suggestions as possible from my colleagues, managers to better

the study and to help it become more productive in the English teaching and learning process at high schools in the future

I would like to express my sincere thanks!

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Nga Son, May 17th 2021 I hereby declare that this is my innovative experience and that no parts of the initiative have been copied and reproduced by me from any other’s work without acknowledgement The writer

Bui Van Dien TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PART I: INTRODUCTION 01 I Reason for the study 01

II Aim of the study 01

I. INTRODUCTION

1 Monophthong

2 Dipthongs

II PROCEDURE

03 03 04 04

2 Dipthongs

3 Exercises

1217

REFERENCES

[1] English 10, by Hoang Van Van, the publisher of Vietnam Education

[2] English 11, by Hoang Van Van, the publisher of Vietnam Education

[3] English 12, by Hoang Van Van, the publisher of Vietnam Education

[4] English phonetics and Phonology – A practical course, by Peter Roach,

Second edition, Cambridge University Press

[5] An English encyclopaedia for students, by the publisher of the Ha Noi Culture

[8] The website tienganh123.com

[9] https://www.youtube.com/Oxford online English