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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE

A SURVEY ON PRONUNCIATION OF MAJORED STUDENDS AT UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES: PROBLEMS AND SOME SUGGESTIONS ON

NON-TEACHING AND LEARNING

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS (TESOL)

SUBMITTED BY: BUI KIM HUONG

SUBPERVISOR: PETER LEONARD, M.A

HO CHI MINH CITY : MARCH 2009

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled

A SURVEY ON TEACHING AND LEARNING PRONUNCIATION OF MAJORS AT UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES:

NON-SOME PROBLEMS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

in terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s Program issued

by the Higher Degree Committee

Ho Chi Minh City, March 2009

Bùi Kim Hương

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am deeply indebted to a number of people who assisted me in making this M.A thesis possible First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Mr Peter Leonard, M.A., my supervisor, who gave me valuable evaluations and comments on my project at any time I needed Without his guidance and support,

my thesis would not have been possible

I would like to thank the organizers of the Post- Graduate Study Program in TESOL, the Department of English Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities and their staff members

I am also grateful to the teachers of English and non-majors at University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City for their cooperation in my data collection for this thesis

My appreciation is also extended to my colleagues and my friends for their valuable assistance, comments, and suggestions in conducting the thesis, especially Mr Nguyen Trong Hung, Ms Nguyen Thi Anh Nguyet, Mr Phan Thanh Anh Duy and Mr Phan Chinh Thuan

Last, but not least, my heartfelt thanks go to my parents, my sisters for their love, sacrifice and support I also wish to thank my husband Ninh Trung Tan who is always by my side with unfailing love, understanding, encouragement, and support

ABSTRACT

This study aims (1) to investigate teaching and learning pronunciation of majors at University of Social Sciences and Humanities regarding difficulties in teaching and learning pronunciation and (2) to give some recommendations for improving pronunciation of non-majors at University of Social Sciences and Humanities

non-Both the quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed in this study The study was mainly based on questionnaires delivered to 120 non-majors and 11 teachers of English Structured interviews were conducted to collect data

on pronunciation mistakes of non-majors

The research findings suggest that (1) non-majors encounter difficulties in learning and improving pronunciation (2) the main cause of these difficulties is the lack of training on pronunciation and (3) some recommendations are offered to help solve the problem in teaching and learning pronunciation of non-majors at University of Social Sciences and Humanities

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Common problems of Vietnamese learners in pronouncing English .2

1.3 The aims of the thesis 4

1.4 The research questions 4

1.5 The significance of the study 4

1.6 Limitation and delimitation 5

1.7 Overview of the thesis 6

CHAPTER 2 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 7

2.1 Description of the English course for non- majors at USSH 7

2.1.1 Teaching and learning environment 7

2.1.2 English course for non-majors at USSH 7

2.1.3 Teaching materials 8

2.2 Description of learners 15

2.3 Description of teachers 15

2.4 Summary 16

CHAPTER 3 LITERATURE REVIEW 17

3.1 What is pronunciation? 17

3.2 Why do we have to learn pronunciation? 18

3.3 Teaching and learning pronunciation 19

3.4 Some factors that affect pronunciation learning 26

3.4.1 The native language 27

3.4.2 Age 27

3.4.3 Learning environment 28

3.4.4 Ability 29

3.4.5 Motivation and attitude 30

3.4.6 Self-esteem 30

3.5 Some differences between Vietnamese and English sound system 31

3.6 Possible mistakes that Vietnamese learners make when pronouncing English 36

3.6.1 Consonants 37

3.6.2 Vowels 38

3.6.3 Stress, rhythm, and intonation 39

3.7 Summary 41

CHAPTER 4 METHODOLOGY 42

4.1 Research design 42

4.3 Description of participants 42

4.4 Instrument 43

4.5 Data collection procedure 45

4.6 Summary 46

CHAPTER 5 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 47

5.1 Findings of the questionnaires 47

5.1.1 Demographic information 47

5.1.1.1 Students 47

5.1.1.2 Teachers 48

5.1.2 Responses from the learners 49

5.1.2.1.Experience and difficulties of the students in learning English 49

5.1.2.2 Difficulties in learning pronunciation 52

5.1.2.3 Teaching pronunciation at USSH 54

5.1.2.4 Attitudes and motivations in learning pronunciation 57

5.1.2.5 Evaluations and suggestions on the present ESP course 61

5.1.3 Responses from the teachers 64

5.1.3.1 Skill and language aspect learners had difficulties 64

5.1.3.2 Teaching pronunciation at USSH 64

5.1.3.3 Correcting mistakes 65

5.1.3.4 Teachers’ attitudes towards teaching pronunciation 65

5.1.3.5 Some suggestions from the teachers 66

5.2 Findings of the tape-recording 68

5.2.1 Consonants and consonant clusters 68

5.2.2 Vowels 68

5.3 Discussions 71

5.4 Summary 72

CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSIONS 73

6.1 Conclusions 73

6.2 Recommendations 76

6.3 Limitations of the study 80

6.4 Suggestions for further study 81

APPENDIX 1 82

APPENDIX 2 87

APPENDIX 3 90

BIBLIOGRAPHY 91

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 5.4 Language aspect that learners needed to improve the most page52

Figure 5.5 Percentage of students having difficulties in pronouncing

Figure 5.10 Students’ awareness of learning pronunciation page 59

Figure 5.13 Students’ evaluation on the present ESP course page 62 Figure 5.14 Students’ suggestions on teaching pronunciation page 63 Figure 5.15 Teachers’ attitudes towards teaching pronunciation page 66 Figure 5.16 Teachers’ suggestions on teaching pronunciation page 67

ABBREVIATIONS

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale:

In the world of integration and globalization people are trying to eliminate differences between cultures, languages, lifestyles, etc to get closer to each other Language seems to be the first and most important tool to help people get to know others Among popular languages being spoken in the world, English is considered

to be the international language as it is widely spoken in many countries If people find out that they are from different countries and do not speak the same language, they will think of English as a useful way to bridge differences between the two languages Therefore, English is one of the most popular foreign languages being learned by people of all ages and of all social classes In Vietnam, the importance

of English has been highlighted since Vietnam joined the WTO as it is the key language in most of the international meetings or conferences Besides, English is mainly used in communication between foreigners and Vietnamese in many fields

It is not denied that the number of learners rushing to language schools or centers

to learn English is considerably increasing It takes time for a learner to gain enough necessary knowledge to be able to communicate in English It is rather easy for Vietnamese learners to communicate with another Vietnamese in English

as they have nearly the same language background or they can be understood since their Vietnamese listeners can guess what they are saying But this does not remain the same when their listeners are foreigners or native speakers since there are so many differences between Vietnamese and English languages To be successful in communication with a foreigner or a native, they have to practice and improve four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing

Since this study aims at pronunciation, speaking would be the main skill to be discussed because pronunciation is mainly involved in speaking Being a good speaker, one has to equip him/herself not only vocabulary, grammar or some other crucial techniques but also good pronunciation “Good pronunciation” to a learner

of English is not necessary to be like a native’s pronunciation as it is impossible for a foreigner to speak in a voice like that of a native speaker A learner of English is evaluated to have “good pronunciation” if he/she can make him/herself understood when speaking with a foreigner or a native speaker

As English and Vietnamese are completely pronounced differently, this big gap between the two languages may lead to numerable failures in communication In order to limit these breakdowns, Vietnamese learners have to improve their pronunciation to be able to speak English with easy-to-be-understood pronunciation However, this task remains difficult to many Vietnamese learners

1.2 Common problems of Vietnamese learners in pronouncing English

Is pronunciation an important matter in fluency in speaking? The answer is “Yes” When one speaks English with poor pronunciation, no one can understand him/her and it is an annoying conversation when those “ugly sounds” keep pouring into their listeners’ ears One of the most interesting facts is that people pay much more attention to your voice rather than the content of what you are saying so it is a big advantage for one if he/she has a good voice (from Lifelines’pre-intermediate reading text, attached in Appendices) or it may be said that good pronunciation

To non-native speakers, good or native-like pronunciation is a language aspect that few can master However, in order to be a good speaker of English, many learners are trying to improve their pronunciation so that they can understand what is being said by a native or a foreigner and be more intelligible

In schools from elementary to high schools and colleges or universities, English is the main foreign language taught In University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH), English is widely taught in majored as well as non-majored departments

As the scope of this thesis focuses on pronunciation of non-majors, the population

is limited in non-majored departments only As it has been mentioned above, English is a compulsory subject so the students have to achieve a certain level before they graduate However, the number of students who can speak English

well is not satisfactory It is true that many graduates can not get the jobs they want just for the reason of weak English There are many explanations for this such as they do not have enough majored knowledge in English or they can not communicate in English due to many reasons such as weak ability of using English, lack of self-confidence or vocabulary Among those causes the ability of speaking English fluently seems to be the most noticeable cause of graduates’ failure in getting jobs They can read and write rather well but they have some certain obstacles in speaking, especially in pronunciation It can be said that their biggest problem is speaking and it is not easy to find out a non-majored graduate who can speak English with good pronunciation There are many causes of this problem like differences between Vietnamese and English sound systems, age or habits of pronouncing and it is clear that poor pronunciation causes a lot of irritations and troubles

There have been many theses focusing on finding out pronunciation problems Vietnamese learners have when they speak English like Ms Nguyen Thi Phuc Hoa’s master thesis “Some pronunciation problems facing the learners of English language at Hue University when speaking English naturally” in 1999 In 2008,

Ms Nguyen Thi Anh Nguyet’s study also explored some pronunciation problems

of students at An Giang University and games were considered to be able to help solve the problem For that reason, this study does not want to redo this kind of research However, the researcher would like to summarize some problems Vietnamese learners have in pronouncing English since this helps readers have general understanding on the matter Since English and Vietnamese languages come from different language background, they have considerable distinctive features A noticeable number of English sounds do not exist in Vietnamese language therefore Vietnamese learners surely have difficulties in saying them Moreover, Vietnamese is a monosyllabic and tone language so it is not easy for learners to acquire good pronunciation of English It cannot be denied that every learner of a second language has certain problems in pronouncing and they try to make the gap narrower by replacing the sounds in that second language with

similar sounds in their mother tongue This does not help much as each speaker has his/her own way to say the sounds That is why they usually fail to communicate with native speakers

1.3 The aims of the thesis

The aims of the study are to identify causes of problems of non-majored students

in USSH facing in learning pronunciation, and recommend some suggestions to help solve the problem

To achieve these aims, the study is designed to find out experience of learners in learning English pronunciation It also finds out their motivations and expectation

in learning pronunciation From the data collected, some recommendations are provided to be used to minimize possible difficulties in pronouncing English

1.4 The research questions

The study aims at finding out causes of problems in learning pronunciation of majored students in USSH, and giving some recommendations on teaching and learning pronunciation of non-majors The aims of the study are presented in the following research questions:

non-(1) Why do non-majors have difficulties in pronouncing English?

(2) How have they learned pronunciation?

(3) What should be done to improve teaching and learning pronunciation?

1.5 The significance of the study

This study was designed to find out the reasons why the specific subjects majored students in USSH) have problems in pronouncing English There are numberable causes of pronunciation problems according to each learner One can find pronunciation difficult to learn because he/she is old, another find it hard due

(non-to mother (non-tongue’s interference From the reasons mentioned, this study investigated specific causes of problems in pronunciation of non-majors Also, some recommendations were made to help solve the problem

English is a compulsory foreign language taught at non-majored departments in USSH Students have to learn English from the early stage but the number of students who can speak English with good pronunciation is limited It is true that just few of non-majored graduates can communicate in English well and pass interviews for jobs They are, of course, taught four skills of using English but pronunciation has been paid little attention and they finally speak English in alien pronunciation

As pronunciation plays an important role in speaking, it should be highlighted and paid great concern However, it is hard to find a non- major speaking English with easy-to-understand pronunciation Non-majors face a lot of trouble in making themselves understood when speaking English and this leads them to failures in looking for a job in a foreign company or getting scholarships abroad Seeing the importance of improving their pronunciation this study is designed to help them overcome these obstacles

1.6 Limitation and delimitation

First of all, this study is investigated at USSH with the 120 participants from majored departments and 11 teachers of English so the data collected is completely true for this population only The findings may vary if the study is carried out in another setting Besides, it can be more reliable if it had been done

non-on larger populatinon-on

Second, due to time and financial resources there may be some aspects solved unsatisfactorily

1.7 Overview of the thesis

Chapter 1 serves as the introduction of the study, which identifies the general setting, the problems, as well as the significance of the study It also mentions some limitation and delimitation in doing the research

Chapter 2 provides the background of the study as it describes the specific setting

of the USSH, the ESP course and the teaching materials The learners and teachers are also described

Chapter 3 covers the literature review of the thesis from which the study is supported

Chapter 4 presents the methodology of the study involving data collection and how the study is conducted

Chapter 5 processes, analyzes the data collected and discusses the findings

Chapter 6 draws some conclusions and suggests some recommendations to help solve the problem

CHAPTER 2 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

2.1 Description of the English course for non- majors at USSH

Chapter 2 gives some general background of the study in which the teaching and learning environment is described This part also describes the ESP course and the teaching materials being used with the hope to bring better understanding of the problem mentioned

2.1.1 Teaching and learning environment

The University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH) is one member of Vietnam National University (VNU-HCM) At present the university has 18 faculties with over 500 lectures and other staff, and more than 20,000 students The university now has one main campus at 10-12 Dinh Tien Hoang St and a branch in Linh Trung, Thu Duc USSH is facilitated with

- three laboratories for foreign language training using the audio-visual method

- a computer room with 100 computers, and

- a multimedia laboratory equipped with 50 networked computers with access to the Internet

2.1.2 English course for non- majors in USSH

As students of four main non-majored departments, here Sociology, History, Linguistics and Literature and Education, were chosen to be the population of this study, the researcher would like to give full description of the ESP course for these students

Non-majored students have to learn English from the first school year to the last one In the first and second years, they have to learn General English to improve four communicative skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing in English The teaching syllabus was designed in one class with 5 periods (45 minutes each) Therefore, students just learned English once a week

When they enter the third school year (i.e., after they have studied General English for at least two years), they have to focus on an ESP course (English for specific/special purposes) to acquire some necessary knowledge in English for their majors Majored topics would be provided to help students improve their reading skill They are also asked to write or speak about the topics

Therefore, according to their subject area, textbooks are edited by teachers of English who are working in Department of English linguistics and literature Within the domain of this English course for non-majored students, the editors of these books design them with the following aims:

• To help the students improve their reading skill through reading texts

• To provide the students vocabulary related to their subject areas

• To stimulate students practice listening, speaking and writing through activities

2.1.3 Teaching materials

Non-majors have to learn General English in their first and second school years The course books used to teach is Lifelines by Hutchinson Woodbridge, Oxford University Press, 1999 The two first books are expected to be finished after 2 years

According to Woodbridge, H., (1999) Lifelines is a three-level general English

course at elementary, pre-intermediate, and intermediate level It has been designed to offer flexibility within a clear and easy-to-use format The books provide knowledge and activities for improving four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing

Main features of Lifelines:

The three key features of Lifelines are flexibility, interest and coherence

• Flexibility:

Each unit of Lifelines Student’s book contains a basic core of material that focuses

on a particular area of grammar and vocabulary, with Reading and writing, Listening and speaking and Pronunciation sections There is an Extension section after every two units which revises the main language areas of the previous two

units and provides further skills-based practice to recycle the language of the core material

• Interest:

The key to successful learning is motivation Lifelines presents and practices the language and skills in contexts that are relevant to the interests and modern lifestyles of the students

• Coherence:

Language learning is a complex multi-layered process that requires a wide range

of different approaches, from language analysis and rule formation to free communication Lifelines provides the necessary range of reflection, practice, and use, and links these elements together into a coherent unit structure that combines steady development with sufficient recycling

Format of Lifelines Student’s books:

Each book from the elementary to intermediate level is designed in one format as follows:

Starting out unit provides students some warm-up activities to get started with the book and get to know each other The activities also help teacher to assess the students’ existing knowledge of the language

Each of the 14 units is based around a theme and has a main structural focus, which is recycled and developed through the unit Each unit contains these sections:

• Grammar:

This section presents and practices a structural area with three stages:

Grammar in use: Grammar point is presented in use in a presentation text or

dialogue

Rules: Extracts from the text or dialogue are used to exemplify the structure’s

form and use

Practice: Activities are provided for the students to use the structure The

exercises are graded from controlled to free, and great emphasis is put on the use

of the structure to talk about students’ own lives

• Vocabulary:

This section provides students vocabulary which is necessary for students to work

on the Reading and writing and Listening and speaking

• Reading and writing:

This section develops the students’ reading and writing skills through a variety of

exercise types and extends their vocabulary It also contains a Vocabulary file and/or a Language focus The Vocabulary files deal with a small area of vocabulary relevant to the reading passage The Language focuses present and

practice a small area of grammar

• Listening and speaking:

This section deals with everyday spoken language in common situations There is

a wide variety of listening tasks

• Pronunciation:

This section has two parts The first part deals with the sounds of English, and includes an introduction to the IPA The second part focuses on other aspects of pronunciation like stress or intonation

After every two units there is an Extension section which provides controlled and free revision of the previous material so that the students can practice the grammar and vocabulary of the units

Since they finish the first two years learning General English, they are expected to attain pre-intermediate level of English proficiency, they continue to equip themselves with necessary knowledge on reading materials relating to their subjects To meet the needs of the students in each department, books are designed with subject-related topics

According to the editors of the books some typical features of the ESP course and the course books used in teaching non-majors are presented below:

ESP textbook for students of Department of History by Bùi Thị Phương Thảo, and Nguyễn Thị Như Ngọc, Ho Chi Minh City National University Press

Reading is mainly focused but the authors also provide some listening activities relating to the topics so that the course would be more interesting and the students could improve their listening skill as well

Teachers are required to focus on providing vocabulary to help the learners improve their reading skill A glossary is provided for reading texts with difficult terms or meanings

Grammar is presented as points in Grammar Review with some short exercises Comprehension Check is to check the learners’ understanding of the texts

Discussion or Follow-up questions and Comprehension Analysis are designed to help the learners practice and improve using English The students may be asked

to prepare this task at home so that they can be more confident to perform in class Group-work is stimulated in class to help the students learn English effectively Translation is provided in each unit to help the students apply notions and language knowledge they have learnt

Each unit contains several tasks as follows:

5 Comprehension Questions – Comprehension Analysis

• Questions for short answers

• TRUE/FALSE statements

• Multiple choice questions

6 Text organization (identification of the topic sentences, picking out supporting ideas)

7 Translation

8 Follow –up activities (Discussion)

• Discussion (2 or 3 questions related to the topic of the reading passage)

• Summary writing or sentence building (writing by developing the given key words or summing up the text)

• Translation (sentence translation and translation of short passages; English-Vietnamese and Vietnamese into English)

9 Listening

10 Cultural points

ESP book for students at Department of Sociology by Phó Phương Dung, Ho Chi Minh City National University Press:

ESP course for third-year and fourth-year students of the Department of Sociology

is designed with three books from English for Sociology from 1 to 3 The books cover different topics, text types and language that the students may encounter in the readings in their subject area

The aims of the course are:

• To help the students to be able to read and understand English texts related

to their subject area

• To develop the reading and writing skills that they need in their future jobs

• To help them be able to discuss topics in their area in English using the vocabulary that they have learnt

• To familiarize students with the different text types that are common in their subject area: books, articles, letters, reports, ads, argumentative essays, etc

• To provide students with strategies for reading more difficult texts in their subject area

Approach:

The books are designed in theme-based approach to reading, the point of which is

to give students appropriate information about the topic that will allow them to become familiar with vocabulary, ideas and issues within that topic

The books represent topics that are of interests to sociology students like: gender issues, family issues, ethnics etc,

Besides practicing reading skill, the students also write and talk about what they read

Each unit is built around a reading selection on a timely sociological topic All other sections are tightly connected to the reading and aim at enhancing the students’ comprehension of the reading selection

Each unit contains the following parts:

• One or two pre-reading exercises

• The main reading selection

• Post-reading activities (comprehension questions, vocabulary, grammar review, text organization, writing, discussion and games)

ESP textbook for students of the Department of Education by Chu Thị Lê Hoàng, and Võ Thị Nữ Anh, Ho Chi Minh City National University Press:

It is intended for students at intermediate level In order to meet the needs of the students, the book introduces them to the world of facts and ideas and makes them familiar with a wide range of different styles of writing on education While focusing on reading, the book also promotes the development of other language skills like listening, speaking and writing in a variety of ways

It is expected that by the end of the course students will be able to:

• Scan read and skim read a text for main ideas and specific details

• Extract information from a reading passage to make restatements and inferences

• Evaluate the writer’s viewpoint and attitude

• Understand the organization of the reading text

• Enrich their vocabulary of both general English and core specialized language

• Consolidate their English grammar

• Comfortably express and defend their ideas both in spoken and written form about a certain issue in their field at a basic level

The book focuses on reading skill and provides theme-based readings It aims to give students chances to read about issues in their discipline through its wide coverage of themes relevant to their needs and interests

Each teaching unit of the book includes

• Translation (from Vietnamese into English and vice versa)

ESP text book for students of the Department of Linguistics and Literature

by Văn Thị Nhã Trúc, Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Như, Lê Thị Ngọc Ánh, Cao Thị Phương Dung, Vũ Văn Thái and Nguyễn Thành Trung

It is compiled to meet students’ needs of subject-majored material in English In order to meet the needs of the students, the book introduces them to ideas and terms in Linguistics and Literature It helps them practice skills, especially reading

in order to read reference materials in English Each teaching unit of the book includes

From descriptions of the textbooks used in ESP course, it can be seen that pronunciation was not included in the teaching program These books focused on developing reading and writing skills, therefore, listening and speaking did not play the main role here Since pronunciation is a part of listening and speaking, it was not paid much attention if these two skills were not the foci of the teaching program As a result, non-majors did not have chances to practice and improve pronunciation

2.2 Description of learners

Non-majors at USSH are from many provinces in Vietnam Most of them are at the age of 20 to 22 Before they enter USSH they have learned English at high

are not good as expected for they have learned English under Translation Methodology Consequently, they had few chances to practice English actively or communicatively as the class was teacher-centered where students just read and wrote after their teachers

Grammar-As reading and writing held key role in learning English at high schools, students rarely had time to practice speaking and listening Moreover, pronunciation is not paid much attention in teaching program at high schools, the students’ pronunciation is not good

2.3 Description of teachers

Teachers of English at USSH are those of Vietnamese teachers who at least obtained good or excellent degree of Bachelors and are achieving a degree of Master in TESOL Most of them are working as teachers of English in Department

of English Linguistics and Literature

2.4 Summary

This chapter has provided some background information about teaching and learning situation of non-majors at USSH ESP course designed for non-majors has been carefully described to help make better understanding to the study Non-majors have learned English under traditional Grammar-Translation method at high school and they do not have much time to improve speaking in class when they learn English in USSH, therefore, their pronunciation of English is not good and they have a lot of difficulties in pronouncing English

CHAPTER 3 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter focuses on some crucial features of teaching and learning pronunciation It also provides some main differences between Vietnamese and English sound systems from which some possible problems are predicted and explained

3.1 What is pronunciation?

When people learn a foreign language, in this case English, they usually find it necessary to learn and improve four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing Besides, they also spend a lot of time on learning grammar rules and try to enrich vocabulary as much as possible However, few of them pay much attention

to pronunciation since they find it difficult to acquire native-like pronunciation It seems impossible for them to produce correct sounds of L2, English, for they have spoken L1 for ages Here L1 is familiar to them while L2 is completely new to them As a result, it takes a lot of time and effort to practice pronunciation in L2 Among of these components, pronunciation seems to be the hardest part to conquer and learners of English make a lot of mistakes in pronouncing Grammar and vocabulary can be learned by heart, but it seems to be an exception to pronunciation as it is never easy to master pronunciation They believe that some can acquire good pronunciation because they are talented Is pronunciation important in learning English? Most of learners of English would say “Yes” as good pronunciation contributes to good speaking and listening skills

Pronunciation is simply defined as “the way in which a language or a particular word or sound is pronounced” (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary) However, how to pronounce a sound, a word or a language correctly is not that simple, especially to learners of a foreign or second language

3.2 Why do we have to learn pronunciation?

In learning a second or a foreign language, pronunciation is a crucial part It was considered outdated to teach and learn pronunciation However, it is recently thought that pronunciation also plays a very important role in speaking a language When we talk to a native speaker what we want to say must be clear and understandable so that he/she can get our messages It is a breakdown in communication if we try our best to express what we mean in wrong pronunciation and he/she can hardly follow us What we are saying now is just a string of unintelligible sounds if we say it with poor pronunciation This leads to a terrible failure in communicative activities as both the speaker and listener are in confusion and irritation

People want to learn foreign languages as they need to communicate with foreigners and it is necessary for them to know a popular foreign language, here English, as it helps them in their study and their future jobs And nobody wants to speak English in a non-English manner It is not denied that better English pronunciation brings learners of English a lot of benefits as they can be more intelligible and they have more advantages in communicating with foreigners than those with poor pronunciation

Since two speakers never pronounce the same word in the same way, therefore, it

is easy to understand that two learners of English have two different ways pronouncing it So what should be done to bridge space between speakers from different language background? How can we come closer when communicating in English while we pronounce English differently? Here we have one question to take into consideration: Which English should we use as a good model in learning and improving our pronunciation?

According to O’Connor, J.D (1980: 5) people living in different geographical areas do not speak English in the same way as

“If you live in a part of the world like India or West Africa, where there is a tradition of speaking English for general communication purposes, you should aim to acquire a very good variety of the pronunciation of this area; such varieties of Indian English or African English and the like are

to be respected and used as a model by all those who will need their English mainly for the purpose of communication with their fellows in these areas It would be a mistake in these circumstances to use as a model B.B.C English or anything of the sort”

However, it does not matter if we speak English in American or English pronunciation form in a country like Vietnam where people do not use English for general communication purposes In schools in Vietnam both models of English are widely taught and accepted

3.3 Teaching and learning pronunciation

Teaching and learning pronunciation is never easy work Teachers realize that their students have some problems in pronouncing but they can hardly make it correct As Kenworthy, J (1987: vii) stated that

“Teachers observe their learners trying to pronounce English and realize that

something is wrong But exactly what is wrong and why? How does one account

for the fact that learners seem to vary so much? Some learners seem to have few

pronunciation problems, others have a great many; some individuals progress

well, others seem stranded on the proverbial plateau And why is an individual’s

performance so variable? Sometimes a learner can make a sound perfectly and

then, in the next instant, their performance seems to deteriorate, why all this

instability? Sometimes it seems that it is not making a sound which is difficult,

but knowing when and where to use it There are some aspects of pronunciation

that seem especially elusive, such as intonation And lastly, the question that is

most important for teachers – how can the teacher help? What should be taught

and how?”

As it is cited above, teaching pronunciation seems to be the most difficult and exhausting task as the teachers have to do a great deal of work and they are not sure whether they are ‘well-paid’ afterwards Will their students speak with better pronunciation or they just find it boring and time-wasting learning pronunciation? Some learners are eager to improve their pronunciation but some are not Other students give up after many times failing in making their tongues do what their

will wants Why do learners have so many difficulties in learning pronunciation of

a foreign language?

According to O’Connor J.D (1980: 1)

“Language starts with the ear When a baby starts to talk he does it by hearing the sounds his mother makes and imitating them… But normal babies can hear and can imitate; they are wonderful imitators, and this gift of imitation, which gives

us the gift of speech, last for a number of years It is well known that a child of

ten years old or less can learn any language perfectly…But after this age the

ability to imitate perfectly becomes less, and we all know only too well that adults have great difficulty in mastering the pronunciation(as well as other parts)

of foreign languages Some people are more talented than others; they find pronouncing other languages less difficulty, but they never find them easy Why

is this? Why should this gift that we all have as children disappear in later life? Why can’t grown-up people pick up the characteristic sound of a foreign language as a child can?

The answer to this is that our native language won’t let us By the time we are grown up the habits of our own language are so strong that they are very difficult

to break In our own language we have a fairly small number of sound-units which we put together in many different combinations to form the words and sentences we use every day And as we get older we are dominated by this small number of units It is as if we had in our heads a certain fixed number of boxes for sounds; when we listen to our own language we hear the sounds and we put each into the right box, and when we speak we go to the boxes and take out the sounds we want in the order we want them And as we do this over the years the boxes get stronger and stronger until everything we hear, whether it is our own language or another, has to be put into one of these boxes, and everything we say comes out of one of them But every language has a different number of boxes, and the boxes are arranged differently”

From what O’Connor stated it is easy to understand why an adult can hardly pronounce a foreign language as well as a child does It is just because grown-up people can hardly get familiar to the sound system of that foreign language After years of speaking their mother tongue, they have set a stable system of familiar sounds and then are encircled by their own language sound system Therefore, they can not overcome the wall of their own language which prevents them from

pronouncing foreign languages correctly To pronounce a foreign word, they try to put it in their own set of sounds, i.e., they familiarize the foreign word by replacing it by a similar word in their own language But unfortunately, languages are completely different from each other and that makes their pronunciation unintelligible to foreigners Is there any solution to this problem? The answer is

“Yes” It is true that adults can not pronounce a foreign language perfectly as a young child can do, but they can make it understandable if they start to “build a new set of boxes corresponding to the sounds of English, and to break down the arrangement of boxes which the habits of our native language have so strongly built up We do this by establishing new ways of hearing, new ways of using our speech organs, new speech habits

This may sound easy, but it isn’t Unfortunately, it is never easy to establish good habits… and you will need to do a great deal of hard work if you want to build yourself a set of English boxes which are nearly as firm as those of your own language Anyone who says that you can get a good English pronunciation without hard work is talking rubbish, unless you happen to be one of the very small number of lucky people to whom pronunciation comes fairly easily” (O’Connor, 1980: 4)

Young children start learning their mother language from the very early days They listen to the people around them and start to babble and then talk when they are at age one to two They make, of course, a lot of mistakes until they can say a word clearly and perfectly If children start learning a foreign language before they reach puberty, they have little trouble in pronouncing that language But things change when they get older As a large number of learners start learning when they are adults it is hard work to pronounce words of another language correctly They usually find it hard and impossible to achieve good pronunciation of a foreign language since they are strongly dominated by the long-time habits of speaking their mother tongue However, it does not mean that they can never pronounce a foreign language but they have to work much harder to achieve good

or intelligible pronunciation of that foreign language

As there is a great number of people speaking English around the world, it is not a serious problem for us to learn English pronunciation So what should we do to learn and improve our pronunciation? We all know for sure that we must hear and then listen to what is being said so that we can reply Children learn their some first words by hearing his/her mother first and get familiar to their voices When they reach the age of one, most of them can say some meaningful words by imitating the people around them They at first can not say the words correctly They need help from other people and they try to imitate until they can pronounce that word perfectly

O’Connor (1980: 3-4) stated that

“You must hear English But just hearing it is not enough; you must listen to it,

and you must listen to it not for the meaning but for the sound of it… Take one of

the English sounds at a time,…and listen for it each time it comes; concentrate on

catching it, on picking it out, on hearing what it sounds like Don’t just be satisfied to hear it vaguely, as if it were a sound of your own language; try and

pick out the Englishness of it, what makes it different from the nearest sound in

your language And when you think you have got it, then say it in some of the

words that you have heard, and say it aloud It is no use practicing silently; all of

us are much better at pronouncing if we do it silently, inside ourselves But you

can’t talk English inside yourself, it has to come out, so practice aloud…”

Harmer, J (1991: 22) also shared this view as

“In order to develop communicative efficiency in pronunciation the students need

to understand how sounds are made and how stress is used…They also need to

hear the language used so that they can both imitate the pronunciation and also

subconsciously acquire some of its sounds and patterns …the students should be

given as much exposure to people speaking the language correctly as possible”

We are living in a world where there is no limit on accessing information, therefore, we can learn pronunciation in many ways, for examples, TV programs, movies, or radio programs in English are being broadcasting around the world Besides, books, documents, tapes, CDs or any type of learning materials are available in great number But what kind of materials we should get still remains a question

To O’Connor (1980: 4)

“Films and radio programs have the disadvantage that you can’t stop them and ask for something to be repeated Gramophone records and tapes do not have this

disadvantage With them you can repeat any part of the text as often as you need,

and you must do this: it is much better for your ear if you listen to the same passage six times than if you listen to six different passages; but be careful – listen closely each time, don’t relax after two or three hearings, try to keep your

ears as closely concentrated on the sound of the passage at the sixth hearing as at

the first In this way you will build up a store of sound – memory which will form a firm base for your performance

Now, performance When you practice (aloud, of course), you must listen carefully and accurately If you have listened properly in the first place you will

know what the English words and sentences sound like, and you must compare as

closely as you can the sounds that come out of your mouth with the sounds that

you are’ holding in your head, in your sound – memory Don’t be satisfied too easily, try to match your sounds exactly with the sounds that you have listened to”

Self – correctness is a useful way of learning, especially in learning a foreign language In learning pronunciation, we work with sounds so we must be sure how

we say the sounds so that we can correct them ourselves Using tape – recording helps us to realize what sounds we should work more on O’Connor (1980: 4) argued that learners of a language can make use of tape-recording since this helps them listen to themselves and can compare their own pronunciation with the original Then they can mark their mistakes and correct these mistakes themselves From this kind of practice, learners can improve their pronunciation step by step

It is said that it is you who can be the strictest teacher of yourself, so we must set some strict goals to achieve good pronunciation in English like what was said by O’Connor (1980:5)

“Careful listening is the most important thing; and careful matching of performance with listening will bring you nearer to the ideal of a perfect English

pronunciation And make no mistake, your aim must be to acquire a perfect English pronunciation You will almost certainly not succeed in this aim because

it requires, as I have said, a very rare gift, but unless this is your aim you will not

make all the progress of which you are capable; keep working towards perfection…”

Pronunciation now has been considered a very important feature in teaching and learning but in the 1970s and 1980s it was not paid enough attention as teachers and language theorists claimed that learners would be discouraged to improve communicative competence if they spent a lot of time on difficult and repetitive pronunciation exercises which would bring them no real benefits (Roach, P 2000:6)

Roach (2000: 6) also stated that

“Pronunciation exercises can be difficult, of course, but if we eliminate everything difficult from language teaching, we may end up doing very little beyond getting students to play little communication game It is, incidentally, quite incorrect to suggest that the classic works on pronunciation and phonetics

teaching concentrated on mechanically perfecting vowels and consonants: Jones,

D (1956:first published 1909), for example, wrote “‘Good’ speech may be defined as a way of speaking which is clearly intelligible to all ordinary people

‘Bad’ speech is a way of talking which is difficult for most people to understand…A person may speak with sounds very different from those of his

hearers and yet be clearly intelligible to all of them… Their speech cannot be described as other than ‘good’”

From what has been cited above, learners of English now may come to conclusion that learning pronunciation is not so stressful and exhausting as they thought

Is teaching pronunciation easy? The answer to this question is “No” In order to help learners learn pronunciation well, teachers at first should “help learners perceive sounds” Kenworthy (1987: 1) strongly argued that

“Part of the role of the teacher is to help learners perceive sounds Learners will

have a strong tendency to hear the sounds of English in terms of the sounds of

their native language…Teachers need to check that their learners are hearing sounds according to the appropriate categories and help them to develop new categories if necessary”

When learners hear the English sounds they usually keep the thought that these English sounds are somewhat similar to some sounds in their own language That

is why they pronounce the English sounds in the way they say their language

sounds This misperception leads them to a wrong way in pronouncing English Teachers, therefore, should encourage learners to build up new habits in learning English pronunciation

To Kenworthy (1987: 1) “Some sounds of English do not occur in other languages Sometimes learners will be able to imitate the new sound, but if they can’t then the teacher needs to be able to give some hints which may help them to make the new sound(s)”

After helping learners to perceive and pronouncing the sounds, the teacher should

“point out what’s going on” as

“Learners need to know what to pay attention to and what to work on Because

speaking is for the most part unconsciously controlled, learners may miss something important For example, they may not realize that when a particular

word is stressed or said in a different way this can affect the message that is sent

to the listener Teachers need to make learners aware of the potential of sounds –

the resources available to them for sending spoken messages

Learners themselves will be aware of some of the features of their pronunciation

that are ‘different’, but they will not be able to tell if this is important or not…Learners need the help of the teacher in establishing a plan for action, in

deciding what to concentrate on and when to leave well enough alone” (Kenworthy: 1987:2)

In teaching pronunciation, it is the teacher’s job to decide what should be taught It

is a hard and difficult task as teaching pronunciation seems to be the most complex and exhausting work Kenworthy (1987: 2) stated that

“… the teacher must consider what types of exercises and activities will be helpful Which activities will provide the most opportunities for practice, experimentation, exploration? In designing activities for learning, teachers must

also keep in mind that certain activities suit the learning styles and approaches of

some learners better than others”

After the teacher has tried his/her best to help learners to learn pronunciation, it is the learners’ role to decide their results of learning as teacher can just guide them, not do their learning It is just a waste of time and energy “if learners take no action and do not try to monitor their own efforts, then the prospects of change or improvement are minimal” Kenworthy (1987: 3)

In learning a foreign language, all learners set themselves some goals and this remains true in learning pronunciation Some want to achieve a native-like accent because their work requires them to deal on equal terms with native speakers in an English- speaking country or abroad Besides, some other learners may have specific purposes to acquire good pronunciation as it is a must for their jobs

“learners who plan to become teachers of English will want to approximate a native accent” and “learners who want to work as air traffic controllers or telephone operator will need to have a pronunciation which is easily understood… In many countries English has a particular role as the language of communication between people who are speakers of the different indigenous languages (India and Africa, for example) These speakers of English as a second

language may have a restricted audience; they will be using English only with other non-native speakers and therefore a pronunciation which is native-like is totally inappropriate However, it must be accepted that, if there is occasion to speak with natives, the divergences in pronunciation may lead to communication

breakdown” (Kenworthy, J.,1987: 3)

Teachers also courage their learners to set themselves “high goals” of comfortably

intelligible” (Kenworthy, J.,1987: 3) In communication we expect to understand

and be understood but in many cases we have a lot of difficulties in making what

is being said clear and easy to understand The reason to this trouble is that we have so many differences in pronouncing Some people are easy to understand but some are not It is even worse if we speak to natives as there is a great gap between the two languages That is why learners of a foreign language have a great deal of work to do to be intelligible when they speak and their pronunciation

is expected to be comfortable to the ears of the listeners

3.4 Some factors that affect pronunciation learning

In learning a foreign language learners have to face with a lot of difficulties They are challenged by some factors like differences between their own language and the foreign language, age or their motivation and concern for good pronunciation

3.4.1 The native language

The first factor that affects learners’ pronunciation is, of course, their mother tongue Their native language makes them pronounce English in the way they pronounce their first language, so it is easy to tell where he/she comes from only basing on their pronunciation of English This is because they usually show some sound characteristics of their mother tongue when speaking English

Laroy, C (1995: 6) stated that “Our affective links with our mother tongue are normally positive and strong, but when we learn a foreign language we have a history and prejudices to contend with, and the older we get, the more instrusive this history is likely to become”

As they have different language background from that of English, they will have certain obstacles in pronouncing English It is true that “the more differences they are, the more difficulties the learner will have in pronouncing English” However, this factor does not interfere most in learning English pronunciation as there are

“people from many different language backgrounds can and do acquire a native pronunciation in English” (Kenworthy, J 1987: 4)

near-3.4.2 Age

It is not denied that adult learners have more trouble in pronouncing a foreign language than young learners do Adults complain that they cannot make their tongues do what they want to and it is because their tongues become stiff and inflexible This sounds somewhat reasonable But does age factor really affect learning of pronunciation? According to Kenworthy, J., (1987: 6)

“We commonly assume that if someone pronounces a second language like a native, they probably started learning it as a child Conversely, if a person doesn’t

begin to learn a second language until adulthood, they will never have a

native-like accent even though other aspects of their language such as syntax or vocabulary maybe indistinguishable from those of native speakers These beliefs

seem to be supported by the many cases of adults who learn to speak a second

language fluently, but still maintain a foreign accent, even when they have lived

in the host country for many years.”

Peter, A and Ehrlich, S (1992: xiii) also stated that “adult second language learners always have a ‘foreign’ accent while child second language learners almost always attain native-like pronunciation” and “adult learners do have difficulty in acquiring native-like pronunciation in a second language”

Laroy, C also shared the same view as “Many adults are convinced that ‘at their age’ the only thing they can hope for is to manage to survive in a foreign language”

Many researches have been done and the findings have not proved that “age is not the crucial and only factor” (Kenworthy: 1987: 5) However, a young learner is always likely to have more advantages to attain better pronunciation than an adult does

From what has been stated above, it can be said that age does influence learners’ pronunciation since they have more difficulties in learning pronunciation if they get older It can be concluded that the best time for learners to acquire good or native-like pronunciation is when they are children until puberty

3.4.3 Learning environment

Learning environment is also an important factor in acquiring good pronunciation

as it affects a learner’s pronunciation If one learns English in an English-speaking country, he/she has more opportunities to gain native-like accent He/she has chances to practice and improve his/her pronunciation since there are “good teachers” around him/her But learning environment does not completely decide one’s pronunciation as “many learners live in an English-speaking country, but spend much of their time in a non-English-speaking environment (for example, a language other than English is used at home) Conversely, many people live in non-English-speaking countries but use English in many areas of their lives, such

as work or school.”(Kenworthy, 1992: 6)

From what has been stated above, it seems that the living or communicating environment plays an important role on one’s pronunciation

According to Avery, P and Ehrlich, S (1992: xiv) “the more strongly second language learners identify with members of the second language culture, the more likely they are to ‘sound’ like members of that culture”

In Vietnam, the learning environment is EFL, not ESL like the Philippines or Singapore English is not used as a tool in communication since Vietnamese are not used to speaking English to each other It is not denied that more and more people are learning English but not much English is heard in public English is taught as a foreign language in order to equip learners ability to use it for academic or occupational purposes Learners of English, therefore, have a few chances to practice English outside their classrooms or companies

3.4.4 Ability

In learning a foreign or second language’s pronunciation, ability cannot be passed unnoticed Some learners were gifted with good ears and excellent ability of imitating They can make foreign sounds as exact as they are pronounced by a native With this special gift they seem to have no difficulties in learning pronunciation This, however, does not mean that other people cannot learn a foreign language pronunciation as most of us, except hearing-impaired people, do have the innate ability to imitate and discriminate sounds and it helps us learn to speak our mother language So if we start learning a foreign language’s pronunciation in the way we learn our mother tongue, will our pronunciation of that foreign language be improved? It may help but we can not “replace” all our mother tongue sounds by new sounds of that foreign language since old things always remain longer in our mind than new ones Therefore, learners of a foreign language still have difficulties in pronouncing

Talking about ability, it is true that those learners who have “good phonetic abilities benefit from pronunciation drills…Their innate abilities enable them to

exploit all the opportunities to compare what they are doing with the model presented… ‘Poor discriminators’ do not seem to benefit from drills very much” (Kenworthy, J 1987: 7)

3.4.5 Motivation and attitude

Motivation and attitude are really crucial as learners cannot progress well if they

do not have good reasons and goals in learning a foreign language

In learning a language, motivation plays an important role as it helps learners build

a strong will to overcome obstacles and come to success Brown, H.D, (2000: 160) stated that “Motivation is probably the most frequently used catch-all term for explaining the success or failure of virtually any complex task It is easy to assume that success in any task is due simply to the fact that someone is ‘motivated.’ It is easy in second language learning to claim that a learner will be successful with the proper motivation”

Motivated learners always have positive attitude in learning, therefore, they find learning interesting and they try their best to conquer complicated features in that foreign language Learning to them is an expedition in which they have opportunities to discover new things Conversely, unmotivated learners seem to have more trouble and usually find it impossible to overcome difficulties in learning a foreign language To those unmotivated learners, teachers should give them some guides in building good motivation and attitude so they can learn better

3.4.6 Self-esteem

As self-esteem plays an important role in learning, it can not be omitted when talking about learning and improving pronunciation of non-native learners When speaking to someone, especially a native speaker, one wants to perform their best communicative competence Therefore, they try to overcome difficulties to