Rationale
English has been taught in Vietnam as a compulsory subject from primary school to university for the last few decades Harmer (2001) emphasizes that the goal of language education is to enable students to communicate in the target language However, due to the traditional pedagogy, emphasizing the acquisition of grammar and vocabulary rather than communicative competence, a large number of graduates still have such poor listening and speaking skills after spending years learning English It means that they have not achieved the communicative competence
Spoken communication is determined by not only correct grammar and a great number of vocabulary but also the correct pronunciation Hinofitis and Baily (1980 as cited in Tam, 2005) states that “up to a certain proficiency standard, the fault which most severely impairs the communication process in EFL (English as a Foreign Language)/ESL (English as a Second Language) learners is pronunciation, rather than vocabulary or grammar Their arguments make pronunciation more important in improving the communicative competence of learners” Fangzhi (1998:39) considers pronunciation as a means of passing someone's message
According to Burns (2003), despite minor inaccuracies in vocabulary and grammar, learners are able to communicate effectively with good pronunciation and intonation Thus, pronunciation is viewed as a key in EFL learning process since it is directly related to the development of learners‟ communicative competence
Pronunciation is one of the most important things that students have to master in order to communicate appropriately and fluently It should be a “must” skill for English language learners
Many leaners of English as a Second Language have difficulties in pronunciation even after years of learning the language (Fraser, 2000a) Recently, the growing emphasis on communicative approaches for the teaching of English leads to the demand of pronunciation teaching and learning Pronunciation part is included in English curriculum However, there is a fact that only in the Faculty of English language, pronunciation is learnt as a separated subject Thus, what about non-major students? Whether or not the students are aware of the importance of pronunciation? To what extent do the learners care for and understand the purposes of learning pronunciation? For all reasons mentioned above, I have chosen the topic
“A Survey Research on Freshmen’s Perceptions of the improtance of pronunciation and their difficulties in Learning English Pronunciation”.
Objectives of the study
The aim of this study is to explore the freshmen‟s perception in learning pronunciation To be more specific, the study is carried out to seek the answers to the following issues:
Firstly, the attitudes of the freshmen at Hanoi University of Industry towards the importance of pronunciation in learning English
Secondly, the factors which the learners consider as their difficulties in learning pronunciation
Thirdly, what the students want to achieve in learning pronunciation
The findings of the study will hopefully provide better information for English teachers at Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI) to understand the views of their freshmen about learning pronunciation as well as their problems in pronunciation learning, andto determine whether learners need to reset their goals of learning, or teachers need to adjust their methods of teaching pronunciation, or they should give learners more direction to help them overcome their difficulties and set realistic and achievable goals.
Research questions
To achieve the above mentioned purposes, the following research questions are set out to be answered:
How do the first-year-students at HaUI perceive the importance of pronunciation in learning English?
Which factors do the learners consider as their difficulties in the process of learning English pronunciation?
What are the goals of students in terms of learning English pronunciation?
Methods of the study
To fulfill the aims of the study, both quantitative and qualitative methods were selected for this survey research
The data serving the research analysis and findings are collected by the following instruments:
The collected data comes from the freshmen studying in two non-major classes at HaUI Then the analysis is carried out in the light of finding out the answers to the research question The final conclusion is based on these findings.
Significance of the study
The findings of the study reveal a new view of learners about learning English pronunciation It provides insights for teachers to understand their learners‟ needs of pronunciation in spoken English learning to improve their teaching methods in this section.
Scope of the study
The participants of the study are the first-year students at Hanoi University of Industry However, the informants of the study are limited to non-major students
There are many aspects to talk about learning English pronunciation This paper only deals with the barriers that directly affect the learners‟ English pronunciation learning and their goals of learning pronunciation.
Organization of the study
My thesis is composed of three main parts
Part A, Introduction, is concerned with the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the methods, the scope, the significance and the structure of the study
Part B, Development , consists of three chapters as follows:
Chapter 1, Literature Review, presents an overview of the previous studies as well as the various concepts most relevant to the research topic
Chapter 2, Methodology, gives an account of how the research is carried out
Chapter 3, Research Findings and Discussion, analyzes the collected data as well as discusses the major findings
Part C, Conclusion, addresses the key issues in the study, summarizes some shortcomings revealed during the process of the completing the study, and then gives some suggestions for further studies
LITERATURE REVIEW
An overview of the previous studies
In the last two decades, in the field of learning and teaching language, there are a great number of scholars who are interested in learners‟ attitudes and beliefs
However, the number of research into learners‟ perceptions of pronunciation is quite small For over the last decade, there have been studies in attempting to deal with this gap in the literature As Brown (1991) states, “no one would deny the importance of pronunciation as a contributor towards learners‟ proficiency in English” (p.1), and “learners are clearly aware that poor pronunciation represents a considerable barrier to their success in English” (p.1) In 1999, the results of a study of Cenoz and Garcia Lecumberri which was carried out at the University of the Basque Country show that although most participants find pronunciation difficult, they all think that it is important In another research of Derwing and Rossiter
(2002) about learners‟ perceptions of their language needs with relation to pronunciation (in an ESL setting in Canada), the authors find that 55% of participants said that pronunciation is a significant problem for them and that 90% of them would participate in the pronunciation program if available Other studies suggest that learners highly appreciate the pronunciation teaching, such as the study in Finland of Tergujeff (2013), that upper secondary students want to be taught more pronunciation These studies are clear evidences of learners‟ desire for more pronunciation teaching and their awareness of its importance
1.2 Role of English pronunciation in learning English
The importance of pronunciation in successful communication has been emphasized by many researchers Fraser (2000a), for instance, argues that:
Being able to speak English of course includes a number of sub-skills, involving vocabulary, grammar, pragmatics, etc However, by far, the most important of these skills is pronunciation; with good pronunciation, a speaker is intelligible despite other errors; with poor pronunciation, a speaker can be very difficult to understand despite accuracy in other areas Pronunciation is the aspect that most affects how the speaker is judged by others, and how they are formally assessed in other skills (p 7)
Pronunciation is the key aspect in the development of oral skills It is responsible for intelligibility: whether or not we can convey our meaning It plays an essential part in conveying our meaning in discourse, for practical transitions as well as personal interactions
The view that “intelligible pronunciation is an essential component of communicative competence” (Morley, 1991) is generally accepted with the necessity of teaching pronunciation on the segmental and supra-segmental levels
Celce-Murcia et al also show that pronunciation plays an important role in communicative competence since successful communication cannot take place without correct pronunciation (Celce-Murcia et al, 1996) Obviously, although we are proficient at grammar and have a large amount of vocabulary, we just cannot get ourselves understood in oral communication if we pronounce words wrongly
Poorly pronounced segments and supra-segments may have the results of misunderstanding
When taking part in one conversation, the participants involved in, wish to get their message across In order to this, speakers package their messages into meaningful units, or sense groups These chunks are also called tone units, or intonation groups Therefore, intonation is an important vehicle for signaling prominence In addition, intonation convey social meanings and speaker involvement as well as the management of conversation in terms of turn-taking and signaling the informational value of tone units (Dalton and Seidlhofer 1994)
Being able to put the stress on the appropriate syllables is something which is essential for learners of any level because it is crucial for intelligibility and also closely connected with the articulation of individual sound segments
At the segmental level, it is crucial to understand which sounds in a language are distinctive ones because they express differences in meaning, compare the vowel sounds of “feel” and “fill”
Allophones are non-distinctive and often depend on the sound environment
For example, aspirated and non-aspirated /p/, /k/, /t/ are non-distinctive Knowledge of articulatory phonetics will help to understand how the sound of the target language are produced
According to Burns (2003), speakers of English can achieve:
Intelligibility (the speaker produces sound patterns that are recognizable as English)
Comprehensibility (the listener is able to understand the meaning of what is said)
Interpretability (the listener is able to understand the purpose of what is said)
For instance, the sentence “It‟s hot today” can be said as “Is ho day” This is unlikely to be intelligible because of inaccurate sound, stress and intonation patterns As a result, a listener would not find the speaker comprehensible because meaning is not available Because the speaker is incomprehensible, the listener cannot interpret the utterance as an indirect request to open the window This means that clear pronunciation is very important in oral communication Even where learners produce minor inaccuracies in vocabulary and grammar, they are likely to communicate effectively when they have good pronunciation and intonation (Burns,
Pronunciation is as important as any other aspects of foreign language learning, in particular listening, speaking, grammar and spelling Correct pronunciation is very necessary to develop speaking skill Pronunciation also has close connections to the other fields such as listening skills and even grammar
Once a person can pronounce correctly the endings of the words, for example, he can, at the same time give grammatical information There is no doubt that incorrect pronunciation tends to disrupt communication just as incorrect spellings do Some other examples are mentioned in The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages such as:
Bygate (1987), Anderson and Lynch (1988), Bailey and Savage (1994) and Nunan and Miller (1995) offer an overview of theoretical background and teaching techniques for the areas of listening and speaking respectively, and make it easy to see how these abilities are inextricably bound up with pronunciation Rost (1990) discusses how listeners depend on stress and intonation as primary clue for processing incoming speech, and Seidlhofer and Dalton-Puffer (1995) argue for linking the teaching of pronunciation with that of lexico-grammar, and Morley
(1994) effectively integrates pronunciation with other skill in her “multidimensional curriculum design for speech-pronunciation instruction” for English for academic purposes
Fraser (2000a) explains that “being able to speak English includes a number of sub-kills (vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and pragmatics), in which pronunciation is by far the most important She also argues that “with good pronunciation, a speaker is intelligible despite other errors; with poor pronunciation, understanding a speaker will be very difficult, despite accuracy in other areas”
In short, the enormous importance of pronunciation for successful communication is now widely accepted The field has undergone a rapid development in the 1990s, broadening its scope and strengthening its links with other areas of language use and language learning It has important values not only in oral communication but also in foreign language learning Acquiring good pronunciation is what a learner needs to make effort to do on the way of mastering a foreign language.
Goals of English pronunciation teaching and learning
The field of pronunciation in English Language Teaching (ELT) has long been influenced by two contradictory paradigms: “nativeness” and “intelligibility”
In the past, pronunciation teaching has been approached through the nativeness principle (Levis, 2005) The nativeness principle assumes that native-like pronunciation is desirable and achievable in learning a foreign language This view was prevailed until the 1960s, when research showed that native-like phonology appears to be biologically conditioned to occur only before adulthood Thus, the purpose of achieving nativeness in pronunciation is an unrealistic burden for both teachers and learners Furthermore, this principle may not be desirable to the learners who want to keep their mother tongue language identity
The second principle is the intelligibility principle It shows that learners simply need to be understandable As stated by Jenkins (1998), when English is used as an international language, aiming for a native-like accent is not the final target of a majority of learners, and communicating with native speakers is no longer their principal motivation for learning English Jenkins argues what English learners need is to be successful in communication with non-native speakers with various L1 backgrounds Thus, it is necessary to consider which pronunciation norms and models are the most suitable for learners of English whose purpose is to use English as an international communication tool Jenkins (2000) also proposes that a local variety of English should be taught rather than a native speaker model, if learners require English for international communication with non-native speakers
With the same view, Levis (2005) showed that under the intelligibility principle, learners expect to be understood by both native and non-native L2 users
Kenworthy (1987) points that on some teachers‟ views, pronunciation instruction cannot be useful because only a few learners will be able to get native- like pronunciation However, indigenous pronunciation can be an ideal purpose only for some learners and not for all learners Intelligibility is really a reasonable goal for most learners Harmer (2001) states that learners rarely can pronounce perfectly In addition, some learners want to retain their foreign accent because of their identity Native-like pronunciation may be an inappropriate target for the majority of learners Understandable pronunciation should be one of the basic goals of language learners Pronunciation guidelines have some practical goals that need to be emphasized for developing communicative competence
To achieve communicative competence, Morley (1991) suggests four learner‟s goals: a) “functional intelligibility” - making spoken English easy to understand and not confusing to the listener;; b) “functional communicability” - developing spoken language that meets persons‟ needs and achieving communicative competence; c)
“increased self-confidence” - developing a positive self-awareness as non-native speakers in oral communication”; d) “speech monitoring abilities and modification strategies for use beyond the classroom” - that will allow students to develop intelligibility, communicability and confidence in and out of the classroom
Also, according to Burns (2003:5), it is “important that speakers of English can achieve: a) Intelligibility (the speaker produces sound patterns that are recognizable as English); b) Comprehensibility (the listener is able to understand the meaning of what is said); c) Interpretability (the listener is able to understand the purpose of what is said)”.
Pronunciation learning
Kenworthy (1987:4, as cited in Nunan 1991) points out the following factors that affect the pronunciation learning
The native language is an important factor in learning to pronounce The more differences there are between the native and the target language, the more difficulties will be encountered by the learners When a particular sound does not exist in the mother tongue, the learners tend to substitute it by the nearest equivalent from the native language Therefore it cannot be denied that the native language of learners has an impact on their pronunciation in the target language
It is commonly assumed that the age factor has a great influence on pronunciation The earlier a learner starts to learn a target language, the more native-like pronunciation he or she achieves
Another factor is the amount of exposure to English the learners receive It means learners who live in the country where the target language is spoken or are surrounded by an target language – speaking environment have some advantages over those who do not
It is generally assumed that some people have a better ability to hear foreign languages than others This skill has been variously termed “phonetic coding ability”, “aptitude for oral mimicry” or “auditory discrimination ability”
Many studies of attitude in language learning has shown that learners who show positive feelings towards the speakers of the new language tend to develop more accurate, native-like accents
For some learners pronunciation is more important than for others The learners who consider pronunciation to be an important part of their English learning are usually eager to be corrected and concern about how good or bad their pronunciation is This factor should not be neglected as it is considered to be one of the most important factors affecting pronunciation learning
1.3.2 Common problems in pronunciation learning
It is know that teaching and learning pronunciation involves a variety of challenges which both teachers and learners cannot overcome successfully if they do not really have a deep understanding of these problems The difficulties in pronunciation lessons arise not only from the nature of pronunciation itself, but also from other various subjective and objective factors In the light of the previous and current studies, several major problems both teachers and students often encounter in the pronunciation classes are mentioned as follows:
As mentioned above, mother tongue is a factor which has a great influence on pronunciation learning of a foreign language Nunan (1991) states that the problems of acquiring the phonology of the second language presents formidable challenge to any theory of second language acquisition The more differences there are between the native and the target language, the more difficulties will be encountered by the learners Furthermore, English pronunciation itself contains a great number of complicated factors and rules, which causes difficulties for learners of English in general and Vietnamese learners of English in particular In more details, Doff
(1998) points out some common problems learners often get into when learning pronunciation of speaking English such as difficulty in pronouncing sounds which do not exist in the students‟ own language; confusion of similar sounds; difficulty in pronouncing consonant clusters; and tendency to give all syllables equal stress and
According to some researchers coming from Asian countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Korean, China, etc., a large number of problems in pronunciation teaching and learning arise from class setting It is easily seen that in many English classes in Universities, classroom size is too large, on average with over 60 students per class Moreover, the classroom condition is poor and the quality of teachers staff is also a problem All issues above partly cause challenges for teachers and students in teaching and learning pronunciation.
Pronunciation teaching and learning in Vietnam
English has become the first choice of the foreign language in Vietnam due to the expansion of economic integration between Vietnam and other countries in the region as well as other nations in the world This expansion is marked by Vietnam's participation in organizations such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) ) As a result, foreign investors are increasingly investing in Vietnam and seeking a skilled workforce with a good command of English However, the communicative competence in English of Vietnamese workforce has not meet the requirements of the employers (Kieu, 2010, p.119) They have poor listening and speaking skills because of the traditional pedagogy, which emphasizes grammar and vocabulary rather than communicative competence (Pham, 2005) Wright (2002) asserts that " the traditional emphasis on accuracy in the written language rather than the acquisition of fluency in the spoken language is inappropriate for many Vietnamese today"(p.242) With the lack of English proficiency, the need to improve English competence of Vietnamese learners, especially speaking skills becomes the concern of many stakeholders in Vietnam According to Gilakjani
“learners with good English pronunciation are likely to be understood even if they make errors in other areas, whereas learners with bad pronunciation will not be understood, even if their grammar is perfect Such learners may avoid speaking in English, and experience social isolation, employment difficulties and limited opportunities for further study We judge people by the way they speak, and so learners with poor pronunciation may be judged as incompetent, uneducated or lacking in knowledge” (p.96)
For above reasons, pronunciation plays an important role in fostering Vietnamese learners‟ speaking skills It should be positioned as a priority in any ELT curriculum The issue of English pronunciation has received considerable attention from Vietnamese researchers so far, however, their studies virtually all focus on the phonological aspects of languages and few, if any, can be found on other pedagogical aspects This thesis, thus seeks to address this gap in the literature.
METHODOLOGY
The rationale of using the survey method
Surveys are widely used for collecting data in most areas According to Cohen and Manion (1985), surveys are the most commonly used descriptive method in educational research, from large scale to small scale Unlike an experimental study where the researcher manipulates the environment in order to examine the interaction between variables, in a survey study, “the researcher doesn‟t do anything to the objects or subjects of research, except observe them or ask them to provide data The research consists of collecting data on things or people as they are, without trying to alter anything” (Nunan, 1992a, pp 140-141) The purpose of a survey is generally to obtain a snapshot of conditions, attitudes, and/or events at single point in time This study is aimed to explore learners‟ perceptions of pronunciation needs in English learning Therefore, survey is the most suitable method for this study.
Description of the setting
On December, 02 nd 2015, the Prime Minister issued decision number 315/2005 QĐ/TTG to upgrade Hanoi College of Industry to Hanoi University of Industry Hanoi University of Industry provides education and training service, scientific research, technology consulting and transferring service for the higher purpose of industrialization and modernization of Vietnam and global integration.
In 2016-2017 academic year, Hanoi University of Industry has 31 training programs in total, focusing mainly on technical fields such as Engineering Technology, Information Technology and Garment Technology Over the years, the leadership of HaUI has focused not only on training quality but also on building school facilities
At present, HaUI has 3 training campuses, including 2 campuses in Hanoi and the other one in Ha Nam province Classrooms are new and well equipped, especially in the Faculty of Information Technology
Due to the expansion of economic integration between Vietnam and other countries in the region as well as other nations in the world, foreign investors are increasingly investing in Vietnam Therefore, training purpose of HaUI is to supply a skilled workforce with a good command of English The administrators attach special importance to English teaching for their students As in program outcome standard, the students must attain B1 level according to CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference) The CEFR rating scale is increasingly used in Vietnam to rate levels of foreign language proficiency To achieve this purpose, the management of HaUI ensures sufficient provision of textbooks, teaching materials and necessary conditions for teaching, maintains stable internet connection for the electronic library updated with information and continuous operation; over 90% of all teaching aids and equipment have been in working condition to meet the teaching demand
From the second year, English textbooks are designed for each department, which related to its major However, “New Headway Elementary” is used as English textbook for all first-year-students “New Headway Elementary” is popular book which was used all over the world It is an authoritative syllabus, motivating topics, and clearly focused tasks combine with a real understanding of what works in the classroom In this book, although pronunciation is integrated into other activities, it only includes phonetic symbols which help learners familiarize with English phonetic transcription systems.
Participants
The participants of this study comprised 128 learners from two first-year- classes at Hanoi University of Industry They are students in majors of Garment Technology and Information Technology Training programs of Hanoi University of Industry focus mainly on technical fields Therefore, most of students in some faculties are male such as Mechanical Engineering Technology, Automobile Engineering Technology, Electronics and Communication Engineering Technology, Information Technology, etc Learners of some other departments are mainly female such as Tourism Business Administration, Garment Technology, Fashion Design, English Language, Chinese Language, etc So students of Garment Technology Faculty and Information Technology Department are selected to ensure the balance of gender as well as the neutrality for the analysis There were 128 informants in total, including 74 males and 54 females at the age from 18 to 20
Their English proficiency is not at the same level (for further details, see Figure 3 and part 3.1.1 in Chapter 3)
Importantly, the informants were absolutely guaranteed to be unidentified in any discussion of the data, hence all of them would feel comfortable and open to share their own opinions.
Data collection instruments
A mix-method design was adopted for the study In this research, both quantitative and qualitative methods are explored according to explanatory sequential design Creswell and Clark (2007) emphasize that mixed method brings out more comprehensive insights to the research problems In other words, qualitative method helps to establish what, meanwhile quantitative one helps to understand how
In order to find out the answers to the research questions mentioned above in the Introduction of study, two types of data collection instruments were used, including survey questionnaires (form of quantitative method) for students followed by interviews (form of qualitative method) with some of them
To seek answers to the above three research questions, a questionnaire survey was used
First of all, due to the suitability and effectiveness of questionnaire, it is chosen as the main research instrument for this study According to Dornyei (2003),
“by administering a questionnaire to a group of people, one can collect a huge amount of information in less than an hour”, so that, questionnaire is extremely useful in terms of “researcher‟s time, researcher‟s effort and financial resources”
Also, as noted by Richards and Lockhart (1994), questionnaire is an effective tool to gather “information about affective dimensions of teaching and learning, such as beliefs, attitudes, motivations, and preferences” (p 10) Miles and Huberman (1994) points out three advantages of questionnaire as “to see rapidly what you have in a large batch of data; to verify a hunch or hypothesis; and to keep yourself analytically honest, protecting against bias”, (p.253) Furthermore, using questionnaires in research helps participants approach the problems more easily For all these reasons, the questionnaire was the most suitable instrument to collect data for my study
As mentioned in the Introduction part, the aim of the study is to seek answers to the following issues:
Firstly, the attitudes of the freshmen at Hanoi University of Industry towards the importance of pronunciation in learning English
Secondly, the factors which the learners consider as their difficulties in learning pronunciation
Thirdly, what really are the main goals of learners in learning pronunciation
To achieve theses purposes, the following research questions were set out to be answered:
How do the first-year-students at HaUI perceive the importance of pronunciation in learning English?
Which factors do the learners consider as their difficulties in the process of learning English pronunciation?
What are the goals of students in terms of learning English pronunciation?
Questionnaire was the major data collection instrument employed in this thesis It was composed of questions divided into four categories
Part A is about learners‟ profiles (Questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
Four first questions investigate learners‟ background information: age, gender, major at university, and their first language
Questions 5 & 6 ask students about the time they have spent on learning and using English
Question 7 surveys the English proficiency level of students
Part B is about learners‟ views on the importance of pronunciation in learning
Questions 8, 9 invite learners to express their opinions about the needs of pronunciation in learning English
Question 10 asks learners about their views on relation between pronunciation with other aspects in English learning
Questions 11,12 ask students to self-asses their English pronunciation proficiency level
Question 13 asks learners about the factors which affect their communication in English
Part C is about learners‟ views on their problems which they met in the process of learning English pronunciation (Questions 14, 15, 16, 17)
Questions 14 and 15 are used to ask students about their English textbook and English learning in their class
Question 16 explores learners‟ views on learning pronunciation
Question 17 aims at finding out which factors pose difficulties for them in learning pronunciation
Part D is about learners‟ views on their main goals in learning English pronunciation (Questions 18, 19, 20, 21)
Each section deals with one research problem 135 copies were sent and 128 copies were returned
The questions in the questionnaire are mainly multiple-choice questions They are in forms of mixed questions, rating scale questions, and Likert scale questions
There are three types of interviews: structured, semi-structured and unstructured Semi-structured interview not only ensures that every participant gets the same key questions but also provides a more relaxed atmosphere in which to collect information Interviewee may feel more comfortable having a conversation with interviewer as opposed to filling out a survey So, interviewee will provide much more detailed information Also, semi-structured interview is particularly useful for exploring views, attitudes and beliefs of a person towards a particular topic In this study, therefore, semi-structured interviews were used to investigate more deeply attitude and beliefs of students in learning pronunciation
In phase 2 of data collection, the author set out five questions as an interview guide The first section focused on participants‟ background information (e.g time of learning English, time of learning pronunciation, etc.), while the remaining sections were aimed at investigating their views about the difficulties in learning pronunciation, and their main goals of learning English pronunciation
When did you start to learn English pronunciation?
Why is English pronunciation important?
Could you arrange five following elements, including grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, culture, and English fluency basing on their influence to communication due to the descent?
Among the following factors being studied as the effects on learning pronunciation, which elements do you find as your problems? 1 Mother tongue 2 Age 3 Amount of exposure (Frequency of exposure to English) 4
Phonetic ability 5 Attitude and identity (learning attitude) 6 Motivation 7
What is your target in learning English pronunciation?
Procedures of data collection
The study was conducted in the second term of school year 2016-2017
Questionnaire was used to collect data for the study The survey questionnaires were delivered to 135 students in Faculty of Garment Technology and Faculty of Information and Technology In order to reduce the invalidity and unreliability, the author gave clear instructions for students as well as observed them to make sure that they answer each question themselves; or asked them to check their answers
135 copies of questionnaire were sent and 128 copies were returned
After the information from the survey questionnaires were collected and analyzed, semi-structured interviews were carried out A group of students were invited to participate in interviews 7 out of 10 students, who were studying in both Faculty of Garment Technology and Faculty of Information and Technology, accepted the invitation The author recorded all the interviews and noted all data was needful for the study.
Data analysis
The data collected from two resources were read through to obtain a sense of the overall data Then, the finding information from questionnaire were summarized, calculated, and displayed in forms of tables and figures basing on the software Microsoft Excel The qualitative data from the open-ended questionnaire items, and from interviews were deductively coded through the identification of the main themes Then the responses of participants were classified under these main themes After identifying responses that fall within different themes, the data were presented by quoting relevant responses from the respondents.
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Quantitative data
Part A of the questionnaire was designed to have a better understanding of learners‟ background information Four first questions refers to general information of subjects According to the results, there are 128 informants, including 74 male and 54 female in the age from 18 to 20, who are studying such majors as Garment Technology and Information Technology at Hanoi University of Industry All of students use Vietnamese as their mother tongue
Next two questions 5 and 6 related to the time that learners have spent on learning and using English
Figure 1 Time of learning English
1 year2-5 years6-10 years over 10 year
Figure 1 shows that 59,4% of participants have learnt English for 6 to 10 years, and 40,6% of them have spent more than 10 years studying English It means that the learners have been learning English for a long time, at least six years
Figure 2 Frequency of using English
As the results in Figure 2, when answering the question about the frequency of using English, the majority of students (92,2%) revealed that they rarely or sometimes use English (see more details in Figure 2) Only 7,8% learners often speak English
Question 7 surveyed the English proficiency level of learners
Figure 3 English level of informants
As we can see the results from Figure 3 that 28,1% of respondents are at beginner level, nearly two-thirds (60,2%) attain elementary level, and only 11,7% reach pre- intermediate level
According to the above statistics, I found that, there was no significant achievement in their process of learning English although they spent a lot of time learning English
3.1.2 Learners’ perception of the importance of pronunciation in English learning
In this part, the informants were asked to self-asses the proficiency level of English pronunciation
Figure 4 Learners’ proficiency level of English pronunciation
According to Figure 4, only 22,7% of participants believed that other people can understand what they say in English Almost half of students (49,2%) were aware that their English pronunciation needs to be improved Even a considerable number of students (28,1%) realized that their pronunciation is really bad
As a result from question 8 and 9, 100% informants answered that they pay attention to their English pronunciation All of them found that pronunciation is an important part of English learning but the degree of the importance is at different levels (see more details in Table 1)
Table 1 Learners’ views on the importance of English pronunciation
Next, consider learners‟ views on the influence of English pronunciation to other aspects according to Table 2
Table 2 Learners’ views on aspects related to pronunciation
The data from Table 2 shows that a great number of students found the link of pronunciation to speaking skills (87,5%) and listening skills (60,2%) In addition, the number of learners that realized the relation between pronunciation with reading skills as well as grammar and vocabulary are the same The influence of pronunciation on writing skills is not much (only 7,1%)
Question number 12 was about the amount of information which learners can get when communicating in English with other people
Figure 5 The amount of information which learners can get
As can be seen from the above pie chart in Figure 4, whilst a minority (6,3%) had good communication, nearly 61% of participants (78 out of 128) understood under 30% what others said
The author listed four suggestions about aspects which influence communication, including grammar and vocabulary, culture aspects, pronunciation and English frequency, up to 46,9% of respondents considered pronunciation as the one has biggest impact on communication (See more details about other aspects in Figure 6)
Figure 6 Learners’ views on aspect which has most influence to communication
3.1.3 Learners’ views on English pronunciation learning
The target of part C of the questionnaire was to find out learners‟ views on
Firstly, the author asked the learners about their feeling when learning pronunciation Basing on the responses of question 16 “Is it difficult for you to learn English pronunciation?”, 75% of informants felt that it is difficult to learn pronunciation 25% did not consider English pronunciation as their obstacles
Next question focused on the factors affecting the learners‟ pronunciation learning The following table reveals the factors pose difficulties for learners in their process of learning pronunciation
Table 3 Factors pose difficulties for learners in learning pronunciation
From the above table, we can see that the freshmen met difficulties with almost factors And the students‟ pronunciation learning is most strongly influenced by three factors, including mother tongue (68%), phonetic ability (50%), and amount of exposure (40,6%) Age and teaching quality have no impact on their learning
3.1.4 Learners’ goals in learning English pronunciation
The questions 18-21 related to students‟ goals in learning pronunciation The participants were asked about their goals their English pronunciation
Figure 7 Learners’ goals in learning pronunciation
The results from Figure 7 show that a majority of students (60,9%) would like to achieve intelligibility in communication 35,2% still oriented to pronounce like a native English speaker Surprisingly, a small number of learners 3,9% expressed their desire to attain both of targets
Last three questions were aimed to expand learners‟ attitude towards the goals of pronunciation learning See the results in the following table:
To what extent do you agree that you prefer speaking English in their country accent style to native one?
Native-like pronunciationBoth of them
To what extent do you agree that sounding like a native speaker is very important in learning pronunciation?
To what extent do you agree that communicating purpose is much more important than sounding like a native speaker?
Table 4 Learners’ attitude towards the goals of learning pronunciation
Look at Table 4, it is apparent that a great number of learners (90,6%) considered having good communication be more necessary than sounding like a native English Although over two-thirds of people (53,9%) wanted to get native- like pronunciation, a considerable number of them (29,7%) liked to save their accent when saying English.
Qualitative data
In the questionnaire, there was an open-ended question about the link between pronunciation with other skills The author listed 5 aspects including grammar and vocabulary, listening skills, speaking skills, reading skills and writing skills, and then asked learners that “In your opinion, which aspect(s) is/are related to pronunciation in learning English? Why?”
The open question received 42 responses In which, some people answered by feeling “I think so.” Or “As my experiment” The majority of respondents expressed the relation between pronunciation with other skills, especially speaking and listening For example:
“Speaking means pronouncing Thus, if I want to speak English well, I must have good pronunciation.”
“Good pronunciation helps me understand what other people say as well as helps others understand what I want to say.”
“Good pronunciation is necessary condition to achieve high results in comprehension listening, speaking and reading skills.”
“Good pronunciation helps me pronounce correctly when learning vocabulary.”
“Good pronunciation + enough vocabulary + more listening = > good speaking.”
Also, some of them show the impact of other skills on pronunciation Such as:
“Speaking and listening skills helps students learn pronunciation better.”
“Practicing frequently in other skills leads to good pronunciation.”
In the end of the questionnaire, the author mention that if participant has any other observations about EFL pronunciation teaching, or any of the issues raised in this survey, please record them in the answer sheet Surprisingly, there are some students expressed their opinions And most of them are suggestions which they want in learning pronunciation
“I want to have more speaking activities in English class.”
“Pronunciation needs to be evaluate through reading and speaking activities.”
“ I want teacher to create more interesting learning environment in the class The teacher should focus on communication and reduce literature as well as avoid using textbook too much ”
3.2.2 Qualitative data from semi-structured interviews
The interviews were carried out aiming at exploring more fully how the students perceive the importance of pronunciation, investigating their views of the difficulties and their main goals of learning English pronunciation as well
At the beginning of each interview, the author asked learners about the time when they started to learn pronunciation The results reveal that all of them have learn English pronunciation in right way for some months All of 7 interviewees said that they hardly learnt English pronunciation before they went to university
Only when learning English at university, learners saw the importance and necessity of pronunciation One respondents admitted that “Before going to university, I was mainly taught English grammar When studying at university, I see the importance of oral skills in English, therefore, I put more emphasis on pronunciation” Another learner said that she just learnt pronunciation “some months after I came to university” 4 out of 7 learners have same answers Only 2 of 7 participants said that they took a course of pronunciation at English center before
The author asked the students “Why is pronunciation important?” to explore their opinions According to their answers, all of them realized the position of pronunciation in communication
One expressed that “when communicating with other people, though we use wrong grammar, maybe the listener still understand If we pronounce wrongly, the listener will understand the conversation with other meanings Moreover, good pronunciation helps me a lot in listening skills”… “Despite of good writing or nice voice, if you mispronounce, no one can understand you.”
Another participant shared his opinion that “I should learn how to pronounce a word first It’s the foundation for listening and understanding what others say I learn English for communication, thus pronunciation is the most important.”
A student gave an interesting example when expressed her opinion: “Non- standard pronunciation leads to misunderstanding in communication As when a person in Nghe An talks to someone in Hanoi, the listener will be confused.”
Most of them have same ideas that pronunciation is “the foundation” for listening and speaking skills
To clarify the importance of pronunciation in communication, the author requested the students arrange five following elements, including grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, culture, and English fluency basing on their influence to communication due to the descent 3 elements were chosen the most are pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar 6 of them agreed that pronunciation is the most significant
One learner added an explanation that: “As Vietnamese, first you have to learn the alphabet, then put the letters together and read the words If you do not learn the pronunciation first, seeing a word you will not know how it is pronounced.”
When being interviewed about the factors affecting their pronunciation learning, the factors that interviewees mentioned as the first is phonetic ability
They belief that it is natural ability of each individual “Many people were born with phonetic ability, they can to imitate very easily” Some complained that they do not have “nice voice such as Nghe An people” or she has “limitation with a lisp
The second important factor is motivation One confirmed that “To learn
English pronunciation, there must always be motivation and clear goals to try I think most learners can’t learn by themselves, so the teacher is a very important factor to motivate students, help them to like learning English pronunciation.”
Student B said that “I only finish target when I have motivation If I don’t like, I don’t care.” Thus, motivation has big impact on learners
The factor which is referred the most is amount of exposure of English because “New language will be forgot due to studying without practice” They complained that “Although I want to use English but I don’t have condition” or “I live far from the city center so it is very rare to contact with foreigners.”
Some of interviewees reported that the nature of English pronunciation makes it difficult to learn because “Rules of pronunciation in English is too different from the ones in Vietnamese.”
Teacher quality is considerable because of their experiences in the past “the teacher’s pronunciation in my high school is not standard”
2 of interviewees had the same idea that “age is not important factor if we want to learn pronunciation”
When mentioning about the goal in learning English pronunciation, most of interviewees wanted to “communicate well and find a good job” However, when they have good pronunciation, they think “native-like pronunciation is the main target” of them In their minds, “both of goals are important but in 2 different stages”.
Discussion
Research question 1: How do the first-year-students at HaUI perceive the importance of pronunciation in learning English?
As the results from the questionnaires, participants have been learning English for a long time, at least for 6 years However, most of them have not got any significant achievement in English acquisition yet Namely, 60% of learners only attained elementary level after years of learning English Even nearly 30% of them were at beginner level For 10 years learning English, more than 90% of students admitted that, they rarely or sometimes used English When communicating with other people in English, only few learners were self-confident; nearly one-third could understand 50% what others say; and majority of them hardly understand It is easy to explain for these bad results with the fact that most of students learned English not for purpose of communication, but for passing examinations According to the outcome of the interviews, a surprising fact was revealed that the vast majority of students have not haven knowledge about English pronunciation until pedagogy, emphasizing the acquisition of grammar and vocabulary rather than communicative competence Harmer (2001) emphasized that the goal of language education is to enable students to communicate in the target language Therefore, it can be concluded that, most of students failed in English language learning
Until coming to the university, they saw the importance of communicative competence As a result, they began to care about English pronunciation The statistics from the questionnaires and interviews show that all of the informants clearly perceived their English pronunciation needs but the degree of the importance of pronunciation in English learning is at different levels These results corroborate the findings of a great deal of the previous works in learners‟ perceptions on pronunciation Cenoz and Garcia Lecumberri (1999) explore that although most participants find pronunciation difficult, they all think that it is important Or in another research about learners‟ perceptions of their language needs with relation to pronunciation (in an ESL setting in Canada) of Derwing and Rossiter (2002), the authors find that 55% of participants said that pronunciation is a significant problem for them and that 90% of them will participate in the pronunciation program if available
How do they think about the importance of pronunciation? Consistence with the literature, this research found that most of interviewees were aware that pronunciation is the basic foundation of communication, of comprehension speaking and listening skills It can be seen from the data of questionnaires that the students found out the close relation between pronunciation with other skills such as reading skills, writing skills, vocabulary and grammar, especially speaking skills and listening skills According to their expression, pronunciation is foundation for other skills in English learning, first and foremost speaking skills In other hand, other skill supported for pronunciation again They linked and supported each other
In four suggestions including grammar and vocabulary, culture aspects, pronunciation and English frequency, pronunciation was considered as a prior condition making success of communication However, some people saw the importance of pronunciation basing on their feelings
Research question 2: Which factors do the learners consider as their difficulties in the process of learning English pronunciation?
As mentioned in the literature review, Kenworthy (1987:4, as cited in Nunan
1991) points out 5 factors that affect the pronunciation learning, including the native language, the age factor, amount of exposure, phonetic ability, attitude and identity, and motivation Also, according to many studies in Asian countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Korea, China, etc., a large number of problems in pronunciation teaching and learning arise from class setting The classroom condition is poor and the non-standard quality of teachers staff is also a problem
The results of the questionnaire point that learners faced to 6 out of 8 above problems, including native language, amount of exposure, phonetic ability, class setting and condition, motivation, attitude and identity First of all, the differences between the pronunciation rules in the two language are the problem which most people have to face Second, half of participants complained about their phonetic ability Because it is natural ability, they could not well pronounce Third, amount of exposure to English is too little They claimed for the lack of time for learning pronunciation in class Learners do not have many chances to practice and use English frequently both in and out of the class Fourth, the class setting and condition were also a problem There are too many people in one class, there has not enough chances for all of them to participate in activities to improve pronunciation Although the facilities are modern, they are not used frequently For example, they rarely use lab classroom when learning English Lastly, in the learners‟ views, motivation and attitude are the most important factors They confirmed that if they lack motivation and inspiration for learning pronunciation, they can do nothing at all Besides, the quality of teacher is not the problem which they met However, when answering the interview, some of learners cared about this factor due to the previous traditional pedagogy, emphasizing the acquisition of grammar and vocabulary rather than communicative competence
Research question 3: What are the goals of students in terms of learning English pronunciation?
Although the results from questionnaires show that a great number of learners (90%) considered having good communication be more necessary than sounding like a native English, nearly two-thirds (71,1%) thought that it is important for them to get native-like pronunciation Only more than one-fourth of them (29,7%) liked to save their identity when saying English
In terms of goals in learning pronunciation, up to 60,9% wanted to achieve intelligibility in communication One-third of respondents (35,2%) wished to sound more like a native speakers Surprisingly, a considerable number of learners (3,9%) expressed their desire to attain both of targets
Moreover, when mentioning about the goal in learning English pronunciation, most of interviewees wanted to communicate well and find a good job However, some learner stated that if they have good pronunciation, they think “native-like pronunciation is the main target” of them “Both of goal are important but in 2 different stages”
The findings show that most of the students were aware of intelligibility principle when learning pronunciation However, a lot of people still considered native-like pronunciation as their main goals This was explained that when learning any language, learners often want to use the target language as the native people
On the basis of the findings in the study, the researcher concludes the study with the recapitulation of major findings, concluding remarks, limitations of study, teaching implications, and suggestions for further research.
Recapitulation of the major findings
This study set out to explore the freshmen‟s perception about the importance of pronunciation in English learning To be more specific, after carrying out the study, the author has some answers as follows:
Firstly, the freshmen at Hanoi University of Industry saw the importance of pronunciation as well as the English pronunciation learning Most of them perceived how important pronunciation is to other skills and communication
However, a few learners were only aware of its importance by feelings They did not understand exactly why pronunciation is important They only thought so
Secondly, when learning English pronunciation, students were aware that they met a lot of problems, including the differences of pronunciation rules between mother tongue and target language, too little amount of exposure to English, lack of phonetic ability, lack of facilities, lack of motivation In which, they had most difficulties in the nature of pronunciation and the condition to use and practice English language Although motivation and attitude are not the problems they faced most, in their opinions they are the most important These two issues have big influence in their pronunciation learning
Thirdly, the goals of the learners in learning pronunciation are revealed very clearly Most of the students were aware that the communicative purpose is more important than the target of native-like pronunciation Nearly two- thirds of learners wanted to achieve the intelligibility in communication when learning pronunciation A surprising result is that native-like pronunciation is a desire of many people Some of them want to attain both of the targets: understandable communication and native-like accent
However, one-third of participants still consider sounding like native speakers as their main goal.
Concluding remarks drawn from the major findings
Three research questions were answered very clearly The results are consistent with the literature review The findings of this study can be categorized into three main themes which accord with the three research questions, namely the perception of the freshmen in the importance of pronunciation, the difficulties that learners have when learning pronunciation, and the main goal of learners wnat to achieve when learning pronunciation
Firstly, the freshmen at Hanoi University of Industry have positive attitudes towards the importance of pronunciation as well as the English pronunciation learning
Secondly, 6 factors poses difficulties for learners in learning pronunciation including mother tongue, amount of exposure, phonetic ability, class setting and condition, motivation, attitude and identity
Concerning learners‟ goal in learning pronunciation, although many students wished to achieve native-like pronunciation, making intelligible communication was believed to be more important purpose which they need achieve.
Limitations of the study
Although this research has been conducted with the best efforts of the researcher, there are some limitation as follows:
Firstly, because the pronunciation is integrated in to other activities in English class, the author has not enough condition to observe their pronunciation learning, she had no real observation on the classes where she conducted survey If she could do this task, she would have a deeper view about the problems which the learners faced in the process of learning pronunciation
Besides, there is some objective limitations The planned number of participants of the study is about 130-150 students In addition, 13 of them were absent in the day the author collected the data There were 128 participants in total
When being asked to take some interview, 3 people refused because of private reasons Only 7 people agreed to response If there were more people participating in the survey, the results would be more exactly.
Teaching implication
While the traditional pedagogy emphasized the acquisition of grammar and vocabulary because of the pressure of examinations, learning and teaching English at university is on the right way with the main purpose of communicative competence Learners are aware of the importance of communicative English in general, of pronunciation in particular Learning and teaching pronunciation are not easy tasks for both learners and teachers However, their pronunciation learning has not been paid enough attention Namely, a few learners have ambiguous attitude to the role of pronunciation in English learning It means that the teachers have not made all of their students understand the meaning of learning pronunciation yet
Moreover, students have to face many difficulties in learning English pronunciation, including both subjective and objective factors Obviously, students must overcome subjective causes by themselves But all of them need helps from educators, especially their English teachers who have the direct impact on their learning Their teachers must be the instructors who give not only language knowledge but also inspiration as well as motivation to their students Administrators should care much more about learning conditions Teachers must pay more attention to finding out solutions to help learners overcome their difficulties
All of the learners have clear goals when learning pronunciation However, a considerable number of students still have not the right target in English pronunciation learning This result is caused by both of leaner‟s perception and teacher‟s instruction Teachers should make their students understand that “learners are very unlikely to attain a native-like accent, but their intelligibility can be greatly improved by effective pronunciation teaching.” (Fraser, 1999)
For recent years, foreign language teaching and learning have shifted from teacher directed instruction to student-centered learning because learners are key figures in teaching and learning process; and beliefs about language learning play an important role in learning achievements and experiences Learners‟ beliefs in language learning will shape their attitudes as well as their motivation towards a foreign language Richards & Lockhart (1994) claims that “beliefs can influence learners‟ motivation to learn, their expectations about language learning, their perceptions about what is easy or difficult about a language, and the strategies they choose in learning” (p52) Fraser (1999) has same idea for teaching and learning pronunciation According to Fraser (1999), learners need motivation and really time practice pronunciation She suggests that teachers should spend class-time discussing with learners their own ideas about what is involved in learning pronunciation; using learner-centered approach; and set pronunciation in communicative context This teaching and learning framework is used in order to: help learners confident in learning pronunciation; change the goal of pronunciation learning from a native accent imitating to creating intelligible message In summary, the English teacher must change their teaching methods as well as help learners orient in their pronunciation learning to gain the communicative competence
This study only ends at exploring students' perceptions of pronunciation learning Further studies should explore both the teacher's perceptions of the pronunciation learning of their students Comparing the teacher‟s perception with learners‟ perception helps researcher have deeper results
In addition, the author expects that above limitations will be used as a useful reference for those who intend to conduct researches in the same interest
Last but not least, if possible, the author conduct this study again with larger population of participants in other universities to come up with more reliable results
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APPENDICES APPENDIX 1 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR LEARNER
This survey questionnaire is designed for my M.A Minor Thesis on
“FRESHMEN’S PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR PRONUNCIATION NEEDS IN
ENGLISH LEARNING AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY” Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated The information which you provide is very important to my thesis This is merely a survey study, so you can be confident that you will not be identified under any circumstance
4 What is your first language?
5 How many years have you been learning English?
☐ 1 year ☐ 2-5 years ☐ 6-10 years ☐ more than 10 years
6 How often do you use English?
7 What is your English level?
Part B: Your view on the importance of pronunciation in learning English
8 Do you take notice of pronunciation when learning English??
9 To what extent do you think that pronunciation is important in learning English?
10 In your opinion, which aspect(s) is/are related to pronunciation in learning English?
☐ Vocabulary and grammar Why? (Please clarify)
11 In which level do you rate your English pronunciation?
12 How much information could you get when communicating in English with foreigners??
13 Could you point out the element which has most influence to communication?
Part C: Your views on your problems in the process of learning English pronunciation
15 You are taught pronunciation in every English lesson, aren't you??
16 Is it difficult to learn English pronunciation?
17 Which factors pose difficulties for you in learning English pronunciation?
☐ Amount of exposure to English
Part E: Your views on Vietnamese learners’ main goal in English pronunciation
18 To what extent do you agree that you prefer speaking English in their country accent style to native one?
19 To what extent do you agree that sounding like a native speaker is important in learning pronunciation?
20 To what extent do you agree that communicating purpose is much more important than sounding like a native speaker
21 What are your goals in learning pronunciation?
☐ to achieve intelligibility in communication
☐ to sound more like a native speaker
If you have any other observations about EFL pronunciation teaching, or any of the issues raised in this survey, please record them here