THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY GRADUATION PAPER A STUDY ON COMMON PRONUNCIATION ERRORS OF FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT ENGLISH FACULTY, THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY AND SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS Supervisor Pham[.]
THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY GRADUATION PAPER A STUDY ON COMMON PRONUNCIATION ERRORS OF FIRSTYEAR STUDENTS AT ENGLISH FACULTY, THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY AND SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS HANOI - 2022 Hanoi - 2022 Hanoi - 2019 ABSTRACT According to survey results and records, now English is present everywhere, is the most popular language in the world English plays an important role in daily life from communication to opportunities in studying, working, expanding relationships to business cooperation… Being equipped with a solid English foundation will help people communicate, exchange learning, and business experience with friends from other countries Currently, in Vietnam, English is considered a second language Students learn English from elementary school to high school And until the university level, there are also many English-related majors to supplement learners with English knowledge and skills , helping them to have solid English skills to apply to work for a living later In fact, most Vietnamese students in general and students of Thuongmai University in particular, have pretty good grammar and vocabulary But many students are still not confident enough to communicate in English There are many reasons for this, but the most common reason is that students not pronounce correctly and not understand the pronunciation rules This not only makes students not confident enough when speaking but also affects other skills In this graduation thesis, the author focus on highlighting common pronunciation errors, related to ending sound, phonetics, pronunciation of difficult sounds, stress, and intonation of sentences of first-year students of the English Faculty, Thuongmai University At the same time, analyze and find out objective and subjective causes leading to incorrect pronunciation Since then, some solutions have been proposed to solve this problem Hopefully, in the near future, the pronunciation ability of students at Thuongmai University will be improved i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT To complete this graduation, I have received a lot of help, guidance and encouragement from teachers and friends First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my mentor - Ms Pham Minh Hong, who has helped me a lot to complete this graduation successfully Her dedicated guidance, valuable comments and encouragement throughout the process of writing this research paper Without her help, I would not have been able to complete my graduate paper Secondly, I would like to especially thank the 90 first-year students of the English Faculty of Thuongmai University for their enthusiastic cooperation and assistance in helping me answer questions to complete my thesis Thirdly, I would like to thank all the lecturers of the English Faculty of Thuongmai University very much, because they have taught me so wholeheartedly during my four years of study at the University Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends who have always supported and encouraged me to complete this graduation to the best of my ability I am very happy for all those who have supported my graduation And I'm honored to receive any comments from readers Hanoi, April 15, 2022 Student Nguyen Thi Thu Hoai ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS .iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vi CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Previous studies 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 Research subject .4 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Research methodology 1.7 Organization of the study .5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .6 2.1 English pronunciation 2.1.1 Definition of pronunciation 2.1.2 The importance of pronunciation 2.1.3 Aspects of pronunciation 2.2 Types of pronunciation errors .16 2.2.1 Sound substitution 16 2.2.2 Don’t prolong the previous sound 16 2.2.3 Remove sound .16 2.2.4 Add redundant sounds 17 2.3 Main factors affecting English pronunciation 17 2.4 Some common pronunciation errors of English learners 18 2.4.1 Ending sound errors: 18 2.4.2 Stress errors: .19 2.4.3 Intonation errors: .19 2.4.4 Short vowel – long vowel errors: 19 2.4.5 Confusion between some consonants 20 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 21 3.1 Research methods 21 iii 3.1.1 Participants 21 3.1.2 Research instruments 21 3.1.3 Data collection process .21 3.2 Data analysis 22 3.3 Research Findings .22 3.3.1 The reality of first-year English majors’ pronunciation, Thuongmai University 22 3.3.2 The result of the survey questionnaire .23 3.4 Summary .31 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS .32 4.1 Summary of the study 32 4.2 Some possible solutions to improve pronunciation skills of first-year English majors .32 4.2.1 Practicing Difficult Phonemes and Syllables .32 4.2.2 Learning from native speakers 33 4.2.3 Speaking slowly 33 4.2.4 Paying attention to intonation and stress 33 4.2.5 Studying English pronunciation 34 4.2.6 Mimicking English Sounds 34 4.3 Some suggested books for English learners to study pronunciation 35 4.3.1 Ship or Sheep 35 4.3.2 Tự Tin Phát Âm Chuẩn – A J Hoge 35 4.3.3 Mastering the American accent 36 4.3.4 Pronunciation Workshop 36 4.4 Limitations and suggestions for further study 37 4.4.1 Limitations of the study 37 4.4.2 Suggestions for further study .37 CONCLUSION 38 REFERENCES .I APPENDIX II iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS No Abbreviations English Meaning TMU i.e etc ThuongMai University Id Est (Latin) Et cetera E.g AMEP For example Adult Migrant English Program v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 2.1: Articulatory phonetics Figure 2.2: Bilabial articulation .9 Figure 2.3: Articulatory classification of English consonants .12 Figure 2.4: Palato-alveolars 13 Figure 2.5: Velar articulation 14 Chart 3.1: The most favorite skill of first year English majored students 23 Chart 3.2: The percentages of important factors in speaking 24 Chart 3.3: The importance of pronunciation in English speaking 25 Chart 3.4: Students’ interest in pronunciation .25 Chart 3.5: Students’ frequency of making pronunciation mistakes 26 Chart 3.6: Sounds that students found harder to pronounce 27 Chart 3.7: Students’ common pronunciation mistakes 28 Chart 3.8: Reasons for difficulties when pronouncing ending sounds 30 Table 3.1: Percentage of ending sounds faced by first-students of English Faculty.29 vi vii CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale In today's globalization trend, the importance of English cannot be denied and ignored because it is a commonly used language in all parts of the world Vietnam is one of the countries that use English as a second language and therefore English is considered the most important subject at all levels of education in Vietnam's educational program However, teaching and learning English in Vietnam focuses more on reading and writing skills than on listening and speaking skills while for any language, speaking skill is still the most important skill To be able to speak English also needs some factors such as pronunciation, vocabulary, reflexes in which, pronunciation is a skill that many Vietnamese people still make many mistakes In the process of teaching and learning foreign languages in general and learning English in particular, standard pronunciation always plays an important role It has a direct effect on learning basic skills to grasp a foreign language, especially listening and speaking skills However, in Vietnam, most English learners from primary school to high school are only taught and learned grammar, reading, and writing skills to take exams and tests without being taught a lot about listening and speaking skills leading to them being quite afraid of speaking English When speaking English, the students can say enough vocabulary and very correct grammar because they have learned a lot about those two things over the past 12 years of learning English, but there is one very common mistake that most students make when saying it is pronunciation Stemming from that fact combined with the assessment of the pronunciation ability of students of Thuongmai University in general and first-year students of the English Faculty of the university in particular, the author chose to research the topic "A study on common pronunciation errors of first-year students at English Faculty, Thuongmai University and some possible solutions" to find out the common pronunciation errors of first-year students of the English Faculty, the causes those