Pronunciation of english final sounds common problems and solutions among first year english major students at an giang university

AN GIANG UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES STUDENT’S NAME: NGUYEN THI NGOC NHUNG STUDENT’S ID NUMBER: DAV150472 CLASS: DH16AV UNDERGRADUATE THESIS PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH FINAL SOUNDS: COMMON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS AMONG FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT AN GIANG UNIVERSITY SUPERVISOR: PHAN THI THANH HUYEN, Ph.D AN GIANG, MAY 2019 DECLARATION  I hereby declare that the thesis titled “Pronunciation of English final sounds: Common problems and solutions among first year English major students at An Giang University” represents my own work and that it has not been previously submitted to any other university or institute in application for admission to degrees or other qualifications _ May 2019 Nguyen Thi Ngoc Nhung i ACKNOWLEDGMENT After spending four years in Faculty of Foreign Languages, An Giang University, majoring in English Teacher Education, I am now going to graduate from the university It is fortunate for me in this final semester to be able to conduct this undergraduate thesis on the topic of my interest, with substantial support from individuals that I would like to sincerely express my deepest gratitude as follows First of all, I am grateful to my academic supervisor – Ms Phan Thi Thanh Huyen, for her wholehearted support and expert guidance during the time I conducted this thesis She always gave me invaluable guidance throughout this research She inspired me from the very first day of conducting this thesis and motivated me to keep up with the thesis I have learned a lot from her and I deeply would like to send her my most special thanks for all her help, motivation, and encouragement Secondly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to An Giang University and the Faculty of Foreign Languages for giving approval for this undergraduate research project to be conducted I would love to especially thank An Giang University and the Faculty of Foreign Languages in general and the lectures of this faculty in particular for all my knowledge and encouragement they have given me I also wish to thank Ms Nguyen Thi Anh Nguyet, who always encourages me and stands by me I especially thank for her support and her valuable pieces of advice in both knowledge and spirit She also helped me find out the shortcomings and solve all of them during the time of conducting this thesis I am particularly grateful for a great deal of support from the freshmen at the Faculty of Foreign Language for their participation in this thesis Moreover, I would love to express my thanks to a native English teacher for helping me analyze the data the errors in the participants’ pronunciation Last but not least, my most grateful thanks to my parents for their patience, love, empathy, and devotion I am grateful to my parents for their always standing by my side, for sharing my dreams and my passion, for encouraging me most of the time, for trusting my potential personalities, for understanding me and giving me useful ii advice I would take this opportunity to thank my English teachers in secondary and high school for drawing the path for me to teach English and always inspiring me to be successful in this major I also wish to thank my friends, who always stand there for me, help me in need and encourage my spirit and share all joy and sorrow during the time of conducting this thesis This undergraduate thesis would have been impossible without the support and encouragement from these aforementioned people iii ABSTRACT Vietnamese leaners of English as a foreign language (EFL) often have difficulties with the production of English final consonants This study deals with the common mistakes in pronouncing English final consonants, the causes, and some suitable solutions Theoretical phonological research about final consonants in both English and Vietnamese suggests that these mistakes may result from the influence of learners’ first language and context where they live and learn English To find out the answer, the mix-approach method was conducted The questionnaire, group interview, and audio recording were three instruments used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data Quantitative and qualitative data were then analyzed, and compared to draw out common mistakes and causes, and provide suitable solutions to improve the students’ pronunciation of English final consonants The findings indicated that Vietnamese EFL leaners’ effort to pronounce English word-final consonants were omitted, added sounds or replaced with sounds closer to those existing in their mother tongue It was revealed that these mistakes were caused by the number of the final consonants in a word, the lack of the sound existence in Vietnamese, the students’ confusion, and the students’ laziness or lack of attention To improve the pronunciation of English final consonants, the participants were advised to ask for support from their friends, classmates, and teachers and spend more time on self-studying Through the findings, some recommendations were suggested for the pedagogical implications and further research iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION _ i ACKNOWLEDGMENT _ ii ABSTRACT iv LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES _ viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS _ ix CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION _ 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Research aims and research questions 1.2.1 Research aims _ 1.2.2 Research questions _ 1.3 Significance of the study 1.4 Limitations _ 1.5 Organization of the thesis _ CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW _ 2.1 English sounds 2.2 English consonant sounds _ 2.2.1 What are English consonants and how they are produced? _ 2.2.2 Articulatory features 2.2.2.1 Voicing 2.2.2.2 Manners of articulation 2.2.2.3 Places of articulation (articulator and points of articulation) 2.2.3 Final consonants and consonant clusters _ 10 2.3 Vietnamese consonants and their influence on EFL learners _ 13 2.4 Common final sounds mistakes in English _ 14 2.5 Summary _ 17 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 18 3.1 Research design 18 3.2 Participants 18 3.3 Data collection instruments _ 19 3.3.1 Questionnaire 19 3.3.2 Wordlist and text _ 20 3.3.3 Interview questions 20 3.4 Procedures 21 v 3.4.1 Administering the questionnaire _ 21 3.4.2 Administering the audio recording _ 21 3.5 Data analysis 22 3.6 Summary _ 24 CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 25 4.1 What are common mistakes in producing English final consonants among first-year English students at An Giang University? _ 25 4.1.1 Reduction and Substitution _ 26 4.1.1.1 Mistakes with single final consonant sounds 27 4.1.1.2 Mistakes with final consonant clusters _ 29 4.1.2 Insertion 32 4.2 What possibly caused these mistakes? _ 33 4.3 Which suitable solutions can be suggested to help first-year English students at An Giang university to improve their pronunciation of English final consonants? _ 38 4.3.1 Other people’s support _ 39 4.3.2 Self-study _ 41 4.4 Summary 46 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS 47 5.1 Main findings revisited 47 5.1.1 Common mistakes in pronunciation of English final sounds _ 47 5.1.2 Possible causes of pronunciation _ 48 5.1.3 Possible solutions for improvement _ 49 5.2 Pedagogical implications _ 49 5.3 Recommendations for further research 50 5.4 Conclusion 50 REFERENCES _ 52 APPENDICES _ 57 APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE _ 57 APPENDIX B: BẢNG HỎI _ 60 APPENDIX C: WORDLIST 64 APPENDIX D: READING THE PASSAGE 65 APPENDIX E: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 66 vi LIST OF TABLES Table Voiced and voiceless English consonant sounds (Yoshida, 2015) Table English Consonant Phonemes (Mai, 2011) _ Table Structure of a syllable (Nguyen, 2007) 10 Table Final consonant clusters analysis 12 Table Comparison of Vietnamese and English consonant sounds in Syllablefinal position (Tang, 2007) 14 Table The number and the percentage of first-year English major students 19 Table Reliability Statistics of the pilot study 23 Table Reliability Statistics of the instrument 23 Table Summary of Participants’ production of final consonants _ 26 Table 10 Errors with single final consonant sounds 27 Table 11 Errors in final consonants clusters in wordlist task _ 30 Table 12 Errors in final consonants clusters in reading text task 30 Table 13 The reason why the participants made mistakes with final consonants 36 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Overall results of the participants' production in final sounds _ 25 Figure The participants’ experience in learning English _ 34 Figure The participants’ experience in learning Pronunciation 34 Figure The frequency of common mistakes in final consonants _ 35 Figure The participants’ attendance in extra classes _ 39 Figure The opinion of the participants about the effect of other people 40 Figure The participants’ attendance in courses using English as a medium of instruction _ 42 Figure The frequency of the participants’ attendance 42 Figure The frequency of the participants’ practice producing English final consonants at home 43 Figure 10 The opinion of the participants toward the support from the social media and the Internet _ 45 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a Foreign Language ESL: English as a Second Language C: consonant V: vowel ix REFERENCES Anderson, S (2010) How many languages are there in the world? 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Children's spellings of final consonant clusters Truong, H P (2015) An Investigation into the English Pronunciation at Binh Khanh High school: Problems and Amendments Long Xuyen: An Giang University Walker, R (2003, 28) Reinterpreting transparency in nasal harmony Amsterdam Studies in The Theory and History of Linguistics Science Series 4, 37-72 Yoshida, M (2015) The Consonants of American English 55 Yule, G (2006) The Study of Language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 56 APPENDICES APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE QUESTIONNAIRE My name is Nguyen Thi Ngoc Nhung I am carrying out an undergraduate thesis titled “Pronunciation of English final sounds: Common problems and solutions among first-year English major students at An Giang University” This questionnaire is designed to collect the data for this thesis The data in this questionnaire play an important role in the thesis, therefore, please read the statement carefully and choose the most suitable selection It can take - minutes to complete It is sure that all the data you supply are used for research only and kept confidential I – Personal information Name: _ Class: Gender: _ Email: Phone: II – Questions How long have you learned English? 1-2 years 2-4 years 4-7 years 7-11 years Have you learned Pronunciation? a No b Yes Do you think that producing exactly final consonants are important in communication? a Totally disagree b Disagree c No idea d Agree e Totally agree 57 Do you attend any extra English class? a No b Yes If “yes” please answer question 4.1 4.1 How many hours a week? 8 hours Do you learn any course at university totally using English in communication? a No b Yes If yes, please answer question 5.1 5.1 How often you learn that course? a Once a week b Twice a week c Three times a week d More than three times a week Do you practice producing final consonants at home? a No b Yes If “yes”, please answer question 6.1 6.1 How many hours a week? a Bạn có học học phần trường đại học sử dụng tiếng Anh hồn tồn khơng? a Khơng a Có Nếu có vui lịng trả lời câu hỏi 5.1 5.1 Bạn học học phần lần? a lần tuần b lần tuần c lần tuần a > lần tuần Bạn có thực hành phát âm phụ âm cuối nhà không? a Không 61 b Có Nếu có vui lịng trả lời câu hỏi 6.1 6.1 Bạn thực hành phát ân phụ âm cuối tuần? a < 30 phút b 1-2 c 3-4 d 5-6 Vui lòng chọn phương án bên phù hợp với ý kiến bạn phát biểu sau đây: 62 Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Khơng đồng ý Khơng Đồng có ý ý kiến Hồn tồn đồng ý Xem TV giúp thực hành phát âm phụ âm cuối Tiếng Anh Xem video Youtube giúp thực hành phát âm phụ âm cuối Tiếng Anh Mạng xã hội (Facebook, Instagram,…) giúp thực hành phát âm phụ âm cuối Tiếng Anh Chơi game giúp thực hành phát âm phụ âm cuối Tiếng Anh Giáo viên giúp bạn sửa lỗi phát âm phụ âm cuối tiếng Anh Bạn bè giúp bạn sửa lỗi phát âm phụ âm cuối tiếng Anh Giao tiếp với giáo viên ngữ giúp bạn thực hành phát âm phụ âm cuối Tiếng Anh tốt Xin chân thành cảm ơn giúp đỡ nhiệt tình bạn Xin chào kính chúc sức khỏe! 63 APPENDIX C: WORDLIST adult places small govern because pool still great this country think green believe quickly become thought choose room church fresh comfort run through house could school trees leaves ship sheep window like long pull feel unhappy age shut friends laugh 64 APPENDIX D: READING THE PASSAGE A small boy lives in this house There are fields with sheep all around the house His room is at the back and he can see his school from the windows through the green leaves of the trees if he wants to pull them to one side he feels very unhappy because he has no friends and he believes that if he could become adult quickly he wouldn't have to go to school If he could choose, who would like to govern the country and think great thoughts about the world and have friends in high places But he is not yet a man and he must still shut up and what he is told One day he might run away from school and make his way to another country in the ships But really, it is not long until he will no longer be a boy He can comfort himself with that thought He starts to grin and goes down to the pool for swim 65 APPENDIX E: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS What you think about final sounds in communication? Do you have any problems with producing final sound? If yes, please specific which sounds Which sound is usually difficult for Vietnamese learner? Do you usually make mistakes with these sounds? Why and why not? Do you know any ways to improve your production of final sound? If yes, please specific how 66