The mistakes of english majored sophomores in pronouncing final english consonants

TAY DO UNIVERSITY FACULTY of LINGUISTIC and LITERATURE THE MISTAKES OF ENGLISH MAJORED SOPHOMORES IN PRONOUNCING FINAL ENGLISH CONSONANTS  Supervisor: Student’s name: Wa Thai Nhu Phuong, M.A Nguyen Thi Be Hien Student’s code: 0857010034 Class: English 3B May, 2012 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In this chapter, I state the rationale, which presents the reason for choosing the research topic and the organization of the thesis 1.1 Rationale Pronunciation teaching is great important for successful oral communication to take place since it is an important ingredient of the communicative competence “Pronunciation should be taught in all language classes through a variety of activities” (Scarcella & Oxford, 1994; cited in Michael Wei, 2009, p.3) She states that both students and teachers should pay attention to pronunciation because it is very important in a language curriculum According to Antimoon, pronunciation is very important for the communicative ability, so having a good pronunciation is a good way in communication However, the quality of teaching and learning is not quite good Although many Vietnamese students have learned English in many years, they cannot pronounce final consonants correctly in some extent Many Vietnamese learners, who use English as their main schooling, occupation, or become future teachers, have to deal with many difficulties in pronouncing final consonants As students majoring in English, I decided to conduct this study entitled “The mistakes of English majored sophomores in pronouncing final English consonants” to help students typical English majored sophomores at Tay Do University become well aware of their mistakes of final consonants which they might not have paid any attention before 1.2 Significance of the research Although English is used widely in many developing countries, mother tongue interference is made by Vietnamese learners especially sophomores majoring in English at Tay Do University This research aims to analyze final consonants mistakes of English majored sophomores at Tay Do University to raise awareness of their mistakes in pronouncing final consonants It also helps them understand the similarities and differences between final English consonants and final Vietnamese consonants This study is conducted in order to investigate the difficulties of English majored seniors when dealing with final English consonants This is considered as one of the most significant problematic phonetic features and it attracts much attention from linguists and teachers of English inside and outside Vietnam 1.3 Organization of the study This study includes five chapters: (1) Introduction, (2) Literature Review, (3) Research Methodology, (4) Results and Discussions, (5) Implications and Conclusions The first chapter presents the reason for choosing the thesis Then the significance of the study is presented in succession Lastly, the organization of the study is outlined The second chapter is the review of the theoretical background for the current study First, some descriptions of English sounds such as vowels, consonants, and diphthongs are clarified Next, the descriptions of final consonants are presented in turn Finally, the preview of previous studies is mentioned at the end of the chapter The third chapter is the description of research methodology The research aim, research question, hypothesis, participants, research instruments and procedures for doing this research are included in this chapter The fourth chapter shows the results of the questionnaire and the results of the pronunciation test Then the important findings of the study are summarized and discussed The fifth chapter begins with the conclusion Next, implications, limitations, suggestions for further research and conclusions are also presented CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter presents the description of vowels, consonants, diphthongs, English final consonants, Vietnamese final consonants Besides, the chapter also discusses problems of learners in pronouncing final English consonants and previews some previous research 2.1 Description of English sounds “All the sounds we make when we speak are the result of muscles contracting The muscles in the chest …We have a large and complex set of muscles that can produce changes in the shape of the vocal tract, and in order to learn how the sounds of speech are produced it is necessary to become familiar with the different parts of the vocal tract These different parts are called Articulators” (Roach, 2000 p.8) Besides, according to Roach (2000), English has 44 speech sounds, including 24 consonants and 20 vowels The speech sounds cannot be described on the way the words are spelt because conventional spelling only represents partially the pronunciation of words 2.1.1 Vowels Vowels are speech sounds, which include 12 vowels and diphthongs According to Roach (2000, p 10) “vowels are sounds in which there is no obstruction to the flow of air as it passes from the larynx to the lips” All English vowels are voiced which can be classified by the four following ways: (1) Tongue height According to the height of the jaw, vowels are classified as high, mid and low  High vowels / i:, i, u:,  /  Mid vowels / e, , , :, : /  Low vowels / , a:  / (2) Tongue position According to the frontness or backness of the tongue, vowels are classified as front, central and back  Front vowels / i:, i e,  / are produced when the front part of the tongue is raised to the hard palate  Central vowels /, : , a: / are produced with the central of the tongue raised  Back vowels /, :, , u: / are produced when the back of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate (3) Lip position According to the shape of the lips (lip-rounding), vowels are classified as rounded and unrounded  Unrounded vowels / i:, I, e, , , , :, a: / are produced when the lips are neutral or spread  Rounded vowels /, u:, , : / are produced with the lips rounded (4) Length According to the time during which a vowel is produced and sustained, vowels are classified as long vowels / i:, u:, a:, : / and short vowels / I, e, , , , ,  / Tongue position front central high back i: u: i Jaw u : mid  e height low  :   a: unrounded rounded Lip position Table 1: the British vowel quadrangle (Nguyen, 2010, p 44) 2.1.2 Diphthongs Diphthong is “a combination of vowels” (Kelly, 2003) cited in Pham (2009, p.8) In addition, a diphthong is an gliding speech sound which is considered as one distinctive vowel of a particular language involving two vowels, one vowel glides to the other, all produced without interruption There are diphthongs such as: i, e, , ei, ai, i, , a which is divided into three groups as in the diagram: DIPHTHONG centring closing ending in  i e ending in  ending in I  ei a i   The closing diphthongs / ai, ei, i / are produced with the beginning less prominent than the end The diphthongs glide towards i  The centring diphthongs / i, e,  / are much shorter in there movement The centring diphthongs glide towards the  (schwa) vowel  The diphthongs / a,  / glide towards  They have comparatively lengthy movement Table 2: The English diphthongs of Received Pronunciation from Roach, 2004, p 242 (Wikipedia) 2.1.3 Consonants According to Roach (2000), the term consonant can be defined as “sound in which there is obstruction to the flow of air as it passes the larynx to the lips” The English consonants has 24 consonants can be classified according to three main characteristics voicing, the manner of articulation and the place of articulation (Roach, 2000, p.62) and (Fromkin, Rodman, Collin & Blair, 1993, p.58) 2.1.3.1 The work of the vocal cords (voicing) Based on voicing, the English consonants can be “voiced or voiceless.” (Roger, 2000, p.47) In addition, Roach (2000, p 27- 31) maintained English consonants are divided into voiced sounds and voiceless sounds in accordance with the work of the vocal cords during speech “Larynx, called the voice box, is a structure composed of cartilage which contain the vocal cord” “Vocal cords are the folds of tough, flexible tissue in the larynx extending from back to front The space between the vocal cords is the glottis When the vocal cords are pressed together, the air from the lungs is completely sealed off During speech, the vocal cords open and close the air passage from the lungs to the mouth.” In a voiced sound, if the vocal cords are very close together and the airstream escapes from them and make them vibrate, these sounds are called voiced sounds In other words, “speech sounds which are produced with the vocal cords are called voiced Such vibration can be felt when touching the neck in the region of the larynx” (Richard, Platt and Platt, 1992, p.402) English voiced consonants are /b, d, g, m, n, , v, , z, , l, d, r, j, w/ In contrast, if the vocal cords are drawn apart, the airstream goes through without causing any vibration, voiceless sounds are produced Voiceless consonants are /p, t, k, f,, s, , t, h/ 2.1.3.2 The place (point) of articulation Basing on places of articulation, English consonants are classified under nine descriptive names:  Bilabial: both lips as the primary articulators articulate with each other (upper + lower lip) It contains / b, p, m, w / sounds  Labio-dental: the lower lip articulates with the upper front teeth (lower lip + upper front teeth) It contains / f, v / sounds  Inter-dental: the tip of the tongue articulates with the front teeth (tip + front teeth) It contains / ,  / sounds/  Apico-alveolar: the tip of the tongue articulates with the alveolar ridge (tip + alveolar ridge) It contains / t, d, s, z, n, l / sounds  Post alveolar: the tip of the tongue articulates with the post alveolar ridge It is / r / consonant  Alveo-palatal: the tip of the tongue articulates with the alveolar ridge and there is at the same time a rising of the front tongue towards the hard palate (tip + alveolar ridge; front + hard palate) It is / , , t, d/ sounds  Fronto-palatal: the front part of the tongue is raised to the hard palate (front + hard palate) It is / j / sound  Dorso-velar: the back of the tongue makes a firm contact with the soft of palate A glottal obstruction, or narrowing friction and vibration between the vocal cords /g,  / However, some consonants in this category may be produced without vibration between the vocal cords /k,/  Glottal / h /: articulated with the glottis Figure 1: places of articulation: Bilabial; Labiodental; Dental or Interdental; Aveolar; (alveo)palatal; velar; uvular; glottal (Fromkin, Rodman & Hyams, 2002, p 241) 2.1.3.3 The manner of articulation The manner of articulation is the way in which speech sounds are produced by the speech organs such as oral stops, nasal stops, fricatives, affricates, lateral and glides or (approximants) (Fromkin, Rodman, Collins & Blair, 1993, p.58) and (Nguyen, 2010, p.21) In other words, Roach (2000, p 48-69) declared that according to the way in which the air stream passes out of the mouth, English consonants may be divided into five groups: stops, fricatives, affricates, laterals and glides Each group was clearly defined by Roach (2000) as follow:  stops Stop consonants including / p, b, t, d, k, g, m, n,  / are produced with the airstream obstructed completely in the oral cavity for a brief period time and released suddenly - When the air stream escapes from the mouth after being obstructed in a short time, oral stops or called plosives / p, b, t, d, k, g / are produced - Nasal stops / m, n,  / are produced when the air escapes through the nasal cavity after being obstructed in the oral cavity and the end of the soft palate is lowered - Bilabial stops are / p, b, m /, which are produced with the airstream stopped in the oral cavity by the complete closure of the lips - Alveolar stops are / t, d, n /, which are produced when the airstream is stopped by the tongue making a complete closure at the alveolar ridge - Velar stops are / k, g,  /, with the complete closure at the velum  fricatives Fricatives including / f, v, s, , z, , , , h / are produced by allowing the airstream escapes with friction because the passage through the mouth is very Pham, T C C (2009) Errors First Year Students at E.D, Hulis, Vnu Make with Ending Sounds and Strategies to Overcome Using Communicative Teaching English Department, Vietnam National University & Hanoi University of Language and international Studies Rachael, A.K (2003) Understanding English Variation University of Surrey - Roehampton, Week Richards, C.J, Platt, J & Platt, H (1992) Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics Singapore: Longman Publishing House Rogers, H (2000) The Sounds of Language - An Introduction to Phonetics Singapore: Pearson Roach, P (1998) English Phonetics and Phonology Third Edition University Press Cambridge United Kingdom Roach, P (2000) English Phonetics and Phonology Third Edition University Press Cambridge United Kingdom Roach, P (2004), "British English: Received Pronunciation" in Journal of the International Phonetic Association Vol 34(2): 239-245 Retrieved on April 10, 2012 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RP_vowel_chart_%28diphthongs%29.gif Scarcella, R & Oxford, R L (1994) Second Language Pronunciation: State of the Art in Instruction Introduced by Michael Wei, Ph.D (2009) A Literature Review on Strategies for Teaching Pronunciation University of Maryland at College Park Spencer, Andrew (1996) Phonology Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Taiffalo (2001) Sound System in Vietnamese 12 January 2010 Retrieved on April 10, 2012 from http://www.de-han.org/vietnam/chuliau/lunsoat/sound/2.htm Tang, Giang M (2007) Cross-linguistics Analysis of Vietnamese and English with Implications for Vietnamese Language Acquisition and Maintenance in the United States Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement 42 Volume Retrieved on April 18, 2012 from http://jsaaea.coehd.utsa.edu/index.php/JSAAEA/article/viewFile/13/8 Thompson, L C 1965 Vietnamese Grammar University of Washington Press Seattle Produced by Le, Chau Hoai N (2010) Transfer from Vietnamese in English Consonants in Students from International Schools and Vietnamese Schools in Vietnam Hưgskolan Dalarna, Engelska C Uppsats Tran, Ngoc Dung (2005) Tìm Hiểu Ngữ Âm Tiếng Việt Retrieved on April 18, 2012 from http://e-cadao.com/tieuluan/nghethuat/timhieunguamviet.htm Yule, George 2006 The Study of Language Cambridge University Press Cambridge Antimoon Webmaster How to http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronuncwhy.htm 43 Learn English Effectively: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I sincerely thank to Tay Do University, especially Faculty of Linguistics and Literature, for giving me a previous opportunity to conduct many studies First and foremost, I would love to send my heartfelt gratitude towards my supervisor, Ms Wa Thai Nhu Phuong who was my trusted guide throughout the completion of this thesis She provided me with referent materials during the time I conducted my study Without her enthusiastic guidance and teaching, the present thesis would not be accomplished Secondly, I would also like to thank all the participants at Tay Do University who enthusiastically gave their time to make recordings Without their valuable opinions on the questionnaire and pronunciation test, the project would not be accomplished I would like to thank my classmates for their kind support warm encouragement, sharing experience and helping me work out my problems during the difficulties course of the thesis Last but not least, I thank my family, my parents, for giving me life in the first place, for educating me with aspects from, for unconditional support and encouragement to pursue my research i COMMENT  ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ii ABSTRACT Nowadays, it is undeniable that English has become the most popular foreign language in Vietnam However, among millions of people speaking English in Vietnam, many people make mistakes in pronunciation This thesis aimed to deal with final English consonants mistakes of sophomores majoring in English at Tay Do University Data were collected from 30 English majored sophomores in class 5A, Tay Do University through a pronunciation test and a questionnaire The results showed that English majored sophomores tended to pronounce wrongly, omitted, replaced the final consonants or added an additional sound to the end of words The results demonstrated that / p, b, t, d, k, g, n, f, v, , , z, , t, d/ were 15 consonants which caused many obstacles for students when pronouncing words The consonants in two groups’ plosives and fricatives often caused many troubles for sophomores majoring in English at Tay Do University Especially, /, / were the most difficult sounds that caused problems for students when pronouncing consonants in individual words In addition, the most difficult sounds for the students in sentences were the sounds /b, , , d/ As these mistakes were typical for sophomores majoring in English, the paper also provided some suggestions to avoid mistakes and pronounce final consonants accurately iii TABLE OF CONTENTS  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i COMMENT ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Significance of the research .1 1.3 Organization of the study CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Description of English sounds 2.1.1 Vowels .3 2.1.2 Diphthongs 2.1.3 Consonants 2.1.3.1 The work of the vocal cords (voicing) 2.1.3.2 The place (point) of articulation 2.1.3.3 The manner of articulation 2.2 Descriptions of final consonant 12 2.2.1 The differences between English final consonants and Vietnamese final consonants 12 2.1.1 English final consonants 12 2.2.1.2 Vietnamese final consonants 13 2.2.2 Problems of learners in pronouncing final English consonants 18 iv 2.3 Preview of previous studies 21 CHAPTER III: RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY 23 3.1 Research aim 23 3.2 Research question 23 3.3 Hypothesis 23 3.4 Participants .23 3.5 Research instruments 24 3.5.1 Pronunciation test 24 3.5.2 Questionnaire 25 3.6 Procedure 25 CHAPTER IV: RESULT AND DISCUSSION .27 4.1 Results 27 4.1.1 Result of the pronunciation test .27 4.1.1.1 Students’ mistakes in pronouncing final consonants in the separate words 27 4.1.1.2 Students’ mistakes in pronouncing final consonants in the sentences 30 4.1.2 Result of questionnaire 33 4.2 Discussion of the study 36 CHAPTER V: IMPLICATION AND CONCLUSION 38 5.1 Conclusion 38 5.2 Implications 38 5.3 Limitation of the study 39 5.4 Suggestion for further research 39 REFERENCES 40 APPENDICES ix APPENDIX A ix APPENDIX B xiii List of students participated in the study……………………………………….xiv v LIST OF TABLES Table 1: the British vowel quadrangle Table 2: The English diphthongs of Received Pronunciation Table 3: Classification of Phonetic Symbols for English Non- vowel Sound 10 Table 4: English consonants phonemes 11 Table 5: Syllabic structure in Vietnamese .13 Table 6: Vietnamese syllable structure 14 Table 7: Vietnamese ending consonants 14 Table 8: Vietnamese final consonants .18 Table 9: Comparison of Vietnamese and English Consonant Sounds in SyllableInitial and –Final Position 19 Table 10: The number of times that students pronounced wrongly each consonant in separate words 28 Table 11: the number of times that students pronounced wrongly each consonant in sentences 31 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: places of articulation Figure 2: The percentage of students having problem in pronouncing final consonants 28 Figure 3: the number of times that students mispronounced group of final consonants in individual words 30 Figure 4: The percentage of students having problem in pronouncing final consonants 31 Figure 5: The number of times that students mispronounced group of final consonants in sentences 33 Figure 6: The awareness of students towards the importance of pronouncing English final consonants 34 Figure 7: The difficulties of students in pronouncing final English consonants 35 Figure 8: The positive attitudes towards pronouncing final consonants exactly .36 vii APPENDICES APPENDIX A QUESTIONNAIRE Topic : The mistakes of English majored sophomores in pronouncing final English consonants Hello! My name is Hien I have been majoring in English in class English 3B at Tay Do University since 2008 I am now doing a research on the above topic for my graduation paper I would like to ask for your help with this questionnaire, which serves as the source of data for my paper There would be no “right” or “wrong” answer Thus, please answer the questions as sincerely as possible Thank you in advance! Learner’ personal information: Name ……………………… Class …………………………… Gender: male female Directions: Please circle the number that corresponds to your degree of agreement with the statements listed on the left of the schedule below: = Strongly Disagree (SD) = Disagree (D) = Neutral (N) = Agree (A) = Strongly Agree (SA) How long have you study English? years viii Strongly Items Agre Strongly e Agree (A) (SA) (4) (5) 5 5 Disagree Neutral (D) (N) (2) (3) Disagree (SD) (1) You tend to transfer some strange final English consonants to similar sounds which exist in your mother tongue Differences between final English consonants and final Vietnamese consonants cause many problems for you in term of pronunciation When pronouncing you often ignore final English consonants which are very hard to pronounce It is difficult to pronounce properly some final consonants because they are closely pronounced similarly You often replace some final consonants with the other final consonants in pronouncing ix Pronouncing final consonants helps you 5 5 5 5 pronounce more exactly Pronouncing final consonants exactly is a good way to improve your pronunciation You think that it is very difficult to pronounce final English consonants Pronouncing final consonants accurately is so important to your English learning 10 You think that final English consonants are very important 11 Pronouncing final English consonants accurately is very important to you 12 You have to deal with many difficulties when learning pronunciation 13 You often mispronounce final English consonants 14 Thanks to pronouncing final consonants, you can avoid some mistakes of x pronunciation 15 Pronouncing exactly final consonants is able to help you develop your 5 speaking skill 16 When speaking you usually omit final English consonants Thanks for your idea! xi APPENDIX B Pronunciation test I Read the individual words swab, pub pup, cap write, heat ride, head comic, stick bag, egg laugh, rough save, leave with, bathe 10 month, birth 11 bus, puss 12 buzz, prize 13 cash, wash 14 beige, rouge 15 language, bridge 16 catch, march 17 room, gloom 18 nine, fine 19 evening, sing 20 well, tell II Read these sentences aloud What’s yours job? She likes to go a coffee shop Good health is above wealth xii Autumn is rich with fruit and grain Don’t let the cat out of the bag She can speak English, Russian and French He didn’t pay enough attention to pronunciation She likes to rouge her cheeks She goes to school by bus 10 we camped outside Rome 11 He edged carefully along the narrow ledge 12 A little pill may well cure a great ill 13 He is fond of orange juice 14 She wins the first prize in this year Thanks for your help! xiii