Difficulties of huflit freshmen in pronunciation and recommendations graduation paper, major translation and iterpretation

HO CHI MINH UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES CAUSES MAKING HUFLIT FRESHMEN’S PRONUNCIATION DIFFICULT AND RECOMMENDATIONS Student: Pham Hong Thanh Vy Student’s ID: 15DH710172 Advisor: Ms Nguyen Thi Xuyen (M.A.) TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES iii LIST OF ABBREVIATION iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT v ABSTRACT vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Research Background 1.2 Research Objectives 1.3 Research scope CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Motivation of English phonetics learners 2.2 Differences between English and Vietnamese sounds CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research subject 3.2 Course information 3.3 Questionnaire 3.4 Interview questions 10 3.5 Research methodology 10 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION 11 4.1 Confidence scale of freshmen’s pronunciation 11 4.2 Pronunciation of /t/ sound in English and Vietnamese and pronunciation of / θ/ sound and /th/ sound 12 4.3 Pronunciation of /kw/ and /w/; / ŋ/ in English and Vietnamese 14 4.4 Pronunciation of /ʃ/ and /ş/ 16 4.5 Pronunciation of /ð/ and /d/ 17 4.10 Pronunciation of /æ/ and schwa 18 4.11 Pronunciation of /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ 20 4.12 Pronunciation of /ʒ/ 21 4.13 Pronunciation of same spelling words, homophones and silent sounds 22 4.14 Pronunciation of final sounds 25 4.15 Pronunciation of “_s/es” and “_ed” 26 4.16 Pronunciation of long vowels 28 4.17 Pronunciation of consonant clusters 29 4.18 Pronunciation of stress 30 4.19 Conclusion 33 CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS 37 5.1 For the leaners 37 i 5.1.1 Self-study 37 5.1.2 Study with others 40 5.2 For the lecturers 42 5.2.1 Teaching activity 42 5.2.2 Checking activity 43 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION 44 6.1 Limitations 44 6.2 Conclusion 44 REFERENCES 46 APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE (FOR STUDENTS) 49 APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (FOR LECTURERS) 55 ii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Confidence scale of freshmen’s pronunciation 11 Figure 2: Pronunciation of /t/ sound in English and Vietnamese .12 Figure 3: Pronunciation of / θ/ sound and /th/ sound 13 Figure 4: Pronunciation of /kw/ and /w/ 14 Figure 5: Pronunciation of English and Vietnamese / ŋ/ 14 Figure 6: Pronunciation of /ʃ/ and /ş/ 16 Figure 7: Pronunciation of /ð/ and /d/ 17 Figure 8: Pronunciation of /æ/ and schwa 19 Figure 9: Pronunciation of /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ 20 Figure 10: Pronunciation of /ʒ/ 21 Figure 11: Pronunciation of same spelling words, homophones and silent sounds 23 Figure 12: Pronunciation of final sounds 25 Figure 13: Pronunciation of “_s/es” and “_ed” 26 Figure 14: Pronunciation of long vowels 28 Figure 15: Pronunciation of consonant clusters 29 Figure 16: Pronunciation of stress 30 iii LIST OF ABBREVIATION DFL: Department of Foreign Languages ESL: Learning English as Second Language Huflit: Ho Chi Minh University of Information Technology and Foreign Languages iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my genuine appreciation to my advisor – Ms Nguyen Thi Xuyen, who provides me a lot of guidance and supports during the process of this graduate thesis Moreover, I would like to thank the lecturers - Ms Truong Kim Ngoc, Mr Huynh Phuoc Hai, Mrs Le Thi Bao Ngoc, Mr Nguyen Huy Khai who spent their time to have an interview about the real situations of freshmen’s pronunciation so that I can have an objective viewpoint about the problems that the students are facing in my research Finally, I would like to appreciate my family supports, especially my mother who always cheers me up and gives me some advice when I am in hardship v ABSTRACT Pronunciation plays an important role in speaking and listening skills However, it is a truth that most Vietnamese students in general and Huflit’s students, in particular, have difficulties in pronouncing English words They find hard to make quick progress in speaking and listening skills although they practice these two skills industriously The aims of the study; therefore, are to figure out students’ problems in pronouncing English, then suggest some solutions for not only Huflit’s freshmen of DFL but other departments’ as well The questionnaire was given out to two hundred and fifty Huflit’s freshmen in DFL to find out the causes which make their pronunciation become an obstacle in communications Moreover, some lecturers in-charge were asked four questions about the Huflit’s freshmen’s pronunciation during phonetics course After the data were collected, the findings were analyzed and solutions were recommended The paper is ended with the Limitations part and a further suggestion for the next research vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Research Background In the 21st century, the importance of learning English becomes more and more recognizable Therefore, the need for learning the language has increased dramatically, especially in Vietnam Therefore, many students choose English as their major at university Huflit’s freshmen of the Foreign Languages Department (DFL) also follow this hot trend They may see the potential in learning English for their future careers However, though they choose to learn English professionally, they sometimes want to give up due to their failure in communication This fact may be caused by some reasons They usually pronounce some English sounds incorrectly and stress flatly, which may cause misunderstandings to listeners Moreover, there are not many tactics for students to distinguish the differences between English phonetics and Vietnamese phonetics, so the act of improving their pronunciation takes a lot of time and effort 1.2 Research Objectives The study aims at figuring out the real reasons in pronunciation that making Huflit’s freshmen a big problem and then finds out the solutions to help them improve their pronunciation as well as speaking skills 1.3 Research scope Our hypothesis in this research is that first-years students’ bad pronunciation mainly caused by the different sounds, the way of putting stress and intonation between English and Vietnamese Hence, our research focuses on the problems faced by students in studying the course “Phonetics” in the aspects of pronouncing sounds in English, word stress, sentence stress, and intonation We are not targeting to the learners’ awareness or learners’ characters, which affect their pronunciation outcome CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW There is no doubt that English and Vietnamese sounds have differences, which causes difficulties for not only learners but also teachers As Roach (2000; 6) suggests that pronunciation should be taught as “communication games” since it is difficult to teach and practice The author also says that teaching pronunciation has not been favored There has been a lot of research so far on the phonetic system of English and Vietnamese, which can help reduce the stress for foreign language students 2.1 Motivation of English phonetics learners First, according to Hamann and Schmitz (2005, 3), there are three main reasons that students should learn phonetics and phonology including two reasons related to foreign languages One is for studying and the other is for teaching They mention that foreign learners learning English phonetics can improve listening ability and fix their own pronunciation mistakes Moreover, they can teach English to other people In this research, the writers also point out that spelling and pronunciation in English are not the same According to Cao Xuan Hao (2017, 207), “Quốc Ngữ” characters focus on transcribing the sounds of Vietnamese Therefore, this side of English makes Vietnamese learners feel much more difficult to pronounce words since our mother tongue’s spelling and pronunciation is connected The learners in general usually pronounce English words by looking at the letters iii/ With native speakers The students also can find help from the foreigners who are English speakers to help them with pronunciation This requires the students to be out - going, otherwise, the students not have enough courage to speak to the foreigners Speaking to foreigners can help a lot and can boost the students’ confidence in speaking a foreign language If the freshmen cannot interact with foreigners face-to-face, they can use social media or some study apps to help them find some foreigners who can help them with pronunciation This is a practical way to enhance their English in speaking skills It is the truth practice makes perfect iv/ With Youtube If you not have money time or friends with the same interest in English, you can spend time on improving your own English pronunciation by watching video clips of native speakers such as videos of experts explaining pronunciation tips, some videos for English as a Second Language (ESL) with conversations and imitating them while focusing on how to make the sounds correctly Students should listen to English everyday to get used to the way of speaking of English native speakers After that, they should imitate the speakers’ utterance If it is boring, you should listen to English songs to make the practice more interesting In this way, the learners can enrich vocabulary, and improve listening and speaking skills Learning English through movies is also a good choice to improve the students’ intonation They can learn how to express words with emotions as well These methods can help the freshmen to improve listening, speaking skills and pronunciation 41 by themselves without spending too much money The students should not try to speak fast like the natives at first and use their intonation in sentences properly This way can improve their listening skills as well After class, moreover, the students can review the pronunciation by watching some guides, especially to some pairs of difficult sounds such as /tʃ/ – /dʒ/, /ʃ/-/ʒ/, /ð/- /θ/ There are some links for references /tʃ/ – /dʒ/ https://youtu.be/nlKNo1TGALA; https://youtu.be/S1qWQC-M E /ʃ/-/ʒ/ https://youtu.be/unfuGPc3iXo; https://youtu.be/RX_3txYD-G0 /ð/- /θ/ https://youtu.be/wr2adpD6sYU; https://youtu.be/HunY6jSeYxc Moreover, the students can improve their American or British intonation and sentence stress as well as weak forms intonation with these following Youtube videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FStyKn4V8cE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCLaLFuNIv0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu0FE31oAg0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6aE4nceJt8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnJCKda4oWU 5.2 For the lecturers 5.2.1 Teaching activity The lecturers should encourage the students to pronounce correctly by preparing some games related to the target sounds, and spending more time 42 with the freshmen to practice as well as reviewing the lessons, especially hard sounds, which the students struggle to pronounce In class, when the atmosphere is passive and boring, these games make the students feel more interested in the lessons 5.2.2 Checking activity Moreover, the time for Phonetics class is limited with two periods a week, so the lecturers are unable to check pronunciation of all the students Therefore, the teachers should ask students to record their reading out loud the sounds and post the videos on the forum of the class Then, their records will be checked by teachers and their peers After peer check, two students will report the result to the lecturers The lecturers then can give feedbacks By this way, the teachers can keep the trace of students’ progress in pronunciation In conclusion, when the students practice to improve improving their pronunciation by themselves or with others or tools, they should be diligent and patient Life is not a bed of rosses, and learning a foreign language is the same It needs our effort and persistence The lecturers can also support the freshmen to improve their pronunciation with more interesting lectures in class with some quizzes They should be stricter to those who not study hard so that all learners feel motivated to practice pronunciation everyday 43 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION 6.1 Limitations Nevertheless, our research could only approach a part of freshmen in DFL and mentioned some common errors Since our main subjects are students of DFL, students of other departments of Huflit University are not included in our research Therefore, there are other problems, which students face, were not discussed in this study We not a survey on the students’ attitude, learning consciousness of Phonetics and the pronunciation of students by actual tests or records Therefore, the collected data are different from the evaluation of interviewed lecturers Due to these limitations, we will study the problems of pronunciation through a specific test to get the accurate results in the next research Moreover, we will focus on the ways of helping the students to realize their errors and correct themselves 6.2 Conclusion The purpose of the study is to figure out what sounds that make the freshmen of DFL feel difficult to pronounce most Based on the phonetics of English, we will recommend some solutions to help the students to improve their pronunciation in English During the findings process, we realize that the students not recognize that they pronounce some sounds incorrectly, for example /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /ʒ/ “_s/es”, “_ed” and they have a lot of confidence in pronouncing English However, the interviewed lecturers show the opposite reality Confidence is a good point in pronunciation, but it can prevent students from recognizing their drawbacks Besides, the students not practice hard enough, and it is a serious problem during English pronunciation practice Moreover, Vietnamese people usually not want to 44 show their weak points, so they not want to admit that they pronounce some sounds badly These are the big obstacles in learning I strongly hope that this study is helpful to improve the pronunciation of the DFL freshmen of Huflit University 45 REFERENCES Cao, Xuan Hao (2017) Tieng Viet may van de ngu am ngu nghia Ha Noi: Social Sciences Publishing House Hamann, C & Schmitz, C (2005) Phonetics and phonology reader for first year English Linguistics Oldenburg, Niedersachsen: University of Oldenburg Nguyen, Thien Giap & Doan, Thien Thuat & Nguyen, Minh Thuyet (2011) Dan Luan ngon ngu (16th ed.) Ha Noi: Vietnam Education Publishing House Limited Company Roach, P English Phonetics and phonology a practical course (3rd ed.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Vo, Xuan Hao (2009) Giao trinh Ngu Am Tieng Viet Hien Dai Quy Nhon: Quy Nhon University Cac am nguoi Viet kho phat am chuan (n.d) Retrieved from https://www.qts.edu.vn/blogs/cac-am-ma-nguoi-viet-kho-phat-am-chuan-480 Cac loi phat am tieng Anh bien (n.d) Retrieved from https://leerit.com/phat-am-tieng-anh/cac-loi-phat-am-tieng-anh-pho-bien/ Cach phat am /tʃ/ – /dʒ/ (n.d) Retrieved from http://tienganh365.vn/san-pham/cach-phat-am-t%CA%83-d%CA%92/ Unit 10: Cách phát âm /ʃ-ʒ/ (n.d) Retrieved from https://www.nguyenkimtuyen.vn/bai-giang/unit-10-cach-phat-am-%CA%83%CA%92/ Unit 16: Cách phát âm âm /tʃ/ chuẩn (n.d) Retrieved from https://www.nguyenkimtuyen.vn/bai-giang/unit-16-cach-phat-am-amt%CA%83-chuan/ 46 Unit 17: Cách phát âm âm /ʤ/ dễ dàng (n.d) Retrieved from https://www.nguyenkimtuyen.vn/bai-giang/unit-17-cach-phat-am-am%CA%A4-de-dang/ Unit 19: Cách phát âm âm th tỏ /ð/ /θ/ dễ dàng (n.d) Retrieved from https://www.nguyenkimtuyen.vn/bai-giang/unit-19-cach-phat-am-am-thto-d-va-%CE%B8-de-dang/ Accent’s Way English with Hadar Shamesh (2018, April 8) American INTONATION – What They don’t Teach You In School – The Secret of Native Speakers Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FStyKn4V8cE ETJ English (2017, August 7) Intonation: Asking question is British English Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCLaLFuNIv0 Learn English with Papa Teach Me (2015 December 11) Natural British Intonation – Weak Forms Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu0FE31oAg0 Oxford Online English (2018, October 4) Intonation in English – English Pronunciation Lesson Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6aE4nceJt8 Oxford Online English (2018, November 9) Sentence Stress in English Pronunciation Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnJCKda4oWU Rachel’s English (2011, March 20) How to pronounce CH /tʃ/ and JJ /dʒ/ sounds: American accents Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unfuGPc3iXo&t=4s 47 Rachel’s English (2011, March 27) English: How to pronounce SH /ʃ/ va ZH /ʒ/ consonants: American accents Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr2adpD6sYU&t=1s Rachel’s English (2016, December 15) English sounds – The two TH consonants /θ/ and /ð/ Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlKNo1TGALA&t=92s Talk to Miss Lan (2014, October 01) Bai 14: Phan biet am /tʃ/ va /dʒ/ Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX_3txYD-G0&t=8s Talk to Miss Lan (2014, September 14) Bai 15: Phan biet am /ʃ/ va /ʒ/ Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HunY6jSeYxc&t=1s Talk to Miss Lan (2014, July 6) Bai 16: Phan biet am /θ/ va /ð/ Think v.s Then Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1qWQC-M E&t=178s [23] 48 APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE (FOR STUDENTS) BẢNG KHẢO SÁT VỀ NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN HAY GẶP PHẢI KHI PHÁT ÂM TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT KHOA NGOẠI NGỮ HƯỚNG DẪN: Các bạn vui lòng đánh dấu vào câu trả lời Nếu bạn chọn câu trả lời “Ý kiến khác” vui lịng điền thơng tin vào chỗ trống (Những thông tin phục vụ cho nhu cầu nghiên cứu Cảm ơn bạn tham gia khảo sát này.) NỘI DUNG KHẢO SÁT: Theo bạn nghĩ phát âm tiếng Anh bạn nằm thang điểm mấy? o 1-4 o 5-7 o 8-10 Bạn phát âm xác âm /t/ tiếng Anh (ví dụ: two) mà khơng phát âm nhầm thành âm /t/ tiếng Việt (ví dụ: từ)? o Có o Khơng o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… Bạn phát âm xác âm /θ/ Tiếng Anh (ví dụ: throw) mà khơng phát âm nhầm thành âm /th/ Tiếng Việt (ví dụ: thấy)? o Có o Khơng o Ý kiến khác: 49 ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… Bạn phát âm xác âm /kw/ Tiếng Anh (ví dụ: queen) mà khơng phát âm nhầm thành âm /w/ (ví dụ: quen)? o Có o Khơng o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… Bạn phát âm âm cuối /ŋ/ Tiếng Anh (ví dụ: long) mà khơng phát âm nhầm thành âm /ŋ/ Tiếng Việt (ví dụ: Thăng Long)? o Có o Khơng o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… Bạn phát âm xác âm /ʃ/ Tiếng Anh (ví dụ: she)? o Có o Không o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… Bạn phát âm xác âm / ð/ Tiếng Anh (ví dụ: there)? o Có o Khơng o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… 50 ………………………………………………………………… Bạn phát âm xác âm /ỉ/ Tiếng Anh (e.ví dụ: hat) mà khơng phát âm nhầm thành âm /a/ in Vietnamese (ví dụ: hát)? o Có o Khơng o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… Bạn phát âm xác từ tiếng Anh có ngun âm với ngun âm đơn hay khơng? (ví dụ: fire đọc /faiər/ khơng /fai/) o Có o Không o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… 10 Bạn phát âm xác âm /tʃ / Tiếng Anh (ví dụ: chair) mà khơng phát âm nhầm thành âm /c/ Tiếng Việt (ví dụ: che)? o Có o Khơng o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… 11 Bạn phát âm xác âm /dʒ/ khơng (ví dụ: gem)? o Có o Khơng o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… 51 12 Bạn phát âm xác âm /ʒ/ khơng (ví dụ: pleasure) khơng? o Có o Khơng o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… 13 Bạn có thấy lúng túng phát âm từ có ký tự mà lại phát âm khác nhau? (ví dụ: chemistry /kemɪstri/– chair /tʃea(r)/) o Có o Khơng o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… 14 Bạn có thấy lúng túng phát âm từ đồng âm khác nghĩa? (ví dụ: I - Eye /aɪ/) o Có o Khơng o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… 15 Bạn nhận biết âm câm từ tiếng Anh mà không cần nhìn phiên âm khơng? o Có o Khơng o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… 16 Bạn có hay bỏ phát âm âm cuối Tiếng Anh hay khơng? o Có 52 o Khơng o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… 17 Bạn có phát âm xác từ tiếng Anh hình thức danh từ số nhiều động từ chia với chủ ngữ số đơn khơng? (ví dụ: cats /kỉts/; tools /tu:lz/; watches /wɒtʃiz/) o Có o Khơng o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… 18 Bạn có phát âm xác từ tiếng Anh kết thúc là“ed” khơng? (ví dụ: wanted /wɒntid/; /; watched /wɒtʃt/; shared /ʃea(r))? o Có o Không o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… 19 Bạn có gặp khó khăn phát âm nguyên âm dài tiếng Anh (ví dụ: sheep /shi:p/ phát âm khác với ship /ship//? o Có o Khơng o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… 20 Bạn có gặp khó khăn việc phát âm chuỗi phụ âm /bl/, /br/, /cl/, /cr/, /gl/, /gr/, /st/, v.v? (ví dụ: stone; spring; next /nekst/) o Có o Khơng o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… 53 ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… Bạn có khó khăn nhớ trọng âm tiếng Anh? o Có o Không o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… 21 22 Bạn có gặp khó khăn đọc từ viết giống có âm nhấn khác loại từ khác ( ví dụ: ‘increase (n) in’crease (v)? o Có o Khơng o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… 23 Bạn có biết cách nhấn trọng âm câu giao tiếp khơng? o Có o Khơng o Ý kiến khác: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… CẢM ƠN CÁC BẠN ĐÃ THAM GIA KHẢO SÁT 54 APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (FOR LECTURERS) CÂU HỎI KHẢO SÁT: Sinh viên có thái độ tích cực việc sửa lỗi sai phát âm hay không? Những âm Tiếng Anh mà sinh viên thấy khó phát âm nhất? Tại sinh viên lại gặp khó khăn phát âm âm Đánh giá giảng viên khả tiếp thu mơn đó? Phonetics? 55