An investigation into the pronunciation of the fricatives θ and ð experienced by the students of grade 10th at thanh binh 2 high school – problems and solutions

1 INTRODUCTION Motivation of the study Nowadays, the tendency of globalization has raised the important role of English spectacularly As a result, more and more people learn English as an international communicative tool In Vietnam, English has become an obligatory subject in schools for many years Vietnamese students study not only four language skills: Listening, speaking, reading and writing but also language focuses including grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation simultaneously in English courses However, they find difficult in communicating with native speakers and non-native speakers as well and many foreigners have made comments that a large number Vietnamese can speak English, yet a few have intelligible English pronunciation which help them be understood easily by foreigners In domain of international communication, English speaking skill need to be proficient The core of speaking is producing sound and meaning intentionally Mastering pronunciation is the priority of speaking because “up to a in certain proficiency standard, the fault which most severely Impairs the communication process in EFL/ESL learners is pronunciation, rather than vocabulary or grammar, according to Hinofitis and Baily( 1980, pp.124-125) Vietnamese students in High Schools learn pronunciation at language focus lessons In comparison to grammar and vocabulary, it is usually not paid much attention In forty-five minute classroom hour, it takes about from five to ten minutes for the teachers to instruct the focused sounds and help their students practice them because they need more time to study grammar In a very short time, the teachers only can guide the students to pronounce the noticed sounds in words and sentences by modeling and repeating them, they don’t have enough time to instruct how articulation the sounds employ and what articulators the sounds use and the learnt sounds are rarely compared with similar Vietnamese sounds The students mostly listen to the teachers’ model, sometimes native speakers’ tape recording; however, many teachers are not very proficient at pronunciation which leads to wrong input language As a consequence, the students gradually find hard to take in real English and perform correct pronunciation In term of language transfer, many learners use their mother tongue to help them create their language system Hardly can the students tell differences between English texts and English sounds They don’t know what sounds represent for what letters and vice versa because they spend much time on English texts, using their eyes to adsorb English not their ears In process of learning pronunciation, English sound need to be both the ears and the mouths work together and their brain helping them remember the sounds Many students borrow Vietnamese texts, as a mean of storing English pronunciation in their book or note book, to correspondence to English sound How their ears and their brains perceive the English sounds is much more important In real contexts, the students love to use most common used words Thanking people and replying to thanks, as a vivid example; when someone give them a hand or receiving compliments, wishes of success, an offer of help, an invitation, they usually respond as “thanks”, “thank you” This seems to be simple and easy when they use the word “thank’’ However, there are a dozen of both sad and happy situations occurring when “thank” is performed They often mispronounce “thank” as “tank” or “sank” or “thanh” of Vietnamese Imagining that how funny and embarrassed they are when they say “sank you, my mother” Pronouncing “mother” is also a dizzy problem, replacing “mother” as “murder” for example “Thank you, my mother” become “Sank you, my murder” which is a horrible respond when their mothers give praises on them Speaking words such as “father and brother”, as another example, are usually not performed beautifully by many students The problematic sounds which they are dealing with are /θ/ as in “thank” and /ð/ as in “mother”, which can create many obstacles in both formal and informal communication Located at Tan Binh commune, Thanh Binh district, Dong Thap province, Thanh Binh high school is my old warmhearted school As a future teacher, helping my future students learn pronunciation well is my ambition The fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ are really hard sounds which many students cream at, students at Thanh Binh are not an exception Introduced at Unit 15 of English 10, the fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ need to be paid more attention because they are first taught at high school They will learn consonant clusters containing fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ next grades If they are not guided carefully, many students will suffer from disaster’s /θ/ and /ð/ pronunciation “A good beginning makes a good ending” Indeed, supporting the students at my old school to get over the problems of pronouncing the two sounds is very meaningful to me Because of these above reasons, I decided to research on Thanh Binh High School grade 10th students’ difficulties in learning two fricatives /θ/ and /ð/, teachers’ obstacles of teaching the two sounds, entitled: “An investigation into the pronunciation of the fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ experienced by the students of grade 10th at Thanh Binh high school – problems and solutions” The study was conducted to seek the answers to the question of what difficulties the students and teachers of grade 10th at Thanh Binh high school face when they learn and teach the fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ pronunciation, what phonemes which the replace /θ/ and /ð/ with, what solutions to the difficulties for both the students and the teachers Aims of the study With the mentioned reasons, this study was conducted to gain some following aims: -Finding out realities of learning and teaching dental fricative /θ/ and /ð/ at Thanh Binh high school -Discovering what English sounds and Vietnamese sounds, which the students replace /θ/ and /ð/ with -Making some suggestions for both teachers and students to overcome the difficulties Theory of the study This study was conducted based on two following theories - The students have difficulties in distinguishing /θ/ and /ð/ with other English fricatives and plosives when listening to them in context - The students have substituted /θ/ and /ð/ for Vietnamese sounds: /t’/, /d*/ and /s*/ Research methods In the process of doing the study, three research methods: classroom observation, questionnaire, and experiment, were used to secure relevant information First, listening experiment was carried out Then pre recording experiment was conducted Next, classroom observations were employed Coming after that, the students’ questionnaires delivered After that, the researcher carried out teaching experiments Finally, post-recording experiment was put in action Scope of the study The thesis focuses on research learning and teaching /θ/ and /ð/ pronunciation of students’ grade 10th and teachers at Thanh Binh High School Because I have practiced teaching four classes 10cb1, 10cb2, 10cb3, 10cb4 in my teaching practice period, my study was only researched on the four classes Significance of the study The study, the researcher’s ambition on doing educational scientific research, has paid the researcher many experiences than before, has contributed certain benefits for learning and teaching pronunciation It is a chance for the researcher to scientific research, to practice writing skill, to enhance his social skills as well Because the thesis focused researching θ/ and /ð/, it helped the researcher experiment his own methods of teaching /θ/ and /ð/ Consequently, the researcher could seek good solutions for both teachers and learners when teaching and learning these challenging phonemes Furthermore, the thesis is about to wake the students up to see how crucial pronunciation is, and how interesting pronouncing correctly /θ/ and /ð/ is Many students will take pride on themselves when they can pronounce /θ/ of a famous interjection “thank you” correctly, even more, can speak /ð/ of wonderful words like “mother, father” wonderfully In addition, it also highlights difficulties of pronunciation /θ/ and /ð/ Accordingly, teachers will pay more attention to these hard phonemes In brief, the study brought advantages for the researcher, teachers and students Related previous study -The effectiveness of using game in teaching and learning pronunciation for grade 11 students at Sa Dec town high school by Do Nguyen Xuan Thao, -Improving the pronunciation of English final sounds / k/, t ʃ/ / ʃ/,/θ/ and /dʒ/ for the second- year students of bachelor of English at Dong Thap University by Nguyen Thi Truc Giang Although the two studies have contributed to improving the students’ pronunciation, they are weak at methodologies of study, giving recommendations When analyzing the learners’ error pronunciation, Nguyen Thi Truc Giang just used qualitative methods not quantitative ones Also, Do Nguyen Xuan Thao did not make clear pronunciation difficulties of the learners They didn’t also focus on researching /θ/ and /ð/ Organization of the thesis The present study comprises three parts The first one is the introduction bearing motivation of the study, aims of the study, scope of the study, the theory of the study, research methods, and significance of the study, related previous studies, and organization of the study The second one is the content of the study which includes three chapters Chapter is concerned about literature review, chapter the methodology of the study, and chapter the results and discussion The last one is the conclusion of the study consisting of overview of the study, limitations of the study, and suggestions for further research CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter presents some theories related to the study It is made up of six sections: introduction of pronunciation in general; introduction to English fricatives; a brief introduction to Vietnamese consonants; comparison between /θ/, /ð/ and /t’ /, /d*/, /s*/ of Vietnamese; factors influencing on studying pronunciation; pronunciation teaching methodologies 1.1 Pronunciation 1.1.1 Definition of pronunciation Learning to speak a foreign language, English as an example, means dealing with a new way of producing a wide range of new sounds In term of both native and nonnative speakers’ perception, it takes time to practice and produce them comprehensibly Producing sounds of speech with certain meanings refers to pronunciation Encarta Dictionary defines pronunciation as “the way in which a sound, word, or language is articulated, especially in conforming to an accepted standard’’ Another explanation, “Pronunciation is the act of uttering with articulation; the act of giving the proper sound and accent; utterance; as the pronunciation of syllables of words; distinct or indistinct pronunciation”, adapted from Lac Viet dictionary can be more detail Far beyond the spoken individual sounds, pronunciation also conveys the soul of the language such as intonation, stress words, rhythm and speakers’ unique voice quality Because of varieties of English, people can pursuit different English accents which they like A model of English pronunciation was used mostly is BBC English (British English); however American English pronunciation is also popular What models of English Pronunciation can be used by the learners; comprehension by both native and non- native speakers is the ambitious goal of most of them 1.1.2 The important role of pronunciation Language is a magic communicating tool People can communicate through spoken language or written one as well It is oral communication that people typically use in not only daily life but also academic cases Thus, pronunciation plays an important role of communication Clear and confident speech can enhance what we speak even polish our unique characteristics Kenworthy(1987, p34) stated that “poor, unintelligible speech will make their attempts at conversing frustrating and unpleasant both for themselves and for their listeners.”, so the goal of English pronunciation is to be understood, to be proud of the ways we pronounce English Furthermore, good pronunciation can create many interests on listeners in communication When the listeners can taste the beauties of the speakers’ spoken language through their ways of producing English sounds, they can comment that “you have good English” or “you speak English so well” What they primarily react to the speakers is usually their pronunciation Also, good pronunciation, sub-skill of speaking skill, can be magic communicating attraction As an example, in tourism, both native and non native visitors would rather spend hours on listening to easilycomprehended spoken English of a tour guide than try to listen deadly choppy and incomprehensible of a manager in just thirty seconds since they are fell comfortable and respectful Therefore, good spoken English often creates much attractive to listeners, regardless of whom the speakers are Pronunciation also plays an important role of both perceptive and productive language skills For the most part, speaking skill is the ability to produce the comprehensible sounds When learners have good spoken English, they easily understand others and vise versa No matter how good grammar and vocabulary the speakers employ, they can be incomprehensible speaker when they earn much pidgin pronunciation In the process of speech, speaking and listening skill work together at the same time Listening skill is very crucial if the listeners want to respond the speakers appropriately Both listeners and speakers can understand together when their spoken language at a same interchangeable language rate In term of bottom up listening, people need to have ability to decode spoken language based on their phonetic ability As a sequence, perfect pronunciation is convenient for both listeners and speakers In short, pronunciation is very essential for learners in both foreign communication and language skill improvement The better pronunciation they gain the better speakers they are When their pronunciation is more proficient, their communication will be more effective, their listening skills and speaking ones are good as well 1.2 The brief introduction to English fricative consonants Roach, P (1999, p34) defined “fricatives are consonants with characteristics that, when they are produced, air escapes through a small passage and makes a hissing sound” Another explanation by Kennedy, G (2000, p123), “the airflow can be made turbulent in friction, thus producing fricative consonants”, can be clearer Nine fricatives /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/ are described with terms of place of articulation, manner of articulation, and degree of noise in the following table below Table 1.2 English fricatives Degree of noise Place of articulation Labiodentals Dental voiceless f θ s Post- alveolar Glottal h ʃ voiced v ð z ʒ 1.2.1 Dental fricative /θ/ and /ð/ Alveolar Manner of articulation Airflow released through a constricted passage In English, combination of two letters t and h is very popular in English They stand for one of two different sounds: -The voiced dental fricative /ð/ -The voiceless dental fricative /θ/ The popularity of /θ/ and /ð/ is shown in the below table, according to Kennedy, G (2000, p 100) Table 1.2.1a Frequency of English phonemes The /θ/, /ð/ phonemes exist at three positions: initial position, medial position, final position in word, are shown at the below tables The /θ/ phoneme Table 1.2.1b Positions of phoneme /θ/ in word, adapted from http://vi.englishcentral.com/pronunciation/sound/TH 10 Initial *At the beginning of content words bearing ‘th-’, e.g thing, thank, thought /θ/ Positions Medial Final *Compound words * Nouns and in which the first adjectives ending element ends or the with “-th”, e.g second element teeth, width, begins with th”: warmth, width, e.g bathroom, strength, etc anything, nothing, * Cardinal something numbers ending * The adjective with “-th”: e.g suffix -y normally fourth, fifth, sixth, leaves terminal /θ/ ect unchanged: earthy, healthy, pithy, stealthy, wealthy Exception -The th is pronounced /t/ in Thailand, Thomas , Thames - The only other native words with medial /θ/ would seem to be brothel and Ethel * Most loan words - From Greek: athlete, cathedral, anthem, Athens,, etc - From Latin: author, authority, Bertha, etc - From Celtic languages: Arthur, Abernathy, Abernethy, etc - From Hebrew: Ethan, Jonathan, Bethany, etc - From German: Luther - Worthy and swarthy have /ð/ 54 students thought it was difficult (12.9% obtained 12.9%, 15.5% chose easy option).In brief, the students believed that English pronunciation was not easy Figure 3.1.4.2d Students’ psychology to learning pronunciation The students' psychology to pronuncistion learning 76.6% 120 100 80 60 40 11.4% 20 10% 2% Very shy Shy Rather shy Not shy The figure evidences that most of the students felt shy when they learnt English pronunciation There were 110 out of 140 students (76.6%) who confirmed that they were very shy to learn English pronunciation 16 students(11.4%) also informed that they were shy and 14(10%) students got hold of rather shy option Only 5(2%)students were not shy when learning English pronunciation In general, the students were very shy at learning pronunciation Table3.1.4.2a Students’ ways of learning pronunciation Options a Look up dictionary to know how to read a word b Do exercises finding a differentlypronounced Number % 115 82 18 13 55 word from the others c Observe teacher’s mouth movements and imitate him (her) in classroom hour d Listen to English and repeat what you hear after the speakers 3.6 1.4 The table shows that most of the students learnt English pronunciation with their dictionaries (115 students-82%) Only 18 students (13%) did exercises finding a differently-pronounced word from the others There were not many students learned pronunciation from their teacher model or native speaker The student just learnt English pronunciation in theory not real practical English In brief, they learnt English pronunciation with English texts not real sound Table3.1.4.2b Realities of English environment to students Statements Scales coutable number and percentage Usually Sometimes Rarely Never 23(16.5%) 79(56.5%) 17(12.2%) 19( 13.8%) You listen to native English in class You listen to 2(1.4%) native English outside the classroom You watch 7(5%) Englishprograms on TV You watch 0(0%) 5(3.6%) 30(21.4%) 103(73.6%) 10(7%) 23(16.5%) 100(71.5%) 3(2.%) 100(71.5%) 37(26.5%) 56 movies teaching pronunciation on internet You speak English in class You speak English outside the classroom 10 You ever spoken English with native speakers 21(15%) 19(13.7%) 65(46.3%) 35(25%) 2(1.4%) 3(2.2%) 108(77.1) 27(19.3%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 2(1.4%) 138(98.6%) Generally speaking, the students’ English environment was not ideal and their interaction to real English was not much They just sometimes listened to native speaker in classroom (79%) They rarely listened to real English outside the classroom (73.6%).Never did the students speak English with foreigners (98.6%) The other sources of real English which the student rarely used, 75.5% of the students rarely watched movies teaching pronunciation on internet, as an example In brief, the students learnt English passively and unproductively Figure 3.1.4.2e Students’ use of IPA to transcribe /θ/ and /ð/ pronunciation Students' use of IPA to transcribe /θ/ and /ð/ 140 83.6% 120 100 80 60 40 20 11.2% 2.1% 2.1% Always Often Sometimes Never According to the figure, the students’ use of IPA to transcribe /θ/ and /ð/ pronunciation was at low rate Up to 83.6% of the students never used of IPA to transcribe /θ/ and /ð/ The frequency of using IPA was not high (2.1% obtained 57 always, 11.2% got hold of often and 2.1% took sometimes).In generally, the students did not usually use IPA to transcribe the target sounds Table 3.1.4.2c Students’ taking note in /θ/ and /ð/pronunciation classroom hour What did you take note in /θ/ and /ð/ pronunciation classroom hour? Options a Write down “Pronunciation: /θ/ and /ð/” headline b Write down words containing /θ/ and /ð/, which you like c Take note teacher’s explanation on place and manner of θ/ and /ð/ articulation d Take note nothing Number % 121 86.5 1.4 4.2 11 7.9 The table shows that most of the students did not take note much in pronunciation classroom hour There were 121 students who only wrote down “Pronunciation: /θ/ and /ð/” headline (86.5%) A few students took note teacher’s explanation on places and manners of θ/ and /ð/ articulation (6 students) There were two students who wrote down words containing /θ/ and /ð/, which they liked Taking note nothing could be found on 11 students In general, the students mostly took note only the headline of /θ/ and /ð/ pronunciation Figure 3.1.4.2 f Students’ interests in pronunciation classroom hour 58 Students' interests in /θ/ and /ð/ pronunciation classroom hour 3-8.60% 7-20% 126-61.40% 4-10% Organize wide ranges of pronunciation games and activities Using funny and shocking sentences containing target sounds Teacher’s sense of humor The figure 3.1.4.2f demonstrates that the students’ interests in pronunciation classroom hour were various Majority of the students wanted their teacher to organize wide ranges of pronunciation games and activities (61.40%) The students also liked positive psychology of learning pronunciation 20% students were fond of their teachers’ sense of humor, 10% enjoyed their teachers’ using funny and shocking sentences containing target sounds The rest were keen on watching videos and pictures In brief, the students liked theirs teachers not only use many games activities but their own characteristics Figure 3.1.4.2 g Students’ / ð / transcription of “this” Students' transcription of /ð/ in 'this' 120 100 80 60 72.1% 40 20 13.5% 5.7% đít đít sờ ðIs 8.7% đít s 59 As can be seen from the figure, majority of the students used Vietnmamese scripts to transcribe /ð/ 101 students (72.1%) transcribed this as đít and 19 students(13.5%) as đít sờ, students(8.7%) transcribed as đít s Only students( 5.7%)used phonetic English to transcribe /ð/ In general, the students liked to use Vietnamese scripts to transcribe /ð/ Figure 3.1.4.2h Students’ transcription /θ/ in “mouth” The students' transcription θ in ' mouth' 4-7.10% 2- 4.30% mau mau thờ 6- 10% mauθ 128- 78.60% mau th The figure tells that, like /ð/, majority of the students use Vietnmamese cripts to transcribe /θ/ 78.6% of the students transcribe mouth as mau, 10% as mau thờ, 4.3% transcribe as mau th Only 7.1% students use phonetic English to transcribe /θ/ In general, the students like to use Vietnamese scripts to transcribe /θ/ 3.1.5 Result of post-recording experiment The recording was carried out with 140 students of 10cb1, 10cb2, 10cb3, 10cb4 (There are 72 students in 10cb1 and 10cb2 There are 68 students in 10cb3, 10cb4) The students read 18 words containing / θ/, /ð/ and 14 sentences using words 60 containing /θ/, /ð/ The results are shown below (The percentage shows the right /θ/, /ð/ pronunciation of the students) Figure 3.1.5a The /θ/ pronunciation of 10cb1, 10cb2, 10cb3, 10cb4 /θ/ pronunciation of 10cb1,10cb2,10cb3,10cb4 60.00% 43.10% 50.00% 40.00% 10cb3, 10cb4 30.00% 23.20% 10cb1 10cb2 20.00% 12% 12.20% 10.00% 1.20% 3% 0.00% Initial Medial Positions Final Initial Medial Final Controlled 10cb1, 10cb2 25 24 Experimental 10cb3, 10cb4 43 23 The figure shows that the /θ/ pronunciation of 10cb1, 10cb2(blue) was not so good as that of 10cb3, 10cb4.(red) The red line indiactes that students of 10cb3, 10cb4 pronunced /θ/ rather well (43.10% did well the initial position, 23, 20% earned medial position, only 12% got final position) The results of 10cb1, 10cb2 were worse than that of 10cb3, 10cb4 The blue line was below the red line was quite far In brief, the /θ/ pronunciation of 10cb1, 10cb2 was less proficent than 10cb3, 10cb4 Figure3.1.5a The /ð/ pronunciation of 10cb1, 10cb2, 10cb3, 10cb4 Positions Controlled Initial 10cb1, 10cb2 Medial Final 21 22 61 Experimental 10cb3, 10cb4 78 56 /ð/ pronunciation of 10cb1,10cb2,10cb3,10cb4 45.00% 40.00% 35.00% 30.00% 25.00% 20.00% 15.00% 10.00% 5.00% 0.00% 32.00% 23.20% 10cb3, 10cb4 10cb1 10cb2 8.00% 10.00% 6% 2% Initial Medial Final The figure evidences that the /ð/ pronunciation of 10cb1, 10cb2(blue) was not better than that of 10cb3, 10cb4.(red) The red line indiactes that students of 10cb3, 10cb4 pronunced /ð/ rather well (32% did well the initial position, 23, 20% earned medial position, only 6% got final position) The results of 10cb1, 10cb2 were worse than that of 10cb3, 10cb4 The blue line was below the red line was quite far In brief, the /ð/ pronunciation of 10cb1, 10cb2 was less proficent than 10cb3, 10cb4 3.2 Discussions and recommendations This section is to discuss the two research questions Moreover, the present study goes further in providing some recommendations in teaching /θ/ and /ð/ for grade 10th students 3.2.1 Research question 1: (1) What problems can the students and teachers at Thanh Binh High School face when learning and teaching /θ/ and /ð/? The data analyzed from the questionnaires for the teacher, the students and observation sheets demonstrate realities of teaching and learning /θ/ and /ð/ 62 pronunciation at Thanh Binh High School The following points are the most remarkable Learning and teaching pronunciation of /θ/ and /ð/ in Thanh Binh high school was facing many problems Even though most of the students liked to learning English pronunciation and the teachers highly evaluated the important role of it (see figure 3.1.4.1a and figure 3.1.4.2 a), the students’ pronunciation was still at less proficiency Initially, the teachers did not have much time to teach pronunciation (see figure 3.1.4.1c), as a result, both teachers and students did not have many pronunciation activities (see table 3.1.3a, table 3.1.4.1a) Then the students did not get clear explanation of the target sound The teachers rarely used pictures and videos to teach pronunciation When teaching the target sounds, they themselves modeled the target sounds No native English pronunciation sample was carried out in class (see table 3.1.3b, table 3.1.4.1b and table3.1.4.2b), and the students gradually fell back on Vietnamese when they pronounce English, even used Vietnamese scripts not IPA to transcribe English.( see figure 3.1.4.2e and figure 3.1.4.2 g).The students rarely took note in pronunciation teaching hour They just wrote the headline “/θ/ and /ð/ pronunciation” (see table 3.1.4.2c) Next, they mainly used their own dictionaries to learn pronunciation and most of the students were shy to learn pronunciation by imitating teachers’ mouth movements (see figure 3.1.4.2c and figure 3.1.4.2d) It was able to be a real disaster of pronunciation when the students just learnt pronunciation in theoretical not practical Finally, the students’ English environment was not perfect Rarely did the students practice English with foreigners They also were lazy to learn English pronunciation online (see figure 3.1.4.2h) In conclusion, both the students and teachers were suffering from English pronunciation of /θ/ and /ð/ 3.2.2 Research question 2: 63 (2) What phonemes the students replaced /θ/ and /ð/ with? The data analyzed from the listening and pre-recording experiments of the students evidenced both English and Vietnamese phonemes which the students replaced /θ/ and /ð/ with The following points are the most remarkable The listening experiment’s results show that students had difficulties in distinguishing phonemes: /s/ vs /θ/; /t/ vs /θ/; /d/ vs /ð/ (see table 3.1.1) As a result, they had great tendency to substitute /θ/ for /s/; /t/ for /θ/; /d/ for /ð/ when they read the pre-recording sample However, a few students replaced /θ/ and /ð/ for English phonemes /t/, /s/, /d/ because they mostly substituted /θ/ and /ð/ for Vietnamese phonemes: /t’/, /d*/ or omitted /θ/ and /ð/ at final position of words (see figure 3.1.2a, figure 3.1.2h) In addition, they did not only mispronounce /θ/, /ð/ but also replaced /t /, /s/, /d/ of experimental minimal pairs for /t’/, /s*/ /d*/ (see figure 3.2.1l) In brief, the students replaced mostly /t’/, /d*/ for /θ/ and /ð/ or omitted final /θ/ and /ð/ 3.2.3 Recommendations (Research question 3: ) (3)What solutions to the problems for both teachers and the students? General speaking, learning and teaching /θ/ and /ð/ pronunciation in high school were short of sufficient drills and practice Despite having some knowledge about pronunciation of these the target sounds, the teachers did not have many opportunities to teach their students The students’ wrong pronunciation were , therefore, inevitable for the students who are learning English as a foreign language in a tricky environment Due to the study was conducted in a short time, the research only a few suggestion solutions for teachers and students *For the teachers: Bettering textbook The teachers should prepare the picture describing places and manners of articulation of /θ/ and /ð/ and photo them in advance When the teachers teach the 64 two sounds, they deliver the pictures to the students Then, they ask their students stick the pictures to their notebooks (the pictures should be small enough to fit with their notebooks) Dealing with shortage of time The teachers should use warm up activities whose products are words bearing /θ/ and /ð/ sounds The activities can be Blackboard Bingo, Brainstorm round a word, Jumbled words, Crosswords, Feel the object, Guessing, Thought bubble Dictation, Kim’s game, Who, where, what, etc The activities’ answers from the students should be spoken English, so they have to speak out the warm up’s answers Then the teachers use these words to teach /θ/ and /ð/ Adapting to other lessons The teachers should teach pronunciation in speaking lessons if the lessons requiring many reviewing vocabularies Intentionally, the teachers initially use many words containing the target sound in warm up activities Use the words to carry out pronunciation activities like, Odd one out, Minimal pairs, Bilingual minimal pairs, Whisper, Sound Bingo, Silent speech And teacher gives the meaning of these words Pronunciation activities now are similar to pre-speaking because the students are guided both pronunciation and meaning Dealing with students’ taking note Ask the student to write description of place and manner of articulation of the /θ/ and /ð/ into their note book “place the tongue between teeth when pronouncing /θ/ and /ð/, /θ/ is unvibrated but /ð/ is vibrated, /θ/ and /ð/ are not the same as Vietnamese consonants /t’/, /d*/” Creating positive atmosphere for classroom The teachers lightly punish the students if they pronounce the /θ/ and /ð/ incorrectly by asking them stick their tongues out of their mouth in thirty seconds This 65 punishment just helps the students practice their tongues; place their tongue at the medial upper teeth and lower teeth The teachers should deliver each of their students a small piece chewing gum, at the end of classroom hour At that time, the teachers told their students use their tongue to push the chewing gums out of their mouths, releasing the air This small activity just reminds the students of placing their tongues between their tongues Bettering pronunciation activities Let the students practice /θ/ and /ð/ from simple to complex First, ask the students add vowels to form simple syllables: “the, the, the”, “tho, tho, tho”, “thu, thu, thu”, and try changing the position of the sounds as well, such as in “eeth, eeth, eeth” or “ath, ath, ath” Then, acknowledge that the students feel comfortable with producing /θ/ and /ð/ in simple syllables, ask the students add more consonants vowels to make complete words The- there; tho- thought; thu- though, for instance ** For the students: - The students should use mirrors to practice /θ/ and /ð/ at home, place their figures against their lips and try to touch their figurers by their tongues - The students need to practice their mouths more often by moving their tongues up and down, backward and forward - The students need to record their /θ/ and /ð/ pronunciation, and ask their teachers to evaluate their performances - Practice minimal pairs: thought- taught; mouth- mouse; they-day, etc - Practice the sentence: Theirs mothers thinks about this thing, that thing, and those things - Practice sayings: +A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush 66 +Don't look a gift horse in the mouth +Truth is stranger than fiction +You must the things you think you cannot + Early to bed and early to rise, Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise ***For the High School - The High School needs to equip more projectors to help the teachers use Microsoft PowerPoint to teach /θ/ and /ð/, let the students can watch movies teaching /θ/ and /ð/ as well - The High School needs to provide more English lab to help the students to have good English environment CONCLUSION Overview of the study Generally, this part presents the conclusion of the study about /θ/ and /ð/ pronunciation of the students at Thanh Binh students It investigated realities of teaching and learning /θ/ and /ð/, found out what sounds which the students replaced /θ/ and /ð/ with As the questionnaires and observation’s results evidenced, pronunciation teaching /θ/ and /ð/ was carried out fast and carelessly It took teachers about five minutes to deliver the target sounds and got students to practice them The teachers rarely organized numerous pronunciation activities; prepared pictures describing place and manners of the target sound articulation as well Furthermore, the thesis’s experiments also demonstrated that the students’ error pronunciation mainly caused by influences of Vietnamese The students mostly replaced /θ/ and /ð/ for /t’/, /d/ With the thesis’s findings, the researcher hope that they will help the students and teachers improving learning and teaching /θ/ and /ð/, sharpening the students’ pronunciation of /θ/ and /ð/ 67 Limitations of the study Although the study was conducted with the researcher’s great efforts, it still has limitations Because the researcher spent only two months on researching both teachers and the students, the study is limited with researching time The researchers just managed to deliver only two experimental classroom hour Moreover, the thesis was researched with not ideally many participants As a result, the students’ recording and listening experiments just were carried out with four classes Those are limitations of the study Suggestions for further research It is essential to consider the following suggestions for further research that is related to the thesis Researchers should research more about the reasons why the students are shy to learn pronunciation Furthermore, they should pay more attention to the students’ interests in learning pronunciation It is expected that those suggestions will help researchers have better strategies for their future studies REFERENCES Brown, A (1992)., Approaches to pronunciation teaching London: Macmillan Gu, Y (2003)., Vocabulary learning in a second language, Britain: Pearson Longman Harmer, J (1991)., The Practice of English Language Teaching London: Cambridge University Press Hinofitis, F and Baily, K., American undergraduate to the communication skills of foreign teaching assistants, USA: Longman Kennedy, G (2003)., Structure and Meaning in English Britain: Pearson Longman Kenworthy, J (1987)., Teaching English Pronunciation USA: Longman 68 Krashen, S.D (1988)., Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning New York: Prentice Hall Regents Krashen, S.D (1988)., Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition New York: Prentice Hall Regents Lisa, M (2009)., Master the American English USA: Educational Barron’s series 10 Seliger, H.W., & Elana, S (1989)., Second Language Research Methods Oxford: Oxford University Press 11 Roach, P (1997)., English phonetics and phonology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 12 Thien Thuat, Doan (1997)., Ngữ âm tiếng Việt Hanoi: Hanoi National University 13 Mark, J (2007)., English pronunciation in use elementary London: Cambridge University Press 14 Microsoft Company (2009)., Encarta Premium Dictionary USA: Microsoft Encarta Dictionaries 15 Lac Viet company(2002)., Lac Viet mtd2002-EVA VN http://www.learning-english-online.net/areas/pronunciation/the-english-th/ http://vi.englishcentral.com/pronunciation/sound/TH ... sounds, entitled: ? ?An investigation into the pronunciation of the fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ experienced by the students of grade 10th at Thanh Binh high school – problems and solutions? ?? The study was... the answers to the question of what difficulties the students and teachers of grade 10th at Thanh Binh high school face when they learn and teach the fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ pronunciation, what... learning and teaching /θ/ and /ð/ ? (2) What phonemes the students replaced /θ/ and /ð/ with? (3)What solutions to the problems for both teachers and the students? 2. 2 Research participants 2. 2.1 The