Teaching English Pronunciation To 10th Grade Students At Thanh Liêm C High School = Dạy phát âm tiếng Anh cho học sinh lớp 10 trường trung học phổ thông Thanh L

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THÚY ANH TEACHING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION TO 10th GRADE STUDENTS AT THANH LIEM C HIGH SCHOOL (DẠY PHÁT ÂM TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT THANH LIÊM C, HÀ NAM) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Hanoi, 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS iv INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims of the study Research questions Scope of the study Method of the study Significance of the study The design of the study Previous studies on teaching and learning English pronunciation DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Definition of pronunciation 1.2 The importance of teaching and learning pronunciation 1.3 The teacher’s roles and student’s roles in teaching and learning pronunciation 1.3.1 The teacher's roles in teaching pronunciation 1.3.2 The student's roles in learning pronunciation 1.4 The pronunciation components 10 1.4.1 Gerald Kelly’s ideas about pronunciation components 10 1.5 Factors affecting pronunciation learning 12 1.5.1 The interference from the mother tongue 12 1.5.2 The age factor 12 1.5.3 Amount of exposure 12 1.5.4 Phonetic ability 13 1.5.5 Attitudes and identity 13 1.5.6 Motivation and concern for good pronunciation 13 1.6 Teachers’ and students’ problems in teaching and learning v pronunciation 13 1.6.1 The nature of pronunciation 14 1.6.2 Class setting 14 1.6.3 Teaching model 14 1.6.4 Intelligibility 15 CHAPTER TWO: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 16 2.1 Methodology 16 2.1.1 The research questions 16 2.1.2 The participants 16 2.1.3 The instruments 17 2.1.4 Data analysis process 19 CHAPTER THREE: THE STUDY 20 Data presentation 20 3.1 Survey questionnaires 20 3.1.1 Teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards teaching and learning pronunciation 20 3.1.2 Students’ pronunciation level 21 3.1.3 The purpose of teaching and learning pronunciation 21 3.1.4 The attraction of teaching and learning pronunciation 22 3.1.5 Pronunciation teaching and learning time 22 3.1.6 Teachers’ and students’ problems in teaching and learning vowels and consonants 23 3.1.7 Teachers and students’ problems in teaching and learning pronunciation 24 3.1.8 The causes of the difficulties in teaching and learning pronunciation 25 3.1.9 Causes of the difficulties in teaching and learning pronunciation in English 10 26 3.1.10 Classroom approaches, techniques and activities used by teachers 27 3.1.11 Students’ expectations and teachers’ recommendations to teaching and learning pronunciation 28 3.2 Classroom observations 30 3.2.1 Teaching and materials and curriculum 30 vi 3.2.2 Students’ activities and their mistakes in producing long, short vowels and fricative consonants 30 3.3 Interviews and discussions 31 Data analysis and discussion 34 CONCLUSIONS 39 Summary of the findings 39 Pedagogical implications 40 2.1 Increasing teaching and learning time for pronunciation 40 2.2 Contracting various techniques and activities in teaching pronunciation 41 2.3 Motivating students in learning pronunciation 43 2.4 Increasing teacher’s and student’s roles in teaching and learning pronunciation 43 Limitations of the study 44 Recommendations for a further study 44 REFERENCES 46 APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESIONNAIRE (for students) I APPENDIX 2: SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE (for teachers) IV APPENDIX 3: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET VIII APPENDIX 4: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS IX vii INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Despite the fact that pronunciation is one of the most important skills in English Language Teaching, incorrect pronunciation leads to occasional misunderstandings, at the upper-secondary school level in Vietnam, in language teaching and learning, compared with vocabulary, grammar and language skills, pronunciation has so far been paid less attention to In the official textbooks used for teaching English at high school level, there are few exercises for pronunciation practice To make the matter worse, all important English exams at schools as well as the entrance exam to universities are always in written form so most teachers as well as students have little motivation to teach and to learn pronunciation, therefore they generally spend little time on teaching and learning pronunciation in order to spend valuable class time on other area of language As a result, students are often shy and unconfident to speak in English Many students cannot pronounce English words and sentences correctly English pronunciation seems has become the most serious problem that students meet when they learn English This is happening at almost upper secondary schools in Vietnam And that is the reason why the effectiveness of teaching pronunciation still remains one of the most widely problematic subjects in the field of language teaching Situated in a mountainous area in Thanh Liem district, Ha Nam province, Thanh Liem C High School is even far weaker than other schools in terms of learning different school subjects, of which English language teaching seems to be the worst And if some students are said to be good at English, it means they are good at English grammar Most of them find it hard to express themselves orally If anyone can, he has problems in pronouncing English words and sentences In the English lessons, only teachers speak, and most of the time, teachers have to speak Vietnamese because they are afraid that their students not understand what they are speaking Students often complain about difficulties they get in learning English speaking skill in general and in pronunciation in particular And we ourselves realize that our students really have bad pronunciation This is a serious problem not only at Thanh Liem C High School but also at many other mountainous schools In addition, no research on teaching English pronunciation at Thanh Liem C High School has been done so far Coping with this pressing fact, as a language teacher teaching English at Thanh Liem C high school (TLCHS), the author always thinks of some questions: What are the attitudes of teachers and students towards teaching and learning pronunciation? What are the problems teachers and students face in teaching and learning pronunciation? How to find suitable methods to teach pronunciation? What should teachers to teach pronunciation effectively? How should teachers make students become interested in learning pronunciation? The answers to these questions will help language teachers improve their students‟ pronunciation as well as help them make progress in effective communication For the above reasons, the author decides to carry out the study entitled: “Teaching English pronunciation to grade 10 students at Thanh Liem C High school” with the focus on the reality of teaching and learning pronunciation, problems then suggests some solutions Aims of the study This study mainly focused on discovering the reality of teaching and learning pronunciation at Thanh Liem C high school, especially to find out problems that teachers and students often have in pronunciation lessons The writer also hopes to make some suggestions that can help the English teachers overcome those problems and improve students‟ pronunciation In order to achieve this aim, some objectives are posed for exploration as follows: - To find out the teachers‟ and students‟ attitude toward teaching and learning pronunciation at Thanh Liem C High School - To find out the difficulties and the causes of difficulties in teaching and learning pronunciation - To suggest some recommendations Research questions The above aims of the study can be realized by answering the following research questions: (1) What is teachers‟ and students‟ attitude toward teaching and learning pronunciation at Thanh Liem C High School? (2) Which problems the teachers and students at TLCHS face in pronunciation lessons? From the findings, the researcher would recommend some pedagogical implications with the hope to help teachers and students at TLCHS identify their problems and self-improve their pronunciation Scope of the study This study investigated the difficulties of teaching and learning pronunciation at Thanh Liem C high school with the focus on two aspects of English pronunciation: short, long vowels and fricative consonants for the 10th form students at Thanh Liem C high school The subjects of the study are 10th form students those are beginner with learning pronunciation at high school English pronunciation would not be deeply investigated in this research Method of the study This is a qualitative piece of research including such techniques as: survey questionnaires, classroom observations and interviews Firstly, the survey questionnaires were delivered to both teachers and students to investigate the difficulties in teaching and learning pronunciation at TLCHS Then, some classroom observations and interviews with some English teachers have been also conducted to get supplementary information Finally, the results obtained from questionnaires, observations and interviews have been discussed and analyzed with a hope for providing language teacher with some teaching techniques to work successfully with their students Significance of the study Because the study was conducted on a small scale with a group of 10th grade students at a high school, the researcher hoped to make contribution to teaching pronunciation at TLCHS The result of the study is considered to be useful for teachers and students at this school Thus, this study will be an interesting reference material for teachers of English at TLCHS, especially for those who are in favor of improving their students' pronunciation This research will help teachers and students identify their problems in teaching and learning pronunciation and self- improve their pronunciation The design of the study The study was designed with the first part as an INTRODUCTION to the rationale, the aims, and the significance of the study, the research questions, the method, the scope and the design of the study The next part provides the DEVELOPMENT of the thesis with chapters Chapter presents the theoretical background with definition of pronunciation; the importance of teaching pronunciation; the teacher's and student's roles in teaching pronunciation; the pronunciation components, factors affecting pronunciation learning, , teachers‟ and students‟ problems in teaching and learning pronunciation, intelligibility, and some techniques of teaching pronunciation Chapter is research methodology In this chapter, the focus will be on background information of the subject of the study, the instruments used to collect data and the procedure of data collection as well Chapter is the body of the study, presents a description of data analysis and discussions With the description of data analysis through three instruments: questionnaire, classroom observation and the interview, I explored some interpretations of the findings The last part CONCLUSION is devoted to the summary of the findings and some pedagogical suggested recommendations to help teachers and students in upper secondary schools to overcome difficulties in learning and teaching English pronunciation This chapter also provides the limitations of the study as well as some recommendations for further study provides the summary of the thesis, limitations and some suggestions for further study Previous studies on teaching and learning English pronunciation There have been various arguments and support for the effectiveness of pronunciation t r a i n i n g on learners‟ achievement in communicative competence Morley (1998) states that pronunciation plays an important role in overall communicative competence Yong (2004) asserted that understanding by reading or writing would no longer be sufficient for the development of the economy and that communicating face to face personally or through the internet needed to be understood Carter and Nunan (2001) describe the complexity of the process of second language acquisition as an organic rather than linear process and students need to start pronunciation lessons early and continue through high-level Academic English levels In addition, pronunciation teaching methods should more fully address the issues of motivation and exposure by creating awareness of the importance of pronunciation and providing more exposure to input from native speakers (Jones, 2002) Poor pronunciation can condemn learners to less social, academic and work advancement than they deserved (Fraser, 1999, 2000) Good pronunciation may make the communication easier and more relaxed and thus more successful (Dan, 2006) Almost all learners rate pronunciation as a priority and an area in which they need more guidance (Willing, 1993; Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1997) Although the study of foreign accents has always been a fascination for some researchers, the teaching of pronunciation and oral skills in general in foreign and second language classrooms has often been low on the list of priorities (Peterson, 2000) The 16th Educational Conference held in Melbourne in 2003 by Germana Eckert, In search Language Centre concerning Productive Skills in the Academic English Curriculum showed that the importance of good writing ability in academic English and teachers spend more time working on students‟ writing and grammar skills in order that students are best prepared for exams and especially written exams together with main focus of the current academic English curriculum are factor which cause students and teachers to leave little time for pronunciation in the classroom (Germana Eckert, 2003) Most of the literature on pronunciation deals with what and how to teach, while the learner remains a silent abstract in the classroom underlines that the Morley (1994) prevalent focus on pronunciation teaching nowadays should be on designing new wave instructional programs Moreover she stresses that these instructional designs should take into account not only language forms and functions, but also issues of learner self-involvement and learner strategy training In other words, students who have developed the skills to monitor and modify their speech patterns if necessary should become active partners in their own learning Kriedler (1989) states that correct and clear pronunciation are considerably important in language learning Without them, learners may not be understood and may be poorly perceived by other English speakers They need to have confidence in their ability to speak Good pronunciation takes time to build up, as there are many factors involved Learners need to hear a lot of English before they can develop a feel for the sounds of English The learners become more confident and motivated in learning the language because of the teaching aids and materials such as tape recordings of native speakers, pictures of mouth and articulations used in the class along with the provision positive reinforcement (Phinit-Akson, 2002; Quilter, 2002; Estrada & Streiff, 2002; Wu, 2002; and Jay, 1966) Listen and imitate The pronunciation of the target language is provided by the teacher or tape recorders, language labs, etc Students are to listen to a sequence of sounds or sentences and repeat it Minimal pair drills: These relate to words which differ from each other only one phoneme Normally, students are allowed to listen to the tape and distinguish between the two sounds This type of activities is particularly useful to teach sounds which causes difficulties for learners or sounds that are mismatched For example, /sheep/ and /ship/, /caught/ and /cot/, /worse/ and /worth/ or /ass/ and /ash/, etc Tongue Twisters: This technique rooted from speech correction strategies for native speakers When other techniques look serious and sometimes put learners under pressure, tongue twisters provide a more delighting way to learn pronunciation Sounds which are difficult to differentiate are put together to make meaningful sentences For example, She sells seashells by the seashore, and the shells she sells are seashells The sixth Sikh Sheik's sixth sheep's sick Lot lost his hot chocolate at the loft Phonetic training: If teachers want to save the time, increase effectiveness of teaching and learning pronunciation, it is a must to train students to get on well with phonetic training This technique makes use of articulator descriptions, articulator diagrams and a phonetic alphabet Learners are provided with basic theoretical knowledge about how sounds are formed They are also aided by the teacher to make genuine sound production When students have background knowledge of pronunciation, and understand how to pronounce through phonetic transcription, they can themselves correct pronunciation errors To gain the maximum effectiveness of this 42 technique, teachers should encourage students to use dictionaries or a least the phonetic transcription at their text books Phonetic transcription gives both teachers and students “a way of accurately recording to the pronunciations of words or utterances” (Kelly, 2000) Drilling: According to Gerald Kelly, one of the main ways in which pronunciation is practiced in the classroom is through drilling In its most basic form, drilling simply involves the teacher saying a word or a structure, and getting class to repeat it However, the teachers when using this technique should try pronounce correctly as much as possible, and they ensure that all the students can hear what said 2.3 Motivating students in learning pronunciation Among barriers preventing students from acquiring good pronunciation are students‟ language competence, students‟ negative attitude toward learning pronunciation and their lack of motivation The learner's attitude and motivation towards the language they are learning or going to learn affect the process of learning pronunciation Their positive attitudes and motivation will help students a lot in learning this language, including learning its pronunciation So that teachers should help students aware of the importance of learning pronunciation What is more, teachers need to make the pronunciation lessons more comfortable and interesting by using different techniques such as reading, listening, playing games 2.4 Increasing teacher’s and student’s roles in teaching and learning pronunciation Teachers play a very important role in teaching and learning pronunciation They not only help students hear and perceive the model as exactly as possible, but also help students make sound intelligible, providing students with feedback of their pronunciation and assessing their progress Therefore, teachers should be the perfect model to provide students with correct pronunciation of sounds and encourage their learners to study pronunciation What is more, teachers need to make the pronunciation lessons more comfortable and interesting by using different techniques such as reading, listening, playing games 43 In teaching a foreign language in general, and in teaching pronunciation in particular, whatever the teacher does, the learner's improvement and prospects of change are minimal if the learners take no action and not try to monitor their own efforts Success in pronunciation will surely depend on learners' attitude and how much attempt the learner puts into In other words, the most decisive factor of improving pronunciation is the learner's willingness to take responsibility for his/her learning process So it is crucial to increase the students‟ role in learning pronunciation Limitations of the study Although the study has obtained its objectives, like many other studies, there are some limitations From the scope of the study, the results of the study are only applied for grade 10 students at Thanh Liem C High School The study only focuses on investigating teachers‟ and students‟ attitude toward teaching and learning English pronunciation, finding the difficulties and the causes in the pronunciation teaching and learning process at Thanh Liem C High School Only some implications are suggested for teachers and students at Thanh Liem C High School In addition, ability of the students, the differences between English and Vietnamese are also the causes of difficulties Which sounds are the most difficult to the Vietnamese and how to overcome it have not been mentioned carefully in this thesis What is more, the findings of the thesis and suggested techniques are only based on the opinions of the teachers and students Recommendations for a further study On the basis of the findings and limitations of the study, the following recommendations are made for further research: First, the subjects of the study were teachers and 100 10th-grade students at TLCHS so the results would not be applied in all high schools It would be interesting to conduct a similar study on teachers and students from other schools 44 Second, the study only comment to techniques received highly recommendation from teachers and students at the survey questionnaires and the interviews Other techniques such as: visual aids, recording students‟ pronunciation should be studied to find out the best techniques in teaching and learning pronunciation Third, the suggested techniques are based on the results selected from the questionnaires and interviews So experiment research should be carried out to check students‟ pronunciation improvement 45 REFERENCES Avery, P and Ehrlich, S (1992) Teaching American English Pronunciation Oxford: Oxford University Press Bowen, T., and Marks J (1992) The Pronunciation Book: student-Centred Activities for Pronunciation Work Harlow: Longman Bowler, B (2008) Timesaver pronunciation activities Mary Glasgow Magazines Cruttenden, A (2001) Gimson’s Pronunciation of English London: Arnold Dalton, C., and Seidlhofer, B (1994) Pronunciation Oxford: Oxford University Press Dalton, D.F (1997) Some Techniques for Teaching Pronunciation The Internet TESL Journal, Vol III, No 1, January 1997 Grant, L., (1993) Advanced English Pronunciation Heinle: Heinle Hancock, M (1995) Pronunciation Games Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Hewings, M (2004) Pronunciation Practice Activities New York: Cambridge University Press 10 Hinst and Cristo (1998) The Pronunciation Component in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages 11 Kelly, G (2000) How to teach Pronunciation Harlow: Pearson 12 Kenworthy, J (1987) Teaching English Pronunciation London: Long man House 13 Larsen, D (2000) Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press 14 McNeil, D (1987) Some characteristic aspects of Vietnamese English pronunciation' and “Teaching pronunciation to Vietnamese students” A Program Support Group Research 15 Mortimer, C (1985) Elements of Pronunciation: Intensive Practice for Intermediate and More Advanced Students Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 16 Nunan, D (2004) Listen in book 2nd edition HoChi Minh city: HoChiMinh city 17 O‟Connor, J.D (1967) Better English Pronunciation Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 46 18 O‟Connor, J.D (1989) Sounds English London: Longman 19 Pennington, M (1996) Phonology in English Language Teaching: An international Approach Harlow: Pearson 20 Roach, P (1998) English Phonetics and Phonology Nhà Xuất Bản Trẻ 21 Tam, Ha Cam (2005) Common Pronunciation problems of Vietnamese learners of English Journal of Science Foreign Languages, T.XX1, No.1, 2005, p 35-46 22 Ur, Penny (1996) A course in language teaching: practice and theory New York: Cambridge University Press 23 Wajnryb Ruth (1992) Classroom Observation Tasks Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 47 APPENDIX SURVEY QUESIONNAIRE (for students) Phiếu điều tra thiết kế nhằm tìm hiểu nhu cầu, thái độ, khó khăn học sinh việc học phát âm tiếng anh từ tìm giải pháp tốt giúp em nâng cao khả phát âm Vì hợp tác em đóng vai trị quan trọng thành công đề tài Rất mong nhận hợp tác em Xin chân thành cảm ơn Để hoàn thành phiếu điều tra này, em khoanh tròn trả lời đáp án mà em cho thích hợp nhất.(các em chọn nhiều đáp án) Phần thơng tin cá nhân: - Giới tính em b) Nữ a) Nam - Em học Tiếng Anh rồi? a) > năm b) > năm c) > năm d) > 10 năm Phần câu hỏi: Em nghĩ trình độ tiếng Anh em? a) Rất b) Kém c) Bình thường d) Tốt e) Rất tốt Theo em, phần sau quan học tiếng Anh? a Ngữ pháp c Phát âm b Từ vựng d Phát triển kỹ Mục đích học phát âm em gì? (em đánh dấu lựa chọn) a, Để giao tiếp tốt b, Để biết kiến thức ngôn ngữ Tiếng Anh c, Để đạt kết cao kì thi d, Để phân biêt khác Tiếng Anh Tiếng Việt e, Mục đích khác……………………… Bạn thấy học ngữ âm nào? a, Rất thú vị b, Thú vị c, Bình thường d, Khơng thú vị e, Không thú vị Một tuần em học phát âm thời gian? I a Dưới 20 phút b Từ 20 phút đến 45 phút c Nhiều 45 phút d Khơng có thời gian riêng dành cho học phát âm Em có hiểu nguyên âm ngắn nguyên âm dài không? a Có, hiểu kỹ b Có, hiểu chút c Không hiểu chút d Ý kiến khác Trong số cặp phụ âm học em thấy cặp phụ âm khó để học? (em đánh dấu lựa chọn) a /b/ /p/ b /d/ /t/ c /s/ /z/ d /f/ /v/ e /g/ /k/ f / θ/ /ð/ g /ʒ/ /ʃ/ h Ý kiến khác Bạn thấy học ngữ âm khó ngun nhân sau: S TT Các nguyên nhân Rất đồng ý Đồng ý Bình thường Khơng đồng ý Khơng đồng ý 1Sự khác biệt phát âm Tiếng Anh Tiếng Việt 2Ảnh hưởng cách phát âm Tiếng Việt 3Càng nhiều tuổi học ngữ âm khó 4Ít có hội giao tiếp với người xứ 5Khả phát âm bạn 6Bạn khơng thích học 7Bạn thấy học ngữ âm không cần thiết 8Những nguyên nhân khác (Hãy ghi cụ thể) Em thấy học phát âm SGK 10 khó ngun nhân sau: S Các ngun nhân Rất II Đồng ý Bình Khơng Không đồng ý TT thường đồng ý đồng ý Thời gian lớp cho luyện tập tập thực hành đơn điệu Bài Các quy tắc phát âm nhiều khó nhớ tài liệu tham khảo Ít Lớp học q đơng Khơng có phòng học tiếng riêng Các hoạt động giảng dạy giáo viên chưa hấp dẫn, giảng đơn điệu, nhàm chán Các nguyên nhân khác (Hãy ghi cụ thể) 10 Để việc học phát âm đươc tốt em có nguyện vọng a Học phát âm thường xuyên tất tiết học tiếng Anh b Được kết hợp nhiều kỹ năng, hoạt động phong phú học d Có phần riêng tiết học dành riêng cho học phát âm e Thaỳ cô giáo hướng dẫn cụ thể cẩn thận f Được sử dụng tài liệu học hấp dẫn g Thày cô giáo tiến hành phương pháp đánh giá, kiểm tra chất lượng việc học phát âm 11 Trong hoạt động học phát âm (những) hoạt động em thấy có hiệu giúp em học phát âm tốt hơn? (em đánh dấu lựa chọn) a Nghe nhắc lại b Làm tập luyện tập c Đọc thành tiếng d Học cách phiên âm e .Luyện tập cách đọc cặp từ có âm tiết giống như: sheep, ship hay ban,pan,etc f Sử dụng giáo cụ trực quan g Ghi âm cách đọc h.Luyện tập cách đọc từ có cách đọc dễ gây nhầm lẫn câu she sells seashell at the seaside i.Luyện tập cách đọc theo chuỗi j Các hoạt động khác ( em ghi cụ thể) III APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE (for teachers) The survey questionnaire is designed for my thesis: “Teaching English pronunciation to grade 10 students at Thanh Liem C High school: reality, problems and solutions” with the focus on the difficulties in teaching and learning pronunciation then suggests some solutions It is highly appreciated if you spend a little time completing truthfully the question All the information provided by you is solely for the study purpose, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Please respond to each statement or question and complete all of them as frankly and accurately as you can Personal information - Sex: a) Male b) Female - How long have you been teaching English? a) 1-5 years b) 6-10 years c) 11- 15 years d) >16 years Questions Specify the level of your students’ pronunciation level: a excellent b good c above average d average e under average Which of these following aspects in English you think the most necessary for your students? a grammar b vocabulary c pronunciation d skills What is your purpose of teaching Pronunciation? (more than one choice) a, To help students to communicate better b, To provide students with the knowledge about English language c, To help students to get better results in the exam d, To help students distinguish the differences between English and Vietnamese e, Others:……………………… How you find teaching pronunciation? IV a, Very interesting b, Interesting c, Neutral d, Not very interesting e, Not interesting at all Do you have enough time to teach pronunciation as you want? How often you teach pronunciation a week? a Less than 20 minutes b From 20 minutes to 45 minutes c More than 45 minutes d No time on pronunciation Do you find it difficult to teach English short vowels and long vowels a Yes, very difficult b Yes, rather difficult c So so, neither difficult nor easy d No, very easy Among English consonants, which ones you find hard to teach ? ( more than one option) a /b/ /p/ b /d/ /t/ c /s/ /z/ d /f/ /v/ e /g/ /k/ f / θ/ /ð/ g /ʒ/ /ʃ/ You find Pronunciation difficult because of some following reasons: Causes Strongly agree The differences between Vietnamese and English Pronunciation The influence of Vietnamese Age factors Amount of exposure V Agree Neutral Not strongly agree Not agree Phonetic ability Attitudes and identity Motivation and concern for good pronunciation Others: (Please specify) You find Pronunciation lessons in English 10 difficult because of some following reasons: Causes Strongly agree Agree Neutral Not strongly agree Not agree The time for each lesson is too short Practice lessons are boring and monotonous There are too many relative rules and they are difficult to remember There are so few reference books The class is too crowded There is no lab for foreign language class Teaching techniques are not attractive enough Others: (Please specify) 10 Do you think that we should teach pronunciation at high school? (yes/no), what should we to improve students‟ pronunciation? a Increasing teaching and learning time b Contacting various teaching approaches, techniques and activities c Teaching pronunciation strategically d Using authentic materials e Increasing teachers‟ roles f Carrying out on-going assessment g Your own ideas (please specify………………………) 11 In the following techniques and activities, what you think possible and effective to improve students’ pronunciation? (more than one choice) VI a Listen and imitate b Drilling c Reading aloud d Phonetic training e Minimal pair drills f Visual aids g Recording students‟ production h.Tongue Twisters i Chaining j Your suggestions (please specify……………………………………) -Thank you very much – VII APPENDIX CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET Name of observer: Tran Thuy Anh Date and time of observation: Grade level: 10 th grade Length of observation: 45’ Objective of observation: to find out teaching and learning materials, students’ activities/mistakes and teachers’ teaching techniques in teaching and learning long and short vowels and fricative consonants Name of lesson: Unit… / Method: note-taking Stage/ time Procedures Teachers’ work Students’ work VIII Techniques APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Anh/ Chị có thấy học sinh có khó khăn học phát âm Tiếng Anh khơng? Theo anh/ chị đâu khó khăn mà học sinh gặp học phát âm Tiếng Anh? Học sinh anh/ chị có khó khăn học phát âm ngun âm Tiếng Anh khơng? Đó vướng mắc gì? Học sinh anh/ chị có khó khăn học phát âm phụ âm Tiếng Anh khơng? Đó vướng mắc gì? Theo anh/ chị đâu nguyên nhân khó khăn nêu trên? IX ... serious problem not only at Thanh Liem C High School but also at many other mountainous schools In addition, no research on teaching English pronunciation at Thanh Liem C High School has been... in the pronunciation teaching and learning process at Thanh Liem C High School Only some implications are suggested for teachers and students at Thanh Liem C High School In addition, ability of... the 10th form students at Thanh Liem C high school The subjects of the study are 10th form students those are beginner with learning pronunciation at high school English pronunciation would not