Teaching English pronunciation with the textbook English 11 at Dong Hy High School = Dạy phát âm tiếng Anh theo sách giáo khoa tiếng Anh lớp 11 ở trường THPT Đ

UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ------ HOÀNG THỊ THANH HOA TEACHING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION WITH THE TEXTBOOK ENGLISH 11 AT DONG HY HIGH SCHOOL DẠY

UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

- -

HOÀNG THỊ THANH HOA

TEACHING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION WITH THE TEXTBOOK

ENGLISH 11 AT DONG HY HIGH SCHOOL (DẠY PHÁT ÂM TIẾNG ANH THEO SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH LỚP

11 Ở TRƯỜNG THPT ĐỒNG HỶ)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

Supervisor: Dr Dương Thu Mai

HÀ NỘI - 2012

UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

- -

HOÀNG THỊ THANH HOA

TEACHING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION WITH THE TEXTBOOK

ENGLISH 11 AT DONG HY HIGH SCHOOL (DẠY PHÁT ÂM TIẾNG ANH THEO SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH LỚP

11 Ở TRƯỜNG THPT ĐỒNG HỶ)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

HÀ NỘI - 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES vii

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aim and objectives of the study 1

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Methods of the study 2

5 Significance of the study 2

6 Design of the study 3

PART II: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Definition of pronunciation 4

1.2 The importance of teaching pronunciation 4

1.3 English pronunciation teaching to foreign language learners 5

1.3.1 What to teach 5

1.3.2 Approaches to teach 6

1.3.3 Methods to teach 7

1.3.4 Teaching techniques 8

1.3.5 Studies on the effects of different teaching methods 9

1.4 The teaching of English consonants 13

1.4.1 General description and classification of English consonants 13

1.4.2 Vietnamese consonants 15

1.4.3 English vs Vietnamese consonants and the possible difficulties 16

1.5 Factors affecting the effects of pronunciation teaching 18

1.5.1 The native language 18

1.5.2 The age factor 19

1.5.3 Amount of exposure 19

1.5.4 Phonetic ability 19

1.5.5 Attitudes and personalities 20

1.5.6 Motivation 20

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 21

2.1 An overview of the situation of teaching and learning English at Dong Hy High School 21

2.1.1 The educational environment 21

2.1.2 Teachers 21

2.1.3 Learners 22

2.1.4 The textbook 22

2.2 Research questions 23

2.3 Research methodology 24

2.3.1 The subjects of the study 24

2.3.2 Methods and procedures 24

2.4 Data analysis process 24

2.5 Summary 26

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS 27

3.1 The teachers and students‟ attitudes towards teaching and learning pronunciation 27

3.1.1 Questionnaires 27

3.1.2 Interview 29

3.1.3 Summary 30

3.2 The techniques used in teaching pronunciation 30

3.2.1 Questionnaires 30

3.2.2 Interview 31

3.2.3 Class observation 31

3.2.4 Summary 32

3.3 The levels of difficulties in teaching and learning pronunciation 33

3.3.1 Questionnaires 33

3.3.2 Interview 34

3.3.3 Summary 34

3.4 The causes of the difficulties in teaching and learning pronunciation 34

3.4.1 Questionnaires 34

3.4.2 Interview 36

3.4.3 Summary 36

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS 38

4.1 Findings 38

4.2 Implications 39

PART III: CONCLUSION 42

1 Conclusions of the study 42

2 Limitations of the study 42

3 Suggestions for further study 43

REFERENCES 44 APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONAIRE FOR STUDENTS I APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONAIRE FOR TEACHERS III APPENDIX 3: INTERVIEW V APPENDIX 4: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET VI

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES

Chart 1: Importance of pronunciation to students and teachers

Chart 2: Teachers and students‟ interest in pronunciation in class

Chart 3: Teachers and students‟ feeling towards the task of pronunciation in the

textbook English 11

Chart 4: The levels of difficulties in teaching and learning pronunciation

Chart 5: The causes of the difficulties in teaching and learning pronunciation

Chart 6: The causes of the difficulties in teaching and learning pronunciation with the

textbook English 11

Table 1: Consonants of English, (Kelly, 2000)

Table 2: Vietnamese consonants of Hanoi dialect

Table 3: Pronunciation matters mentioned in English 11

Table 4: The purpose of teaching and learning pronunciation

Table 5: Frequency of the techniques used in teaching pronunciation

Table 6: Pronunciation matters students and teachers find difficult to learn and teach

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Nowadays English has become one of the most popular languages in the world

It is widely used in many fields such as business, science, education, technology, medicine, etc English is also considered as a main tool for global communication

Correct pronunciation plays a very important part in using spoken English Mispronunciation may lead to misunderstanding and the process of the communication may even be broken down “A learner who consistently mispronounces a range of phonemes can be extremely difficult for a speaker from another language community

to understand” (Kelly, 2000, p.11) However, many people learning English often do not pay attention to their pronunciation Even worse, some of them underestimate it They think that pronunciation is less important than grammar and vocabulary Teachers and students at Dong Hy High School are not exception In this school, teachers usually pay more attention to grammar, vocabulary and other skills than pronunciation There are a number of reasons for this First, in the textbooks (English

10, 11, 12), pronunciation instruction accounts for very low proportion compared with the other parts Second, all important English exams at schools as well as the entrance exam to universities are always in written form so most teachers and students have little motivation to teach and to learn pronunciation Third, it is more difficult for students to get a mark from pronunciation than other parts From the real teaching and learning situation at Dong Hy High School, The researcher would like to carry out a study to clarify some difficulties in teaching and learning pronunciation, the reasons for them and suggest some solutions to the problems

2 Aim and objectives of the study

This study is aimed at investigating the situation and difficulties in teaching and learning pronunciation with the textbook English 11, the reasons for them and then at suggesting the solutions to help teachers and students overcome these difficulties In order to achieve this aim, some objectives are posed for exploration as follows:

- To find out the attitudes of teachers and learners towards teaching and learning pronunciation at Dong Hy High School

- To find out how pronunciation is taught at Dong Hy High School

- To find out the difficulties and the causes of difficulties in teaching and learning Pronunciation in Language focus periods - English 11

3 Scope of the study

Pronunciation is a large area of language teaching and often causes learners and teachers a lot of difficulties and there is a limited time; therefore, this research is aimed

at investigating only the difficulties in teaching and learning pronunciation with the textbook English 11that teachers and students at Dong Hy High School have been facing and finding out the causes of these difficulties Besides, the study is also to suggest some implications for the teaching of pronunciation matters designed in English 11, English consonantal matters

4 Methods of the study

Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used in this study Besides, many resources such as books, magazines, articles, newspapers and some sources on the internet are reviewed by the researcher

In order to gain the most reliable results, the quantitative data are collected through a survey questionnaire for 6 teachers and 100 grade 11 students at Dong Hy High School

Along with the quantitative method, the qualitative data are obtained in classroom observation and interviews with some students and teachers to collect further information

After that, the results obtained from questionnaires, interview and observation are discussed then some useful pronunciation teaching techniques are recommended

5 Significance of the study

The textbook English 11 was designed with the hope that students could have a complete insight into English consonantal sounds However, there has not been much investigation into the fact that whether lessons of pronunciation are suitable and comprehensible for students; or whether the teaching of pronunciation for students of grade 11 is easy- undertaken This research provides an insight into the difficulties that are often met by teachers teaching English for grades 11 in Dong Hy High School In

addition, this research also points out some feasible solutions which are, hopefully, beneficial for both teachers and students

6 Design of the study

The study is divided into three parts:

The first part “Introduction” presents the rationale, the aim and objectives, the scope, the methods, significance and the design of the study

The second part “Development” consists of four chapters:

Chapter 1 provides a thorough literature review relevant to the study It presents the theoretical background: the concepts relating to pronunciation, importance of teaching pronunciation, English pronunciation teaching to foreign language learners, factors affecting pronunciation teaching Teaching of English Consonants is also mentioned in this chapter

Chapter 2, chapter 3 constitutes the body of the study Chapter 2 is the study description with an overview on situation of teaching and learning English at Dong Hy High School, research questions, and research methodology and data analysis process Chapter 3 presents the data analysis results and discussions

Chapter 4 concludes the findings the researcher has found from the study and proposes some solutions to the teaching of pronunciation for grade 11 at Dong Hy High School

The last part of the study “Conclusion” gives a brief description of the study and states the limitations as well as the recommendations for further study

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Definition of pronunciation

The concept “Pronunciation” is defined in different ways

- According to Ur (1996, p 47) “The concept of “pronunciation” may be said to include sounds of the language or phonology; stress and rhythm; intonation; combination of sounds; linkage of sounds"

- According to Zawadzki (1994 ), “pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning It includes attention to the particular sounds of a language (segments), aspects of speech beyond the level of the individual sound, such

as intonation, phrasing, stress, timing, rhythm (suprasegmental aspects), how the voiced is projected (voiced quality) and in its broadest definition, attention to gestures and expressions that are closely related to the way we speak a language”

In this study, the researcher has no intention of pointing out which definition of pronunciation is the most precise but only wishes to find an appropriate definition to facilitate the understanding of pronunciation in language study Therefore, the definition of pronunciation proposed by Ur (1996) is adopted

1.2 The importance of teaching pronunciation

Learning and using the correct pronunciation are important, so teaching pronunciation is significant as well

According to Hasimanoglu (2006), pronunciation teaching is a prominent factor

in foreign language teaching And sounds play an important role in communication,

so foreign language teachers must attribute proper importance to teaching pronunciation in their classes

Harmer (2007) notes that learners should utilize pronunciation good enough for them to be comprehended However, while learning pronunciation, learners could encounter difficulties to hearing the sounds According to Harmer, teachers could solve these problems by showing learners to how sounds are produced via demonstration and explanation Furthermore, after solving this problem, students‟

pronunciation could be improved because when learners hear sounds properly, they could utter the sounds effectively

In the process of teaching pronunciation, the role of the teacher is significant

As Kenworthy (1987) states, people who are learning a foreign language pronunciation sometimes may not be able to realize whether they” got it right‟, comprehend

correctly or not Thus, mispronunciations and correct pronunciations should be given

by teachers

Gilakajani (2012) concludes: “ English pronunciation instruction should be viewed in the same light as the other aspects and skills of the English language such as vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing since it is an important part of communication” Moreover, Harmer (2007) states that correct pronunciation is considered to be a prerequisite to develop the speaking skill It can be said that pronunciation is as important as any other aspects of language like syntax and vocabulary and that is why teaching pronunciation should occupy an important place in the study of any language

1.3 English pronunciation teaching to foreign language learners

1.3.1 What to teach

English pronunciation teaching and learning has been the subjects that many researchers are concern about Because of that fact, there are various opinions towards features of pronunciation that should be taught for language learners

According to Maniruzzaman (2007), “EFL pronunciation teaching should cover both the segmental and the suprasegmental aspects as well as the training of the speech organs, such as lips, teeth, alveolar ridge, palate, tongue, vocal folds, ears, etc The segmental aspects embody vowel and consonant sounds, preferably phonemes, as well as syllables The suprasegmental aspects are comprised of stress in words and connected speech, rhythm, pitch, loudness, length, quality, tone and intonation that play an essential and natural role in English speech production and perception”

Hewings (2004) states that the “top five” things which are important to be taught and learnt are consonants, consonant clusters, vowel length, word stress, and tonic words

According to Abercrombie (1956, cited in Brown, 1991), “the learners, instead

of being taken systematically through each English vowel, and each consonant, and later if there is time, through the complexities of intonation and rhythm would have presented to him certain carefully chosen features on which to concentrate, the rest of his pronunciation being left to be no more than of general supervision”

The above ideas have co-existed in the development of English teaching as a second language It seems contradictory However, Dalton and Seidlhofer (1994) states that “pedagogic competence does not necessarily follow from linguistic competence, since it involves the abilities to identify specific aspects of language, to select and combine them for presentation and practice in ways which are effective for learning.” That means the problem of what pronunciation features are appropriate or suitable is totally dependent on the purpose of learning and teaching

1.3.2 Approaches to teach pronunciation

Pronunciation can be approached in many ways The researcher, however, only has an ambition to mention the ideas that Vietnamese teachers and students are applying when teaching and learning English pronunciation at schools The ideas come

from two books, namely Pronunciation (1994) by Dalton and Seidlhofer, and How to teach pronunciation (2000) by Kelly

- According to Dalton and Seidlhofer (1994), approaches to teaching pronunciation can be divided into two directions to deal with what the learner considers as precedence, separate segment of sound or the larger prosodic unit, which after all depends on the purpose of his/ her language learning

Bottom- up approach: Learners begin with the articulation of individual sounds

or phonemes and works up towards stress, rhythm, tone and intonation

Top-down approach: Learners start with patterns of intonation and brings

separate sounds or phonemes into sharper focus as and when required

In choosing either of these two directions, the teacher must keep in mind that certain aspects of pronunciation need to be overtly taught to provide the conditions whereby other aspects are covertly learnt

- According to Kelly (2000), pronunciation lessons can be classified into three main types:

Integrated lessons: In this type, pronunciation forms an essential part of the

language analysis, the planning process, the language presentation and practice within the lesson

Remedial lessons or creative lessons: This type is different from the first

type, remedial or creative lessons are where pronunciation difficulty which arises in class is dealt with there and then in order to facilitate the successful achievement of classroom tasks

Practice lessons: In this type, a particular feature of pronunciation is isolated

and practiced for its own sake, forming the main focus of a lesson period

From the types of lessons described above, we can conclude that pronunciation lessons, differently from the way Dalton and Seidlhofer (1994) approached, should be regarded as an integral part to language analysis and lesson planning Therefore, a lesson which focuses on particular language structures or lexis needs to include features of pronunciation so as to provide students “the full picture, and hence a better chance of being able to communicate successfully”

1.3.3 Methods to teach pronunciation

Three methods which are called direct method, naturalistic method,

audiolingual (American) and Oral Approach (Britain )has been mentioned in Teaching pronunciation: a reference for teachers of English to speakers of other languages

(1996) by Murcia, Brinton, and Goodwi

1.3.3.1 Direct method

In direct method, pronunciation is taught through intuition and imitation - students imitate a model - teacher or a record, and do their best to approximate the model through imitation and repetition

1.3.3.2 Naturalistic method

This method includes comprehension methods which devote a period of learning solely to listening before any speaking is allowed in order to give learners the opportunities to internalize the target sound system When learners speak the language later on, their pronunciation is supposedly quite good despite their never having

received explicit pronunciation instruction Total Physical Response (1977) by Asher‟s

and Natural Approach (1983) by Krashen and Terrell‟s are two books which describe

clearly this method

1.3.3.3 Audiolingual (American) and Oral Approach (Britain)

According to linguists who are with these methods, pronunciation is very important and is taught from the very start Teacher models the sound, and then students imitate and repeat; however, the teacher also makes use of information from phonetics, such as visual transcription system (modified IPA or other systems) or charts that demonstrate the articulation of sound

1.3.4 Teaching techniques

The three methods, Direct method, Naturalistic method, Audiolingual (American) and Oral Approach (Britain) mentioned above can be applied through teaching activities/ techniques like drilling (chaining, and substitution drilling), minimal pairs, using homophones and homographs, taping students‟ English, listening comprehension exercises and reading exercises

1.3.4.1 Drilling: Drilling simply involves the teacher saying a word or

structure and getting the class to repeat it

1.3.4.2 Minimal pairs: This technique can be used as a way of focusing on

sounds which have been causing difficulties for students (e.g „paper‟ / peipə/ versus.„pepper‟ / pepə/; or „soap‟ / səup/ versus „soup‟ /su:p/)

1.3.4.3 Using homographs and homophones: Using homographs and

homophones can provide useful opportunities for students to practice words which have the same spelling but with different pronunciation (e.g „wind‟ /wind/ as in weather versus „wind‟ /waind/ as in what you do to a clock) or on the contrary have the same pronunciation but different spellings („write‟ /rait/ versus „right‟ /rait/ or

„there‟ / ðeə/ versus „their‟ / ðeə/ and „they‟re‟ / ðeə/)

1.3.4.4 Taping students’ English: Tapes can be made while students are

engaged in language practice activities and used for all manner of language difficulties, but especially those concerned with pronunciation

1.3.4.5 Listening comprehension: Listening comprehension plays a key role in

helping students to notice the existence of a pronunciation feature because, after all,

classroom activities aim to help students reproduce as far as possible the authenticity

of day- to- day communication

1.3.4.6 Reading exercises: Reading aloud offers opportunities for the study of

the links between pronunciation and spelling, of stress and intonation, and of the linking of sounds between words in connected speech

1.3.5 Studies on the effects of different teaching methods

As we know, all students do not learn in the same way In addition, it is common for a class of students to be at a variety of levels in any particular subject Moreover, every teaching method has its advantages and disadvantages Therefore, teachers need to use different teaching methods in order to reach all students effectively and “the effects of different teaching methods” has become the subject discussed in many studies

- Diep (2010) states that “a teaching method which may be effective at one point of time in history may still be ineffective at the other point Moreover, one method is replaced by another it does not mean that the former is worse than the latter and will be thrown into the wastebasket of history It only means that the replaced method fails to correspond to a certain need at a certain time in history As a result, the history of foreign language teaching methods is not the history of replacement of one method by another Rather, it would be the history of adding one new method to the treasury of existing methods” She also discussed three popular teaching methods in

Viet Nam: Grammar-Translation Method, The Audio-Lingual Method, and

Communicative Languge Teaching and points out their advantages and disadvantages

Grammar-Translation Method

- Advantages:

+ This method can be argued as the easiest method for the teacher to teach since

it does require neither a high level of proficiency nor an imaginative approach to techniques;

+ The atmosphere of the classroom seems stress-free because the mother tongue

is used all the time;

+ The teaching of grammar rules and translation puts the learner into a problem solving process;

+ Other advantages are freedom from limitation of one‟s own local and contemporary culture, direct contact with the words and ideas of great thinkers

- Disadvantages:

The Grammar - Translation Method obviously focuses on the form rather than the use of the target language Students who are in this way do not have a chance to practice their speaking and listening Students who learn rules of grammar and vocabulary without much feeling of progress in the mastery of the target language can lead to the lack of motivation in learning a language for their having little opportunity

to express themselves through it The method creates frustration for students, for whom foreign language learning is a tedious experience for memorization of new words and grammatical rules, while it makes few demands on teachers (Richard & Rogers, 1986, p 4)

The Audio-Lingual Method

- Advantages:

In the Audio - Lingualism, teaching was organized in favor of the mechanistic aspects of language use, thus, making the process of learning less challenging intellectually and, as a result, accessible to majority of people The successful point of this method is to develop students‟ listening comprehension and fluency in speaking in the target language Students are encouraged by the sense of being able to use what they have learnt in the early days of their study In addition, the study is reinforced by repetition, so the students have good repetition and this suitable for learners of different abilities

- Disadvantages:

The theoretical base held by Audio-Lingualism was found to be ill-founded both in terms of language theory and learning theory Theoretically, language is not a habit structure Ordinary linguistic behaviors characteristically involve innovation, formation of new sentences and patterns in accordance with rules of great abstractness and intricacy Accordingly, to know a language means to be able to comprehend and produce sentences and utterances never heard or produced before Practically, the products of Audio-Lingualism were found to be “well-trained parrots”, by which they

were unable to function communicatively in real world situations In addition, the atmosphere of the Audio-Lingual classroom was found to be „tedious‟ and „boring‟ because of too much memorization, drilling and repetition

Communicative Language Teaching

- Advantages:

+ CLT is more likely to produce the four skills of competence;

+ Learners of CLT are offered the opportunities to use the language for their own purpose, to take part in communication;

+ CLT is more motivating; therefore, students are likely to put more effort into learning

+ As CLT intends to teach what is relevant and necessary only, it is less wasteful of time and effort than approaches which attempt to teach the whole language

+ In the long term, the learners of CLT are equipped with appropriate skills for tackling the language in a real world

- Disadvantages:

+ It makes greater demands upon the professional training and linguistic and professional

+ It is more difficult to evaluate than the other approaches referred to

+ Because it appears to go against traditional practice, it tends to meet with opposition especially from older teachers and learners

- According to Kizlik (2012), it is difficult to select an instructional method that

best fits one's particular teaching style and the lesson-situation and there is no one

"right" method for teaching a particular lesson because any teaching method a teacher uses has advantages, disadvantages, and requires some preliminary preparation Advantages and disadvantages of some teaching methods such as direct teaching, cooperate learning , brainstorming, lecture, lecture discussion, multimedia, role playing, games, discussion, small group discussion, case studies, worksheets and surveys, computer simulations, independent study, guest speakers are also pointed out

to illustrate this For example, using multimedia brings about advantages:

+ Using multimedia is an entertaining way of introducing content and raising issues

+ It helps internet content easily updated

+ It usually keeps group's attention

+ It may cost effective way to obtain and disseminate content

+ It may provide opportunities for independent student investigation in a wide range of topics

However, it also causes some problems:

+ Using multimedia can raise too many issues to have a focused discussion + Distractions happen all too easily

+ Students working independently can easily lose focus of lesson topic

+ It is most effective when followed by discussion

+ Discussion may not have full participation

- Harris (2003) suggests that teachers should use different teaching methods in order to make students‟ learning effective A variety of teaching strategies, a good knowledge of student levels, and an implementation of the best strategies for particular students can help teachers to know which teaching methods will be most effective for their class There are many, many teaching methods, but direct instruction, inquiry-based learning, cooperative learning, teaching information processing strategies are the most common

Direct instruction is the most common form of instruction It is considered the simplest, and you can cover large amounts of material in a short period of time However, this is not the most effective teaching method to reach all students, especially younger ones, who often need a more engaging, hands-on strategy in order

to learn effectively In addition, it is hard for teachers to tailor instruction to students at different levels

Inquiry-based learning is a teaching method which can be used for virtually all subjects Besides,This teaching method is extremely student-centered and student-directed, and can be modified for students at any level, reaching them where they are

However, using inquiry-based learning takes a lot of time, energy, and planning, but it

is often very effective Cooperative learning is a teaching method considered highly effective when done correctly With cooperative learning, students are put in small groups to work together They are usually not grouped by ability, but put in a group with children at a variety of levels The students are then given tasks to accomplish together Teachers may need to monitor these groups carefully, to make sure they are staying on task and that all students are participating This form of instruction also lends itself well to differentiation, because the teacher can assign specific tasks to children at different ability levels

Teaching information processing strategies is often advisable to have students really understand the teaching methods and not just memorize facts, there are some cases when facts need to be memorized Facts and concepts may also need to be grouped or organized in order to facilitate better understanding Teachers can use various teaching methods to help students with memorization, or they can use graphic organizers, mind maps, story webs, or other ways to represent information visually

1.4 The teaching of English consonants

1.4.1 General description and classification of English consonants

1.4.1.1 General description of English consonants

In the book “Sound Founds - Learning and Teaching Pronunciation” by Underhill (2004), consonant sounds are defined in two different ways The first way is

in terms of sound‟s articulation, which defines “Consonant sounds are made by restricting or blocking the air flow in some physical way, and this restriction, or the release of the restriction, is what gives the consonant its characteristic sound” Meanwhile, the second definition is phonemic or functional, which states

“Consonants, either singly or in clusters, mark the beginnings and ends of syllables”

According to Kelly (2000), consonants can also be described in three ways namely the manner of articulation, the place of articulation and the degree of vocal cord vibration The manner of articulation refers to the interaction between the various articulators and the air stream For example, with plosive sounds, the

articulators act in such a way that the air is temporarily trapped, and then suddenly released The manners of articulation are plosive, affricate, fricative, nasal, lateral, and approximant

Describing the consonant sounds in terms of the place of articulation gives more information about what the various articulators actually do According to place

of articulation, consonants are classified into bilabial, labio-dental, dental, alveolar, palato-alveolar, palatal, velar and glottal

According to the degree of vocal cord vibration voicing is also one the main categories that consonants have to base on when being described The vocal folds may

be held against each other at just the right tension so that the air flowing past them from the lungs will cause them to vibrate against each other This process is called

voicing Sounds that are made with vocal fold vibration are said to be voiced

Sounds made without vocal fold vibration are said to be voiceless There are

several pairs of sounds in English which differ only in voicing that is, the two sounds have identical places and manners of articulation, but one has vocal fold vibration and the other doesn't, for example, /s, z/ or /θ, ð/

Describing the force of articulation, the terms fortis or strong and lenis or weak

are often used In spoken English, fortis happens to equate with unvoiced sounds, which require a more forcefully expelled airstreams than lenis sounds which in English

happen to be voiced As far as English consonants are concerned, the distinction is most useful when it comes to distinguishing between sounds that are articulated in essentially the same way, one using the voice, the other not An example pair is /p/

(unvoiced, and fortis), and /b/ (voiced, and lenis), (Kelly, 2000)

1.4.1.2 Classification of English consonants

English has about 24 distinctive (phonemic) consonant sounds divided according to three different categories: voicing, place and manner of articulation

The summary of English consonants is shown in Table 1 below

Place of articulation Front back

Approximan

t

(w)

r j w

Table 1: Consonants of English (Kelly, 2000)

Table 1 shows the places and manners of articulation for consonants Whenever a cell has two consonants, the voiceless is placed to the left and the voiced is to the right

1.4.2 Vietnamese consonants

There are 19 consonants in the Hanoi dialect of Vietnamese These consonants are listed in table 2 below (Taiffalo, 2001) These consonants are represented slightly different in Vietnamese orthography In addition to the 19 consonants, other dialects may contain retroflex consonants /tr/, /S/, and /Z/ (Nguyen 1997, p.20)

Table 2: Vietnamese consonants of Hanoi dialect

Glottal stop /?/ was not included in the consonant system of Table 2 However, according to Thompson (1987, p.21), glottal stop could be recognized as a phoneme The voicing of [b] and [d] are predictable allophones of /p/ and /t/ respectively, following initial /?/ (Thompson 1987, p.21)

Fortis stops in Vietnamese are voiceless /p, t, c, k /, and voiced /b, d/ They are characterized by relatively strong articulation They are exceedingly fortis when they are at the beginning of syllables On the other hand, at the end of syllables they are about midway between the extremes of fortis and lenis Voiceless stops can occur in initial or final positions, but voiced stops occur only initially When voiceless stops occur in final positions, they are unreleased

Lenis oral consonants in Vietnamese are /f, v, th, l, s, z, x, Ä, h/ They are less articulated than the fortis stops They occur only in initial position

Nasal consonants in Vietnamese are /m, n, N/ They are fully voiced and about midway in relation to the extremes of lenis and fortis They all occur both initially and finally

1.4.3 English versus Vietnamese consonants and the possible difficulties

1.4.3.1 English versus Vietnamese consonants

It is easy to infer from table 1 and table 2 that there are more similarities than differences in the manner and the place of articulation of the consonants in the two languages For instances, both of the languages share the place and manner in articulating many consonants such as /p, b, m, w/ (bilabial- stop, nasal, approximant), /k, η/ (velar- stop, nasal), /f, v/ (labiodentals - fricative), /j/ (palatal- approximant), /n, l/ (alveolar- nasal, lateral approximant), /s, z/ (alveolar- fricative) and /h/(glottal- fricative)

And it is certain that in the two phonological systems there are foreign sounds

to each other, which make them different languages Typically, in Vietnamese, the

dental aspirated sound /tʰ/ is in letters „th‟ the same way as the dental, fricative

English sounds /θ ð/ look in words However, they are different in the manner of articulation, that is, the former is a stop, and the latter is a fricative, which creates problems for learners in trying to learn each other's language Another typical example

of the sound in both languages, which make most of Vietnamese learners confused in

articulating them They are the /c/ in Vietnamese and /tʃ / in English They seem to

sound similar due to the same manner of articulation, but they are different in the place

of articulation, that is, the former is alveolar and the latter is palatal /p/ and /t/ in both languages have the same place of articulation but different manner of articulation In

English, /p, t/ have 3 different allophones, i.e they are aspirated in word initial, not

aspirated in medial position and not completely released in word final, Vo (2006) Besides confusing sounds, the two languages also have the sounds that the other completely does not have in terms of either the place or the manner of articulation, for example, the palatal stop /c/, palatal nasal /η/, the velar fricative /γ/ in Vietnamese, and the post alveolar fricative /ʒ/ and affricative /dʒ/ in English, etc

1.4.3.2 The possible difficulties

There have been a number of studies about Vietnamese‟ difficulties in pronouncing English consonants Important findings were drawn and become a valuable basis for this research

Osburne (1996, p.164-181) analyzes a case study from her subject - a

Vietnamese native speaker who came to the United States in 1972 - then drew the conclusion that: “In additional to cluster reduction, optional deletion of single syllable-final consonants, especially fricatives, which is attested for Vietnamese L1 speakers […] was found”, and “Consonants omitted, however, were always final consonants not permitted by Vietnamese She also stated that Vietnamese is non- rhotic so there is no /r/ sound at the end of English syllables spoken by Vietnamese What can be concluded from this study is that Vietnamese learners have a tendency to: firstly move strange English ending sounds towards similar sounds which exist in their mother tongue, secondly omit the sounds that are too difficult for them and thirdly reduce final clusters

Ha(2005) points out the three main problems in pronunciation of Vietnamese learners, that are, sound omission, sound confusion, and sound redundancy Relating to English final consonant pronunciation, she states that Vietnamese speakers omitted ending sound most frequently because in Vietnamese speakers do not have to

pronounce the ending sounds and some sounds are really hard for Vietnamese learners

to pronounce specially when they occur at the end of words

Nguyen (2007) proves that English word-final consonants are not pronounced

in a native-like way by Vietnamese speakers And Vietnamese effort to pronounce English word-final consonants is towards omitting, adding schwa or replacing them by sounds closer to those existing in their mother-tongue

Dao (2007) also concludes that main problem relating to pronunciation by

Vietnamese are either the mispronunciation or sound omission, especially when the consonants are in the final position

1.5 Factors affecting the effects of pronunciation instruction

According to Kenworthy (1987, p.4-9), factors such as the native language, the age factor, amount of exposure, phonetic ability, attitude and identity, motivation and concern for good have great influence on pronunciation learning as well as the effects

of pronunciation teaching

1.5.1 The native language

The native language plays an important role in the precise acquisition of pronunciation in a new language It is a significant factor to account for foreign accents and influences the pronunciation of the target language It often relates to interference from the mother tongue, and to cause errors in aspiration, stress and intonation in the target language

River (1968) points out that all learners had experienced difficulties in understanding what foreigners said This not because of their lack of knowledge of vocabulary, language structures and grammar but the sounds they produce seem peculiar and the voice they rose and fell in unexpected places

Most teachers‟ experiences and research study show that learners‟ first language plays a major influence on the sound system of another language (Nation & Newton, 2009) That is to say, every language in the world has different varieties and different accents

When beginning to acquire a new language, the learner generally tries to employ existing phonological categories from the native language That is to say, if a

particular sound does not exist in the native language can therefore make a difficulty for learners to find a similar sound in their mother tongue As if a sound does not exist

in native language, but the place of articulation or the manner of articulation of the sound is quite different between two languages, it is also the difficult for learners Many researchers attempt to find the difference in processing of the target language pronunciation by comparing the sound systems between the target language and learners‟ native language The result showed that the more different the sound systems have, the more difficulties the learners have to face, but not mean impossible In short

if a learner‟s native language has the similar sound with the target language, it is easier for his/her learning

1.5.2 The age factor

It is commonly assumed that people can pronounce a foreign language like a native if they start learning it as a child and vice versa even though the adults have a good knowledge of English or they live in the countries where the language is a native one This leads to a question that whether there is an age-related limit on the mastery

of pronunciation There have been many studies on this question and the results are conflicting because these studies have assessed pronunciation in different ways and it

is extremely difficult to control other factors which may be involved such as ability, motivation or opportunity to use and to hear the language

1.5.3 Amount of exposure

Another factor is the amount of exposure to English the learner receives Some people view this as a matter of whether the learner is living in an English-speaking country or not This means that the learner surrounded by English will have more advantages than who is not living in an English-speaking environment However, it is difficult to get an accurate picture of how much exposure to English a learner has received, and of what kind Moreover, it is not merely exposure that matters, but how the learners respond to the opportunities to listen and use English Based on some recent studies, it seems that amount of exposure is not a necessary factor but a contributory factor for the development of pronunciation skills

1.5.4 Phonetic ability

Some people have better ear capacity for foreign language than some other people, so they are able to discriminate between the two sounds more accurately than the other and able to imitate sounds better These abilities are innate, so this factor seems to be out of the teacher's control What the teacher can do is to investigate the abilities of the learners and provide a variety of tasks so that something will suit the needs and ability of each learner

1.5.5 Attitudes and personalities

It has been claimed that factors such as a person‟s „sense of identity‟ and feelings

of „group affiliation‟ are strong determiners of the acquisition of accurate pronunciation

of a foreign language In many studies of attitude and motivation in language learning, it has been shown that those learners who show positive feelings towards the speakers of the new language tend to develop more accurate, native-like accents

1.5.6 Motivation

It cannot be denied that motivation is an important factor which determines the people's participation in every activity especially in language learning Motivation makes people more active in learning The more motivated the people are, the greater the cognitive process is The learner's attitude towards the language they are learning

or going to learn also affects the process of learning pronunciation Their positive attitudes will help students a lot in learning this language, including learning its pronunciation

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 2.1 An overview of the situation of teaching and learning English at Dong Hy High School

2.1.1 The educational environment

Dong Hy High School is situated in the centre of Dong Hy district, Thai Nguyen province The school has three buildings with 42 classes equipped with fans and lights Most of the classes are rather big in comparison with an ordinary class of English, about over 40 students In our school, there are some labs with teaching aids and modern technology There is also a library where teachers and students can come

to read and borrow books However, both the laboratories and the library do not meet the need of teaching and learning because there are too many students and classes while the facilities are limited For English subjects, teachers are equipped with cassettes which help them a lot in teaching; however, there is only one projector and a special room with modern technology for teaching and learning English for 42 classes Therefore, they have a few chances to apply technology to teaching Moreover, materials and reference books teaching English in our school are limited The environment inside the school is quite fresh and environment friendly However the surroundings is quite complicated with social evils which affect students‟ learning

most of the tests and exams are in written form As a result of this, they usually pay more attention to teaching vocabulary and grammar than pronunciation

2.1.3 Learners

There are nearly 2000 students in our school, who are aged from 16 to 18 Most

of students come from poor families of farmers in mountainous and remote areas Their houses are far from school; therefore, it takes them a lot of time to go to school every day Some students even have to rent small rooms near the school to live and study Nowadays, English has become a compulsory subject in most schools in Viet Nam and Dong Hy High School is not exception Most students have learnt English since they were at grade six Some of them even have learnt English since they were at primary school However, many students in the school are afraid of English and their English level is very low When they start upper secondary school, a lot of them do not have enough knowledge to follow the curriculum in the textbook, some students even know nothing Recently, textbooks and curriculums have been changed a lot and the books we are using are not suitable with our students' level; the lessons are too difficult and long for them This causes many difficulties in English teaching and learning at the school

2.1.4 The textbook

All the text books, English 10, 11, 12 are designed to include 16 units Each unit is divided into five parts The first four parts are aimed at helping learners develop their language skills of Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing and the last part is Language Focus which consists of Pronunciation and Grammar Each part is taught in

a period of 45 minutes In the pronunciation syllabus designed for English 11, consonantal problems are mentioned in the succession of vowels; and voiced and voiceless pairs of consonants taught in English 10 The details of pronunciation lessons in English 11 are shown in the table below