A study on factors affecting English pronunciation learning of Hmong students at Ham Yen High School, Ham Yen district, Tuyen Quang province

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* ĐỖ THỊ THU HẰNG A STUDY ON FACTORS AFFECTING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION LEARNING OF HMONG STUDENTS AT HAM YEN HIGH SCHOOL, HAM YEN DISTRICT, TUYEN QUANG PROVINCE Nghiên cứu nhân tố ảnh hưởng đến việc học phát âm Tiếng Anh học sinh người H’Mông trường THPT Hàm Yên, huyện Hàm Yên, tỉnh Tuyên Quang M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 Hanoi, 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* ĐỖ THỊ THU HẰNG A STUDY ON FACTORS AFFECTING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION LEARNING OF HMONG STUDENTS AT HAM YEN HIGH SCHOOL, HAM YEN DISTRICT, TUYEN QUANG PROVINCE Nghiên cứu nhân tố ảnh hưởng đến việc học phát âm Tiếng Anh học sinh người H’Mông trường THPT Hàm Yên, huyện Hàm Yên, tỉnh Tuyên Quang M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: Dr TRAN THI THU HIEN Hanoi, 2014 DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “A study on factors affecting English pronunciation learning of ethnic students in Ham Yen High School, Ham Yen District, Tuyen Quang province” is my own study in the fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi Signature Đỗ Thị Thu Hằng i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ***** -I would like to express my gratitude to all who have helped me in the completion of this thesis Firstly, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Dr Tran Thi Thu Hien, who has given me persistent consideration, enthusiastic encouragement, and invaluable supervision throughout the writing of the thesis Secondly, my thanks also go to all lecturers and the staff of Faculty of Post Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their useful lectures, materials, guidance and enthusiasm during my course Thirdly, I also thank my colleagues for their willingness to share their ideas on this study and my students for their cooperation in completing the survey questionnaires Last but not least, I am indebted to my family and all my friends who have kindly given me assistance and encouragement Without them, this study would have no such great motivation ii ABSTRACT Ham Yen High School is a mountainous school where most of students are ethnic They account for 63 percent of all students in the school, in which Hmong students cover 83 percent Most of them have difficulty in English pronunciation learning Until now, no research on English pronunciation learning of the ethnic learners at Ham Yen High School has been carried out The researcher, therefore, decides to convey the research with the aim of finding out factors affecting Hmong students’ pronunciation learning, investigating typical pronunciation errors that Hmong students often commit, and proposing possible suggestions To achieve the objectives of the current study the researcher use both qualitative and quantitative methods The data were obtained from students’ survey questionnaires, students’ test result, and teachers’ interview The data were then analyzed From the result, it can be concluded that the first language transfer, language exposure, and attitudes and motivation are among the most significant factors affecting Hmong students’ pronunciation learning It is hoped that this thesis will be useful for teachers at Ham Yen High School to improve Hmong students’ pronunciation iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a Foreign Language ESL: English as a Second Language L1: First language L2: Second language iv LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Table 1: Hmong students' interest in learning English pronunciation Table 2: The purpose of teaching and learning pronunciation Table 3: Students' evaluation on difficulty in learning English consonants Table4: Students’ answers for the test Table 5: Factors affecting pronunciation learning Table 6: Frequency of techniques used in teaching pronunciation Table 7: The favourite techniques of learning pronunciation Chart 1: Students’ time on English pronunciation learning Chart 2: The language students speak at home v TABLE OF CONTENT DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS v PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Objectives of the study Research questions Scope of the study Methods of the study Significance of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Perceptions of pronunciation 1.2 Features of pronunciation 1.3 Factors affecting English pronunciation learning 1.3.1 Age 1.3.2 First language transfer 1.3.3 Personality 1.3.4 Language exposure 1.3.5 Attitude and motivation to learn 1.4 Hmong phonology overview 1.4.1 Word structure 10 1.4.2 Consonants 10 1.4.3 Tones 11 vi 1.5 Chapter summary 11 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 12 2.1 Context of the study 12 2.2 The participants 12 2.3 Data collection instruments 13 2.3.1 The questionnaires: 13 2.3.2 Test 13 2.3.3 Interview 14 2.4 Data collection procedures 14 2.4.1 For the questionnaire 14 2.4.2 For the interview 14 2.4.3 For the test 15 2.5 Chapter summary 15 CHAPTER 3: DATA PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSIONS 16 3.1 Data analysis 16 3.1.1 The teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards teaching and learning pronunciation 16 3.1.2 Students’ pronunciation errors 18 3.1.3 Factors affecting Hmong students in pronunciation learning 21 3.1.4 Techniques used in teaching pronunciation 24 3.1.5 Students’ expectations and teachers’ recommendations to teaching and learning pronunciation 26 3.2 Findings and discussion 28 3.3 Possible suggestions 28 3.3.1 Teachers’ techniques 29 3.3.2 Motivating students to learn 31 3.3.3 Equipping facilities 31 3.4 Chapter summary 32 vii PART C: CONCLUSION 33 Major findings 33 Limitations of the study 35 Recommendations for further studies 35 REFERENCES 37 APPENDIX I APPENDIX VI APPENDIX VII viii listening exercises especially let them listen to conversations and practice them 3.3.1.3 Attitudes and motivation The learner's attitude and motivation towards the language they are learning or going to learn also affects the process of learning 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 3.3.2 Motivating students to learn As for problem of students’ negative attitude, and low interest in pronunciation practice, it is important that teachers make student interested in their English pronunciation learning Teachers should set the goal of learning English pronunciation for their students Learning English pronunciation is not only to pass the exam but to integrate into the bustling modern world Teachers should help students build up their self-confidence; encourage them to practice freely and frequently There is no problem whether they speak correctly or not as “practice makes perfect” Teacher also should guide students how to learn English effectively and provide them with materials and exercises to practice at home 3.3.3 Equipping facilities The previous chapter discusses the large number of students in a class with mixed abilities and motivation in language learning, and poor teaching equipments Surely, the solution to these problems is to equip classroom with modern lab and modern facilities such as computers, projectors and to equip the library with various reference books because the result of the survey questionnaire shows that students like learning with songs and visual aids 31 Moreover, it would be better if the number of students in each class is reduced to 25 or 30 students Teachers would have less pressure in managing class activities and have more chance to communicate with their students Also, students have chance to exchange knowledge with each other Consequently, teaching and learning pronunciation would be more effective 3.4 Chapter summary In this chapter, data was analyzed and discussed Firstly, the analysis of the data shows that both teachers and students at Ham Yen High School are aware of the importance of pronunciation to their teaching and learning of English Pronunciation is necessary for students to communicate better However, they meet some difficulties in pronunciation teaching and learning, which makes them fail to meet their purpose of teaching and learning pronunciation is to communicate better Secondly, not only students but also the teachers find it difficult to learn and teach pronunciation Especially, as shown in the data analysis, pronunciation of fricatives and liquids are the most difficult Thirdly, there are many factors affecting these problems They are both internal and external reasons The cause which there is strong agreement of teachers and students is the influence of Hmong on their pronunciation The amount of exposure is also one of the main factors The more the students use English every day, the better they will communicate Another cause is the attitudes and motivation towards teaching and learning pronunciation When teachers and students have positive attitudes and good motivation, they will pay more attention to teaching and learning pronunciation Another cause is the time for each lesson It is rather short Especially the practice activities; they are too boring and monotonous 32 PART C: CONCLUSION Major findings This study looked at the factors affecting English pronunciation learning of Hmong students at Ham Yen High School The author examined the aspects of teaching and learning overview, classroom techniques and activities, difficulties in teaching and learning pronunciation; students’ expectations and teachers’ recommendations in teaching and learning pronunciation All these aspects were analyzed to answer three research questions Research question 1: What kinds of English pronunciation errors Hmong students at Ham Yen High School usually have? To answer the first research question of the study, the researcher designed question in the survey questionnaire, asked five teachers which consonants or vowels their Hmong students have difficulty pronouncing, and gave students a test to in 20 minutes After having analyzing the result of the questionnaire and interview, the researcher compared it with the result of the test to ensure the answer The results reveal that most students have difficulty pronouncing /f/, /r/, /j/, /kw/, and final consonants For example, Hmong students often pronounce the word “fan” as “pan”, “foot” as “put”, “quite” as “twice” without final consonants /n/, /t/ and /s/ Research question 2: What are the major factors affecting English pronunciation of Hmong students at Ham Yen High School? The answer for the above question was found out by analyzing the result of questions 9, 10 and 11 in the survey questionnaire, the information that the interviewed teachers shared when the researcher asked them what factors you think affecting your Hmong students in learning pronunciation, and the researcher’s personal experience as a teacher of English in a 33 mountainous area for years A conclusion can be drawn that the first factor is the first language transfer As shown in the data analysis, outside the classrooms, none of the students speaks English All students chose Hmong and Vietnamese in which Hmong is spoken much more than Vietnamese 83.64% of the students speak Hmong, while only 16.36% of the students use Vietnamese to communicate with others at home The second factor is language exposure The students hardly have opportunities to communicate with native speakers Moreover, time on teaching and learning pronunciation does not meet the demand There is no time to practice in class The last factor is students’ attitude and motivation to learn The data collected show that their main purpose of learning English is to pass the exam In addition, they are not very interested in pronunciation learning because the tasks are monotonous; the techniques they like learning with are not applied much by their teachers What is more, their poor living conditions and low economic status still prevent them from spending enough time and concentration on learning all subjects in general and English in particular Research question 3: What should be done to improve English pronunciation of Hmong students at Ham Yen High School? It is obvious from the results analyzed from questions 11, 12 and 13 in the questionnaire and question in the interview that both teachers and students have problems in teaching and learning pronunciation However, within the scope of the study, the author would like to put forward some possible suggestions as the recommendations to improve students’ pronunciation Firstly, teachers’ techniques in which some new activities are introduced Secondly, the school might be equipped with more modern 34 facilities Finally, students might be motivated to learn in which three keys to a successful pronunciation lesson are taken out Limitations of the study Although the study has done and completed its first aims, there could not avoid some limitations From the scope of the study, the results of the study are only applied for Hmong students at Ham Yen High School The study only focuses on finding the factors affecting English pronunciation learning at Ham Yen High School Only some techniques are suggested for teachers and students at Ham Yen High School In addition, age of the students and personality are also the factors affecting Hmong students’ pronunciation learning, but they have not been presented Contrastive analyses of Hmong and English, and Hmong and Vietnamese, which may be necessary, have not been mentioned in this thesis What is more, techniques used in teaching and learning pronunciation involve various ideas Moreover, within the limited teaching experience of the author, the suggested recommendations are likely to be subjective and incomplete, leaving the issue open for debate The author hopes that the later studies could deal with the topic deeper and more effective Recommendations for further studies 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 55 Hmong students at Ham Yen High School, so the results would not be applied to students in other high schools It would be interesting to conduct a similar study on teachers and students from a larger scale and at other schools Second, this study focuses on the factors affecting Hmong students’ 35 learning pronunciation only, so finding out factors affecting their knowledge of grammar and vocabulary should also be concerned Finally, it might be interesting to find out the factors affecting English pronunciation learning of ethnic students belonging to other ethnic groups 36 REFERENCES Avery, P and Ehrlich, S (1992) Teaching American English Pronunciation Oxford: Oxford University Press Bowen, T., and Marks J (1992) The Pronunciation Book: studentCentered Activities for Pronunciation Work Harlow: Longman Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D., & Goodwin, J (1996) Teaching pronunciation: Reference for teachers of English to speakers of other languages Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Chang, W (2005, December) The Sounds of Hmong Cunningham Florez, M (1998, December) Improving Adult ESL Learners’ Pronunciation Skills 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 Derwing, T M., & Rossiter, M J (2002) ESL learners’ perceptions of their pronunciation needs and strategies System, 30, 155-166 Elliott, A R (1995, Fall) Field independence/dependence, hemispheric specialization, and attitude in relation to pronunciation accuracy in Spanish as a foreign language Modern Language Journal, 79(3), 356371 10.Grant, L., (1993) Advanced English Pronunciation Heinle: Heinle 11.Grillham, B (2000) The Research Interview Continuum London and New York 12.Hancock, M (1995) Pronunciation Games Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 13.Kelly, G (2000) How to teach Pronunciation Harlow: Pearson 37 14.Larsen, D (2000) Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press 15.Mackey, A and Grass, S M (2005) Second Language Research: Methodology and Design London: Iawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publisher 16.Meng, H., Tseng, C.-Y., Kondo, M., Harrison, A., & Viscelgia, T (2009) Studying L2suprasegmental features in Asian Englishes: A position paper 17.Nunan, D (1992) Research Methods in Language Learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 18.O’Connor, J.D (1967) Better English Pronunciation Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 19.O’Connor, J.D (1989) Sounds English London: Longman 20.Pennington, M (1996) Phonology in English Language Teaching: An international Approach Harlow: Pearson 21.Roach, P (1998) English Phonetics and Phonology Nhà Xuất Bản Trẻ 22.Underhill, A (1994) Sound Foundations: Learning and teaching pronunciation Macmillan Publishers Ltd 23.Ur, Penny (1996) A course in language teaching: practice and theory New York: Cambridge University Press 38 APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (for students) Phiếu điều tra thiết kế nhằm tìm hiểu nhân tố ảnh hưởng tới việc học phát âm Tiếng Anh học sinh người H’mong 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 Chân thành cảm ơn Để hoàn thành phiếu điều tra này, em khoanh tròn trả lời đáp án mà em cho thích hợp I Thơng tin cá nhân Giới tính: a, Nam b, Nữ Tuổi Em học tiếng Anh rồi? năm Em theo học khối nào? a, 10 b, 11 c, 12 II Thông tin việc học phát âm Tiếng Anh a) Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý b) Khơng đồng ý c) Đồng ý phần d) Đồng ý e) Hoàn toàn đồng ý Em thấy tiết học phát âm thú vị a b c d e Đối với em việc phát âm tốt quan trọng trình học Tiếng Anh a b c I d e Mục đích học ngữ âm em gì? (Có thể chọn 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, Tiếng Anh Tiếng H’mong e, Mục đích khác: …………………………………………… Em thấy âm âm khó phát âm nhất? Stt Các âm Âm nổ (/p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/) Âm tắc xát (/dʒ/, /tʃ/) Âm xát (/f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/) Biên âm (/l/) Âm mũi (/m/, /n/, /ŋ/) Bán nguyên âm (/r/,/w/, /y/) Các âm khác (Hãy ghi cụ thể) Hồn tồn Đồng ý Đồng Khơng khơng phần ý đồng ý đồng ý Hoàn toàn đồng ý ……………………………………… Một tuần em học phát âm thời gian? …………………… II Khi nhà em thường nói chuyện với bạn bè, người thân gia đình, …… tiếng nào? a, Tiếng Việt b, Tiếng H’mong 10 Em thấy học ngữ âm khó ngun nhân sau.(Đánh dấu √ vào ô tương ứng): Stt Các nguyên nhân Một số âm Tiếng Anh khơng có Tiếng Việt Tiếng H’mong Ảnh hưởng cách phát âm Tiếng Việt Ảnh hưởng cách phát âm tiếng H’mong Ít có hội giao tiếp với người xứ Em khơng thích học phát âm Khả phát âm em Em thấy học ngữ âm không cần thiết Những nguyên nhân khác (Hãy ghi cụ thể) Hoàn toàn Đồng ý Đồng Không không phần ý đồng ý đồng ý Hồn tồn đồng ý …………………………………………… III Thơng tin việc dạy phát âm Tiếng Anh III 11 Em thường thấy giáo viên áp dụng thủ thuật dạy học nào?(Đánh dấu √ vào ô tương ứng): stt Các thủ thuật Liệt kê quy tắc Sử dung hội thoại Dùng hát, thơ Dùng trò chơi Sử dụng giáo cụ trực quan Nghe nhắc lại từ, cụm từ, câu Tìm từ, cụm từ, câu có cách đọc khác từ, cụm từ, câu lại Viết phiên âm từ, cụm từ, câu Các thủ thuật khác (Hãy ghi cụ thể) Chưa Hiếm Thỉnh Thường Luôn thoảng xuyên ………………………………………… 12 Em cảm thấy thủ thuật dạy học mà giáo viên áp dụng? (Đánh dấu √ vào ô tương ứng): stt Các thủ thuật Liệt kê quy tắc Sử dung hội thoại Dùng hát, thơ Dùng trò chơi Sử dụng giáo cụ trực quan Nghe nhắc lại Khơng thích IV Khơng Bình thích thường Thích Rất thích từ, cụm từ, câu Tìm từ, cụm từ, câu có cách đọc khác từ, cụm từ, câu lại Viết phiên âm từ, cụm từ, câu Các thủ thuật khác (Hãy ghi cụ thể) …………………………………………… IV Mong muốn học sinh việc học phát âm Tiếng Anh 13 Em có nguyện vọng học phát âm? a Học thường xuyên tất tiết học tiếng Anh b Kết hợp nhiều kỹ năng, hoạt động cho phong phú c Có phần riêng dành riêng cho học phát âm d Tăng cường vai trò giáo viên e Sử dụng giáo cụ trực quan f Tiến hành phương pháp đánh giá, kiểm tra chất lượng học Cảm ơn hợp tác em! V APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (TEACHERS) Interview questions How long have you been teaching English? Are you interested in teaching pronuncition? Why? or Why not? Do you feel teaching pronunciation easy or difficult? Why? Which consonants or vowels your Hmong students have difficulty pronouncing? Do you often give extra activities or particular techniques in teaching pronunciation for H’mong learners? Why? Why not? What factors you think affect your Hmong students in learning pronunciation? What should teachers to make pronunciation lessons more interesting and effective? VI APPENDIX TEST (for students); Time allowance: 20 minutes Choose the word whose underlined part is differently pronounced from the rest 1) A invited 2) A admired 3) A looked 4) A believed 5) A remembers 6) A serves 7) A watches 8) A hear 9) A cat 10) A leaf B attended B looked B laughed B prepared B cooks B blocks B dishes B beer B cinema B deaf C celebrated C missed C moved C involved C walls C banks C leaves C near C corner C of Write these words in their normal writing : EXAMPLE: …next… D displayed D hoped D stepped D liked D pyramids D tourists D boxes D pear D camera D wife /nekst/ 11) /fæn/ ………… … 12) /fʊt / ………… 13) /ˈpeɪpə/ ……… … 14) /kæt/ …………… 15) /dʒʌmp/ ……… … 16) /ˈpɒk.ɪt/ ……… 17) /ˈsentrəl / ………… 18) /kəʊtʃ/………… Write phonemic transcription of the following words EXAMPLE: easy: … /'i:zɪ/… 19) face /……… / 20) fresh /……… / 21) party /……………/ 22) pick /……… / 23) queen /…………/ 24) quick /………./ 25) rain /……… / 26) remind /………… / VII