1 Vietnam national university, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THI ̣ v©n anh Common mistakes made by 10-grade students at me linh high school in producing English vowel and consonant sounds (Những lỗi phỉ biÕn cđa häc sinh khèi 10 tr-êng THPT Mª Linh việc phát âm nguyên âm phơ ©m TiÕng Anh) M.A MINOR THESIS Major: English Teaching Methodology Code : 60 14 10 HANOI, 9/2011 Vietnam national university, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES Ngun THỊ v©n anh Common mistakes made by 10-grade students at me linh high school in producing English vowel and consonant sounds (Những lỗi phổ biến häc sinh khèi 10 tr-êng THPT Mª Linh viƯc phát âm nguyên âm phụ âm Tiếng Anh) M.A MINOR THESIS Major: English Teaching Methodology Code : 60 14 10 Supervisor: KIM văn tất, M.A HANOI, 9/2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION……………………………………………………………………………i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………….………….ii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………… iii TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………………… iv LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………… vii PART I: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………1 Rationale of the study……………………………………………………………….1 The aims of the study…………………………………… ………………… Research questions…………………………………………………………… .2 The scope of the study…………………………………………………….……… Research method……………………………………………………………………3 Organization of the study………………………………………………………… PART II: DEVELOPMENT ………………………………………………….………….4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW …………………………………… …………4 1.1 Phonetics and phonology ……………………………………………….………4 1.1.1 English vowels…………………………………………………………… 1.1.2 English consonants…………………………………………………… .8 1.2 The main differences between English and Vietnamese sounds …… ………….11 1.2.1 Consonants ……………………………………………………………… 11 1.2.2 Vowels …………………………………………………………… 12 1.3 The importance of teaching and learning pronunciation …………………………12 1.4 Review of previous research ……………………………………………… 13 CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY…………………………………………………………….15 2.1 Context of the study ……………………………………………………… 15 2.1.1 Teaching staff and teaching methods …………………………………… 15 2.1.2 Students and their background …………………………………………….15 2.1.3 The teaching materials and facilities……………………………………….16 2.2 Research questions …………………………………… ………………… 17 2.3 The subjects ……………………………………… ……………… 18 2.4 Data collection instruments ………………………………………………………18 2.4.1 Class observations …………………………………….………………… 18 2.4.2 Questionnaire …………………………………………………………… 18 2.5 Data collection procedures………………………………………………… 18 2.6 Data analysis process …………………………………………………………… 19 2.7 Summary……………………………………………………………………………20 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ……………………………………….21 3.1 Classroom observation and discussion ………… 21 3.2 Findings and discussion from the questionnaire …………………………………24 3.2.1 Findings about the students’ attitudes towards pronunciation……………… 24 3.2.2 Findings about the common problems with English sounds and the main causes………………………………………………………………………………………25 3.2.2.1 Findings about the common problems with English sounds…………25 3.2.2.2 The causes of consonant and vowel mistakes……………… 26 3.2.3 The solutions to the problems……………………………………………… 27 3.2.3.1 Students’ self correction…………………………………………… 27 3.2.3.2 Teachers’ methods in teaching pronunciation……………………… 28 3.2.3.3 Students’ expectation from their teachers’ methods in teaching pronunciation …………………………………………………………………………….29 CHAPTER 4: SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS FOR 10TH GRADE STUDENTS AT ME LINH HIGH SCHOOL TO PRODUCE ENGLISH SOUNDS CORRECTLY……………………………………………………………………………31 4.1 Using visual aids………………………………………………………………31 4.2 Solutions for English sounds practice …… …………………………………31 4.2.1 Drilling (Listen and repeat)…………………………………………….32 4.2.2 Tongue twisters……………………………………………………… 32 4.2.3 Do the listening exercises:…………………………………………… 33 4.2.4 Playing games: …………………………………………………………34 4.2.4.1 Pronunciation maze…………………………………………….34 4.2.4.2 Bingo………………………………………………………… 35 PART III: CONCLUSION …………………………………………… ………………38 Conclusions …………… …………….……………………………………………38 Limitations and suggestions for further study ……………………….……… 38 REFERENCES ……………………………………………………… ………… 40 APPENDICES……………………………………………………………………… I LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1: Diagram of Vowels Figure 2: Consonants in the English language Table 1: Pronunciation matters mentioned in Tieng Anh 10 Table 2: students’ attitude toward pronunciation Table3: students’ opinion on the level of difficulties of English vowels Table4: students’ opinion on the level of difficulties of English consonants Table5: Causes of students’ mistakes in producing English sounds Table 6: Students’ opinions about their self- correction Table 7: Teaching English pronunciation methods Table 8: Students’ expectation from their teachers’ methods in teaching pronunciation PART ONE: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study 10 In the process of integration and globalization, English is rapidly becoming an indispensable instrument in community communication It is being used world-wide as the main language in business, trading, communication, etc Therefore, more and more people learn English as foreign language and wish to be able to master it as native speakers However, learners cannot success in studying English without mastering English pronunciation because pronunciation is one of the most important components of a language It is really very important for learners to have communication of the target language as correct possible right from the start There have been a great deal of notable works about pronunciation and pronunciation teaching since the dawn of language teaching such as ones written by, Gimson (1962), Kenworthy (1987), Avery &Ehrlich (1992), Jerkins (2000) However, few studies have been done on common mistakes in pronouncing English sounds alone The most popular one is the study by Avery &Ahrlich (1992) in which the problems of selected language group are discussed In their work they have confirmed that ―Vietnamese speakers not experience too much difficulty with the English vowels‖ In reality, Vietnamese learners often mispronounce the sound / æ / and /e/ Moreover, their explanations about the problems which Vietnamese learners have with English consonants are not really appropriate It is said that Vietnamese learners have not so many difficulties when producing English sounds because English and Vietnamese have the same Latin alphabets However, there is a big difference in the phonetics alphabets between the two languages and the ways to pronounce them Thus, the most common cause is the default misunderstanding of the way these sounds are produced and the effect of some sounds of the mother tongue In Vietnam, English is the core foreign language that is taught as a compulsory subject at all school levels The need to acquire this so popular language proves to be constant with socioeconomic changes in Vietnam in recent years However, it is undeniable that many Vietnamese students receiving the English teaching from their teachers at schools can’t pronounce English words correctly This is one of the first language influences on the second language acquisition in the way that some features of pronouncing words in English not exist in Vietnamese In fact, Vietnamese learners of English have many difficulties in pronouncing English For high school students, especially students at Me Linh high school are not the exception even 11 though they have learnt English since the early age Another reason is that no research has been carried on this field at Me Linh high school in Hanoi This leads the researcher to the thought of making a research on ―Common mistakes made by tenth grade students at Me Linh high school in producing English vowel and consonant sounds‖ with the purpose of finding out the causes of mispronunciations It is hoped that this study will contribute to the goal of enhancing students’ performances in the teaching and learning foreign language Aims of the study The study aims at finding out common mistakes made by tenth grade students at Me Linh high school in pronouncing English words and the causes of these problems The results will provide an overview of learners’ pronunciation at Me Linh high school and give suggestions for teachers to improve the situation The findings of this research will hopefully help Me Linh high school students to raise their awareness of learning correct pronunciation so as to produce English vowel and consonant sound properly Research questions What are the common mistakes in pronouncing English vowels and consonants made by 10th grade students at Me Linh high school? What are the causes of those mistakes? What are solutions to the problem? Scope of the study The study limited itself to the investigation of common mistakes in English pronunciation of the 10th grade students at Me Linh high school in Hanoi The researcher of the thesis pays attention to find out students’ common mistakes in the lessons Language focus with the subsection Pronunciation of Tieng Anh 10- textbook Solutions are also provided to help improve teaching and learning English pronunciation in general, teaching and learning English pronunciation for the 10th grade students at Me Linh high school in particular Research method 12 A combination of different data collection methods was used including class observations and questionnaires for students Details of the methodology applied in the study are discussed in Chapter of Part two Organization of the study The study composes of three parts: Part one, Introduction, includes the rationale, aims, research question, scope, method and organization of the study Part two, Development, consists of four chapters Chapter one, Literature Review, presents the theoretical background relevant to the research The first section presents the basic concepts of phonetics, phonology articulatory phonetics The second section shows the main differences between English and Vietnamese sounds The next section presents the importance of teaching pronunciation The last section summarizes the review of previous research related to vowel and consonant pronunciation Chapter two, the Study, describes the context of the study, the participants, and the method Chapter three is the findings and discussion from classroom observations and questionnaire The last chapter is some suggested solutions for 10 grade students at Me Linh high school to produce English sounds correctly Part three, Conclusion, summarizes the findings and gives limitations and suggestions for further research Besides, the classroom observation transcripts, survey questionnaire and suggested solutions for the teachers and students are included in the Appendices PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter is devoted to the presentation of the theoretical issues related to the study The 13 first section provides some basic linguistic and phonetic concepts to bring a common view of the matter studied including phonetics, phonology, English consonants and vowels The second section describes the differences between English and Vietnamese The next section presents the importance of pronunciation teaching and learning The final section discusses the review of some previous research related to English consonant and vowel sounds 1.1 Phonetics and phonology This section starts with a distinction between two related terms (often loosely) used to refer to linguistic disciplines studying the linguistic sign which Ferdinand de Saussure in Course of General Linguistics called the acoustic image: phonetics and phonology Phonetics deals with how speech sounds are actually produced, transmitted and received in actual spoken language, while phonology deals with especially with the ways those sounds are organized into the individual languages, hence dealing with abstractions on a virtual basis ―Phonetics first of all divides, or segments, concrete utterances into individual speech sounds It is therefore exclusively concerned with parole or performance Phonetics can be divided into three distinct phases: (1) articualtory phonetics, (2) acoustic phonetics and (3) auditory phonetics‖ (Skandera& Burleigh, 2005:3) Articulatory phonetics deals with the way in which speech sounds are produced Sound are usually classified according to the position of lips and the tongue, how far open the mouth is, whether or not the vocal cords are vibrating and so on Acoustic phonetics deals with the transmission of speech sounds through the air When a speech sound is produced it causes minor air disturbances (sound waves) Various instruments are used to measure the characteristics of these sound waves Auditory phonetics deals with how speech sounds are perceived by the listener, From the practical phonetic standpoint, it is convenient to distinguish two types of speech sound, simply because the majority of sounds may be described and classified most appropriately according to one of the two techniques 59 Appendix 7: Handout Unit - /æ/ - /e/ (http://lopngoaingu.com/english-GT/phatam/index.php?view=23-951-955) To make /æ/, put your tongue low and pushed forward a little Spread your lips slightly, and keep your jaw open For /e/, close your jaw while saying /æ/, and you will hear the change to /e/ (http://lopngoaingu.com/english-GT/phatam/index.php?view=23-951-954) 60 Appendix 8: Students’ handout – UNIT Exercise One: Word Repetition Listen to the following words and repeat ad ham bet ten mass meddle ladder step Sally than man Dennis blend led clam net sandwich dress Andy Fred Than then bat bet mat met bland blend and end Exercise Two: Minimal Pair Distinction You will hear the sentences below, but only one of the italicized words will be spoken Circle the word which you hear The boys set/sat their bottoms down on the curb They bought a lot of gems/jams from the specialty shop All my friends saw me and left/laughed He was sending/sanding some furniture when I called (http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/eslp025unit08.pdf) 61 Appendix 9: Students’ handout – UNIT Read each of the following sentences aloud, paying attention to the sounds from this lesson Lassie headed back to Peg and Allen for ten apples Hedley sadly said sending Sally a man was extra bad Matt never had less capital than several checks ago Rather than settling Al and Ellie's debts, Fran just laughed and left Dennis and Kent can't dance because they're dense dancers Dan's den is a sad shed back of Beck's badly built bed and breakfast Clem's clams went up Betty's back and tampered with her temper Ed's ad said track treks led lads into mass messes Ted tampered a tad in Brad's bread and jam 10 Stan stemmed his temper tantrum and lent Landry a bank check 62 Appendix 10: Students’ handout – UNIT PAIRED DISTINCTION A DIRECTIONS You and your partner have different sheets, either A or B Read your words from the list below to your partner, and he or she will mark down which word was different (either the first, second, or third) Then, your partner will read, and you will mark down on your worksheet either the first, second, or third (whichever is different) Example: You hear "then—than—then"; you write in the space provided, as the second (than) was different from the first and third (then) then than then ……………… end end and ………………… sat set set ………………… guessed gassed led led gassed………………… lad ……………… rap rep rep …………… brad bread brad ………………… met mat mat …………………… PAIRED DISTINCTION B DIRECTIONS You and your partner have different sheets, either A or B Read your words from the list below to your partner, and he or she will mark down which word was different (either the first, second, or third) Then, your partner will read, and you will mark down on your worksheet either the first, second, or third (whichever is different) Example: You hear "met—mat—mat"; you write in the space provided, as the first (me) was different from the second and third (mat) met mat mat sat set set rap rep end end ……………… led led lad ……………… brad bread brad …………… rep …………… then than then ……… and …………… guessed gassed (http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/eslp025unit08.pdf) ……… gassed…… 63 Appendix 11: Students’ handout – UNIT Information Gap exercise A In this exercise, sit opposite your partner Your partner will ask you which word goes into the empty boxes You will pronounce the word in your box, and your partner will write down what you said Then you ask your partner to pronounce the words in your missing boxes Possible questions: ― Can you tell me the word which is in D-2? ― Could you repeat that, please?‖ A1 B1 Bradon’s ladder C1 D1 Brad’s jam A2 B2 Bread and jam C2 D2 It’s rather sad A3 The guest was gassed B3 C3 End now that D3 A4 B4 C4 D4 Jen kept laughing Wrap the present 64 Information Gap exercise B In this exercise, sit opposite your partner Your partner will ask you which word goes into the empty boxes You will pronounce the word in your box, and your partner will write down what you said Then you ask your partner to pronounce the words in your missing boxes Possible questions: ― Can you tell me the word which is in D-2? ― Could you repeat that, please?‖ A1 B1 Brendon’s letter C1 D1 Brad’s gem A2 Matt guessed it was gas B2 C2 And that’s the end D2 A3 B3 C3 D3 My pajamas are wrecked A4 The president rapped B4 Whether it’s said C4 Jan kept refereeing (http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/eslp025unit08.pdf) D4 Jen kept laughing 65 Appendix 12: Students’ handout – UNIT Vowel Bingo dance dense bed and back mass jam ted apple tad Stan Landry lent track lad clam temper sent left than settle had help capital extra Vowel Bingo left dense bed and settle track jam Landry apple had Stan capital mass lent than clam temper sent lad dance tad back help ted extra (Adapted from http://www.soundsofenglish.org/activities/printable/FinalConsonantBingo.pdf) 66 Appendix 13: Teacher’s handout – UNIT 15 (http://lopngoaingu.com/english-GT/phatam/index.php?view=23-951-989) Place the tip of your tongue between your upper and lower teeth Don't put it between your lips Make the sound by forcing air through the opening between your teeth and tongue Don't vibrate your vocal cords Place the tip of your tongue between your upper and lower teeth Don't put it between your lips Make the sound by forcing air through the opening between your teeth and your tongue.Vibrate your vocal cords to make// The difference between // and // is that the first isvoiced and second, voiceless (http://lopngoaingu.com/english-GT/phatam/index.php?view=23-951-990) 67 Appendix 14: Students’ handout – UNIT 15 1.Exercise One: Word Repetition Listen to the following words and repeat Thursday than think those third there throw them Thelma thy without although bathroom mother nothing father breathless northern mythology whether teeth sheathe path loathe method teethe booth soothe wrath seethe 2.Exercise Two: Minimal Pair Distinction You will hear the sentences below, but only one of the italicized words will be spoken.Circle the one word which you hear Geoffrey saw the pass/path and took it Thora and Thelma read all about the trees/threes After the rain, his booths/boots were covered with mud All the students saw the free/three men and applauded The new manager really liked his new theme/team They were breathing/breeding like rabbits I don't enjoy getting ether/either at all When exactly will they/day come? My neighbours soothe/sued me often 10 I don't think that essay is worthy/wordy (http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/pron025Unit01.pdf) 68 Appendix 15: Students’ handout – UNIT 15- Tongue Twisters Exercise 1: Say these tongue twisters out loud to practice the sound 1.Thor is the god of Thunder 2.Thelma and Theo have bad breath 3.Three free thrilling frills fought on Ruth's roof 4.Thieves are thankless thugs who deserve our wrath 5.Nothing is worth thousands of deaths 6.Mr Smith's teeth are thin and lethal 7.Thursdays are thirsty days for lethargic Ruth and Thelma 8.It seems themes are sought by thousands of mythical misses 9.Thick ticks on three trees brought broth to ten thin tin men 10.Sick thickets thwarted seven thin sinners from passing through (http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/pron025Unit01.pdf) Exercise 2: Say these tongue twisters out loud to practice the sound 1.Those of the southern and northern areas are still writhing and seething Breathe the breeze, loathe the lows, and soothe the Sues Rather than loathing their mothers, soothe their fathers Bathing in the bays is soothing to those teething brothers Dan would rather scythe in wetter weather Their dare was to Dan rather than those dozing northerners Ether either makes Thor writhe or seethe Though dough is worthy, it is worthier with their father's tithe That thatch there on their thighs, although sheathed, is weathered 10 Breeding breathing southern otters in the north is worth thousands to them (http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/eslp025unit02.pdf) 69 Appendix 16: Students’ handout – UNIT 15 Information Gap exercise A In this exercise, sit opposite your partner Your partner will ask you which word goes into the empty boxes You will pronounce the word in your box, and your partner will write down what you said Then you ask your partner to pronounce the words in your missing boxes Possible questions: ― Can you tell me the word which is in D-1? ― Could you repeat that, please?‖ A1 B1 C1 D1 B2 loathe C2 D2 clothes B3 C3 Thor D3 C4 breath D4 three A2 teeth A3 think A4 teethe B4 (http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/pron025Unit01.pdf) 70 Information Gap exercise B In this exercise, sit opposite your partner Your partner will ask you which word goes into the empty boxes You will pronounce the word in your box, and your partner will write down what you said Then you ask your partner to pronounce the words in your missing boxes Possible questions: ― Can you tell me the word which is in D-2? ― Could you repeat that, please?‖ A1 B1 either A2 B2 C1 D1 though rather C2 D2 either A3 thee B3 C3 D3 bath A4 B4 C4 D4 thousand than (http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/pron025Unit01.pdf) 71 Appendix 17: Students’ handout – UNIT 15- Game: Pronunciation maze Find a way from Start to finish You may not pass a square if the word contains the sound / θ/ You can move horizontally or vertically only START Thursday clothes those weather thousand thick wrath smoother they Ruth lethal thirsty thrilled although bother healthy writhe nothing thin than three theme their thank moth path thought mother then teeth seethe either rather that them birthday (FINISH) 72 Appendix 18: Teacher’s handout – UNIT 16 (http://lopngoaingu.com/english-GT/phatam/index.php?view=23-951-981) (http://lopngoaingu.com/english-GT/phatam/index.php?view=23-951-980) / ʃ /: Bend back the front part of your tongue Then, touch the space behind your teeth with the front of your tongue / ʒ / : - First, make the / ʃ / sound Then, use your voice to make the sound 73 Appendix 19: Students’ handout – UNIT 16 1.Exercise One: Word Repetition Listen to the following words and repeat Asian occasion diversion shoe share wish lesion ship erosion wash version sheep pleasure cash azure sheet immersion mash ... Irish, garage) The fricatives are so called palato-alveolar, which can be taken to mean that their place of articulation is partly palatal, partly alveolar The tongue is in contact with an area slightly... teachers are always aware of the new trend in teaching methods and aware of the importance of the communicative approach when teaching English to their students in general and pronunciation in particular,... learning results of more than 120 students In addition, teaching materials are not always available; so many teachers have to buy textbooks and use them as their main material Although the teachers