(Luận văn thạc sĩ) difficulties encountered by second year students at thai nguyen university of agriculture and forestry in producing some english consonants

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ THU HƯƠNG DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY IN PRODUCING SOME ENGLISH CONSONANTS Những khó khăn việc phát âm số phụ âm Tiếng Anh sinh viên năm thứ hai trường Đại học Nông Lâm , Thái Nguyên M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 60 22 15 HA NOI - 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ THU HƯƠNG DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY IN PRODUCING SOME ENGLISH CONSONANTS Những khó khăn việc phát âm số phụ âm Tiếng Anh sinh viên năm thứ hai trường Đại học Nông Lâm , Thái Nguyên M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 60 22 15 SUPERVISOR: : Assoc Prof Dr VÕ ĐẠI QUANG HA NOI - 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration ……………………………………………………………… page i Acknowledgements……………………………………………………… ii Abstract ………………………………………………………………… iii Table of contents ……………………………………………………… iv List of abbreviations and figures……………………………………… vii List of tables…………………………………………………………… vii List of speech organs…………………………………………………… viii PART ONE: INTRODUCTION………………………………… I Rationale…………………………………………………………… II Aims of the study…………………………………… III Research questions………………………………………………… IV The scope of the study……………………………………………… V Design of the study………………………………………… PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW………………………… 1.1 Theoretical Background…………………………………………… 2.1.1 What is pronunciation………………………………………… 2.1.2 The role of pronunciation in language teaching……………… 1.2 Factors affecting pronunciation in language learning…………… 2.2.1 The native language…………………………………………… 2.2.2 The learners’ background……………………………………… 2.2.3 Pronunciation ability…………………………………………… 2.2.4 Motivation to learning English………………………………… 2.2.5 Teaching and learning environment 1.3.Phonological characteristics and articulation of the sounds /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/…………………………………………………………… 1.3.1 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the consonant /θ/ 10 1.3.2 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the consonant /ð/ 11 1.3.3 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the consonant /ʃ/ 12 1.3.4 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the consonant /ʒ/ 13 1.3.5 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the consonant /tʃ/ 13 1.3.6 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the consonant /dʒ/ 14 1.4 Previous works……………………………………………………… 15 1.5 Sub- conclusion……………………………………………………… 16 CHAPTER TWO: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY…………… 18 2.1 Research method…………………………………………………… 18 2.2 Research context…………………………………………………… 19 3.2.1 Description of in – service training English courses at TUAF… 19 3.2.2 Description of in – service students at TUAF……… 20 2.3 Research design……………………………………… 21 3.3.1 Sample and sampling…………………………………………… 21 3.3.2 Research Instruments…………………………………………… 22 3.3.3 Data collection…………………………………………………… 23 3.3.4 Data analysis…………………………………………………… 23 2.4 Sub- conclusion……………………………………………………… 24 CHAPTER THREE: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION……………… 25 3.1 Difficulties due to subjective causes……………………………… 25 3.1.1 Low pronunciation ability……………………………………… 25 3.1.2 Passive way of learning………………………………………… 27 3.1.3 Low motivation to language learning English…………………… 28 3.2 Difficulties due to objective causes………………………………… 30 3.2.1 Mother tongue’s influence……………………………………… 30 3.2.2 Poor learning background………………………… 30 3.2.3 Articulatory features of the consonants under research 31 3.2.4 Teaching and learning environment efficiency…………………… 31 3.2.5 Simple techniques used by the teacher…………………………… 32 PART THREE: CONCLUSIONS…………………………………… 34 I Summary of major points presented………………… 34 II Concluding marks…………………………………………………… 35 III Limitations of the study………………………………… 38 IV Suggestions for further study……………………………………… 38 References………………………………………………………………… 40 Appendices………………………………………………………………… I LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS TUAF: Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry No of Students: Number of Students EFL: English as a Foreign Language LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Diagram of the vocal organ Figure 2: English consonants Figure 3: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /θ/ Figure 4: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /ð/ Figure 5: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /ʃ/ Figure 6: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /ʒ/ Figure 7: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /tʃ/ Figure 8: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /dʒ/ LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Students’ opinions on the causes of difficulties in producing these consonant sounds /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ Table 2: Students’ mistakes in producing English consonant sounds /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ Table 3: Students’ methods to improve their pronunciation Table 4: Students’ reasons for learning English Table 5: Students’ opinions on pronunciation Table 6: Teachers’ methods on teaching pronunciation Figure 1: Diagram of the vocal organ PART ONE: INTRODUCTION I Rationale of the study English has been playing its significant role in Vietnam since 1986 due to the “Open Policy‟ of Vietnamese government Many foreigners from English language backgrounds came to Vietnam for their investments and traveling This has created the movement of learning English among people from rural to urban areas in Vietnam Currently, English has been a compulsory subject at all levels in education except in lower primary school in rural areas in Vietnam Although communicative language teaching method has been employed instead of the Grammar Translation method with the hope that Vietnamese students will have better speaking skill, they are still poor in oral communication As commented by a native – English speaker (Ha, http://js.vnu.edu.vn) “Many Vietnamese speakers can speak English, but only a few have intelligible English pronunciation so that they can be understood easily in direct communication with foreigners” One of the main reasons leading to poor pronunciation of Vietnamese learners of English is the difficulties in producing the English sounds that are unfamiliar with their native language, Vietnamese, such as θ// ð/ or consonants occurring at the final position of the word such as /z/, /ʃ/; /ʒ/, /tʃ/, etc; consonant clusters; vowels; and some English features not existing in their first language such as syllable stress and connected speech (Honey, 2001; Tran, 2002; Zielinski, 2006, Yates, 2002) Most of the learners of English agree that the ability to express themselves freely in communication is of great importance for their future career, especially in modern societies where contacting with foreigners often occurs However, there still exist many difficulties in learning and teaching English in Vietnam in general and at Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry (TUAF) in particular Many Vietnamese learners can write and read English quite well but they cannot speak it correctly and fluently in real-life situations, which makes the listeners misunderstand, even results in communication breakdown Surely, there are many reasons for this reality After teaching in some courses at TUAF for years, I have recognized some big obstacles which prevent English language teachers and learners in Vietnam from reaching their aims These obstacles are unprofessional environment, students‟ low level of English language proficiency, low students‟ pronunciation ability and so on Unfortunately, this is not only the situation at my university but also the case for many other colleges and universities in Vietnam My desire is to conduct a research in order to find out the difficulties encountered by second year students of English at TUAF in producing the English consonant sounds: /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ as well as to explore the causes of the difficulty and some proposal approaches to improve teaching and learning some English consonant sounds at TUAF and then help my students dealing with the pronunciation‟s difficulties II Objectives of the study With the necessity of pronunciation teaching and learning above and the reality of the difficulties in producing some English consonant sounds, the objectives of the research presented here are as follows: To identify difficulties in producing some English consonant sounds /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ by second year in - service English major students at TUAF (Academic Year 20092010) To explore the causes of these difficulties To provide some possible solutions to the identified problems It is hoped that this study makes a contribution in teaching pronunciation, especially the consonant sounds /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ to the best results in courses at TUAF in particular and to those who are in favor of improving the student‟s pronunciation and the result of the study is considered to be useful for students of English to identify their difficulties in producing these English consonant sounds and to self – improve their pronunciation III Research questions Due to limited time and knowledge, it is impossible to cover all difficulties which the students may face in their using English Hence this study mainly focused on the questions that have been raised: What are the difficulties encountered by second year students of English at TUAF in producing these English consonant sounds: /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ ? What are the causes of the difficulties? What are the possible solutions to the difficulties? IV The scope of the study In an overview of the English sound system, its alphabet is based on Latin which contains twenty six letters: twenty- four consonants; twelve vowels; eight diphthongs and a total of 44 phonemes (Sousa, 2005, p 37) It should be noted that other authorities vary slightly from this, but the number is between 43 and 45 phonemes However, Vietnamese learners not have difficulty in pronouncing all the English sounds but some of them only in both consonants and vowels With the limitation of the type of the thesis, the researcher does not have the desire for finding out all the sounds causing problems for the author‟s students but articulatory and acoustic features of some typical consonant ones like /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ Also, due to the researcher‟s limited ability, time constraints and narrowscaled study, this study only involves in finding out errors and mistakes commonly committed by second-year students of English at TUAF in producing these consonants of a small number of TUAF-English major students in their second academic year VI Design of the study The thesis consists of five chapters The first chapter is an introduction to the thesis The review of related literature, the role of pronunciation in language teaching, factors affecting pronunciation learning, phonological characteristics and articulation of the sounds /θ/,/ð/,/ʃ/,/ʒ/,/tʃ/, /dʒ/ are presented in the second chapter The third chapter is about methodology used for the research study The findings and discussion of relevant difficulties in pronunciation teaching and learning viewed from subjective and objective causes are presented in the fourth chapter The final chapter is the conclusion of the study, which discusses the overview that can be drawn from the study, voices some concluding marks from objectives given in the first chapter with recommendations for teachers and students to overcome the obstacles and improve the quality of their teaching and learning pronunciation in general and consonant sounds in particular In addition to this, moreover, the limitations of the thesis and suggestions for further study are also pointed out PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Theoretical Background 1.1.1 What is pronunciation? The notion of “pronunciation” has been defined in different ways by many writers Ur (1996) affirm that “The concept of “pronunciation” may be said to conduce the sounds of the language or phonology; stress and rhythm; intonation; combination of sounds; linkage of sounds” Dalton, (1994:3) stated pronunciation can be defined “as the production of significant sound in two senses First, sound is significant because it is used as part of a code of a particular language In this sense we can talk about pronunciation as the production and reception of sounds of speech Second, sound is significant because it is used to achieve meaning in context of use Here the code combines with other factors to make communication possible In this sense we can talk about pronunciation with reference to acts of speaking” In Oxford Advanced Learner‟s dictionary of current English (1995), “pronunciation” is defined “the way in which a word is pronounced” and the pronunciation of a word is represented through alphabetic spelling In this paper, the author has no intention of analyzing all definitions of pronunciation but only gives some simple definitions above that are close to the thesis 1.1.2 The role of pronunciation in language teaching Nowadays pronunciation tends to be de-emphasized in language courses Advocates of modern comprehension based or communicatively oriented language curricula generally take the view that pronunciation should not be taught explicitly but should rather be allowed to develop naturally as a by – product of attempts by students to communicate However, there has been little systematic research to discover if certain teaching practices or condition of training can have positive effects on pronunciation Hence, we have no firm basis for asserting categorically that pronunciation is not teachable or that is not worth spending time on pronunciation training in a language course New ways of teaching pronunciation are still developed and tested, then there still a need for careful experimentation to determination and effectiveness of methods From the fact and the data, teaching and learning environment at this university exists many problems which are unfavorable for learning a foreign language, particularly for learning pronunciation Although the learners are majored at English, they still attend large – sized classes with about 50 students In such big classes, teachers have not got enough time to take care of individuals Moreover, they have too few chances to communicate with native speakers outside the class even in the classroom In addition to that, it is unlucky for them that they communicate with the speakers of English only by radio However, listening to the radio occupies with the small rate during their learning process In terms of learning materials, students depend on only textbooks They can hardly find pronunciation references in the library or bookstores It can be said that teachers play a very important role in the teaching and learning process As a teacher of English, after eight years‟ experience in teaching and cooporating with my colleagues, I myself noticed that teaching pronunciation has been paid very little attention to by most of the teachers since they themselves find it difficult to teach because of their poor expertise This is partly consolidated by a respondent‟s ideas that “ My teacher rarely makes a model of articulating the sounds She only supplies with the theory about it” Another respondent added that “In pronunciation lesson, I am taught a lot about some consonant sounds such as /z,/ /ʒ/, /dʒ/ but I can not distinguish the difference among them in particular words” 3.2.5 Inappropriate techniques used by teachers Below is the table of teachers‟ methods on teaching pronunciation As can be seen from this table ,78% of the students from the statistic data described their teacher‟s method on teaching pronunciation was listening and imitating and 82% of them emphasized on teacher‟s reading aloud method In my own opinion, this method is not an effective way for students to acquire internal phonetic knowledge The learners only worked mechanically as the way they heard and then it was only limited time knowledge One reason making Vietnamese learners difficult in correct pronunciation is as an student respondent gave comment “I have never communicated with the native speakers, and I had few opportunities to speak to my classmates in English because my teachers only sometimes asked us to speak aloud, they rarely correct pronunciation mistakes but mostly focus on correcting our grammar mistakes” Table 6: Teachers’ methods on teaching pronunciation (Tick more than one options) Question 8.Which Options following Listen and imitate in chorus No of Percentage students (%) 78 78 methods your teacher Using handouts in practising 11 11 9 words? (Tick more than Reading aloud individually 82 82 one option) Recording pronunciation 0 Others 12 12 apply to help pronunciation you pronunciation English Tongue twister PART THREE: CONCLUSIONS I Summary of major points presented It can be said that this study is a quite useful material to those who are interested in the language teaching especially in pronunciation teaching The thesis consists of five chapters In the introduction chapter, all the information about the reason to choose this study, three main objectives of the study, the research questions and the structures is pointed out The second chapter, literature review, provides us an overview of the theoretical background on which this study based on It includes the role of pronunciation in language teaching, factors affecting pronunciation learning such as the native language, the learner background, pronunciation ability, motivation to learning English, teaching and learning environment and techniques used by the teachers as well as phonological characteristics and articulation of the sounds /θ/,/ð/,/ʃ/,/ʒ/,/tʃ/./dʒ/ In addition to the above matters, a summary of previous works related to the given issue was also presented The third chapter is about methodology used for the research study The qualitative and quantitative methods will be used as the main method of the study to fulfill the objectives of the study, in which tape recording, a short listening test on pronunciation, information collection and analysis as well as questionnaire to collect data are used The author also used the real teaching and learning process in the classroom, and results of a short listening test on pronunciation for more information and detailed analysis After that the results obtained from questionnaires, tape recording and the students‟ results would be discussed in the findings The findings and discussion of relevant difficulties in pronunciation teaching and learning viewed from subjective and objective causes were presented in the fourth chapter This chapter deals with the detailed analysis of the data gathered from the questionnaire, which relevant to satisfy / justify the problem in the first chapter of this study scientifically It also describes the data treatments that were used The gathered data are from the responses given by the 100 second year in service English major students at Center for Foreign Languages of TUAF in Academic Year 2009-2010, through the use of questionnaires, and 30 students of 100 second year in service English major students above through the data and marks from tape recordings and listening tests implemented The final chapter is the conclusion of the study, which discusses the overview that can be drawn from the study, voices some concluding marks from objectives given in the first chapter with recommendations for teachers and students to overcome the obstacles and improve the quality of their teaching and learning pronunciation in general and consonant sounds in particular In addition to this, moreover, the limitations of the thesis and suggestions for further study are also pointed out II Concluding marks to given objectives The research are carried out basing on three objectives: Objective To identify difficulties in producing some English consonant sounds /θ/, /ð/, / ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ by second year in - service English major students at TUAF (Academic Year 2009-2010) II.1 Concluding marks to objective According to survey data, the seven difficulties are identified as follows, - Low pronunciation ability, passive ways of learning, and low motivation to English language learning (which are called difficulties due to subjective causes) - Mother tongue‟s influence/ interference, poor learning background, articulation features of the consonants under research, teaching and learning environment inefficiency, inappropriate techniques used by teachers (which are called difficulties due to objective causes) Objective To explore the causes of the difficulties II.2 Concluding marks to objective Along with identifying difficulties, it is more important and indispensable to explore causes leading to difficulties in producing some English consonant sounds /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ by second year in – service English major students at TUAF School Year 2009-2010 Among the difficulties due to subjective causes, it is evident and indeed interesting to find that the majority of respondents have difficulties in pronouncing these sounds (92 % from table in combination with the information synthesized from table 2) Besides, it is likely to affirm that passive ways of learning is a typical characteristic of most of the Vietnamese learners learning a foreign language and the case is the same to the participants in the thesis In addition to that, almost of the respondents have extrinsic motivation For example, they learned English because they regarded it as an international language (85 %), they selected it for their parents and / or relatives‟ advice or no other choice Whereas, few respondents are really keen on English (only 9% appreciated the importance of English pronunciation) This answers the question why these participants have low motivation to language learning English, particularly English pronunciation For objective ones, mother tongue is considered as the main obstacle However, the others also contribute to these difficulties  Mother tongue’s influence/ interference: Many sounds seem to be same between two language systems But, in fact, the articulation of these sounds is totally different, that is, the difference between /θ/ in English and /th/ in Vietnamese A respondent‟s point of view about this matter is “In pronunciation lesson, my teacher of English helped students to distinguish between /θ/ in English and /th/ in Vietnamese by modeling these sounds through their different articulation, I noticed that matter but I still mispronounce these two sounds.”  Poor learning background: At secondary schools,English lessons were emphasized on accuracy of linguistics forms and nearly neglected the role of pronunciation As a result, not only teachers but also learners paid little attention to it  Articulatory features of the consonants under research: Due to the interference of the first language, Vietnamese learners are not familiar with pronouncing the final consonants Therefore, most Vietnamese learners often make errors with final consonant clusters The level of making errors reduces from medial to initial consonant position  Teaching and learning environment inefficiency: According to the fact and the data, teaching and learning environment directly affects on the result of the teaching and learning process The factors affected by the environment are as follow the teacher‟s method, the large – sized classes, few opportunities to communicate with the speakers of English and native speakers, poor facilities and simple materials  Inappropriate techniques used by teachers: Teachers try to apply some other methods However, these methods are not effective ones in teaching pronunciation because learners doesn‟t acquire internal phonetic knowledge Objective To provide some possible solutions to the identified problems II.3 Concluding marks to objective Based on the findings and conclusions drawn, the following are hereby recommended: Teachers of English language may be well-trained to adapt to the demands of the learners; hence it is recommended that education officials should give them more seminar, workshops that will keep them well informed of innovations in language teaching In English classes, relevant communicative activities, that is audia recorded, role-play, discussion, pair work and group work can be applied to develop students‟ pronunciation It is essential for teachers to be flexible, innovative and creative in organizing the class and guiding learners during the lessons by using individual, pair, group and whole class work By doing that, teachers will make the classroom more pleasant, relaxed and dynamic Furthermore, teachers had better modify the criteria in pronunciation practice to give students confidence and change their techniques, such as using hands and arms to conduct choral pronunciation practice or trying to use visual aids, avoiding explaining theory all the time but making full use of demonstrations It is necessary that teachers have a grasp of articulatory phonetics, a well-trained ear, knowledge of the phonology of both the mother tongue and the target language Teachers will predict the influence of mother tongue to the target language by noticing and analyzing actual problems as they occur and then remedying the situation EFL teachers should be able to analyze pronunciation or perception difficulties, bearing in mind the phonological systems of English and the learner's native language, and give students immediate practical assistance Students should be taught from the individual sounds basically to minimal pairs, to sentences, to a text and/or dialogue (which more closely resembles real-life natural situations) Students need to focus attention to all the sounds, with particular attention on the characteristics associated with them; may be position of the tongue or shape of lips Students need to contrast these specifics with the positions associated with the misplaced sound Major students of English should be attended in small size or medium size classes, in which teaching and learning a foreign language is appropriate It will be better if the authorities give students opportunities to communicate and study with speakers of English In deed, teachers and students expect better facilities and materials from the university III Limitations of the study Though the researcher has made efforts toward carrying out this study, shortcomings are unavoidable First and foremost, not all the students at TUAF involved in the survey questionnaires, to some extent; the results may not be generalized for all students Next, although this study is conducted as a qualitative and quantitative study, only questionnaires for students but not teachers and tape recording with marks measured from the listening test but without as the research instruments for data collection, the researcher should combine interviews both teachers and students for data collection in order to make the obtained results more reliable and valid In spite of the unavoidable limitation, the researcher believes that this study will be beneficial to the teaching of pronunciation and to English major students at Center for Languages of TUAF and this may lead to students‟ speaking skill progress IV Suggestions for further study This study only concentrates on identifying relevant difficulties in producing English consonant sounds like /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ to in service English majors at TUAF and exploring the causes leading to the difficulties, and then making some recommendations for teachers and students to improve teaching and learning these sounds Although this thesis has merely focused on a very small aspect of phonetic and phonology, it is the first important step for other researches to study as follows: - A deeper and more specific study on the consonant positions in word - A study on stress and intonation for students which help them to obtain a more successful communication REFERENCES English Baker, A & Goldstein, S.(1990), Pronunciation Pairs- An Introductory Course for Students of English, Cambridge U.P Ball, M.J & Rahilly,J (1999), Phonetics – The science of speech, London: Arnold 3.Brown, H.D (1994), Teaching by principles, an interactive approach to language pedagogy San Francisco: Longman 4.Burns, A (1999), Quantitative and Qualitative Collaborative Action Research for English Language Teachers Cambridge University Press 5.Crowrther J (1995), Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary of current English, Oxford University Press Dalton,D.F.(1997), Some techniques for teaching pronunciation, the Internet TESL Journal, Vol.3,No1.Retrieved from the World Wild Web Gerald Kelly (2000), How to teach Pronunciation, Cambridge University Press Hancock, M., (2003) English Pronunciation in Use, Cambridge University Press Hartshorn, K.J Pronunciation Matters: English Consonant Production by AUAP Students, Central Washington University 10 Honey, P.J.( 2001) Vietnamese speakers in Swan, M & Smith, B (edit) Learner English: A teacher’s guide to interference and other problems, Cambridge University Press 11 Lado (1957), Linguistics across cultures : applied linguistics for language teachers, University of Michigan Press 12 Larsen Freeman, D.(1986), Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching, Oxford University Press McDonough, J & S (1997), Research methods for English language teachers, London: Arnold 13.Nunan, D (1991), Language Teaching Methodology: a textbook for Teachers, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 14.O‟Connor,J.D.(1991), Better English Pronunciation, Cambridge University Press 15 Roach, P., (1990) English Phonetics and Phonology – A practical course, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 16.Sandberg (1994 – retrieved from tecfa.unige.ch/ /node4.html) 17.Sato, C (1984) Phonologycal processes in second language acquisition: Another look at interlanguage syllable structure in phonology : the acquisition of a second language sound system Ioup, G & Weinberger, S.(1987) Interlanguage Cambridge, MA : Newbury House Publishers 18 Tsui, A (1996), Reticence and anxiety in second language learning In Bailey, K.M & Nunan, D.(eds.): Voices from the Language Classroom Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 19.Ur, P (1996) A course in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 20.Wisker G., (2001) The Postgraduate Research Handbook, Palgrave 21.Yates, L (2002) Fact sheet- Teaching pronunciation: Approaches and activities Retrieved 29 March 2009 from http://www.nceltr.mq.edu.au/pdamep/factsheets/03Pronunciation.pdf 22 Zielinski, B (2006) The intelligibility cocktail: An interaction between speaker and listener ingredients Prospect, 26 (1), 22-45 Vietnamese 23 Nguyen Thi Quynh Hoa (2007), Vietnamese learners’ difficulties when pronouncing some English sounds /æ//θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, Master thesis, Hai Phong 24 Dang Ngoc Huong, Nguyen T Van Dong, Pham Minh Phuong (2000), English pronunciation, Hanoi Open University 25 Ha Cam Tam Common pronunciation problems of Vietnamese learners of English Retrieved 20 March 2009 from http://js.vnu.edu.vn/Ngoaingu_1/Bai3.pdf 26 Nguyen Thi Thu Thao (2007), Difficulties for Vietnamese when pronouncing English : Final Consonants, APPENDICES Appendix 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE This questionnaire is conducted with a view to finding out relevant difficulties in producing English consonants /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ by the second year in service English major students at TUAF Your completion of this questionnaire is highly appreciated The data collected are used in the research paper only, not for any other purposes Thank you for your cooperation! * Background information - Your gender:  Male  Female - Your age: …………………………………………………………………………… - Your name: ………………………………………………………………………… Please circle the option(s) appropriate to you How long have you learnt English? A 1-3 years B 3-5 years C 5-7 years D More than years Why you attend this English course? Because … (Tick more than one option) A I want to have a good and stable job D English is an international language B I am interested in English or enjoy learning English games, reading books, magazines, newspapers…in English E.It is for the purpose of entertainment such as listening to music, playing E Your own opinion………………………………………………………… 3.How important is pronunciation to you? A.Very important B Rather important C Little important D Not important at all Do you usually pronounce the English words at home without your teacher‟s requirement? A.Yes B.No Do you meet any difficulties in pronouncing English consonants? A.Yes B.No - If yes, you have trouble with these sounds /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/? A.Yes B.No What are the causes of difficulties that you have encountered in producing these consonant sounds /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/?(Tick more than one option) A I not know how to pronounce these sounds B I can only pronounce the sounds as the way I hear C I not pay much attention to pronouncing, especially to the final sounds/ clusters D I am actually confused when producing these sounds E I only practice pronunciation in class F I think I can not pronounce these words accurately because I always pronounce them as Vietnamese sounds though I know they are all not the same as my Vietnamese G.I think the English and Vietnamese phonetic sound system are the same H I sometimes substitute this sound to that sound I When learning at secondary school, my teacher rarely asked us to pronounce them but only to the grammar and vocabulary exercises K.Your own opinion…………… Which following methods you use to improve your pronunciation? (Tick more than one option) A listen to the tape, CD player or radio and then imitate B record and listen to your pronunciation C pronounce the sounds and ask the others for correcting D Your own methods (please specify)…… Which following methods your teacher apply to help you pronunciation English words? (Tick more than one option) A listen and imitate in chorus B Using handouts in practising pronunciation C tongue twister D reading aloud E recording pronunciation F Other………… Thank you very much for your help! Appendix 2: EXERCISES FOR TAPE RECORDING This activity is tape recorded with a hope to check your accuracy and fluency in producing English consonants /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ in words and sentences in context Your cooperation on this tape recording is highly appreciated The data collected are used in the research paper only, not for any other purposes Thank you for your cooperation! * Background information - Your gender:  Male  Female - Your age: …………………………………………………………………………… - Your name: ………………………………………………………………………… I Read aloud these following words /θ/ Thick thanks author birthday tenth worth think anything 2./ð/ the feather together this the other those rather scythe another 3./ʃ/ she shell leash finish flash fisher sure shirts /ʒ/ television beige pleasure garage occasion seizure unusual decision 5./tʃ/ cheap catch church question century much children watch /dʒ/ age language dangerous job educate general knowledge village II Read the following conversations 1.Mary: What a beautiful picture! Where did you buy it? John: Let me see Just a moment Ah, in Paris 2.Tom: Have you made your decision? Frank: Sorry I‟m not sure It‟s so expensive 3.Lan: Where are your father and your mother? Jane: They „ve been to a birthday party Lan : It‟s a pleasure to talk to them Jane: Thank you I think so They are funny Thank you very much for your help! Appendix 3: LISTENING TEST ON PRONUNCIATION Time allowance: 10 minutes This test is designed with a hope to measure the accuracy and fluency in producing English consonants /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ Your cooperation on this test is highly appreciated The data collected are used in the research paper only, not for any other purposes Thank you for your cooperation! * Background information - Your gender:  Male  Female - Your age: …………………………………………………………………………… - Your name: ………………………………………………………………………… Question 1.Listen to these following words and then write down them with their transcription Eg Century /‟sentʃəri/ 1…………………………………………7…………………………………………… 2…………………………………………8………………………………………… 3…………………………………………9…………………………………………… 4…………………………………………10………………………………………… 5…………………………………………11………………………………………… 6…………………………………………12………………………………………… Question Listen to these sentences Circle the word in parentheses that you hear The fans (cheered / jeered) when he turned up I don‟t like (chips / ships) Did you (sell / shell) all the nuts? Can you hear lesion or legion? This (bat / bath) is too small Do you want these (free / three) books? Is it (closing / clothing)? (Dave / They‟ve) left Thank you very much for your help! Appendix 4: KEY FOR LISTENING TEST ON PRONUNCIATION Question Question method cheered brother chips issue shell vision legion picture bat enjoy three gather closing asia Dave choose 10 thief 11 machine 12 joking ... only involves in finding out errors and mistakes commonly committed by second- year students of English at TUAF in producing these consonants of a small number of TUAF -English major students in. .. contacting with foreigners often occurs However, there still exist many difficulties in learning and teaching English in Vietnam in general and at Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry. ..VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ THU HƯƠNG DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT THAI NGUYEN