Teaching the fricatives to english non majored students at university of transport in ho chi minh city prolems and solutions

HO CHI MINH CITY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES  NGUYỄN TẤN LỘC TEACHING THE FRICATIVE TO ENGLISH NON-MAJORED STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY OF TRANSPORT IN HO CHI MINH CITY: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL SUPERVISOR TÔ MINH THANH, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer HO CHI MINH CITY – June 2009 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORITY I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled TEACHING THE FRICATIVE TO ENGLISH NON-MAJORED STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY OF TRANSPORT IN HO CHI MINH CITY: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS in terms of the Statements of Requirements for Theses in Master’s Programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee This thesis has not previously been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution Ho Chi Minh City, June 2009 Nguyễn Tấn Lộc ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, NGUYEN TAN LOC, being the candidate for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL, accept the requirements of the university relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the University Library I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the University Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan and reproduction for theses Ho Chi Minh City, June 2009 NGUYỄN TẤN LỘC iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Statement of authority i Retention and use of the thesis ii Table of contents iii List of figures viii List of tables x List of abbreviations xi Acknowledgements xii Abstract xiii INTRODUCTION 0.1 Background and rationale 0.2 Aims of the study 0.3 Significance of the study 0.4 Design of the study 0.5 Limitation 0.6 Delimitation Chapter BACKGROUND INFORMATION 1.1 Curriculum and course books 1.2 Assessment 1.3 Teachers 1.4 Students 1.5 Summary 10 iv Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW 11 2.1 Speech sounds 11 2.2 Classification of consonants 12 2.2.1 Places of articulation .13 2.2.2 Manners of articulation 14 2.2.3 Voicing 17 2.3 English dental fricatives /T/ and /D/ 17 2.4 Consonant clusters 19 2.4.1 Definition 19 2.4.2 Common consonant clusters consisting of /T/ or /D/ 19 2.5 Mother tongue’s interference on second language acquisition 21 2.5.1 Theoretical background 21 2.5.2 Common Vietnamese sounds that may interfere with the students’ acquisition of the dental fricatives /T/ and /D/ 23 2.6 Possibilities of pronunciation training 26 2.7 Principles in pronunciation teaching 26 2.8 Techniques in pronunciation teaching 28 2.9 Previous studies related to teaching the fricatives /T/ and /D/ 32 2.10 Summary 32 Chapter METHODOLOGY 34 3.1 Research questions 34 3.2 Materials and instruments 35 3.3 Subjects 38 3.4 Procedures of data collection 38 3.4.1 Getting started 38 v 3.4.2 Experimental teaching 39 3.4.3 Testing the students’ achievement 39 3.4.4 Data collection 40 3.4.5 Data analysis 40 3.5 Summary 40 Chapter DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 41 4.1 Results from the students’ survey questionnaire 41 4.2 Results from the teachers’ survey questionnaire 48 4.3 Results from the diagnostic test (the Pre-test) 57 4.3.1 Results from Part A (Sound recognition) 57 4.3.2 Results from Part B (Sound production) 58 4.3.2.1 Omission of the final /T/ or /D/ 58 4.3.2.2 Mispronunciation of the voiceless /T/ 58 4.3.2.3 Mispronunciation of the voiced /D/ 59 4.3.2.4 Mispronunciation of /T/ and /D/ 59 4.3.2.5 Problems in pronouncing consonant clusters containing /T/ or /D/ 59 4.4 Results from the achievement test (the Post-test) 60 4.4.1 Results from Part A (Sound recognition) 60 4.4.2 Results from Part B (Sound production) 61 4.5 Testing the two hypotheses 62 4.4.1 Testing the first hypothesis 62 4.4.2 Testing the second hypothesis 63 4.6 Summary 66 vi Chapter SUGGESTED TEACHING STRATEGIES 67 5.1 Getting students to employ correct articulators 67 5.2 Distinguishing the voiceless /T/ from the voiced /D/ 68 5.3 Reminding the students of the final /T/ and /D/ 73 5.4 Distinguishing respectively /T/ from /t/ and /D/ from /d/ 74 5.5 Distinguishing respectively /T/ from /s/ and /D/ from /z/ 79 5.6 Distinguishing /T/ from /f/ 81 5.7 Teaching /T/ and /D/ in separate sentences 83 5.8 Dealing with consonant clusters including /T/ or /D/ 84 5.9 Using games to arouse students’ interest 87 5.10 Summary 89 CONTRIBUTIONS, TEACHING IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION 90 Contributions 90 Teaching implications 91 Teaching implications 92 APPENDICES 94 Appendix 1: Answer keys to the Bingo sheet 94 Appendix 2: Answer keys to the sample chant 94 Appendix 3: Answer keys to the cloze-texts 94 Appendix 4: Students’ questionnaire (in Vietnamese) 96 Appendix 5: Students’ questionnaire (in English) 98 Appendix 6: Teachers’ questionnaire (in Vietnamese) 100 Appendix 7: Teachers’ questionnaire (in English) 102 vii Appendix 8: Test 104 Appendix 9: Test answer keys 106 Appendix 10: Test CD 108 BIBLIOGRAPHY 109 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: The vocal organs Figure 4.1: Students’ viewpoint of the importance of English pronunciation Figure 4.2: Students’ self-evaluation of their interest in pronunciation classes Figure 4.3: Students’ choices of their favorite activity in pronunciation classes Figure 4.4: Students’ choices of the most activating and effective activity in pronunciation classes Figure 4.5: Students’ efforts in trying to pronounce /T/ and /D/ correctly Figure 4.6: Students’ efforts in trying to pronounce English consonant clusters containing /T/ or /D/ correctly Figure 4.7: Students’ self-evaluation of their pronunciation progress of the fricatives /T/ and /D/ Figure 4.8: Teachers’ evaluation of how important pronunciation teaching is Figure 4.9: Teachers’ observation of their students’ interest in pronunciation classes Figure 4.10: Teachers’ opinion about their students’ favorite activity in pronunciation classes Figure 4.11: Teachers’ choices of the most activating and effective activity in pronunciation classes Figure 4.12: Teachers’ observation of their students’ problems in pronouncing /T/ and /D/ Figure 4.13: Teachers’ observation of their students’ problems in pronouncing English consonant clusters containing /T/ or /D/ Figure 4.14: Teachers’ evaluation of their students’ progress in producing /T/ and /D/ Figure 4.15: Teachers’ help to better their students’ pronunciation of /T/ and /D/ Figure 4.16: Teachers’ help to better their students’ pronunciation of consonant clusters containing /T/ or /D/ Figure 4.17: Students’ problems of whatever involved in pronouncing /T/ and /D/ (A comparison between the diagnostic test and the achievement test) Figure 4.18: Frequency distribution of students’ scores from the two tests Figure 5.1: Articulators involved in producing /T/ and /D/ (The tongue tip and the upper front teeth) ix Figure 5.2: The difference between the production of /T/ and /D/ Figure 5.3: Bingo sheet for individual work Figure 5.4: “The Family Tree” for guided practice Figure 5.5: Tongue position for /T/ and /D/ Figure 5.6: Tongue position for /t/ and /d/ Figure 5.7: Tongue position for /T/ and /D/ Figure 5.8: Tongue position for /s/ and /z/ Figure 5.9: Tongue position for /T/ Figure 5.10: Tongue position for /f/ Figure 5.11: Sample pictures for a listening activity Figure 5.12: Sample pictures for games in pronunciation classes 97 Anh/Chị làm để khắc phục khó khăn trên, phát âm câu, cụm từ từ tiếng Anh có chứa /T/ /D/? Anh/Chị có gặp khó khăn việc luyện tập cụm phụ âm từ tiếng Anh chứa /T/ /D/ throne hay clothed khơng?  Có  Không (Xin bỏ qua câu 9.) Xin cho biết lý do: Anh/Chị làm để khắc phục khó khăn trên, phát âm từ tiếng Anh có cụm phụ âm chứa /T/ /D/? Theo anh/chị, việc phát âm xác hai phụ âm /T/ /D/ có quan trọng q trình giao tiếp tiếng Anh khơng?  Có  Không Xin cho biết lý do: 10 Sau số luyện tập, khả phát âm câu, cụm từ, từ tiếng Anh có phụ âm cụm phụ âm chứa /T/ /D/ anh/chị cải thiện mức độ nào?  Rất nhiều  Nhiều  Chút  Khơng cải thiện Xin cảm ơn cộng tác, giúp đỡ anh/chị 98 Appendix 5: Students’ questionnaire (in English) Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport English Department QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS Dear students, Please take your time and answer the questions in this questionnaire by putting a tick beside your choice (more than one option is acceptable) or by numbering your choice according to the degree of importance (1, 2, 3, 4, 5…) Your responses to these survey questions provide crucial data and of vital role to the success of my M.A thesis Also, it is hereby guaranteed that all the items in this questionnaire are employed solely for research purposes and kept unknown to the public In your opinion, how does pronunciation practice mean to your learning English?  Very important  Important  Fairly important  Not important at all How you feel taking pronunciation practice classes?  Very interested  Fairly interested  Uninterested  Bored In pronunciation practice classes, which of the following activities you like best? (Please number your choices in descending order, indicating “like most”.)  Practice in discrete sounds  Practice in individual words  Practice in sentences  Others: ………………………………………………………………………… In your opinion, which of the following activities help to make an interesting and effective pronunciation practice class? (Please number your choices in descending order, indicating “most effective”.)  Repeat after the recording or tape  Repeat after the teacher  Play games  Listen to songs When you learn pronunciation, you find it difficult to exactly produce the consonants /T/ as in thank and /D/ as in that?  Yes  No (Leave question unanswered.) Please specify: 99 What have you done to overcome the above-mentioned difficulty in order to pronounce the sentences, phrases, and words that contain the cosonants /T/ or /D/? Do you have any difficulty in pronouncing the English consonant clusters that contain /T/ or /D/ as in throne or clothed?  Yes  No (Leave question unanswered.) Please specify: What have you done to overcome the difficulty in order to pronounce words that contain consonant clusters including /T/ or /D/? In your opinion, is the correct pronunciation of the two consonants /T/ and /D/ important to communication in English?  Yes  No Please specify: 10 After a certain number of pronunciation classes, how much has it been improved your pronunciation of sentences, phrases, and words containing such consonants and consonant clusters that include /T/ or /D/?  Very much  Much  A little  Not improved at all Sincere thanks to your cooporation! 100 Appendix 6: Teachers’ questionnaire (in Vietnamese) Trường Đại học Giao thông Vận tải Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh Bộ mơn Ngoại ngữ PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT (Dành cho giáo viên) Thưa q thầy/cơ, Xin vui lịng trả lời câu hỏi bảng khảo sát sau cách đánh dấu () vào phương án trả lời chọn (có thể có nhiều lựa chọn cho câu hỏi) xếp lựa chọn theo thứ tự ưu tiên (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, …) Đối với câu cần ý kiến cụ thể, xin ghi rõ vào khoảng trống chừa sẵn Câu trả lời thầy/cô liệu quan trọng, có ý nghĩa định thành cơng đề tài nghiên cứu cho luận văn thạc sỹ sử dụng vào mục đích nghiên cứu Không thông tin cá nhân thầy/cô bị tiết lộ Theo thầy/cô, việc dạy phát âm tiếng Anh có vai trị sinh viên Trường Đại học Giao thơng Vận tải nói riêng sinh viên Việt Nam nói chung?  Rất quan trọng  Quan trọng  Khá quan trọng  Không quan trọng Theo quan sát thầy/cô, mức độ hứng thú sinh viên học luyện phát âm đến đâu?  Rất hứng thú  Khá hứng thú  Không hứng thú  Chán Trong dạy luyện phát âm, thầy/cô nhận thấy sinh viên thích hoạt động sau đây? (Xin xếp theo thứ tự giảm dần, 1= thích nhất.)  Luyện riêng âm (practice in discrete sounds)  Luyện âm từ riêng lẻ (practice in individual words)  Luyện âm câu (practice in a sentence)  Hoạt động khác: ………………………………………………………………… Theo thầy/cô, hoạt động sau giúp học luyện phát âm sinh động, mà hiệu quả? (Xin xếp theo thứ tự giảm dần, 1= hiệu nhất.)  Đọc lại theo băng, đĩa  Đọc lại theo thầy/cơ  Chơi trị chơi  Nghe hát Trong q trình dạy phát âm, thầy/cơ có nhận thấy phụ âm /T/ từ thank phụ âm /D/ từ that khó để sinh viên phát âm xác khơng?  Có  Khơng (Xin bỏ qua câu câu 11.) Xin cho biết lý do: 101 Sinh viên thầy/cô làm để khắc phục khó khăn trên, phát âm câu, ngữ đoạn từ tiếng Anh có chứa /T/ /D/? Sinh viên thầy/cơ có gặp khó khăn q trình luyện tập từ tiếng Anh có cụm phụ âm chứa /T/ /D/ (ví dụ throne hay seethed) khơng?  Có  Khơng (Xin bỏ qua câu câu 12.) Xin cho biết lý do: Sinh viên thầy/cơ làm để khắc phục khó khăn trên, phát âm từ tiếng Anh có cụm phụ âm chứa /T/ /D/? Theo thầy/cơ, việc phát âm /T/ /D/ xác có quan trọng trình giao tiếp tiếng Anh sinh viên khơng?  Có  Khơng Xin cho biết lý do: 10 Theo thầy/cô, sau số luyện tập, khả sinh viên phát âm câu, ngữ đoạn, từ tiếng Anh có phụ âm cụm phụ âm chứa /T/ /D/ cải thiện mức độ nào?  Rất nhiều  Nhiều  Chút  Khơng cải thiện 11 Thầy/Cơ làm để giúp sinh viên luyện tập phát âm câu, ngữ đoạn từ tiếng Anh có chứa /T/ /D/? 12 Thầy/Cơ làm để giúp sinh viên luyện tập phát âm từ tiếng Anh có cụm phụ âm chứa /T/ /D/? Xin cảm ơn cộng tác, giúp đỡ nhiệt tình q thầy/cơ 102 Appendix 7: Teachers’ questionnaire (in English) Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport English Department QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS Dear teachers, Please take your time and answer the questions in this questionnaire by putting a tick beside your choice (more than one option is acceptable) or by numbering your choice according to the degree of importance (1, 2, 3, 4, 5…) For questions that require further explanation, please state the reasons for your choices in the dotted blank Your responses to these survey questions provide crucial data and of vital role to the success of my M.A thesis Also, it is hereby guaranteed that all the items in this questionnaire are employed solely for research purposes and kept unknown to the public In your opinion, how important is the teaching of English pronunciation to Vietnamese students in general and those of the University of Transport, in particular?  Very important  Important  Fairly important  Not important at all Through your own observation, how interested are your students in pronunciation practice classes?  Very interested  Fairly interested  Uninterested  Bored In pronunciation practice classes, which of the following activities your students like most? (Please number your choices in descending order, indicating “like most”.)  Practice in discrete sounds  Practice in individual words  Practice in sentences  Others: …………………………………………………………………………… In your opinion, which of the following activities help to enliven your pronunciation practice classes and therefore are effective? (Please number your choices in descending order, indicating “most effective”.)  Repeat after recording or tape  Play games  Repeat after the teacher  Listen to songs When you teach pronunciation, you find out that your students have difficulty producing the consonants /T/ as in thank and /D/ as in that?  Yes  No (Please leave questions and 11 unanswered.) Please specify: 103 What have your students done to overcome the above-mentioned difficulty in order to pronounce the sentences, phrases, and words containing the consonants /T/ or /D/? Do your students have difficulty in practicing English words that include consonant clusters containing /T/ or /D/ as in throne or seethed?  Yes  No (Please leave questions and 12 unanswered.) Please specify: What have your students done to overcome the above-mentioned difficulty in order to pronounce the words that include the consonant clusters containing /T/ or /D/? In your opinion, does the correct pronunciation of the two consonants /T/ and /D/ matter to the students’ communication in English?  Yes  No Please specify: 10 In your opinion, how much has it been improved your students’ ability to pronounce sentences, phrases, and words including such consonants and consonant clusters which contain /T/ or /D/ ?  Very much  Much  A little  Not improved at all 11 What have you done to help your students pronounce sentences, phrases, and words that contain the two consonants /T/ or /D/? 12 What have you done to help your students pronounce sentences, phrases, and words that include consonant clusters containing /T/ or /D/ ? Many thanks to your kind cooporation! 104 Appendix 8: Test University of Transport, HCMC English Department Name: ……………………… Class: ……………………… PRONUNCIATION TEST SCORE: ……/7 = …… Part A: SOUND RECOGNITION I Listen and circle the letter in front of the word you hear: (20 points) a thank b tank a thought b taught a thigh b tie a then b den a they b day a thank b sank a thing b sing a think b sink a thought b fort 10 a thin b fin II Listen and circle the letter in front of the sentence you hear: (8 points) a Look! It’s sick b Look! It’s thick a That’s a thrill b That’s a frill a I need a bath b I need a bat a He is seething b He is seeding 105 Part B: SOUND PRODUCTION I Read the following words aloud: (6 points) thank there method father birth breathe II Read the following phrases aloud: (13 points) ten things through the window bad thief shut the door same path with the book without good health throw these things III Read the following sentences aloud: (23 points) Ethel’s birthday comes this month I didn’t know whether he was your father or your brother There were three thieves arrested on the third of this month There is another path farther ahead They are both enthusiastic about the theatre Don’t play with it The end – Good luck to you all! 106 Appendix 9: Test answer keys University of Transport, HCMC Department of English PRONUNCIATION TEST (ANSWER KEYS) Part A: SOUND RECOGNITION I Listen and circle the letter in front of the word you hear: (20 points) a thank b tank a thought b taught a thigh b tie a then b den a they b day a thank b sank a thing b sing a think b sink a thought b fort 10 a thin b fin II Listen and circle the letter in front of the sentence you hear: (8 points) a Look! It’s sick b Look! It’s thick a That’s a thrill b That’s a frill a I need a bath b I need a bat a He is seething b He is seeding 107 Part B: SOUND PRODUCTION I Read the following words aloud: (6 points) thank there method father birth breathe II Read the following phrases aloud: (13 points) ten things through the window bad thief shut the door same path with the book without good health throw these things III Read the following sentences aloud: (23 points) Ethel’s birthday comes this month I didn’t know whether he was your father or your brother There were three thieves arrested on the third of this month There is another path farther ahead They are both enthusiastic about the theatre Don’t play with it The end! 108 Appendix 10: Test CD 109 BIBLIOGRAPHY IN ENGLISH Avery, P & Ehrlich, S (1995) Teaching American English Pronunciation Oxford: Oxford University Press Baker, A & Goldstein, S (2001) Pronunciation pairs — An introductory course for students of English Ho Chi Minh City: HCMC Publishing House (introduced by Nguyễn Thành Yến) Brown, G & Yule, G (1992) Teaching the Spoken Language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Buchanan, C D (1963) A Programmed Introduction to Linguistics: Phonetics and Phonemics Boston: D C Heath and Company Celce-Murcia, M et al (1996) Teaching Pronunciation Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Cook, A (2000) American Accent Training Second Edition Barron’s Doff, A (1988) Teach English — A training course for teachers Great Britain: Cambridge University Press Finch, G (2000) Linguistics Terms and Concepts London: Macmillan Press Ltd Finegan, E (1994) Language — Its Structure and Use Second Edition Hart court Brace & Company Fromkin, V & Rodman, R (1993) An Introduction to Language Fifth Edition Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc Gilbert, J B (2002) Clear Speech from the Start Ho Chi Minh City: HCMC Publishing House (introduced by Lê Huy Lâm) Hancock, M (2004) English Pronunciation in Use Ho Chi Minh City: HCMC Publishing House (introduced by Lê Huy Lâm) Kelly, G (2000) How to Teach Pronunciation Pearson Education Limited, Longman 110 Lê Duy Tâm (1970) The Pronunciation of English Saigon: Vietnamese-American Association Lujan, B A (2004) The Comprehensive American Accent Guide Lingual Arts, Inc Nguyen Thi Nhu Diep (2007) Pronunciation focus in the new textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” – A case study at a high school in Pleiku city HCM City: M.A thesis at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University — HCM City O’Connor, J D (1986) Better English Pronunciation Second Edition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Pham Thi Hong Minh (2007) Teaching intonation to General English Learners: Some Problems and Recommendations HCM City: M.A thesis at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University — HCM City Richards, J et al (1992) Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics Longman Group UK Limited Richards, J C., Platt, J & Weber, H (1987) Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics London: Longman Publishing Group UK Limited Richards, J C & Rodgers, T S (1986) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching: A Description and Analysis Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Roach, P (1991) English Phonetics and Phonology — A Practical Course Second Edition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Thompson, L C (1967) A Vietnamese Grammar United States of America: University of Washington Press Tran Thu Hang (2004) The leading factors to success for speaking classes of English majors at Binh Duong University HCM City: M.A thesis at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University — HCM City Wolfram, W & Johnson, R (1982) Phonological Analysis — Focus on American English The Centre for Applied Linguistics USA Wooard, G (1999) Lessons with Laughter England: Language Teaching Publication http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronuncwhy.htm., visited on September 11th 2006 at 10:19 a.m 111 http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronuncwhy.htm., visited on March 15th 2007 at 9:28 p.m IN VIETNAMESE Đoàn Thiện Thuật (1976) Ngữ âm tiếng Việt Hà Hội: Nhà xuất Đại học Trung học Chuyên nghiệp ... STATEMENT OF AUTHORITY I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled TEACHING THE FRICATIVE TO ENGLISH NON- MAJORED STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY OF TRANSPORT IN HO CHI MINH CITY: ... related to teaching the fricatives /T/ and /D/ Until now only a few of researches into pronunciation teaching have been done In her thesis, Pham Thi Hong Minh [2007] mainly deals with teaching. .. teaching and learning of English, leading to considerable differences in the things they teach, the methods they employ and the activities they hold in their classes Many teachers believe that teaching