Review of previous studies related to the research- 123docz.net

There have been many researches dealing with the mistakes and difficulties made by learners when pronouncing English sounds.

A.study.on.mistakes.commonly.commited.by.the.10th.grade.students.at.kim.thanh.high.school..hai.duong.in.the.pronunciation.of.english.fricative.and.affricative.consonants.and.some.possible.pedagogical.solutionsA.study.on.mistakes.commonly.commited.by.the.10th.grade.students.at.kim.thanh.high.school..hai.duong.in.the.pronunciation.of.english.fricative.and.affricative.consonants.and.some.possible.pedagogical.solutionsA.study.on.mistakes.commonly.commited.by.the.10th.grade.students.at.kim.thanh.high.school..hai.duong.in.the.pronunciation.of.english.fricative.and.affricative.consonants.and.some.possible.pedagogical.solutionsA.study.on.mistakes.commonly.commited.by.the.10th.grade.students.at.kim.thanh.high.school..hai.duong.in.the.pronunciation.of.english.fricative.and.affricative.consonants.and.some.possible.pedagogical.solutions

Tam( 2005) set up a research question involving the most common pronunciation problems of the students in the English Department of the University of Languages and International Studies. To answer this question, the data collection was carried out through an oral final examination, during the exam, students were requested to talk about a approximately five – minute particular topic. While listening to the students talking, the researcher took notes of the errors involving pronunciation. The sounds most frequently mispronounced by Vietnamese students in Tam‟s study are shown in the following table:

No Sounds Mispronunciation

1. /θ/ /t/

2. /∫/ /z/

3. /s/ /∫/

4. /v/ /f/

5. /ʒ/ /z/,/t∫/, /dʒ/

6. / tʃ/ /ʒ/, /∫/,/z/

7. /dʒ/ /z/,/t/, /t∫/,/ʒ/, /∫/,/z/

Table 2: Sounds mispronounced by Vietnamese students (Tam,2007)

It can be said that some English sounds such as affricative and fricative ones are not common to Vietnamese . This causes a lot of difficulties for Vietnamese learners when making English sounds. A few Vietnamese researchers conducted their studies on typical mistakes and some problems faced by learners. Below are the mistakes which the writer has synthesized from the previous studies.

- Sound pair /f/ -/v/

- /f/ is not a problem sound for most of the students but /v/ may

sometimes cause problems. There is also a tendency to devoice /v/, especially at the ends of words. /v/ was replaced with /f/ since the sound /f/ shares the same place and manner of articulation: labio-dental fricative sounds. The distinction is only on the state of the vocal cords: /v/ is a voiced sound while /f/ is a voiceless sound. For example:

Words Standard

Phonemics transcription

Mistakes

groves serve give

/ɡroʊvz/

/sɜ:v/

/ɡɪv/

 /ɡrufz/

/sɜ:f/ or / sɜ:/

/ɡɪf/

Table 3: Mistakes in producing the sounds /f/ and /v/

- Sound pair /θ/ -/ð /

The problems with /θ/ -/ ð / are many and varied.

- A dentalized [t] occurs when there is insufficient breath support.

Words Standard Phonemics transcription

Mistakes

Thursday Thieves Thunder Worthy

/θɜ:rzdeɪ/

/θi:fz/

/θʌndər/

/wɜ: ðɪ/

/ t ɜ:rzdeɪ/

/ ti:fz/

/tʌndər/

/wɜ:tɪ/

Table 4.1: Mistakes in producing the sounds/θ/ -/ð /

- Since /ð/ and /d/ share the one identical characteristic, that is, voiced;

/ð/ as a voiced dental fricative was being replaced with /d/. In term of /θ/, with insufficient airflow, a dentalized /d/ will occur.

Words Standard Phonemics transcription

Mistakes

Although

„ether‟

/ɒ:lðoʊ/

/ɜ:θər/

/ɒ:ldoʊ/

/ɜ:dər/

Table 4.2: Mistakes in producing the sounds/θ/ -/ð / (2)

- The third deviation happened when the students replaced /θ/ with /ð/.

“In mispronouncing /θ/ as /ð/, the students altered one important feature of the sound /θ/, that is, the state of the vocal cords. Generally, the sound of /θ/ is produced in the situation where the vocal cords are put at a distance when the air goes by in order to make sure that the vocal cords do not make vibration.

Yet, as they attempted to articulate /θ/, they closed their vocal cords when the air passed and created vibration. As a result, the sound produced by the students was more likely to be heard as/ð/ than as /θ/”. (Tiono, 2008)

Ex: „there‟ / ð er//θer/,

„writing‟ /rɪ ð ɪŋ//rɪθɪŋ/

- Another deviation done by the students was the substitution of /θ/

with /s/ which could be found in the medial position only.

Ex: „birthday‟/bɜ:sdeɪ/  /bɜ:sdeɪ/

- Devoicing may also be a common problem since English orthography uses the letters "th" for both /θ/ and /ð/.

Ex: „monthly‟ /mʌnθli//mʌnli/

- Sound pair /s/- /z/

- With /s/ and /z/, the main problem comes from the omissions, which may result from grammatical deficiencies (plural, possessive, and so on) or from a failure to pronounce the ends of words. The devoicing of final position /z/ may be helped by lengthening the preceding vowel.

Ex: parents /‟peərənts/  /'peərənt/

- Sound pair /ʃ/ -/ ʒ/

- On the whole, there were some basic deviations made by the students in articulating /ʒ/: the replacement of /ʒ/ with /d/, /s/, /j/, /t∫/, /∫/, /dʒ/, and /ỉ/.

Words Standard

Phonemics transcription

Mistakes Deviations

garage

prestige

genre

explosion

rouge

/ɡərɑ:ʒ/

/presti:ʒ/

/ʒɑ:nrə/

/ɪksploʒʊən/

/ru: ʒ/

/ɡɑrɑ:dʒ/

/presti:d/

/presti:s/

/gɜ:nrɜ/

/jɜ:nrɜ/

/ɪksplo∫ən/

/ru:/

ʒ dʒ

ʒ d ʒs ʒ  g ʒ  j

ʒ ∫

ʒ-0 Table 5: Mistakes in producing the sounds / ʃ/ -/ ʒ/

- /ʃ/ is not a particularly common sound in English or the languages of the world, but can be learned quite easily. However, the learners often fail to distinguish between a voiceless alvelo- palatal fricative / ʃ / and a voice alveo- fricative /s/.

Ex: She /ʃi: / is often pronounced incorrectly as /si:/ in sea. The same mistakes occur with nation, intonation, should, shut, push, share, finish, astonish, etc.

- Glottal /h/

/h/ is a voiceless glottal fricative. It is simply a stream of air from the larynx directed through the open mouth. It is not found in word-final position in English words. /h/ is not generally a problem sound, but some learners may use a voiceless velar fricative /x/, as a substitution.

- Sound pair /tʃ/ - /dʒ/

- /tʃ/ and /d3/ are affricate sounds, which you produce by blocking off the breath-stream between the tongue and gum ridge, for a stop and a fricative. The overall strength of production is important for /tʃ/ because weakening leads to a /ʃ/ substitution.

/ dʒ/ is less tense than /tʃ/, but it is still made with considerable strength. Weakening may lead to a /ʃ/ substitution. It‟s also reasons why learners often make mistake in producing these sounds. Moreover, in Vietnam language, there is no / tʃ/& /dʒ/, so they often pronounce them as /z/ and / ć /.

Words Standard Phonemics transcription

Mistakes Deviations

bridge page marriage gouge marching chicken

/brɪdʒ/

/peɪdʒ/

/mổrɪdʒ/

/ɡaʊdʒ/

/mɑ:rtʃɪŋ/

/ t∫ikin/

/brɪt∫/

/peɪt∫/

/mổrɪt∫/

/goʊ∫/

/mɑ:rsɪŋ/

/ ćikin/

dʒ  t∫

dʒ  ∫ t∫  s t∫  ć Table 6: Mistakes in producing the sounds / tʃ/ - /dʒ/

To nutshell, to have a brief, specific, logic and general look, Tam Ha Cam (2005) grouped these mistakes into three main types: Sound omission, sound confusion and sound redundancy. The most common errors were sound omission in which omission of ending sound were more frequent. Simply, Vietnamese do not have to pronounce the ending sounds, so these mistakes are avoidable. The author also emphasized that “the habit of “swallowing “the ending sound in the mother tongue is in fact a negative transference that inhibits the pronunciation of ending sounds in target language”( Tam. H.C., 2005). Secondly, regarding the second type of mistakes, some Vietnamese learners find it difficult in distinguishing fricative and affricative sounds and they often produce them interchangeably which makes their speech hard to understand. Finally, sound redundancy is also a problem, which many students make mistakes. They always tend to over pronounce the ending sounds /s/ or/z/ at the end of any words or sometimes in the middle of the words like “hobby”- /hozbi/.

Similarly, Hanh(2007) affirmed that the way the learners produced the sounds /θ/&/ð/; /∫/&/ʒ/, /dʒ/ was different from the native speakers by either making the sounds softer or harder. Almost learners had difficulties in producing the sound /dʒ/ especially when it is in the final position , the sound /θ/ in every position.

In addition to the studies above, Hoa(2007) confirmed that the Vietnamese learners in her study did have difficulty when pronouncing some English sounds such as /θ/&/ ð/; /∫/&/ʒ/ as revealed in the data collected and analyzed especially in the findings of the recorded tapes. Their difficulty was that they could not produce these sounds correctly. Through the questionnaire and the interviews, some causes were explored such as pronouncing the sound according to the way the students heard them, imitating the teachers‟ and friends‟ pronunciations. To improve the pronunciation of the learners, Suggested methods were given such as recording, listening and repeating.

Also, the learners should be informed about the similaries and differences between the English and Vietnamese. For example, self practice is a piece of useful advice the students should pay much attention to.

According to the survey data collected in Huong‟s study( 2010), the difficulties encountered by the second students at That Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry in producing the consonant sounds //θ/&/ ð/;

/∫/&/ʒ/ ; /tʃ/ - /dʒ/ were identified as followed:

 Low pronunciation ability.

 Inadequate drills and practice: passive ways of learning and low motivation to English language learning.

 Mother tongue interference.

 Poor learning background: articulation features of the consonants under the research, teaching and learning environment inefficiency,

inappropriate technique used by teachers

 Inadequate perceptions of mistakes

Tuan (2010, 2011) carried out two researches on pronunciation:

“Teaching English discrete sounds through minimal pairs” (2010) and

“Vietnamese EFL learners‟ difficulties with English consonants” (2011). Data collected from the survey reveals that the students had most difficulty in producing the English fricatives /∫/&/ʒ/ and affricatives /tʃ/ - /dʒ/ among the English consonants surveyed. The learners have a tendency to substitute Vietnamese sounds for the English sounds.

To sum up, the above researches have revealed the most typical pronunciation mistakes, especially regarding the sounds of fricatives and affricatives, made by Vietnamese learners of English. In addition, some studies also investigated the problems and causes to lead to these mistakes and solutions are suggested to help their pronunciation ability.

Review of previous studies related to the research area of the thesis

The description of English fricatives

The description of English affricates / tʃ/& /dʒ/

Review of previous studies related to the research area of the thesis

The description of English fricatives

The description of English affricates / tʃ/&amp; /dʒ/

The description of English affricates / tʃ/& /dʒ/