Master minor programme thesis English linguistics: A study on common mistakes committed by Vietnamese learners in pronouncing English word final consonants “L,ʃ,T,D,K,G” at espeed English center

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The specific aims of the study are: - Investigate the most common mistakes when pronouncing English wordfinal consonants “l, ʃ, t, d, k, g” by Vietnamese learners at Espeed English Center; identify the reasons for students’ problems of pronunciation; propose possible appropriate techniques to correct their problems.

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Nội dung Text: Master minor programme thesis English linguistics: A study on common mistakes committed by Vietnamese learners in pronouncing English word final consonants “L,ʃ,T,D,K,G” at espeed English center

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** TÔN THỊ THUỲ DƯƠNG A STUDY ON COMMON MISTAKES COMMITTED BY VIETNAMESE LEARNERS IN PRONOUNCING ENGLISH WORD-FINAL CONSONANTS “L, ʃ, T, D, K, G” AT ESPEED ENGLISH CENTER Nghiên cứu về các lỗi thường gặp của học viên Việt Nam tại trung tâm anh ngữ Espeed khi phát âm phụ âm cuối “l, ʃ, t, d, k, g” trong tiếng Anh M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111 Hanoi – 2016
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** TÔN THỊ THUỲ DƯƠNG A STUDY ON COMMON MISTAKES COMMITTED BY VIETNAMESE LEARNERS IN PRONOUNCING ENGLISH WORD-FINAL CONSONANTS “L, ʃ, T, D, K, G” AT ESPEED ENGLISH CENTER Nghiên cứu về các lỗi thường gặp của học viên Việt Nam tại trung tâm anh ngữ Espeed khi phát âm phụ âm cuối “l, ʃ, t, d, k, g” trong tiếng Anh M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111 Supervisor : Assoc. Prof. Dr Võ Đại Quang Hanoi – 2016
DECLARATION This is to certify that the thesis entitle, “A study on common mistakes committed by Vietnamese learners in pronouncing English word-final consonants “l, ʃ, t, d, k, g” at Espeed English center”, submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Degree of MA in English Teaching Methodology. I have provided documented references to the works or others and I am fully responsible for the content of the thesis. The research reported in this thesis was approved by the University of Language and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. Hanoi, 2016 T n Th Thu Dư ng i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I gratefully acknowledge my deep indebtedness to a number of people who helped me in this study. First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and deep appreciation to my advisor, Associate Professor Võ Đại Quang (Vietnam National University, Hanoi), for his help and his insightful comments on my work from the beginning to the end of my study. In addition, my sincere thanks also go to Mr. David (an ESL native Teacher who comes from London) for supporting me in the data collection. I also would like to convey my thanks to all of my teachers who gave me knowledge in my life. The completion of this study would not have been possible without the cooperation from all 120 students at Espeed English Center who participated in this study. Finally, I wish to deeply thank my best friends and beloved family for their continuous encouragement during my study. ii
ABSTRACT In Vietnam, English language has played a significant role as a result of globalization trend. Despite being increasingly facilitated in learning English from very young age, many learners of English as second language have major difficulties with pronunciation. The aim of this thesis is to identify the common problems related to pronunciation mistakes made by Vietnamese learners at Espeed English Center when pronouncing English word-final consonants “l, ʃ, t, d, k, g”, as well as to investigate the causes of these problems and the possible solutions to the above mentioned problems In order to fulfill the study, data was collected through tape recordings and questionnaires. While the former aimed at finding out the common problems related to pronunciation mistakes made by Vietnamese learners at Espeed English Center when pronouncing English word-final consonants “l, ʃ, t, d, k, g”, the latter was applied with a view to figuring out the causes of these problems and discussing some solutions to these problems. The findings reveal that the most common problems related to pronunciation mistakes in the final position were sound omission and sound deviation. The causes contributing to these problems were mainly the lack of understanding how to pronounce English sounds, the lack of exposure to real English environment and little practice. To help students overcome these problems, some pronunciation teaching techniques are being applied effectively such as recoding and giving feedback; listening and using “shadowing” techniques; applying mirror techniques/making Vlog. This study concludes by considering the implications of these findings for the students and teachers to deal with these problems found. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1 1.1 Rationale................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Aims of the research .............................................................................................. 2 1.3 Research questions ................................................................................................. 2 1.4 Scope of the research ............................................................................................. 2 1.5 Significance of the study ........................................................................................ 3 1.6 Design of the study ................................................................................................ 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................... 4 2.1 Review of theoretical background .......................................................................... 4 2.1.1 General descriptions of English consonant sounds .................................................... 4 2.1.2 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the sounds “l, ʃ, t, d, k, g” ............ 5 2.1.2.1 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the sound / l / ................................ 5 2.1.2.2 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the sound /ʃ/ ................................. 6 2.1.2.3 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the sound /t/ .................................. 7 2.1.2.4 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the sound /d/ ................................. 7 2.1.2.5 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the sound /k/ ................................. 8 2.1.2.6 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the sound /g/ ................................. 9 2.1.3 English final consonants ...................................................................................... 10 2.1.3.1 Definition............................................................................................................. 10 2.1.4 Pronunciation errors ............................................................................................. 11 2.1.4.1 Errors and mistakes .............................................................................................. 11 2.1.4.2 Ending sound errors ............................................................................................. 12 2.1.5 Teaching and learning pronunciation .................................................................... 12 2.1.5.1 Teachers’ role ...................................................................................................... 12 2.1.5.2 Learners’ role ....................................................................................................... 14 2.1.5.3 Pronunciation goals .............................................................................................. 14 2.1.5.4 Factors influencing learner’s pronunciation .......................................................... 14 2.1.5.5 Techniques used in pronunciation class ................................................................ 16 2.2 Review of previous studies................................................................................... 18 2.3 Summary ............................................................................................................. 21 iv
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .......................................................... 22 3.1 Research questions ............................................................................................... 22 3.2 The participants of the study ................................................................................ 22 3.3 Research design ................................................................................................... 22 3.4 Research method .................................................................................................. 23 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ........................................................... 25 4.1 Reports on the results collected by means of recordings ....................................... 25 4.2 Reports on the results collected by survey questionnaires ..................................... 29 4.2.1 Students’ attitudes towards English ending sounds pronunciation. ........................ 29 4.2.1.1 Students’ attitudes towards the importance of English ending sounds ................... 29 4.2.1.2 Students’ frequency in pronouncing ending sounds .............................................. 30 4.2.2 Students’ perceptions about the possible reasons for their problems of pronunciation. ................................................................................................................. 31 4.2.3 Teachers’ techniques in teaching pronunciation in class ....................................... 33 4.2.4 Students’ opinions of their preferred techniques in pronunciation class ................ 34 4.3 The possible solutions to these pronunciation problems ....................................... 35 4.3.1 IPA transcript lesson ............................................................................................ 36 4.3.2 Using pronunciation videos .................................................................................. 37 4.3.3 Saying it aloud ..................................................................................................... 37 4.3.5 Recording yourself ............................................................................................... 39 4.3.6 Role-play ............................................................................................................. 40 4.3.7 Applying poems, raps, songs ................................................................................ 40 4.4 Summary ............................................................................................................. 41 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ...................................................................................... 43 5.1 Recapitulation ...................................................................................................... 43 5.2 Concluding marks ................................................................................................ 43 5.3 Pedagogical Implication ....................................................................................... 45 5.4 Limitation and suggestion for further study .......................................................... 46 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 48 APPENDIX 1 .................................................................................................................... I APPENDIX 2 ...................................................................................................................II v
LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Place and articulation of the sound / l / Figure 2: Place and articulation of the sound /ʃ/ Figure 3: Place and articulation of the sound /t/ Figure 4: Place and articulation of the sound /d/ Figure 5: Place and articulation of the sound /k/ Figure 6: Place and articulation of the sound /g/ Figure 7: Students’ attitudes towards the importance of English ending sounds Figure 8: Students’ frequency in pronouncing ending sounds Figure 9: Students’ perception about the possible reasons for their problems of pronunciation Figure 10: Students’ opinions of their preferred techniques in pronunciation class Figure 11: The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) vi
LIST OF TABLES Table 1: English consonants Table 2: Vietnamese initial consonants Table 3: Vietnamese final consonants Table 4: Common pronunciation mistakes committed by students Table 5: The number of students producing sound omission Table 6: The number of students producing sound deviation Table 7: Students’ perception about the possible reasons for their problems of pronunciation Table 8: The frequency of teachers’ techniques in teaching pronunciation Table 9: The effectiveness of teachers’ techniques in teaching pronunciation Table 10: Students’ opinions of their preferred techniques in pronunciation class vii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale As a result of globalization trends in every field all over the world, foreign languages in general and English in particular have played a greater role. The Vietnamese government, than ever before, is concerning and investing in the education system, particularly on teaching English. English is now officially taught for learners from very young age – six years old, gradually becoming the second language in Vietnam. In addition, there is an increasingly big demand of studying English at all ages in big cities; English centers, therefore, are rising more and more to satisfy this. Despite being facilitated those education programs, English learners remain being the victims of a traditional education that haven’t paid much attention to listening and speaking although they can read and write pretty well. The fact has shown that there is a large percentage of Vietnamese people who have been learning English for many years but cannot freely speak out or may find it hard to get involved in conversation as most of them encounter pronunciation problems. It could be seen that pronunciation is the key factor to maintain successful oral communication. If speakers pronounce clearly and properly, their listeners could easily understand what they are trying to express. On the other hand, when words are inaccurately pronounced, misunderstanding may occur. These sometimes bring unexpected effects or even lead to miscommunication. Therefore, the emphasis on teaching correct pronunciation (recognizing errors in pronunciation and correcting them), is necessary for an improvement of student’s pronunciation ability. There are a number of problems relating to pronunciation errors that ESL learners tend to make: intonation, word or sentence stress, linking words, ending sounds… Of those mentioned pronunciation problems, ending sounds seem to be the hardest one for Vietnamese people to learn. They in particular encounter difficulties in pronouncing some English consonants due to the differences between the Vietnamese and English phonological systems. Vietnamese is a kind of 1
language which has single words with no ending sounds while these sounds play a very important role in English. Native speakers may find it hard to understand the words being spoken without pronouncing ending sounds. All of these motivated me to conduct this research which will go into details of pronunciation mistakes concerning ending sounds of Vietnamese learners at Espeed English Center. On the foundation of these mistakes, some solutions are suggested to mitigate the problems. 1.2 Aims of the research The specific aims of the study are: - Investigate the most common mistakes when pronouncing English word- final consonants “l, ʃ, t, d, k, g” by Vietnamese learners at Espeed English Center. - Identify the reasons for students’ problems of pronunciation - Propose possible appropriate techniques to correct their problems 1.3 Research questions Based on the purposes of the study, the researcher attempted to find out the pronunciation problem relating ending sounds by Vietnamese learner at Espeed English Center. This investigation was designed to answer the following questions: 1. What are the ending sound mistakes that Vietnamese learners at Espeed English center are likely to make? 2. What are the possible reasons for their problems of pronunciation? 3. What are appropriate techniques to correct their problems? 1.4 Scope of the research The research was conducted on Vietnamese learners at Espeed English Center. Regarding its scope, the research was only aimed at finding out their most typical mistakes when pronouncing sounds: /ʃ/, /l/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/. Certain teaching techniques related to pronunciation will be studied and discussed to find out the suitable ones. 2
1.5 Significance of the study This research provide an insight into the common pronunciation problems that most of the Vietnamese students who are studying English as their major encounter regarding English consonant sounds (particularly /ʃ/, /l/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/). In addition, the results of the study will be a useful reference to ESL (English as a second language) teachers while they work on this part of pronunciation training. 1.6 Design of the study The study consists of 5 chapters as follows: CHAPTER 1 is the introduction, which provides an overview of the study with specific reference to the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the scope and the structural organization of the thesis. CHAPTER 2 presents a review of theoretical background about general descriptions of English consonant sounds (/ʃ/, /l/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/) and a review of previous studies related to the research of the thesis. CHAPTER 3 gives a detailed discussion of the method used in the study. It presents the subject of the study, the instruments used to collect the data and the procedure of the data collection. CHAPTER 4 is a detail description of data analysis and a discussion of the findings of the study CHAPTER 5 is the conclusion including the recapitulation of the main points presented in the thesis and concluding remarks. The limitations of the study and some recommendations for further research are also discussed in this chapter. 3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Review of theoretical background 2.1.1 General descriptions of English consonant sounds In the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Encyclopedic (1992:192), consonants are described as “speech sounds made by completely or partly stopping the flow of air breathed out through the mouth”. In his view, Roach (2000) mentioned consonants as “sounds in which there is obstruction to the flow of air as it passes the larynx to the lips”. It is essential to distinguish consonant sounds and consonant letters. A consonant letter usually represents one consonant sound. Some consonant letters, for example, c, g, s, can represent two different consonant sounds. The g letter is found in “g” sounds like get, go, give and in the /dʒ/ sounds like suggest, energy, general. According to Kelly (2000:47) consonants can be described in terms: (1). The place of articulation (2). Manner of articulation (a). Labio dental (a). Plosive (b). Dental (b) Affricative (c). Alveolar (c). Fricative (f). Palatals (d). Nasal (g). Velars (e) Lateral (h). Glottal (f) Approximant 4
Table 1: English Consonant Phonemes It can be seen in figure 1, consonant sounds /t/ and /d/ are alveolar stop while /k/ and /g/ are velar stop. Besides, while consonant sound /l/ is alveolar lateral, /ʃ/ is alveolar palatal fricative. 2.1.2 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the sounds “l, ʃ, t, d, k, g” 2.1.2.1Phonological characteristics and articulation of the sound / l / Only one alveolar, lateral phoneme occurs in English, there being no opposition between fortis and lenis, voiced or voiceless, or fricative and non- fricative. Within the /l/ phoneme three main allophones occur: - Clear [l], with a relatively front vowel resonance, before vowels and /j/. - Voiceless [l0], following aspirated /p, k/. - Dark [ł], with a relatively back vowel resonance, finally after a vowel, before a consonant, and as syllabic sound following a consonant. For clear [l], the front of the tongue is raised in the direction of the hard palate at the same time as the tip contact is made. For dark [ł], the tip contact is again made on the teeth ridge, the front of the tongue being somewhat depressed and the back rose in the direction of the soft palate, giving a back vowel resonance. Both [l] and [ł] are voiced, though partial devoicing may take place when a preceding consonant is fortis. 5
Figure 1: Place and articulation of the sound / l / (As retrieved fromhttp://soundsofspeech.uiowa.edu/english/english.html) 2.1.2.2 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the sound /ʃ/ /ʃ/is an alveo palatal, voiceless, fortis fricative consonant. The blade of the tongue is raised against the region behind the alveolar ridge and the air is forced out through a groove a little wider than in the case of /s/, its more fronted counterpart. /ʃ/is distributed in all three main positions in the word. It is often spelt sh in words like shoe, cushion or push. It can also be spelt s(e.g. sure, sugar) or ss(e.g. pressure, mission) or ci (ancient, delicious), sci(conscious) ce(ocean),si(pension, mansion), ti (tuition, retribution). It is a variant of [sju:] in words like issue, tissue. Figure 2: Place and articulation of the sound /ʃ/ (As retrieved from http://soundsofspeech.uiowa.edu/english/english.html) 6
2.1.2.3 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the sound /t/ /t/ is a voiceless, alveolar, fortis plosive. The soft palate being raised and the nasal resonator shut off, the primary obstacle to the air-stream is formed by a closure made between the tip and rims of the tongue and the upper alveolar ridge and side teeth. Lung air is compressed behind this closure, during which stage the vocal cords are wide apart for /t/. It has an aspirated variant that occurs before stressed vowels when the phoneme is distributed in syllable initial position: tube. If preceded by “s”, however, /t/ is unaspirated (E.g: stain). Its distribution includes all basic positions: truck, attend, hot. It is laterally or nasally released if followed by [l] or by a nasal consonant, repectively: little, written, utmost. It is spelt with t: toe, with tt: cutteror , with th: Thomas,Thames. Figure 3: Place and articulation of the sound /t/ (As retrieved from http://soundsofspeech.uiowa.edu/english/english.html) 2.1.2.4 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the sound /d/ /d/ is the voiced, lenis counterpart of /t/, voicing and force of articulation differentiate between the two sounds that share the same place of articulation in the alveolar region. Lung air is compressed behind this closure, during which stage the vocal cords are wide apart and may vibrate for all or part of the compression stage for /d/ according to its situation in the utterance. The sound is distributed in initial, medial and final position: doctor, addition, bed. It is partially devoiced in initial position as “drink” and devoiced in final position as “road”. It is laterally released if followed by /l/: “noodle” and 7
nasally released if followed by /m/ or /n/: admit, garden. It is spelt d: reader, dd: addict Figure 4: Place and articulation of the sound /d/ (As retrieved from http://soundsofspeech.uiowa.edu/english/english.html) 2.1.2.5 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the sound /k/ /k/ is a voiceless, dorso-velar, fortis, plosive sound. To make this sound, the soft palate being raised and the nasal resonator shut off, the primary obstacle to the air-stream is formed by a closure made between the back of the tongue and the soft palate. Lung air is compressed behind this closure, during which stage the vocal cords are wide apart for /k/. Like the other voiceless plosives described above, it has an aspirated variant if the sound is distributed in syllable-initial position, in front of a stressed vowel: cat. /k/ is distributed in initial, medial and final position: cook, account, think. It can be followed by a nasal consonant and be consequently nasally released: conquest or by the lateral liquid and be laterally released: snorkel. In spelling, the sound can be represented by the letter c(e.g. cry) or by cc (e.g. accuse), by k(e.g. kitchen), by ck(e.g. kick), by ch(e.g. christmas), by qu (e.g. quick). 8
Figure 5: Place and articulation of the sound /k/ (As retrieved from http://soundsofspeech.uiowa.edu/english/english.html) 2.1.2.6 Phonological characteristics and articulation of the sound /g/ /g/ is the voiced, lenis pair of /k/ and it has basically the same features as its counterpart /k/. Lung air is compressed behind this closure, during which stage the vocal cords are wide apart and may vibrate for all or part of the compression stage for /g/ according to its situation in the utterance. It is distributed in initial, medial and final position: give, dragon, rug. Its allophones include partially devoiced variants in initial position: gain, devoiced variants in final position: dog, laterally released, when followed by /l/: giggle and nasally released when followed by /m/: dogmatic. In spelling, the consonant can be rendered by g: “get” , by as “gg”: “begged”, or by “g” followed by “h”, as in ghastly, by “ua, ue or ui” ,as in guarantee, guess or linguist, respectively. The voiced counterpart of /ks/, /gz/ can also be rendered by “x” in words like example. Figure 6: Place and articulation of the sound /g/ (As retrieved from http://soundsofspeech.uiowa.edu/english/english.html) 9
2.1.3 English final consonants 2.1.3.1 Definition To ESL learners, the term “final sound” is very popular while learning English. To understand easily, “final sounds” are sounds that occur at the end of the word. It refers to the consonant sounds as the word can end with one or more consonant sounds (consonant clusters). The English language has 24 consonants and most of them can occur in word-initial position, word-medial position and word-final position. About the position of final consonants, Yule (2006) showed the basic structure syllable found in English. According to Rachael – Anne Knight, 2003, University of Survey – Roehampton (Understanding English Variation, Week 3), there can be up to 4 consonants in a coda: - If there are no consonants at the end of the word, it has a zero coda. - A single consonant is called the final consonant. Any consonant except h, r, w and j may be a final coda. When there are two or more consonants standing at the end of the word, the terms “pre-final” and “post-final” consonants are used: Pre-final includes: /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /l/, /s/ Post-final includes: /s/, /z/, /t/, /d/, /θ/ - Two consonant clusters: Pre-final m, n, ŋ, l, s followed by a final consonant Consonant plus post-final s, z, t, d, θ 10
Example: help, bank, books, blind etc - Three consonant clusters: Pre-final plus final plus post-final (e.g. helped, banks, bonds) Final plus post-final plus post final s, z, t, d, θ (e.g. fifths, next) - Four consonant clusters: Most are pre-final plus final plus post-final (e.g. twelfths, prompts) Occasionally there is one final and three post final consonants (e.g. sixths, texts..) 2.1.4 Pronunciation errors 2.1.4.1 Errors and mistakes There are several definitions regarding to errors. According to Dulay Richards, there are two different kinds of errors: performance errors, caused by, such as, fatigue and inattention, and competence errors resulting from lack of knowledge of the rules of the language. Brown (1994: 205) differentiates between mistakes and errors. A mistake refers to a performance error that is either a random guess or slip in that it is a failure to utilize a known system correctly. All people make mistakes, in both native and second language situations. Native speakers are normally capable of recognizing and correcting such mistakes, which are not the result of a deficiency in competence but the result of some sort of breakdown in the process of production. Apart from that, Ellis states in his research that errors show gaps in a learner’s knowledge; they occur because the learner does not know if it is wrong or not. However, mistakes reflect occasional lapses in performance; they occur because in particular instance, the learner is unable to perform what she or he knows (Ellis, 1997). In a nutshell, a mistake occurs because of a slip of the tongue, tiredness, anxiety, etc, it can be self-realized and self-corrected. However, an error is a performance that a speaker who has not yet mastered the rules of the target language cannot correct by himself. 11