A study on common pronunciation mistakes in communication and presentation of thirdyear students at Faculty of English – Thuong Mai University and suggested solutions

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
During the period of conducting my graduation paper, I have received a plenty of
enthusiastic help and support which have guided and encouraged me to overcome
all difficulties and finish this hard but meaningful time.
Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to the teachers of
English Faculty at Thuong Mai University, who have imparted golden knowledge to
me. From these supports, I can improve my English skills and have good
background to achieve my dreams.
Secondly, I sincerely thank to Mrs. Duong Thi Hong Tham, M.A, my supervisor
who has given me useful guidance and advice that finishing my graduation paper
successfully. Mrs. Tham, along with her sharing and feedbacks, has been my
inspiration as well as motivation to overcome all the obstacles and difficulties
during the process.
Thirdly, I am grateful to all of the third year English major students of Thuong Mai
University who contributed and had a warm co-operation to help me during the
period I carried out my survey.
Last but not least, I am also grateful to my friends from the Thuong Mai University,
who helped and encouraged me a lot when I was conducting my research, but
whom I cannot all mention here due to the inconvenience of space. Millions of
thanks go to my beloved family whose financial support and spiritual
encouragement contribute a significant part to the completion of the research.
In short, I really thank to all people helping me to finish this graduation thesis.
Hanoi, April, 2021
Huyen
Le Thi Huyen

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ABSTRACT
This paper was written for the purpose in studying English Pronunciation. As a

student of the English language, the author wishes to learn more about the aspects
that influence language learners when they learn how to speak English. Learners of
English often expect to be able to speak that language like a native speaker.
However, they encounter many difficulties to achieve their aims. One of the
common factors that they find difficult is the pronunciation of another sound
system. Therefore, the author would like to explore some common mistakes and
problems that Vietnamese students encounter when they learn to pronounce the
English sounds so that students can study communicate more effectively.
The paper covers a number of frequent pronunciation difficulties that cause
problems for the third year English major students at Thuong Mai University. These
difficulties include vowels, consonant, endings, stress and tones and some
individual problems related to English learners. The author finds this paper a useful
reference source for students, who want to improve their pronunciation of English.

2


TABLE OF CONTENTS

3


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

No.
1
2

4

Word
MA

Meaning in English
Master of Arts

Meaning in Vietnamese
Thạc si

TMU

Thuong Mai university

Đại học Thương Mại


LIST OF TABLES, CHARTS AND FIGURES

5


CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
1.1.

Rationale

In modern world, being able to speaking a foreign language a lot of benefits such as
making connection with people and knowing more about beautiful countries, places
and life styles. In recent years, Vietnam is constantly developing and integrating
internationally, and English – the language of international communication is used

very popularly. Because of the importance of English, it is approved as one of the
main subjects in many schools in Vietnam. In order to use English fluently in work
as well as communication, four essential English skills listening, speaking, reading
and writing need to be learned, practiced and improved regularly.
Nevertheless, most people seem to focus on reading and writing than listening and
speaking. Students in secondary and high schools spend a lot of time on learning
grammar and vocabularies for their tests and examinations but they learn by heart
and forget quickly. Practicing speaking seems not to be interesting because they
think speaking is not useful for their tests therefore they are afraid of speaking
English. This is one of the reasons why students get difficulties and feel so shy
when communicating in English.
In fact, there are several difficulties which people face to when they speak English
such as pronunciation, linking, context of vocabulary, rhythm, and affecting of
mother tongue. However, pronunciation is regarded the most difficulty and it is
crucial when people begin learning English.
After long time of observing and investigation, third year English major students at
Thuong Mai University have difficult in pronouncing ending sounds, consonants
and word stress which are the most common pronunciation mistakes.
Therefore, in order to study this problem profoundly, I have conducted the research
entitled: “A study on common pronunciation mistakes in communication and
presentation of third-year students at Faculty of English – Thuong Mai
University and suggested solutions”. The researcher hopes that this study will help

6


students understand more about issues that they have gotten before and recommend
some solutions to solve the problems and help them improve their pronunciation.
1.2.

Previous studies

There are many popular studies related to this issue in the world and in Vietnam as
well.
Jaroslav Ondráček had a study with the title “Problems in communication caused
by mistakes in the pronunciation of English by Czechs” (April 11, 2011). The study
was aimed to find out the mistakes in English pronunciation of first year students in
English Department of the Faculty of Education at Masaryk University. The
research based on an analysis of the recordings made by 88 first year students
English major in Faculty of Education at Masaryk University. The recordings were
analyzed by three assessors, two educated native speakers – one American, one
English – who are NOT phonetically trained, plus the Czech assessor, who is. Two
aims of the research were to discover the students’ awareness of mistakes, attitudes
to pronunciation; and to identify the perceived mistakes in Czech English
pronunciation from the point of view of the typical native speaker, and to identify
those features which most inhibit “comfortable intelligibility”. The main problems
of the study identified by the two native speakers derived from wrong word stress,
words pronounced as if they were Czech and a general lack of clarity in diction.
In 2009, Fachun Zhang in China had a study on the subject named “A study of
pronunciation problems of English in China”. In this study, the author mentioned a
number of factors that affect the pronunciation of the Chinese: interference of
Chinese to English, stress factor in the target language, intonation factor in the
target language, learners’ age, learners’ attitude and psychological factors and prior
pronunciation instruction. The author has mentioned the factors that affect English
pronunciation of the Chinese, which are elements of the objective aspect that affect
the pronunciation learning process. Mostly in terms of language, grammar, and the
differences in English and Chinese, these factors make it difficult for the Chinese to
learn English pronunciation. The author has expanded his research topic on English
pronunciation.
7

In 2007, Nguyen Thi Thu Thao had a study with the title: “Difficulties of
Vietnamese when pronouncing English”. The study was an attempt to identify
difficulties of Vietnamese in pronouncing English final consonants like native
speakers. The participants consist of five informants of various Vietnamese accents
and proficiency in English were recorded inside and outside Vietnam then sent to
the researcher by e-mail. Special thing was five informants coming from four
different cities of Vietnam: Hue, Ho Chi Minh City (two informants), West
Highland and Ha Noi. After analyzing, the author delivered an evaluation chart
given in appendix to six native speakers of English to evaluate the data. The results
of the study showed that there have three main problems of the students in English
pronunciation. The first problem is omitting the ending sounds that was too difficult
for Vietnamese people, especially semi-vowels before final consonants. The second
problem is reducing and moving the final consonants and clusters towards their first
language to single unaspirated or nasals or semi-vowels. And the last problem is
adding schwa in final clusters.
“Difficulties in learning pronunciation encountered by the first year students of
English major at Hanam Teachers’ Training College” is a research paper of Dao
Thu Phuong in 2011. The participants consist of 80 freshmen of English department
at Hanam Teachers’ Training College. The study concentrated on three aims:
investigating the first year students’ perception on learning English pronunciation;
finding out what difficulties the first year students at Hanam Teachers’ Training
College meet when they study English pronunciation; and offering possible
solutions to help students overcome their difficulties in learning English
pronunciation. Results of the study revealed that attitude’s students are very
important to learn English speaking skills. Students should spend their time
improving their English pronunciation as much as possible to expose to English.
All the studies showed the reader a more multidimensional view and to recognize
the mistakes when learning English pronunciation. So learners will be able to take

corrective measures and improve their pronunciation skills.

8

And this study,


researcher hope to contribute to the research treasure, clarify the subject as well as
extend the view to the students.
Aims of the study

1.3.

This study is to help the third year English major students at Thuong Mai University
find out problems of the common mistakes in English pronunciation and improve
their speaking English skills. This study has two aims:
•

Discovering the students’ awareness of mistakes and their attitudes to

•
•

English pronunciation.
Showing the common mistakes in English pronunciation.
Suggesting some solutions for the pronunciation problems.

In order to fulfill the above aims, the researcher is designed to seek answer to two
following questions:

1.4.



What are the most common pronunciation mistakes that third year English



students at Thuong Mai university tend to make when speaking English?
What are solutions to help students avoid pronunciation mistakes and
solve their problems?
Research subjects

The research subjects of this study are pronunciation mistakes that the third year
English major students at Thuong Mai University encountered. With the hope to
enhance the importance of English pronunciation, the writer sought and studied
difficulties that the third year English major students face to when they speak
English. After finding out the problems, it is necessary to give possible solutions to
improve English pronunciation skills.
1.5.

Scope of study

The study is to find out some common mistakes in English pronunciation that the
third year English major students at TMU have to solve. The author focuses on
three issues, including consonants. Ending sounds and word stress. Hopefully, the
study will help students have a general overview of their pronunciation problems
and possible solutions.
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1.6.

Research methodology

In this study, the principal method is used is quantitative study. The quantitative
study utilizes a survey by using questionnaire, to collect essential information about
students’ opinion towards issues related to English pronunciation.
First of all, a survey questionnaire is conducted among 110 third year English major
students at TMU in order to collect information and data for the research. The
reason why these students were chosen is that there are a large number of the third
year English major students who still feel unselfconfident and make some
pronunciation mistakes when they give presentations and answer English questions.
This causes a great barrier when they communicate with foreigners and work in
English communication environments.
Furthermore, 10 students will be recorded when they read a passage in order to help
them recognize their mistakes to get more evidence.
The questionnaire based on three main following contents:
•

Attitude of students towards English pronunciation and its

importance.
•
Pronunciation problems of students in reality.
• Students’ opinions about suggested solutions in order to solve the
problems.
Then, the researcher will analyze to find out students’ pronunciation mistakes from
the survey questionnaire and collect records as well as offered solutions. The data
from the online survey questionnaire and recordings is quantitatively analyzed

through Google Forms and Microsoft Excel.
1.7.

Organization of the study

The research paper includes four chapters as many other scientific studies:
Chapter 1: “Overview of the study”. This part presents the rationale, previous,
aims, research subjects, scope, methods and organization of the study.

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Chapter 2: “Literature review”. In this chapter, the author presents theories related
to English pronunciation and pronunciation errors.
Chapter 3: “Research findings”. This part presents an overview results of the
survey questionnaire related to the study.
Chapter 4: “Recommendations and suggestions”. The last part presents some
suggested solutions for the problems in order to help students improve their
pronunciation skills.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1.

Definitions of pronunciation

Before learners can get the core material deeply when they want to study
something, the first thing they need to do is understand the basic concepts. As a

result, it is essential to understand what pronunciation is when people learn English
pronunciation. There are many sources of information related to definitions of
pronunciation that students can use. Proving more information about concepts of
pronunciation is the purpose of this part.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, pronunciation is “the way in which a word is
pronounced”. The Cambridge Dictionary’s definition, pronunciation is “the way in
which a word or letter is said, or said correctly, or the way in which a language is
spoken”. Furthermore, the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus
© Cambridge University Press indicates that “pronunciation means how we say a
word”.
In 2002, Jack C. Richard stated a reliable definition that “Pronunciation is the
sound of the language, or phonology; stress and rhythm; and intonation and
includes the role of individual sounds and segmental and supra segmental sounds”.
Dialect is seemed to be one of popular characteristics of pronunciation. The sources
indicate that pronunciation is also heavily affected by dialect. “People tend to speak
the dialect that belongs to the part of the country they come from or live in, which is
a big part of how someone pronounces a word.”, according to research of
Cambridge University Press. Cambridge University Press also state that “Learners
British English commonly hear RP (Received Pronunciation) which is an accent
often used on the BBC and other news media and in some course materials for
language learners, but it is also common to hear a variety of regional accents of
English from across the world”.
Word stress and rhythm are also important parts of pronunciation. For example,
knowing which syllables in a word are stressed and how different patterns of
stressed and unstressed syllables are pronounced are really important. This part can
12


be difficult and complex to Vietnamese learners because using stress in English and
Vietnamese is different. Most of Vietnamese is mono-syllable whereas English is

multi-syllable. Besides, there are common patterns of intonation in English which
enable us to give special emphasis to words, phrases, and sentences. The meaning
of a sentence in English can be completely changed by these patterns.
-

Word stress which emphasizes on certain syllables in a word.
Sentence stress which emphasizes on certain words in a sentence.
Linking which joins certain words together.
Intonation which is the rise and fall of our voice as we speak.

On the website Englishclub.com, there is a study about pronunciation that states
“Pronunciation refers to the way in which we make the sounds of words”.
To pronounce words, we push air from our lungs up through our throat and vocal
chords, through our mouth, past our tongue and out between our teeth and lips.
Sometimes air also travels through our nose.
To change the sound we are making, we mainly use the muscles of our mouth,
tongue and lips to control the shape of our mouth and the flow of air. If we cannot
control the shape of our mouth and the flow air correctly, our pronunciation is
unclear that causes difficult for people to understand our speech.
People who can speak different languages tend to develop different muscles in their
mouths for pronunciation due to each language having their own specific sounds.
When we speak a foreign language, our muscles may not be as well developed for
that language, thus we will find pronunciation difficult. Therefore, just practicing
pronunciation of foreign language, our muscles develop and pronunciation is
improved.

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Figure 2.1. The organs of speech posted by RasidRitonga

2.2.

The importance of pronunciation

Pronunciation is very important for every person learning English. When speaking a
foreign language, speaker need make listener understand what he/she wants to
convey. As a result, the speaker must pronounce clearly and accurately.
“Pronunciation is definitely the biggest thing that people notice when you are
speaking English. You can live without advanced vocabulary; you can use simple
word to say what you want to say. You can use “simple grammar”. But there is no
such thing as “simple pronunciation”. If the pronunciation is poor, neither
grammar nor vocabulary would help you”, according to Mrs. Badache Lynda at the
University of Batna.
Even if students are good at grammar and have an abundant source of vocabulary,
but they cannot pronounce correctly, it is very difficult for foreigners to understand
them. Therefore, pronunciation is really important in communicating. When
attending at school, most students do not spend much time in learning speaking
English, they even ignore it and just pay attention to learn mean of words. This
makes students difficult to pronounce accurately. Pronouncing is an important part
of memorizing vocabularies when people want to learn a foreign language.
Therefore, getting strong, basic foundation in exact pronunciation will help learners
learn more effectively overall.

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2.3.

Factors that affect pronunciation learning

In reality, there are many factors that affect pronunciation learning of the students.
According to Joanne Kenworthy, there are six elements relating to pronunciation
including: the native language; the age factor; amount of exposure; phonetic ability;
attitude and identity; motivation and concern for good pronunciation.
• The native language: “The native language is an important factor in learning to

pronounce English; this is clearly demonstrated by the fact that a foreign
accent has some of the sound characteristics of the learners’ native language.
These are often obvious enough to make a person’s origins identifiable by
untrained as we as trained people. One or two features are enough to suggest a
particular language showing through their spoken English.”
• The age factor: “We commonly assume that if someone pronounces a second
language like a native, they probably started learning it as a child. Conversely,
if a person does not begin to learn a second language until adulthood, they will
never have a native – like accent even though other aspects of their language
such as syntax or vocabulary may be indistinguishable from those of native
speakers. These beliefs seem to be supported by many cases of adults who
learn to speak a second language fluently, but still maintain a foreign accent,
even when they have lived in the host country for many years.”
• Amount of exposure: “Another factor is the amount of exposure to English the

learner receive. It is tempting to view this simply as a matter of whether the
learner is living in an English – speaking country or not. If this is the case,
then the learner is surrounded by English and this constant exposure should
affect pronunciation skill. If the learner is not living an English – speaking
environment, then there is no such advantage.”
• Phonetic ability: “It is a common view that sine people have better ear for
foreign languages than others. This skill has been various termed aptitude for
oral mimicry, phonetic coding ability or auditory discrimination ability.”

• Attitude and identity: “It has been claimed that factors such as a person’s sense

of identity and feelings of group affiliation are strong determiners of the
acquisition of accurate pronunciation of a foreign language. As a means of
exploring the meaning of these terms and the role of such factors, let’s start by
15


considering how native speakers of a language react to different accents of
their own languages.”
• Motivation and concern for good pronunciation: “Some learners seem to be
more concerned about their pronunciation than others. This concern is often
expressed in statements about how bad their pronunciation is and in requests
2.4.

for correction.”
The common errors in English pronunciation

According to Rickmanshare Blog “pronunciation problems often do lead to
conversation breakdowns” and “There are two key problems in pronunciation
teaching”: “Firstly, it tends to be neglected not because of teachers’ lack of interest
in the subject, but rather to feeling of doubts as to how to teach it. Many
experienced teachers would admit to lack of theory of pronunciation and they may
therefore feel the need to improve their practical skills in pronunciation teaching.
Secondly, when it is not neglected, it tends to be reactive to a particular problem
that has arisen in the classroom rather than being strategically planned. In addition,
through my experience as a teacher as well as a teacher trainer who observed
several lesson.”
In many schools, students are learned English as a second language, however, they
still make many mistakes when pronouncing. In fact, there are many mistakes of

pronunciation that students often make when speaking English such as ending
sounds, intonation, word stress, or misunderstanding vowels. However, the author
would like to concentrate studying on the three most mistakes of the third year
English major students at TMU as the data collected from the survey questionnaire
and recording are ending sounds, consonants and word stress.
2.5.
Ending sounds
2.5.1. Definition

In English, ending sounds is a very important element in pronunciation. There is a
simple understanding about ending sounds that ending sounds are the letter sounds
at the end of a word.
For example: /k/ in ‘book’, /s/ in ‘six’, /t/ in ‘intent’, /d/ in ‘bed’
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The ending sounds refer to one or more consonants at the end of words. Ending
sounds are codas.
Almost every English consonant appears word-finally, except for /h/, /w/ and /j/
(Cummins. 1998). Besides, English has a lot of complicated consonant clusters, as
mentioned previously, combining two, three and even four consonants together in
the onset and coda. This is commented as “quiet unusual for languages to have
consonant clusters of this type.” (Yule, 2006: 48)
Syllable
Onset

Rhyme

Nucleus

Consonant (s)

Coda

Vowel

Consonant (s)

There are many more combinations of consonants sounds possible at the end of
English sounds. There can be up to four consonant sounds in a final consonant
cluster:
Table 2.1. Four consonant sounds in a final cluster

2.5.2. The importance of ending sounds

There are a lot of English words which are read almost the same way. If we do not
pronounce the ending sounds correctly, it is difficult to understand the meaning of
the words, even people may misunderstand the meaning of the whole sentence.

17


For example: It is very difficult to distinguish between:
“what” / wɒt/ and “watch” / wɒtʃ/
“life” / laɪf/ and “light” / laɪf/ and “like” / laɪk/
“wife” / waɪf/ and “wine” / waɪn/
2.5.3. Classification of ending sounds

There are three types of ending sounds in English:


The first is ending sounds original words:
For examples: “black” /k/, “nice” /s/, “table” /l/, “six” /ks/, “visit” /t/



The second is /s – z – iz/ ending sounds: which can apply with nouns
and verbs:
For examples: “likes” / lɑɪks/, “gets” /gets/;
“achieves” /əˈtʃiːvz/, “clears” /klɪərz/;
“washes” /wɒʃiz/, “pages” /peɪdʒiz/.


The last one is -ed ending sounds:

There are three ways to pronounce -ed ending which is added to regular verbs in the
simple past tense: /id/, /t/, /d/.
For examples: “collected” /kəˈlektid/, “tended” /tendid/;
“looked” /lʊkt/, “stopped” /stɒpt/;
“played” /pleɪd/, “analyzed” /ˈæn.əl.aɪzd/.
2.6.
Consonants
2.6.1. Definition

According to Cambridge Dictionary, consonant is “one of the speech sounds or
letters of the alphabet that is not a vowel. Consonants are pronounced by stopping
the air from flowing easily through the mouth, especially by closing the lips or
touching the teeth with the tongue”. Consonant is defined in Oxford Dictionary “a
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basic speech sound in which the breath is at least partly obstructed and which can
be combined with a vowel to form a syllable”.
In “How to teach pronunciation” of Gerald Kelly, consonant is defined that
“consonants are formed by interrupting, restricting or diverting the air flow in a
variety of ways.”
2.6.2. The characteristics of consonants:

In “How to teach pronunciation” of Gerald Kelly, the author showed that “There
are three ways of describing the consonants sounds: the manner of articulation, the
place of articulation and the force of articulation”.
The manner of articulation is interaction between various articulators and the air
stream. There are six types of consonants according to manner of articulation:

- Plosives occur when a complex closure is made somewhere in the vocal
tract. Air pressure increases behind the closure, and is then released
“explosively”. Plosive sounds are also sometimes referred to as stops.

-

English pronunciation contains 6 plosive phonemes: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/.
Affricates occur when a complete closure is made somewhere in the mouth,
and the soft palate is raised. Air pressure increases behind the closure, and is
then released more slowly than in plosives. There are only two affricate

consonants: /tʃ/, /dʒ/.
- Fricatives occur when two vocal organs come close enough together for the
movement of air to be heard between them. There are 9 fricative sounds in

-

English: /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/
Nasal sounds occur when a complete closure is made somewhere in the
mouth, the soft palate is lowered, and air escapes through the nasal cavity.

-

There are 3 nasal consonants: /m/, /n/, /ŋ/.
The lateral is so called because, in this sound, the airflow is around the sides

-

of tongue. /l/ is the only lateral consonant in English.
Approximants occur when one articulator moves close to another, but not
close enough to cause friction or to stop the air flow. Note that /w/ and /j/ are
sometimes referred to as ‘semi-vowels’. This is because they are made

19


without a restriction to the airflow, unlike the other consonants. All three
2.7.

approximants are important linking sounds in connected speech: /r/, /j/, /w/.
Problems with ending sounds and consonants

Base on Honey’s statement, “the Vietnamese consonant system is very different
from that of the English, and there is considerable variation between dialects.
Vietnamese learners of English can be expected to come across particular difficulty
with some or all of the following sounds: /f/, /θ/, /ð/, /z/”.

Vietnamese students can pronounce words with final voiceless stop consonants
/p/, /t/ and /k/, as these voiceless stop consonants occur at the final position of a
word in Vietnamese. However, Vietnamese students pronounce these consonants
with extremely short duration, and therefore, the sounds are never released at the
end position of a word. It can be very difficult for English native speakers to hear
these sounds from Vietnamese learners. For example, a Vietnamese learner of
English producing the word ‘seat’ may sound like ‘see’ (Avery and Ehrlich, 1992,
page 153).
Vietnamese students learning English pronunciation have a number of problems
with the voiced versus the voiceless stops in word final position, /b/, /p/, /d/, /g/
vs. /p/, /t/, /k/. Based on Avery and Ehrlich's statement, “Vietnamese has no voiced
stops at the ends of words” (page 154). Additionally, Vietnamese learners of
English encounter problems with words final fricative consonants /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/,
/z/. Vietnamese learners can pronounce fricatives such as /f/, /v/ and /s/ at the
beginning of English words. However, fricatives do not occur in word-final position
in their mother tongue. Thus, omission of a fricative at the end of words usually
occurs when they speak English. The word ‘beef’ may be pronounced like /bi:/,
‘month’ as /mʌn/.
•

Consonant /s/ and /z/:
Vietnamese students often get confused between /s/ and /z/. They replace /s/
for /z/, so that a word such as ‘pea’ is pronounced as ‘peace’. In conversational
situations, the /s/ sound may present two types of problem. The first problem is
that in the spelling of some words, the /s/ sound is omitted. For example, the

20


word ‘because’ is often pronounced as /bɪˈkəs/. The second problem that many

speakers encounter is the redundancy of the /s/ sound. As mentioned above,
the /s/ and /z/ sounds do not occur at the final position in Vietnamese words, but
for English words, they do. Consequently, when speaking, Vietnamese learners
of English are over aware of these sounds and the over-awareness leads them to
make pronunciation mistakes. Vietnamese often add the /s/ sound in both
adjectives and non-count nouns. For example, instead of saying ‘very good’,
many speakers say ‘very goods’, and ‘a lot of money’ turns out sounding like ‘a
lot of moneys’.
• Consonant /θ/ and /ð/:
Vietnamese students often create a heavily voiceless stop /t/ instead of a
voiceless fricative /θ/ in a word like ‘thank’. Apparently, they vocalize the
sound /t/ based on their language since in Vietnamese the letter “th” is
combined by a heavily aspirated /t/. So, the word ‘three’ can be pronounced
exactly like ‘tree’. Vietnamese learners of English commonly produce /d/ or
/z/ for /ð/ sounds, so the word ‘than’ may sound like /dæn/ or /zæn/ (Avery
and Ehrlich, 1992, page 155).
• Consonant /p/, /f/ and /b/:
In Vietnamese language, the voiceless stop /p/ does not occur in initial places
of words. As such, Vietnamese learners can substitute a voiced stop /b/ or a
voiceless fricative /f/ for /p/. Examples of this are that the word ‘pool’ may
sound like ‘fool’, and ‘pop’ may sound like bop. In contrast, in the final
positions, these consonants often provoke confusion for learners. For
example, ‘lab’ might sound like ‘lap’ (Avery and Ehrlich, 1992, page 155).
2.8.
Word stress
2.8.1. Definition
In English, word stress is one of the most important factors that learners have to
spend their time studying and practicing. Students can easily understand that it is
often called stress to indicate how strong or weak the sound is.
According to Collins English Dictionary, Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers

that “the stress accent on the syllables of individual words either I a sentence or in
isolation.”
21


Additionally, the definition of word stress is shown in “Put English Phonetics into
Practice compiled” by SzilágyiLászló in 2004 that “in English, we do not say each
syllable with the same force or strength. In one word, we accentuate ONE syllable.
We say one syllable very loudly (big, strong, important) and all the other syllables
very quietly”.
There are two very important points about word stress:

- One word, one stress
- The stress is always on a word
Word stress is the important key to understanding spoken English. Native English
speakers use word stress naturally. Word stress is so natural for them that they do
not even know they use it. Non-native speakers, who speak English to native
speakers without using word stress, encounter two problems:

- They find it difficult to understand native speakers, especially those speaking
fast.
- The native speakers may find it difficult to understand them.
2.8.2. The importance of word stress
Word stress plays an important role while the speakers pronounce English word.
 Stress differentiation of different words.

In English there are many words with the same pronunciation, even the
pronunciation. We cannot distinguish the words without stress.
Table 2.2. Stress differentiation of different words
Word

Spelling

Type and
Meaning

/ˈprez.ənt/

(n) món quà

present
/prɪˈzent/
/ˈkɒn.tent/
content
/kənˈtent/
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Example

She gave me theatre tickets as a
present.
(v) giới thiệu, trình Nam presented the report to his
bày
colleagues at the meeting.
(n) nội dung, ý
It's a very beautiful film, but it lacks
tưởng
content.
(v) chấp nhận,
Her explanation seemed to content

bằng lòng
him.


 Stress makes the correctness for the vocabulary:

Proper pronunciation is not enough, as we must rely on stress to determine the
part of speech.
Table 2.3. Stress makes the correctness for the vocabulary
Word

Spelling
/ˈkɒn.flɪkt/

conflict
/kənˈflɪkt/

Type and
Meaning
(n) sự mâu thuẫn,
sự xung đột
(v) mâu thuẫn,
xung đột

/ˈprəʊ.test/ (n) sự phản kháng
protest
/prəˈtest/

(v) phản kháng,
phản đối

Example
There was a lot of conflict between
his sons.
Their thoughts conflict with ours.
One member of the parliament
resigned in protest at the changes.
Labour protested about the new
working hours.

2.8.3. Word stress rules in English

Stress plays an important role with every English learner, the researcher will give
more information about rules to lake stress in English words to help others
understand deeply and use these into practice.
The rules of word stress are indicated clearly in “Put English Phonetics into Practice
compiled” by SzilágyiLászló in 2004.
There are two rules about word stress:
2.8.3.1. One word has only one stress

One word cannot have two stresses. If you hear two stresses, you hear two word.
Two stresses cannot be one word. It is true that there can be a “secondary” stress in
some words. But a secondary stress is much smaller than the main stress, and is
only used in long words.
2.8.3.2. We can only stress vowels, not consonants

Here are some more, rather complicated, rules that can help English learners
understand where to put the stress. But do not rely on them too much, because there
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are many exceptions. It is better to try to “feel” the music of the language and to add
the stress naturally.
a)

Stress on first syllable
Table 2.4. Rules of Stress on first syllable
Rule

Most 2-syllable nouns
Most 2-syllable adjectives
b)

Examples
Labor /ˈleɪ.bər/
Table /ˈteɪ.bəl/
Method /ˈmeθ.əd/
Happy /ˈhæp.i/
Simple /ˈsɪm.pəl/
Easy /ˈiː.zi/

Stress on last syllable
Table 2.5. Rules of Stress on last syllable
Rule

Examples

Begin /bɪˈɡɪn/
Most 2-syllable verbs
Intend /ɪnˈtend/

Decide /dɪˈsaɪd/
There are many 2-syllable words in English whose meaning and class change with a
change in stress. For example, “present” is a 2-syllable word. If we stress the first
syllable, it is a noun – meaning gift or an adjective – meaning apposite of absent.
But if we stress the second syllable, it becomes a verb – meaning to offer.
More example: the words “export, import, contract and object” can all be nouns or
verbs depending on whether the stress is on the first or second syllable.
c)

Stress on penultimate syllable (penultimate means second from end)
Table 2.6. Rules of Stress on second from end syllable

Rule
Words ending in -ic
Words ending in -sion/-tion

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Examples
Athletic /æθˈlet.ɪk/
Scientific /saɪənˈtɪf.ɪk/
Graphic /ˈɡræf.ɪk/
Vision /ˈvɪʒ.ən/
Education /ˌedʒ.ʊˈkeɪ.ʃən/
Relation /rɪˈleɪ.ʃən/


For a few words, native English speakers do not always “agree” on where to put
the stress. For example, with “television” some people say /ˈtel.ɪ.vɪʒ.ən/ and
others say /ˌtel.ɪˈvɪʒ.ən/. Another example is: “controversy” some people say /

ˈkɒn.trə.vɜː.si/ and others say /kənˈtrɒv.ə.si/.
d)

Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate means third from end)
Table 2.7. Rules of Stress on third from end syllable

Rule
Words ending in -cy, -ty, -phy and -gy

Words ending in -al

e)

Examples
Emergency /ɪˈmɜː.dʒən.si/
Quality /ˈkwɒl.ə.ti/
Geography /dʒiˈɒɡ.rə.fi/
Biology /baɪˈɒl.ə.dʒi
Physical /ˈfɪz.ɪ.kəl/
Exceptional /ɪkˈsep.ʃən.əl/
Musical /ˈmjuː.zɪ.kəl/

Compound words (words with two parts)
Table 2.8. Rules of Stress on compound word

Rule
Example
For compound nouns , the stress is on Seafood /ˈsiː.fuːd/
the first part.
Toothbrush /ˈtuːθ.brʌʃ/

Cowboy /ˈkaʊ.bɔɪ/
For compound adjectives, the stress is Well-known /ˌwel ˈnəʊn/
on the second part.
Old-fashioned /ˌəʊldˈfæʃ.ənd/
Good-looking /ˌɡʊdˈlʊk.ɪŋ/
For compound verbs, the stress is on Overbook /ˌəʊ.vəˈbʊk/
the second part.
Understand /ˌʌn.dəˈstænd/
Overflow /ˌəʊ.vəˈfləʊ/
2.8.4. Common word stress errors

In the Vietnamese language, people speak all words in the same volume. On the
other hand, English like a musical language. The stress always occurs. The stressed
syllable will be pronounced longer and higher than another. If the words have
incorrect stress, they will have a different meaning, for example, the word ‘record’
will be a verb if it is pronounced /rɪˈkɔːd/ stress in the second letter, and it will be a
noun if pronounced /ˈrek.ɔːd/ stress in the first letter.
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