Difficulties and strategies for improving English pronunciation of secondyear English major students at Thuongmai University

ABSTRACT
It is easy to see how important English is all over the world. Many
international companies conduct meetings in English, universities offer classes in
English, and visitors and travelers all over the world use English as a popular
language. English is the most commonly spoken language in the world. One out of five
people can speak or at least understand English. Among four skills in English,
speaking seem to be paid great attention of English learners. However, it’s no surprise
that there are loads of problems Vietnamese speakers have with English pronunciation.
Therefore, to improve speaking skills in English communication, Vietnamese
students should find out the difficulties in their pronunciation. This study will go into
the pronunciation difficulties encountered by second-year students of English faculty
at Thuongmai University.
In other words, this study will explore students' difficulties with sounds that are
not in the Vietnamese phonetic system. Problems with written form and spoken form
inconsistencies is also mentioned here. Difficulty in pronunciation also comes from
word stress and the influences of the local language on English learners. The data from
the survey are conducted by the second-year of English faculty at Thuongmai
University through questionnaire and audio record to collect essential information.
Besides, the results of the study revealed the most applied English pronunciation
improvement method among students. In addition, the study also provides the
strategies for both students and teachers in terms of English pronunciation.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
During the progress of conducting my graduation paper, I could not complete it if
I did not have supports and guidance from our supervisor and friends, including the
English second-year students surveyed.
Foremost, I would like to express my deeply sincere gratitude to my advisor,
Mrs. Pham Thuy Giang, M.A, for her guidance and precious comments she gave

throughout my research. I am in the beginning of my career, I have not enough time to
do everything. However, she was still tolerant of advising and clarifying all my
misunderstanding whenever I asked. Without her valuable advice and support, my
graduation paper would have been impossible to be done on schedule.
Besides my advisor, I also want to send my thanks to our teachers in Thuongmai
University who gave me the possibility to complete this thesis.
Additional, I need to thank my fellow – English freshmen in Thuongmai
University. Without them, I could not have overcome such times and concentrated on
my study.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my family and friends for their support
and encouraging me as I concentrated on writing and researching. They have always
played an important role in my life. Without their encouragement, I would not have
been able to complete this study.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT................................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...........................................................................................ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS..............................................................................................iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.........................................................................................v
LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS..............................................................................vi
CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY...............................................................1
1.1. Rationale...............................................................................................................1
1.2. Previous studies.....................................................................................................2
1.3. Aims of the study..................................................................................................3
1.4. Research subjects..................................................................................................4
1.5. Scope of the study.................................................................................................4
1.6. Research methodology..........................................................................................4

1.7. Organization of the study......................................................................................5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW........................................................................7
2.1. Overview of pronunciation.....................................................................................7
2.1.1. Definitions...........................................................................................................7
2.1.2. The importance of pronunciation.........................................................................8
2.2. Pronunciation components......................................................................................9
2.2.1. Vowel sounds........................................................................................................9
2.2.2. Consonant sounds..............................................................................................11
2.2.3. Word stress.........................................................................................................14
2.3. International Phonetic Alphabet............................................................................14
2.4. Pronunciation difficulties......................................................................................15
2.4.1. Difficulties in English sounds.............................................................................15
2.4.2. Inconsistencies in written and spoken form........................................................19
2.4.3. Difficulties in word stress...................................................................................19
2.4.4. Local language influences.................................................................................20
2.5. Strategies for improving English pronunciation....................................................21
2.5.1. Listening from foreign sources...........................................................................21

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2.5.2. Learning about International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)......................................22
2.5.3. Repetitive practice.............................................................................................23
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS......................................................................24
3.1. Situation analysis................................................................................................24
3.2. Data collection instruments.................................................................................24
3.2.1. The survey questionnaire..................................................................................24
3.2.2. The Audio Recording.........................................................................................24
3.3. Data collection procedures..................................................................................25
3.4. Research findings................................................................................................26

3.4.1. Findings from the survey questionnaire............................................................26
3.4.2. Findings from the audio recordings..................................................................36
3.5. Discussion...........................................................................................................38
3.5.1. Pronunciation difficulties..................................................................................38
3.5.2. Strategies for improving English pronunciation................................................39
CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS.................................41
4.1. Summary of the study...........................................................................................41
4.2. Recommendations.................................................................................................41
4.2.1. Recommendations for students...........................................................................41
4.2.2. Recommendations for teachers..........................................................................43
4.3. Limitations of the study........................................................................................45
4.4. Recommendations for further studies...................................................................46
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................47
REFERENCES........................................................................................................... VII
APPENDICES.............................................................................................................IX

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

No.

Abbreviations

1
2
3

TMU

Abt
No.

Explanation
Thuongmai University
About
Number

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LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS
Figure 2.1. Vowel sounds...............................................................................................9
Figure 2.2. Classification of vowel sounds..................................................................10
Figure 2.3. Consonants and vowels (Reprinted from Sound foundations 1994 by
Adrian Underhill with kind permission of Macmillan Education, UK)........................11
Figure 2.4. Diagram of the vocal tract........................................................................12
Figure 2.5. Classification of consonant sounds...........................................................14
Figure 2.6. The International Phonetic Alphabet.........................................................15
Figure 2.7. Examples of the 26 syllable-initial two-consonant clusters in words........18
Figure 2.8. Examples of the six syllable-initial three-consonant clusters in words......18
Chart 3.1. Hometowns of the students participating in the survey...............................26
Chart 3.2. Students’ assessment of importance of English skills..................................27
Chart 3.3. Student’s frequency of speaking English.....................................................28
Chart 3.4. Students’ assessment of difficulty level of English speaking factors............29
Chart 3.5. Students’ assessment of importance of pronunciation in speaking English. 30
Chart 3.6. When students started to learn English pronunciation...............................31
Chart 3.7. Student’s experience in English pronunciation courses..............................32
Chart 3.8. Students’ difficulties in pronouncing vowels sounds...................................33
Table 3.1. Students’ difficulties in pronouncing English consonants...........................34

Table 3.2. Strategies for improving students’ pronunciation........................................35
Chart 3.9. Students' assessment of the most effective strategy.....................................36
Table 3.3. The number of errors made in the reading aloud test..................................37

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CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
1.1. Rationale
English is the popular language in the world and the number of people around the
world using English is constantly increasing. Up to now, there are more than 1.2
billion English speakers worldwide, including more than 350 million native speakers
and the rest use English as a second language. English is known as the international
language of business, and it is true that that international trade expands every year and
brings all countries in the world together.
In particular, Vietnam has been a member of WTO (World Trade Organization),
using English plays an essential role in period of integration, as well as in the
industrialization and modernization process of our country. The importance of learning
English has become more growing, when most multinational companies require a
certain level of English proficiency from potential workers. Therefore more and more
people are learning English in order to get a position in a top company.
In most Vietnamese schools, besides science and social subjects, English is
currently required as a compulsory subject. At school, students focus on learning
grammar to pass the final exam. The English competency assessment of students have
based mainly on the test scores on paper, including grammar and reading tasks.
Meanwhile, improving speaking skill for students has not been paid much attention,
lead to a large number of students attending university with poor English speaking
skill.
Literally, there are several factors that affect speaking English such as
vocabulary, grammar, intonation,…, etc. and pronunciation is considered as the most

influential one.
During my observation I noticed that the difficulties in English pronunciation
include four main factors. Firstly, the English sound system has several sounds which
Vietnamese do not have. Secondly, in Vietnamese, in order to pronounce word
correctly, we just need to spell the written form of the word; meanwhile in English, it
is impossible to pronounce it by spelling the word. Lastly, word stress in English is
difficult when Vietnamese is kind of language which has single syllable in every word.

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In short, to be able to speak English correctly and fluently in order to
communicate in an effective way, learners should not ignore the pronunciation
practice. In order to learn it effectively, learners should also pay attention to some of
the difficulties in improving their pronunciation that they presumably encounter, as
well as appropriate strategies to master English pronunciation. Especially, for secondyear students of Faculty of English at Thuongmai University, it is even more
important to understand it deeply.
Therefore, in order to study this topic in depth, the author made a decision to
conduct the research entitled: “Difficulties and strategies for improving English
pronunciation of second-year English major students at Thuongmai University”.
Hopefully, this study will help students understand deeply about this issues that they
have not noticed before and suggest some strategies to solve the problems and help
them improve their pronunciation.
1.2. Previous studies
Many studies have been conducted to help learners realize the importance of
English pronunciation as well as the variety of pronunciation problems they face. They
also will be helpful references with suggested strategies that will assist students in
improving the pronunciation learning and developing their own successful learning
methods in order to improve their pronunciation skill. There have been previous
studies that address the difficulties in learning English pronunciation in order to solve

those problems. Thus, I would like to rely on these studies as reference materials for
my graduation paper.
According to the study by Komariah (2018)- with the title: “Promblems in
pronouncing the English sounds faced by the students of SMPN 2 Halong, Banjar”, the
difficulties in English pronunciation can be caused by the absence of the sounds in
their mother tongue. There are some problems of learning English in Indonesia and
pronunciation is one of the most difficult components in English. This research utilized
a qualitative approach of contrastive analysis. The information was gathered from the
voices of the students who were interviewed. The researcher used a technique of
recording, transcribing, and analyzing. The following is how the data were examined
by the researcher: 1. comparing English sounds and students’ pronunciation, 2.

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deciding which consonant, vowel, and diphthong the students mispronounce, 3.
determining the students' difficulties in pronouncing English sounds, 4. finding out the
students' difficulties in pronouncing English sounds, and 5. drawing a conclusion. The
participants in this study are Banjar ninth-grade students at SMPN 2 Halong.
Finally, the study showed that the students of SMPN 2 Halong had trouble
pronouncing English consonant sounds (/ t /, / θ /, / ʃ /, / f /, / ʒ /, /d/), vowels (/ɒ/,
/e/, /oʊ/) and diphthongs ( /eɪ/, /oʊ/, /ər /). The sound /θ/ is pronounced as /t/, /ʃ/ as
/s/, /ɒ / as /u/, /oʊ/ as /aw/, /ʒ/ as /s/, while /t/, /eɪ /, /t/, /d/ and /ər/ are pronounced as
they are written.
The second study was researched and written by Nguyen Thi Thu Thao (2007).
The title of this study is: “ Difficulties for Vietnamese when pronouncing English
(Final consonants)”. The purposes of this study were: offering a systematic study of
the articulation of final consonants of Vietnamese-accented English. Firstly, the
differences in final consonants of the two languages were considered in background
research. In the second part of that paper, recorded data and evaluations from native

speakers were analyzed. Difficulties and tendencies in informants’ final consonants
and cluster pronunciation are synthesized into certain types. The comprehensibility is
worked in order to get a general assessment of how native-like Vietnamese speakers’
English final consonants are.
Data were collected from five informants with different Vietnamese accents and
English proficiency both within and outside Vietnam, and then emailed to the
researcher. The results of the analyzed data were classified into three categories:
single-final consonants existing in Vietnamese or close to Vietnamese, single final
consonants unfamiliar to Vietnamese and final consonant clusters. The assessment of
native speakers was also included as part of the results.
1.3. Aims of the study
This study is about to point out the difficulties in English pronunciation of
second-year English majored students at Thuongmai University to help them aware of
its importance. In addition it also suggests some solutions to each problem for both
students and teachers.

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1.4. Research subjects
All the related data were used to analyze for this study were gathered from
Faculty of English at Thuongmai University by a survey questionnaire and audio
recorded. The questionnaire was distributed to 60 students at English Faculty, who
were randomly selected. Each informant comes from different regions, have different
educational access, and different learning experiences. Some of participants have had
the opportunity to learn English for 6 years by studying at school or attending extra
courses. Besides, there is also the number of students studying English for three years
or less. The questionnaire was designed to identify the students’ experiences of
learning English, specifically the difficulties in learning English pronunciation. From
there, author determines the most popular method they apply to themselves to improve

their own English pronunciation difficulties.
1.5. Scope of the study
There are many different difficulties that students may encounter in their
pronunciation when speaking English. However, this study does not aim to cover all
the issues in pronouncing English. With the time limitation, this research concentrates
on the most common pronunciation difficulties of second-year English majored
students at Thuongmai University.
The study was conducted on 50 second-year students of Faculty of English at
Thuongmai University.
The writer hopes this research will be a useful material for second-year students
of Faculty of English who concerns this issue and help them to improve their English
pronunciation.
1.6. Research methodology
The main instrument used in the study to collect data was an online questionnaire
survey and audio record test.
1.6.1.

Online questionnaire survey

Online questionnaire survey is one of the most effective instruments for
collecting data in social science. It aims at identifying the attitude and difficulties of
students towards English pronunciation, as well as the strategies they used to improve

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their pronunciation skill. This method helps author to have an objective view and
provide data related to the research object.
The questions of the research are described as below:
 What are English pronunciation difficulties which English-majored

sophomores at Thuongmai University encounter?
 What are techniques/ strategies to improve English pronunciation when
studying as second-year students at English of Faculty?
Data collection:
Step 1: Identify and prepare the content of questionnaire
Step 2: Start the survey by sending the online questionnaire to second-year
students and ask about their strategies for improving pronunciation.
Step 3: Collect responses from the students
Step 4: Give reliable figures with charts and conclusion from the results obtained
1.6.2.

Audio recording

The audio recordings were used to identify the difficulties in pronouncing
English of English-major sophomore students at Thuongmai University. The text used
for recording are sourced from a post at The Wisdom Post.
Procedures
Step 1: Prepare the text for the audio recording
Step 2: Send the text to 5 English-majored sophomores at Thuongmai University
and ask them to read the text
Step 3: Gather the results from their recording
Step 4: Analyze the recording and figure out their difficulties in pronouncing
English from its results
1.7. Organization of the study
The study is divided into four following chapters:
Chapter 1: Overview of the study
This part provides an overview of the study including rationale, previous studies,
aims of the study, research subjects, scope of the study, research methodology and
organization of the study.
Chapter 2: Literature review

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This chapter illustrates the theoretical background related to the issue including
overview of pronunciation, the International Alphabet Phonetic, pronunciation
components, some pronunciation difficulties and some strategies for improving
English pronunciation.
Chapter 3: Research findings
Relying on the data collected from the survey questionnaire and audio recording,
the issues were analyzed in depth in order to provide realistic information about
difficulties in pronouncing English of second-year English Faculty students.
Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggestions
In this chapter, some solutions are given for second-year English major students
to improve their English pronunciation. Moreover, teachers in Faculty of English will
have an additional perspective on the difficulties students face when pronouncing
English in order to have effective instructions and teaching methods. Limitations of
the study are also included and the researcher can give some recommendations for
further studies.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Overview of pronunciation
2.1.1. Definitions
English pronunciation is considered as the key for who want to be able to
communicate correctly and fluently. Thus, this is an important skill that English
learners need to spend time researching and improving if they honestly want to have
ability to master their English speaking skill dramatically. Pronunciation of words

should be learned before learning other skills, so what is pronunciation? In this
section, the definition of pronunciation will be provided to the second-year students in
English of Faculty at TMU.
First of all, we have the definition of pronunciation from AMEP Fact sheets by
the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs.
Pronunciation is defined as: “ The production of sounds that we are used to make
meaning. It includes attention to the particular sounds of a language (segments),
aspects of speech beyond the level of the individual sounds such as intonation,
phrasing, stress, timing, rhythm (suprasegmental aspects), how the voice is projected
(voice quality) and, in its broadest definition, attention to gestures and expressions that
are closely related to the way we speak a language.
Or we can understand that “Pronunciation is the production of a sound system
which does not interfere with communication either from the speakers’ or the listeners’
viewpoint” (Paulston & Burder, 1976). Pronunciation is the way of uttering a word in
an accepted manner (Otlowski, 1998). Furthermore, Richard and Schmidt (2002)
defined pronunciation as the method of producing certain sounds.
Additionally, pronunciation is also put as “the way in which a language is
spoken” (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Encyclopedic, 1992, p.718). The Oxford
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 8th (2008) makes a clear definition which is “the way
in which a language or a particular word or sound pronounced”.
As we can see, definitions of pronunciation are varied, this one from Oxford
Dictionary seems to be easier to understand: “Pronunciation is the way in which a
word is pronounced”.

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2.1.2. The importance of pronunciation
Learners with good English pronunciation are likely to be understood even if
they make mistakes, whereas learners with poor pronunciation would not be

understood even if their grammar is flawless. We try to judge people by the way they
talk, so students with poor pronunciation can be considered to be inexperienced,
uneducated, or a lack knowledge. Obviously, foreigners only understand what we say
when we pronounce correctly; thus, those who have good pronunciation skills will
have an advantage in communicating in English. As we can see, pronunciation plays a
fundamental role in speaking skills but many English language learners do not pay
adequate attention to and invest in English pronunciation. They find that improving
pronunciation is less important than other factors of English language such as
grammar, meaning of word, lexicology.
In fact, it is true that other people will not understand what you say, if the word is
mispronounced even though you know the spelling and meaning of the word. So, if
students have a desire to speak English correctly, then surely they will need to pay
attention to correct pronunciation as soon as possible. Additionally, with superb
pronunciation foundation, the process of acquiring new words becomes easier. As a
result, listening skills of students will also be significantly improved when they know
the correct pronunciation of the words they hear. When you pronounce correctly, you
know how exactly the words are pronounced. Therefore, it is very helpful for listening
comprehension skills, you will listen more easily to English videos or radio, podcasts,
…etc. if you know how to pronounce every single word. On the contrary, you
pronounce incorrectly some words, when you hear native speakers say those words
you will not understand what they are saying.
In addition, when you pronounce correctly, you will create a more professional
sense and listeners will have the feeling of wanting to hear what you say. Especially
those who work in the industry need to communicate with customers a lot, the correct
pronunciation is the top priority.
In short, when it comes to pronunciation, we cannot deny its importance in
communication. Pronunciation is considered the first impression you have when you
first communicate with foreigners. Easier communication with you will make your

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work relationship with your partner more potential. Thus, students really need to take
pronunciation into account when speaking English.
2.2. Pronunciation components
2.2.1. Vowel sounds

Figure 2.1. Vowel sounds
According to Cambridge Dictionary, the definition of vowel sounds is “a speech
sound produced by humans when the breath flows out through the mouth without
being blocked by the teeth, tongue, or lips”. Vowels are formed without any significant
constriction. Vowels are derived from the Latin word vocalist, which means
"speaking," and in most languages, words and thus speech are not possible without
vowels. The term vowel is sometimes used to refer to both vowel sounds and the
written symbols that represent them.
According to Wolfram and Johnson (1981: 27), vowels take on their peculiar
characteristics from changes in size and shape of the oral cavity as a whole. The vowel
height dimension refers to the vertical position of the highest point of the tongue's
body. The vowel back ness dimension refers to the position of the highest part of the
tongue's body on a horizontal scale.

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 Classification of vowel sounds:

Figure 2.2. Classification of vowel sounds
Vowels can be classified according to three variables:
 Tongue height
High vowels: are those in the production of which the tongue is high in the

mouth. It is raised above its rest position. E.g. /i:/,/u:/
Low vowels: are those made with the tongue below its position. E.g. /a:/
Mid vowels: are those made with the tongue neither high nor low in the mouth.
E.g. /e/
 Part of tongue which is raised
Front vowels: are those in the production of which the front of the tongue is the
highest point. E.g. /i:/
Back vowels: are those in the production of which the back of the tongue is the
highest point. E.g. /u:/
Central vowels: are those made with neither the front nor back of the tongue. The
tongue is neither high nor low in the mouth. E.g. /ə/
 Degree of lip rounding
Rounded vowels: are those made with rounded lips. The corners of the lips are
brought towards each other and the lips are pushed forwards.
Unrounded vowels: are those made with the lips spread. The corners of the lips
are moved away from each other as for a smile.
Neutral vowels: are those made with the lips neither rounded nor spread.

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2.2.2. Consonant sounds

Figure 2.3. Consonants and vowels (Reprinted from Sound foundations 1994 by
Adrian Underhill with kind permission of Macmillan Education, UK)
The definition of consonant sound is understood as “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” (Cambridge Dictionary). Consonants is also defined “ As
speech sound that is not a vowel; a letter of the alphabet that represents a speech sound

produced by a partial or complete obstruction of the air stream by a constriction of the
speech organs”.
According to Celce-Murcia (2010), consonants are phonemes that are not
vowels, in other words are realized by obstruction. So the airflow through the mouth is
blocked at places of articulation.
P. Christophersen (1952), a noted phonetician defines consonants as “sounds in
the production of which there is no obstruction of the air passage. This obstruction is
caused sometimes by another of the speech organs, and it amounts sometimes to a
complete closure and all other time only to a partial one”

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 Classification of consonant sounds
According to Marianne, Donna and Janet (1996, p.42,43) the consonants system
is classified in terms of place and manner of articulation.

Figure 2.4. Diagram of the vocal tract
According to the place of articulation, consonants are classified into 9 types:
Bilabial: is the sound made with two lips pressed together or coming together.
E.g.: /b, p, w, m/
Labia-dental: is the sound which is produced with the lower lip touching the
upper front teeth. E.g. /f, v/
Dental: is the sound which is produced with the tip or blade of the tongue
touching the upper front teeth. E.g. /θ, ð/
Alveolar: is the sound which is produced with the tip or blade of the tongue
touching or approaching the alveolar ridge. E.g. /t, d, s, z, n, l/
Retroflex: is the sound which is produced with the tip of the tongue curling back
towards the back of the alveolar ridge. E.g. /r/

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Palate – alveolar: is the sound which is produced with the tongue tip or blade
coming close to the area between the back of the alveolar ridge and the front of the
hard palate. E.g. /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/
Palatal: is the sound which is produced with the front of the tongue coming close
to the hard palate. E.g. /j/
Velar: is the sound which is produced with the back of the tongue touching the
soft palate. E.g./k/, /g/, /ŋ /
Glottal: is the sound which is produced without the active use of the tongue and
other parts of the mouth. /h/
According to manner of articulation, consonants include 6 types:
Nasal: they are produced with the air-stream being stopped in the oral cavity but
the soft palate is down so that the air can go out through the nose. E.g. /m/, /n/, /ŋ /
Plosive: are the sounds which are produced with the air-stream being stopped in
the oral cavity and the soft palate is raised blocking off the nasal cavity. Then the two
articulators come apart quickly and the air escapes through the oral tract. E.g. /p/, /b/,
/t/, /d/, /k/, /g/
Fricative: are the sounds in the production of which two articulators come close
together but there is still a small opening between them so the airstream is partially
obstructed and audible friction noise is produced when a stop is immediately followed
by a fricative. E.g. /tʃ/, /dʒ/
Lateral: is the sound which is made when the air-stream is obstructed at a point
along the center of the oral tract, with incomplete closure between one or both sides of
the tongue and the roof of the mouth. E.g. /l/
Approximant: are the sounds in the production of which two articulators come
close together but without the vocal tract being narrowed to such an extent that a
friction noise is produced. E.g. /r/, /w/, /j/

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Figure 2.5. Classification of consonant sounds
2.2.3. Word stress
Definition of Word Stress by Merriam-Webster is “the manner in which stresses
are distributed on the syllables of a word”. According to Macmillan Dictionary, word
stress is defined as “the way in which a certain part of a word is emphasized more than
others when speaking. For example, in the word ‘emphasized’ the stress falls on the
first syllable, while in the word ‘example’ it falls on the second syllable”.
According to British Council: “when we stress syllables in words, we use a
combination of different features. Experiment now with the word 'computer'. Say it out
loud. Listen to yourself. The second syllable of the three is stressed”.
2.3. International Phonetic Alphabet
According to Peter Roach - Glossary, The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
“is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It
was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a
standardized representation of speech sounds in written form”. One goal of the
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) was to provide a unique symbol for each distinct
sound in a language—that is, every sound, or phoneme, that distinguishes one word
from another.
Unlike Vietnamese, when learning English, we must learn about international
phonetics to understand the English pronunciation, not look at the written form of the
words. The IPA primarily uses Roman characters. Other letters are adapted from other
scripts (e.g. Greek) and changed to conform to Roman style. Diacritics are used to

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demonstrate nasalization of vowels, length, stress and tones as well as fine distinctions

in sounds.
There are 44 sounds in The International Phonetic Alphabet. They are divided
into 2 groups: 20 vowel sounds including 12 monophthongs (single vowel sounds
within a syllable), 8 diphthongs (two single vowel sounds combined within a syllable)
and 24 consonants sounds.

Figure 2.6. The International Phonetic Alphabet
2.4. Pronunciation difficulties
2.4.1. Difficulties in English sounds
2.4.1.1. Difficulties in vowel sounds
Vietnamese and English vowel system is more different. People can recognize
Vietnamese vowels by spelling, but it does not work in English. In a Vietnamese word,
there is only one way to pronounce a vowel, but in English, learners may get confused
between tense and lax vowel pairs such as /I :/ and /ɪ/, /u:/ and /ʊ/. Vietnamese learners
cannot speak the two vowels of each pair correctly, such as words like sheep, taste, and
stewed. When Vietnamese people pronounce these words, English native speakers may
hear ship, text, and stood, instead.

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Besides, some English vowels do not exist in the Vietnamese alphabet that also
creates more difficulties and problems when pronouncing such as /ɪ/ and /æ/.
The /ɪ/ sound is a Vowel sound and its technical name is the ‘Near-Close NearFront Unrounded Vowel’ which also tells us about how the sound is made physically.
When pronouncing this sound, our tongue is close to the top and the front of the
mouth. Unrounded refers to our lips because they are stretched out as if we are smiling
and not rounded. All vowels are made through the mouth and are voiced so we vibrate
our vocal chords to make the sound. It is similar to the /i:/ sound, but it is shorter that
is also the reason why this sound is difficult to pronounce for students. In addition, it is
one of the two vowel sounds we use in English for unstressed syllables, the other one

being /ə/.
The /æ/ sound has a technical name: the ‘Near-Open Front Unrounded Vowel’.
When pronouncing this sound, we put our tongue low and at the front of the mouth
and stretch out our lips, then make a short voiced sound with the mouth open. The
front of the tongue is pushed further forward and is held lower in the mouth when
forming the 'short a' /æ/ sound than with any other vowel sound. The inside of the
bottom front teeth will be touched by the tip of the tongue. The tongue's body is
rounded slightly upward. The jaw is lowered and the lips separated, allowing the entire
oral cavity to remain open.
2.4.1.2. Difficulties in consonant sounds
The /θ/ sound is called the ‘Voiceless dental fricative’ and the /ð/ sound is called
the ‘Voiced dental fricative’. It means that we create friction between the tongue and
top teeth. These sounds are paired together since they are produced with the same
mouth position. They are characterized by the location of your tongue and teeth, and it
is a fricative, which is a sound created by high-pressure air movement in a narrow
space in your mouth. Both of these two sounds do not exist in the Vietnamese phonetic
system and the way of pronouncing it is quite complex, leading to difficulties in
pronunciation for learners.
The /ʃ/ sound is called the ‘Voiceless palato-alveolar fricative’ and the /ʒ/ sound
is called the ‘Voiced palato-alveolar fricative’. These means that you create friction
through clenched teeth by directing air flow through a narrow channel formed along

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the middle of the tongue. These two consonants are paired together because they take
the same mouth position. They are fricative sounds which are produced by directing a
stream of air with the tongue towards the sharp edge of the teeth, and it is determined
by the shape of your tongue and the location of your teeth. Because there is no
existence of these two sounds in the Vietnamese pronunciation system, Vietnamese

people will reduce this sound to / s / and / z / to pronounce them.
The /ʧ/ sound is called the ‘Voiceless palato- alveolar affricate’ and the /ʤ/ sound
is called the ‘Voiced palato-alveolar affricate’. It means you create friction by first
obstructing airflow with your tongue and the ridge behind your teeth, then releasing it
through a small gap. These two sounds are paired together because they take the same
mouth position. They are characterized by the shape of your lips and the position of
your tongue, and they are an affricate, which is a sound created by closing the air flow
and then opening it by pushing air through a narrow space. The narrow gap between
your tongue and the ridge behind your teeth is caused by the tip of your tongue. The
structure of the sound formation of these two sounds is quite complicated, so learners
will pronounce these two sounds as "ch" and "tr" in Vietnamese.
 Consonant clusters
In linguistics, a consonant cluster is a group of consonants which have no
intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups /spl/ and /ts/ are consonant
clusters in the word “splits”. Consonant clusters cause challenges for students whose
first language does not permit the combination of too many consonants without any
need for intervening vowel sounds.
There are, therefore, 26 two-consonant clusters in English: /sm/, /sn/, /st/, /sw/,
/sk/, /sl/, /sp/, /sf/, /θw/, /dw/, /tw/, /θr/, /dr/, /tr/, /kw/, /kr/, /kl/, /pr/, /fr/, /br/, /gr/,
/pl/, /fl/, /bl/, /gl/ and /ʃr/.

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Figure 2.7. Examples of the 26 syllable-initial two-consonant clusters in words
Moreover, there are only six three-consonant clusters: /spl/, /spr/, /str/, /sfr/, /skr/
and /skw/. The combination /sfr/ is extremely restricted in English. Examples include
sphragide /sfreɪdʒaɪd/ (a pellet of clay from the Greek island Lemnos), sphragistics
/sfrəʤɪstɪks/ (the study of seals and signet rings) and sphrigosis /sfrɪʤəʊsɪs/ (over
abundant growth in plants). Many of these words have Greek roots and have been

introduced into the language. As a result, it is arguable that the combination /sfr/ in
syllable-initial position is not strictly permissible under English phonology rules.

Figure 2.8. Examples of the six syllable-initial three-consonant clusters in words
 Final consonant sounds
In Pronunciation Challenges for Vietnamese Learners, Dang Duc Minh said
“Explosive endings in English are completely new phenomena for speakers of
Vietnamese. Learners tend to omit the unvoiced endings or to make them all voiced.
For example, “mount” is often mispronounced as “moun” or “mounter,” and “park” as
“parker.” The distinguishing ending sounds of English words are another related
problem for Vietnamese learners.”

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According to Mr. Minh, “the distinguishing ending sounds of English words are
another related problem for Vietnamese learners. For example, it is difficult for them
to distinguish between “sing” and “sink”, “thing” and “think,” “seats” and “seeds,” or
“ceased” and “seized” because the only difference between these pairs is the
pronunciation of the final sound, which is not a phenomenon in Vietnamese.”
“Vietnamese effort to pronounce English word-final consonants will be towards
omitting, adding schwa or replacing by sounds closer to those existing in their mothertongue ” according to Nguyen Thi Thu Thao in “Difficulties for Vietnamese when
pronouncing English: Final Consonants” (2007).
2.4.2. Inconsistencies in written and spoken form
It would be much easier to pronounce English if the written form more closely
resembled the spoken form. Amongst the most confusing bits are silent letters – r, l, b,
h, k, n, p, s, t & w are all silent some of the time. Then there are letters that can be
pronounced in lots of different ways – ‘s’ can be pronounced as /z/, ‘t’ can be
pronounced in at least 5 ways, and an ‘n’ can become /m/ or /ŋ/. English contains 19
vowel sounds, but it only has 5 vowels to spell them with. Because of the difficulty in

recognition, it is difficult for students to pronounce a word correctly when only
reading the written form of the word without its phonetic. For example, ‘good’, ‘food’
and ‘blood’ are all contain different vowel sounds (/ʊ/, /u:/ and /ʌ/) despite their same
written form: “oo”.
2.4.3. Difficulties in word stress
Word stress is crucial because emphasizing the incorrect syllable can lead to
misunderstandings. The term may be difficult to understand, or a syllable may be
incorrectly stressed, causing confusion or even irritation to the listener. In certain
cases, emphasizing the incorrect syllable's meaning alters the meaning or form of
expression.
Since Vietnamese is a monosyllabic language and English is polysyllabic,
Vietnamese learners are likely to encounter word stress as an additional challenge.
There is no such thing as word stress in Vietnamese, while word stress is very
significant in English. That is why a standard English dictionary would always tell you
how to pronounce a phrase. Furthermore, the stress of an English word often changes

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