A study on pronunciation problems of the first year english major students at hung yen university of technology and education

HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

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GRADUATION PAPER
FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

A STUDY ON ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION
PROBLEMS OF THE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH
MAJOR STUDENTS AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY
OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION
(NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC LỖI PHÁT ÂM TIẾNG ANH
CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT CHUYÊN
NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ
PHẠM KỸ THUẬT HƯNG YÊN)
Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Duyen, M.A
Student: Nguyen Quang Vinh
Student number: 11317081

Hung Yen – 2021


HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

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GRADUATION PAPER
FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

A STUDY ON ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION
PROBLEMS OF THE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH
MAJOR STUDENTS AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY
OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION
(NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC LỖI PHÁT ÂM TIẾNG ANH
CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT CHUYÊN
NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ
PHẠM KỸ THUẬT HƯNG YÊN)
Student: Nguyen Quang Vinh
Student number: 11317081
Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Duyen, M.A

Hung Yen – 2021


i

DECLARATION
I hereby state that I-Nguyen Quang Vinh, from TAK15.1, certify my authorship of
the study report entitled “A study on pronunciation problems of the first year English
major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education”.
This graduation paper is the result of my own research and the substance of this
graduation paper has not been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution
and that if this declaration is found to be false, disciplinary measures and penalties can be
taken and imposed following university policies and rules.

Hung Yen, March 2021
Signature

Nguyen Quang Vinh

ii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
During the process of doing this graduation paper, I have received much necessary
assistance, precious ideas, and timely encouragement from my teachers, family, and
friends. This paper could not have been completed without the help, encouragement, and
support from several people who all deserve my sincerest gratitude and appreciation.
First of all, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor – Mrs. Nguyen Thi
Duyen, the English teacher of the Faculty of Foreign Language, who has always been
willing to give me valuable advice and suggestions so that I can complete successfully this
study. My graduation paper would have never been completed without her instructions.
I also would like to take this opportunity to show my sincere thanks to all my teachers at
the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hung Yen University of Technology and Education,
who have handed me basic knowledge to complete this study.
I am so thankful to the second-degree first-year English major students at the Faculty of
Foreign Language for their whole-heart participation in the study.
I would like to acknowledge my thanks to all the authors of the books, magazines, and
the other materials listed in the reference part for their ideas that have been reflected and
developed in the study.
I am equally indebted to my classmates for their suggestions and encouragement in the
process of my study.
Last but not least, my particular thanks are given to my parents for their encouragement
and support which played an important role in my graduation paper.


iii

ABSTRACT

Pronunciation is one of the indispensable skills for English learners, especially students
specializing in English. However, there are many students who have difficulties in
pronouncing English sounds. This study aims at finding some problems in English
pronunciation encountered by the first-year major students, especially is second-degree
English major students, then giving some suggested solutions for teachers and students in
teaching and learning pronunciation skill. Both qualitative and quantitative method were
used to analyze and to find the English pronunciation problems of the first-year students,
then suggest solutions to the problems. The research was conducted at Hung Yen
University of Technology and Education and the subject of this study was the seconddegree first-year English major students of FFL. There were 68 students and 6 teachers as
the subject of this study. Data were collected through questionnaires, an open-ended
question, and recordings (students' home-assignment videos). The result of analyzing
errors in English pronunciation for first-year major students showed that three main
findings were found: Students often mispronounce some English sounds (both vowels and
consonants), do not stress words or stress incorrect words, and mispronounce ending
sounds. To deal with these issues, the researcher recommended some solutions for both
teachers and students to be better in teaching and learning English pronunciation in
speaking lesson. This research would have many benefits to both English teachers and
students in terms of teaching and learning English pronunciation.


iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ............................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. ii
ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................. iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................... vii
LIST OF CHARTS......................................................................................................... viii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1

1. Rationale of the study .................................................................................................... 1
2. Aim and objectives of the study ..................................................................................... 2
3. Research questions ........................................................................................................ 2
4. Scope of the study ......................................................................................................... 2
5. The method of the study. ............................................................................................... 3
6. Significance of the study................................................................................................ 3
7. Design of the study ........................................................................................................ 4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................ 5
2.1. Overview of pronunciation ......................................................................................... 5
2.1.1. Definition of pronunciation ...................................................................................... 5
2.1.2. The importance of pronunciation ............................................................................. 5
2.2.Some common pronunciation errors ............................................................................ 6
2.2.1. English sounds ......................................................................................................... 6
2.2.1.1. English vowels...................................................................................................... 6
2.2.1.2. English consonants ............................................................................................... 8
2.2.2. Stress ....................................................................................................................... 9
2.2.3. English ending sounds ........................................................................................... 10
2.3. Some strategies to improve English pronunciation .................................................... 12
2.3.1. Some activities teachers can use in learning Speaking curriculum .......................... 12
2.3.1. Learning the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) ............................................... 12
2.3.2. Learn to listen ........................................................................................................ 12
2.3.3. Read out loud and record yourself .......................................................................... 13
2.3.4. Other strategies to improve pronunciation skills ..................................................... 13
2.4. Summary .................................................................................................................. 14


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CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY ............................................................................................ 15
3.1. Overview of Speaking lesson and pronunciation skill ............................................... 15

3.2. Participants of the study ............................................................................................ 18
3.3. The research methodology ........................................................................................ 19
3.3.1. Analyzing pronunciation errors from Recordings ................................................... 19
3.3.2. Survey questionnaires ............................................................................................ 19
3.4. Data analysis ............................................................................................................ 20
3.4.1. Results and discussion from survey questionnaire for students and teachers ........... 20
3.4.1.1. Teachers’ and students’ opinion about pronunciation skill................................... 20
3.4.1.2. The problems of students when pronouncing English .......................................... 21
3.4.1.2.1. The problems of students relate to English vowels ........................................... 22
3.4.1.2.2. Students’ problems related to English consonants ............................................ 24
3.4.1.2.3. Students’ problems related to English stress ..................................................... 26
3.4.1.2.4. Students’ problems related to English ending sounds ....................................... 27
3.4.1.3. Some suggested solutions to improve students’ English pronunciation ................ 28
3.4.1.3.1. Some effective pronunciation activities in pronouncing lessons........................ 28
3.4.1.3.2. Some exciting activities in pronouncing lessons ............................................... 29
3.4.1.3.2. Students’ and Teacher’ opinion about some effective solutions to improve
English pronunciation...................................................................................................... 31
3.4.2. Results and discussion from recording (home-assignment videos).......................... 32
3.5. Findings and discussion ............................................................................................ 33
3.6. Recommendations .................................................................................................... 36
3.6.1. Recommendations for students .............................................................................. 36
3.6.2. Recommendations for teachers .............................................................................. 38
3.7. Summary .................................................................................................................. 38
CHAPTER 4: CONCLUTION ........................................................................................ 39
4.1. Summary of the study ............................................................................................... 39
4.2. Limitation of the study.............................................................................................. 39
4.3. Suggestions for furthers studies ................................................................................ 40
REFERENCES................................................................................................................ 41
APPENDICES ................................................................................................................... I
APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS ...................................... I

vi

APPENDIX 2: SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE FOR TEACHERS ...................................... VI
APPENDIX 3: STUDENT'S PRONUNCIATION ASSESSMENT TABLE .................... XI


vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
1. FFL: Faculty of Foreign Language
2. UTEHY: Hung Yen university of technology and education
3. IPA: International Phonetic Alphabet


viii

LIST OF CHARTS
Chart 1. Students’ opinion toward to English pronunciation skill ..................................... 20
Chart 2. Teachers’ and students’ opinion about the importance of English pronunciation
skill ................................................................................................................................. 20
Chart 3. Students’ problems in pronouncing .................................................................... 21
Chart 4.1. Students’ evaluation on their problems related to English vowels .................... 22
Chart 4.2. Teachers’ evaluation on students’ problems related to English vowels ............ 23
Chart 5.1. Students’ evaluation on their problems related to English consonants .............. 24
Chart 5.2. Teachers’ evaluation on students’ problems related to English consonants ...... 25
Chart 6.1. Teacher's assessment of students' stress problems ............................................ 26
Chart 6.2. Students’ respond to the stress of the given words ........................................... 26
Chart 7.1. Students’ evaluation on difficulties in pronouncing ending sounds .................. 27

Chart 7.2. Teachers’ evaluation on students’ difficulties in pronouncing ending sounds ... 27
Chart 8.1. Students’ evaluation on the effectiveness of some pronunciation activities ...... 28
Chart 8.2. Teachers’ evaluation on the effectiveness of some pronunciation activities ..... 29
Chart 9.1. Students’ response to the exciting activities in English pronunciation lessons 30
Chart 9.2. Teachers’ respond to the exciting activities in English pronunciation lessons .. 30
Chart 10.1. Students’ opinion about some effective solutions to improve English
pronunciation .................................................................................................................. 31
Chart 10.2. Teachers’ opinion about some effective solutions to improve English
pronunciation .................................................................................................................. 31


1

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
Today, when the society is more and more developed, the demand for human life is
increasing, learning English also becomes more popular in the modern world. English
seems to have played a very important role in today's life. Learning English is important,
but proper English pronunciation is even more important when we want to communicate
with foreigners in English.
When English is a language for communication, every word you say will represent your
personality and person. When you do not pronounce English well, causing
misunderstanding to the listener, it seems that you have failed in communication. When
learning English, people often encounter some difficulties in learning to speak, especially
how to pronounce English correctly and accurately.
Today, although English is a compulsory subject in high schools, it seems that teachers
only focus on teaching vocabulary, grammar while English pronunciation is not focused on.
This has caused some problems with English pronunciation for the students in general as
well as the first-year English major students in particular when entering university.
The correct pronunciation of English helps listeners to acquire and understand

information clearly and accurately. When we mispronounce a word, even though it is the
simplest word, it also makes the listener unable to understand what you mean and not able
to receive information from you, which makes conversation should be extremely difficult.
Learning English grammar has been difficult, learning English pronunciation has
become even more difficult, especially for non-native speakers like us. As an English
major student, I recognize the importance of learning English pronunciation for students in
general and especially for the first-year English major students. Furthermore, English
pronunciation becomes more and more difficult for second-degree first-year English major
students because they are part-time students and do not have much time to self-study and
practice at home.
At present, there are many ways for us to learn English such as online learning through
online classes, learning through some Livestream room of some teachers, learning through
applications, etc. Although there are countless ways to learn English, it seems that each
student has yet to find a suitable solution for themselves.


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All these reasons motivated me to conduct a research entitled: A study on
pronunciation problems of the first-year English major students at Hung Yen
University of Technology and Education. The study aimed at identifying the
pronunciation problems of the first-year English major students as well as suggesting some
strategies for them to get better improvement.

2. Aim and objectives of the study
This study aims at:
- Finding out the teachers’ and the learners’ perspectives towards English pronunciation.
- Finding out the pronunciation problems of the first-year English major students at Hung
Yen University of Technology and Education.
- Suggesting some solutions to improve the pronunciation problems of the first-year

English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education.

3. Research questions
In order to gain the aims stated, the study is meant to find out the answer to the following
research questions:
1. What are the teachers’ and the learners' perspectives towards learning English
pronunciation?
2. What are the pronunciation problems of the first-year English major students at UTEHY?
3. What solutions are suggested to improve the pronunciation problems of the first-year
English major students at UTEHY?

4. Scope of the study
The study focuses on pronunciation problems of the first-year English major students at
UTEHY, especially is the second-degree first-year English major students. Due to the wide
variety of pronunciation problems in English as well as the limit of a paper, the study only
focuses on the common pronunciation errors (English sounds, ending sounds, stress) of the
first-year English major students at UTEHY, especially second-degree students. Therefore,
other pronunciation problems such as intonation, rhythm, and sentence stress would not be
discussed within the scope of the study. Besides, the second-degree students currently who
are studying Speaking 2, so the study focuses only on pronunciation errors of the second-


3

degree students in Speaking 2. The student's mistakes to be mentioned would fall under
either sounds pronunciation errors or stress misplacement. This study was implemented for
a group of 68 second-degree first-year English major students.

5. The method of the study.
Research tools include survey questionnaires and analyzing recordings (homeassignment videos). The researcher uses data from the homework video to analyze

pronunciation problems made by the second-degree first-year English major students in
their pronunciation. In addition, the questionnaires were designed for two subjects:
teachers and students. A survey questionnaire consists of two main parts, each part is
focused on effectively solve a research question. The first part finds out some English
pronunciation problems of the second-degree first-year English major students at UTEHY.
The rest of the survey suggests some solutions to improve teaching and learning English
pronunciation for teachers and second-degree first-year English major students at UTEHY.
Both ask the research subject to tick an answer that they feel is most appropriate. The study
was conducted by using quantitative, qualitative (an open-ended question) methods and
using recordings (students' home-assignment videos). After that, the data were collected,
analyzed and presented in the charts to find out the findings for the research.

6. Significance of the study
Although the correct pronunciation of English is relatively difficult for non-native
speakers, it is surprising that there is not much investigation for second-degree first-year
English major students. This study provides an insight into the English pronunciation
problems of second-degree first-year English major students. In addition, the study also
suggests some solutions to improve the pronunciation problems of the second-degree firstyear English major students. Therefore, the results of the study would have many benefits
to both English teachers and students in terms of teaching and learning English
pronunciation.


4

7. Design of the study
This study is divided into four chapters and is arranged as follow:
Chapter 1 is Introduction indicates the rationale of the study, aim and objectives of the
study, research questions of the study, subjects of the study, scope of the study,
significance of the study, structure of the study.
Chapter 2 is a Literature Review, which consists of a previous study and theoretical

reviews such as the definition of pronunciation, the importance of pronunciation, some
pronunciation problems such as English sounds, word stress, ending sounds and some
solutions to improve pronunciation problems.
Chapter 3 is The Study that includes an overview of the situation, the research
methodology, data collection from the survey questionnaires and the videos home
assignments., data analysis and discussion, findings, and recommendations.
Chapter 4 is the Conclusion which is summary of the study as well as the limitations of the
study and suggestions for further study.


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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Overview of pronunciation
2.1.1. Definition of pronunciation
Pronunciation is an indispensable part for English learners, especially for Faculty of
Foreign Language students. There are many definitions of pronunciation and each has its
own character.
According to definition in Oxford English Dictionary(2007) [9] , pronunciation was
defined as the way in which a word is pronounced. Besides, pronunciation was also
defined as “the way in which a language is spoken”(Oxford Advanced Learner’s
Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1992:718)[7]. The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 8th
(2008)[8] defined pronunciation as “the way in which a language or a particular word or
sound pronounced”
Cook (1996 as cited in Pourhosein Gilakjani, 2016)[10] defined pronunciation as the
production of English sounds. Pronunciation is learned by repeating sounds and correcting
them when produced inaccurately. When learners start learning pronunciation they make
new habits and overcome the difficulties resulting from the first language. According to
Yates (2002 as cited in Pourhosein Gilakjani, 2016)[10], pronunciation is the production of
sounds that is used for making meaning.

In short, there are various definitions of pronunciation and in my opinion, pronunciation
is how we make a sound. To pronounce a standard English word, a speaker must
pronounce it clearly.

2.1.2. The importance of pronunciation
Harmer (2001)[3] expressed that the first thing that native speakers notice during a
conversation is pronunciation. Grammar and vocabulary are important elements of
language and they can be useless if the speakers cannot pronounce those elements or words
accurately. Native speakers can understand people, despite their grammatical errors, if they
use accurate pronunciation. Communicative efficiency can be guaranteed by correct
pronunciation. Pronunciation is an essential part of communication and without correct
pronunciation, nobody can say that he/she knows the English language perfectly.
Harmer (2001)[3] also emphasized that through pronunciation instruction, students not
only learn different sounds and sound features but also improve their speaking skills.


6

Concentrating on sounds causes learners aware of where words should be stressed and they
give them more information about spoken English and help them get the goal of
comprehension and intelligibility.
Furthermore, Lund (2003)[5] pointed out that “pronunciation is the only aspect of
language that calls for a close interaction between the cognitive and physiological
processes. In acquiring new sounds we are also dealing with a complex re-organizing of
the articulatory processes”. Good English pronunciation will make people understand you
easily and be willing to listen to you. Poor English pronunciation may confuse people and
lead to unpleasant talking and misunderstanding, even if you used advanced English
grammar or vocabulary. Hence, we can use simple words or grammar structures to make
people understand what you say, but we cannot use simple pronunciation to communicate.
Thus, pronunciation is an indispensable thing for students to learn English. When we

pronounce correctly, the listener understands the content we want to convey, and then
communication will be more effective.

2.2.Some common pronunciation errors
According to Nguyen (2007)[6], errors in pronunciation are defined as the incompetence
in language and incorrect pronunciation that may affect intelligibility in communication.
Jenkins (2006)[4] defines pronunciation errors as “variants of pronunciation which prevent
one communicator from understanding the propositional content of the other’s
utterance”(as cited in Nguyen, 2007). The definition given by Jenkins seems more precise
when English is considered as a means of international communication.

2.2.1. English sounds
There are 44 sounds in English. They are divided into 2 groups: 22 vowel sounds
including 12 vowels, 8 diphthongs, and 24 consonant sounds.

2.2.1.1. English vowels
Vowels are “sounds in the production of which there is no obstruction to the flow of air
also it passes the larynx to the lips” (Roach, 2000:10).[12]


7

(Internet picture)
Diphthongs: According Wikipedia[17], diphthong is “is a combination of two adjacent
vowel sounds within the same syllable”. There are two types of diphthong:
•

Closing diphthongs: ending in /ɪ/ and ending in /ʊ/ sounds such as: day, high, go, etc.

•

Centering diphthongs: ending in /ə/ sounds such as: bare, tour, sure, hear, etc.
Due to influence from the native language, particularly Vietnamese, some vowels are

changed by learners by assigning them to syllables in the Vietnamese alphabet. This has
caused some mistakes when pronouncing English.
According to Avery and Ehrlich (1992)[1], English second language students often have
problems in producing vowel distinctions because there are more vowels in English than in
other languages. In English, there are 20 vowels including 7 short vowels, 5 long vowels
and 8 diphthongs meanwhile in Vietnamese there are only 13 short vowels and 3
diphthongs, or even fewer. That is why students have difficulty in pronoun English vowels.
The followings are some common vowels problems:
•

Problem 1: Students often make great confusion between these tense and lax vowel
pairs. For example: /i:/ and / ɪ /, /eɪ/ and /e/, /u:/ and /ʊ/

•

Problem 2: Students also make confusion of these following pairs of vowels: /e/ vs
/æ/ as in “bed” and “bad”
/ʌ/ vs /a/ as in “cut” and “car”


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In

Vietnamese,

there

are

some

syllables

equivalent

to

English,

causing

misunderstanding for English learners. Some syllables people use Vietnamese syllables to
replace like /ây/ in Vietnamese instead of /eɪ/ in English (layer, hey, ...) , /e/ replace /æ/
(many people often pronounce wrong bad-bed, dad, head, ....)

2.2.1.2. English consonants
According to Roach (2000)[12] the term consonant can be defined as “sounds in which
there is obstruction to the flow of air as it passes the larynx to the lips”. Consonant sounds
differ from consonant letters. In Wikipedia Dictionary[16], it is said that “the number of
consonants in the world’s languages is much greater than the number of consonant letters
in any one alphabet”. Roach (2000)[12] categorized the 24 consonants into 6 groups: plosive,
fricative, affricate, nasal, lateral, and approximant.

Table 1: Table of English consonant sounds
Place of articulation

Manner of articulation

Bilabial

Labio-

Dental

Alveolar

dental
Plosive

t,d
f,v

θ ,ð

s,z

Affricate
Nasal

k,g
∫,ʒ

h

t,d

m

Lateral
Approximant

Palatal Velar Glottal

aveolar

p,b

Fricative

Plato-

ŋ

n
l

w

r

j

We will consider common consonant problems first. For the most part, we often see
common consonant problems according to particular articulatory features because learners
often have difficulties with a set of sounds that share articulatory features rather than with
isolated sounds.

According to Avery and Ehrlich (1992)[1], the followings are some main problems with
English consonants:


9

•

Problem 1: Aspiration: /p/, /t/, and /k/

•

Problem 2: Voicing of fricatives: /v/, /ð/, /z/, /dʒ/

•

Problem 3: Voicing of final stop consonants /b/, /d/, and /g/

•

Problem 4: Initial consonant clusters

•

Problem 5: Final consonant clusters

•

Problem 6: /θ/ and /ð/ as in “think” and “this”

Some English syllable like /θ/, /ð/, /dʒ/, /∫/, /ʒ/, /ŋ/, Vietnamese also have some sounds
with pronunciation similar to: th, d, gi, s, z, ng. Because learners are familiar with the
Vietnamese pronunciation, many English syllables are replaced with Vietnamese
pronunciation for convenience without knowing that it is the incorrect pronunciation.

2.2.2. Stress
According to Crystal (2003)[2], stress is “the degree of the force used in pronouncing a
syllable”. It is a broad term that covers both word stress and sentence prominence which
can be realized through syllable length, vowel quality, pitch change and loudness
(Rogerson & Gilbert 1990[13]; Roach 2000[12])
According to Roach (2000)[12], word stress is a typical feature of English. To make
word’s stress, an extra force is put on a particular syllable of that word. Word stress is
usually fixed.
Stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to
certain words in a phrase or sentence. In English, stressed syllables are louder than nonstressed syllables. Also, they are longer and have a higher pitch. [18]
English is a stress-timed language. That means that stressed syllables appear at a
roughly steady tempo, whereas non-stressed syllables are shortened.[18]
In spoken language, grammatical words (auxiliary verbs, prepositions, pronouns,
articles, …) usually do not receive any stress. Lexical words, however, (nouns, verbs,
adjectives, adverbs, …) must have at least one stressed syllable.[18]
As you know, in many other languages, stress does not exist. That is why students have
some problems with English stress in pronunciation. In English, stress can fall on any
syllable of word, and there is no orthographic indication to learn about English stress.


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2.2.3. English ending sounds
To ESL (English as a Second Language) learners, the term “ending sounds” is familiar
as it refers to those ultimate sounds in a word. More precisely it refers to the consonant

sound(s) as the word can end with one or more consonant sounds (consonant clusters).
Thus “ending sounds” in English pronunciation can be defined as those consonant sounds
which appear at the very end of words.
According to Rachael (2003)[11], 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.

Final consonant sounds in English include the following sounds:
/p/ - sheep, stop, cheap

/tʃ/ - teach, watch, much

/b/ - transcribe, crab

/dʒ/- bridge, large, village

/t/ - start, smart, seat, meat, wet

/m/- come, some, warm, time

/d/ - ride, sad, bread, road,

/n/ - than, man, sun, tin, cone

/k/ - pick, speak, peak

/ŋ/ - sing, spring, wrong, wing

/f/ - leaf, belief, roof, half, sniff

/l/ - pool, smile, veil, call, girl

/v/ - leave, arrive, live, love, five

/ʒ/ - message, garage, massage

/θ/ - earth, health, worth

/g/ - beg, dog, clog, bag

/ð/ - breathe, clothe, with

/ʃ/ - crash , wash, rush

/s/ - stress, goes, rice, bus, six
/z/ - these, plays, buzz, prize
When there are two or more consonants standing at the end of the word, the terms “prefinal” 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/ E.g: help, bank, blind, books etc.
Three consonant clusters:
Pre-final plus final plus post-final (e.g: helped,banks)

Final plus post-final 1 plus post final 2: /s/, /z/, /t/, /d/, /θ/ (e.g: next, fifths)


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Four consonant clusters:
Most are pre-final plus final plus post-final 1 plus post-final 2. (e.g. twelfths, prompts)
Occasionally there is one final and three post final consonants (e.g. sixths, texts..)
Reviewing results of some studies of errors with consonant sounds, according to
Treiman (1989)[15], they can be classified into 6 types:
Cluster reduction: This is the “deletion of one or more consonants from a target
cluster so that only a single consonant occurs at syllable margins” (Grunwell, 1987: 217,
as cited in Treiman, 1989 ).
Cluster Simplification: The error occurs when one/some elements of a cluster being
is/are produced in a different manner from the target phoneme (Grunwell. (1987), as cited
in Treiman, 1989) . E.g.: “Bread”: pronounced as [bwed]
Epenthesis: This is the insertion of some vowel (normally a schwa) between cluster
elements (Dyson & Paden (1983), as cited in Treiman, 1989) .
E.g. Drive (/draɪv/) pronounced as [dəraɪv].
Coalescence: It occurs when the yielded pronunciation contains a new consonant
composed of features from the original consonants. E.g.: Swim pronounced as [fim]
It was explained that because the [+fricative] feature of /s/ co-occurs with the [+labial]
feature of /w/, resulting in a labial fricative, [f] (Dyson & Paden, 1983, as cited in Treiman,
1989).
Omitting nasal and liquid sounds: In consonants cluster consisting of prefinal+ final
consonants with nasals (/n/,/m/) or liquids (/r/,/l/) as the first element, (/m, n, l, r/ + final
consonant), nasals and liquid sounds are often omitted ( Zukowski & Richmond-Wetly,
1995, as cited in Treiman, 1989 ). E.g. went => wet

belt => bet.

Phonetically possible spelling: In representing the first consonant of a cluster, spellers
tend to spell words in an inaccurate but phonetically plausible ways (Treiman, 1985) [14].
E.g.: trap => chap
It was explained that because “ch” closely resembles the sound of the initial blend tr /tʃ/.
Treiman (1985) explained that this “ch” spelling reflects the release of /t/ in the context.
Among the six types above, the first, fifth and sixth types of errors are predicted to be
the problems of Vietnamese learners. In the next finding chapter, it will be discussed in
detailed.


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In Vietnamese, ending sounds are often not pronounced. That is also the reason why
some English learners often do not pronounce or pass out ending sounds.

2.3. Some strategies to improve English pronunciation
2.3.1. Some activities teachers can use in learning Speaking curriculum
Practice in pairs: Practice speaking in pairs helps individuals exchange and learn more
from each other, from which they will make progress in pronunciation.
Practice in groups: Joining a small group and learning will help each individual in that
group exchange and supplement each other's ideas. If you have no idea, you can ask your
team and each person will give you some advices, so that everyone can learn from each
other, moreover, it also helps people practice teamwork, helping people to be more
confident.
Practice with whole class: The practice in front of the class helps students practice
their presentation skills, helps students become more confident when standing in front of a
large group of people, thereby students will speak more fluently.
Practice Individual: Personal speaking practice is also a good method, students can
self-study anywhere, anytime they want. Currently, there are many internet engines which

help students learn in a useful way. In addition, self-studying pronunciation has a
advantage that students can arrange their own study time reasonably, so students can be
active in learning.
2.3.1. Learning the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
IPA is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin alphabet.
It is the key to help you pronounce exactly words. You will be embarrassed because you
do not know how to pronounce any words even you know the transcription and the mean
of that word. When you learn IPA, you will be able to pronounce a word correctly and its
stress based on its transcription. Through IPA, you will find pronunciation is not as
difficult as you think, just because you have not learned properly.
2.3.2. Learn to listen
Before you learn how to speak, you’ll need to learn how to listen. Some sounds can be
hard to tell apart when you’re listening. Did the speaker sleep or slip? Did he hurt his chin
or his shin? If you can hear the difference, it will be easier to speak the difference.


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There are many guides to get you started in learning to listen such as learning to listen
from movies, songs and music, some news in English (BBC, VOA…). You can also find
some Talk Show in English such as Ted Talks, the Ellen DeGeneres Show… to watch in
order to learn pronunciation skills.
2.3.3. Read out loud and record yourself
The best way to make progress in any challenge is to keep track of your improvements.
For practicing English pronunciation, the best way to do this is to record yourself reading
and speaking loudly and clearly, giving yourself a great reference for progress.
Once you get over the sound of your own voice (we all hate the way we sound when
recorded), you’ll find yourself making greater strides than you would otherwise. When you
record yourself speaking English months or years in the future, then you’ll really hear how
much you’ve improved.

In addition, by recording their own voice, students can note the sounds they pronounce
incorrectly, the words they do not stress or stress wrong word stress, then students can
correct that errors.
2.3.4. Other strategies to improve pronunciation skills
- Learning with your friends/ online partners: It is a very useful way for those who have
some questions or have problems with pronunciation. Finding your friend or someone with
English expertise online will help you solve and advise you on effective learning methods,
as well as help you solve some of your errors when pronouncing.
Currently, there are a lot of apps as well as a number of forums to help learners find the
answers for themselves. You can also join some of the English language learning groups
on Facebook and post your questions to get people's opinions.
- Taking part in some English club/activities/ English centers: Similar to the way above,
instead of going online to find professional people, you can join some English
groups/clubs/activities or join the study center. This will help you learn and help you to
find pronunciation problems. Whenever you have a difficult problem, you can ask the
teacher directly for help. Through training in English groups/clubs/activities as well as in
the English class in the center, you will feel more confident in English communicating.


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2.4. Summary
In this chapter, research shows the theory of pronunciation problems of first-year
English major students by different authors and some websites. Moreover, it also points
out some strategies to improve students’ pronunciation problems. To make clearly the
details of these problems, the research introduces the next part as analyzing the study base
on data.


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CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY
3.1. Overview of Speaking lesson and pronunciation skill
In the first year, students will learn 4 skills of Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing
skills from basic to advanced. About speaking skills, students will be equipped with basic
skills to be able to communicate in English that help students become more confident when
speaking English.
During two semesters, students will be learned Speaking 1 (2 credits) and Speaking 2 (3
credits) with two course books: Let's Talk (1&2) and English pronunciation in Use
(Elementary and Intermediate). Because this period is the second semester, students will
follow the Let's Talk 2 (Jones, L. (2002). Let’s talk 2 . Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press) and English Pronunciation in Use (Intermediate) (Jonathan, M., (2007). English
pronunciation in use (Intermediate). Cambridge: M. First News), below is the curriculum
content:
Unit 1: Getting to know you
1.1

Speaking:

1.1.1 Talking about favorite places and colors
1.1.2 Describing personalities
1.1.3 Discussing and using icebreakers
1.2

Pronunciation: Vowel sounds
Unit 2 Making a good impression

2.1 Speaking:
2.1.1 Talking about first impressions
2.1.2 Role-playing meeting new people and phone conversations

2.1.3 Giving and taking messages
2.2 Pronunciation: consonant sounds
Unit 3 Food and cooking
3.1 Speaking:
3.1.1 Discussing foods and cooking techniques
3.1.2 Talking about restaurant meals
3.1.3 Role-playing restaurant conversations
3.2

Pronunciation: Syllables