A study on the reality of teaching and learning English pronunciation skills to the 11th graders at Kien An high school =Nghiên cứu thực trạng dạy và học kỹ năn

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES





NGUYỄN THỊ THÙY LINH


A STUDY ON THE REALITY OF
TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH
PRONUNCIATION SKILLS TO THE 11
TH
GRADERS
AT KIEN AN HIGH SCHOOL

(Nghiên cứu thực trạng dạy và học kỹ năng pht âm tiếng Anh
đối với học sinh lớp 11 tại trường trung học phổ thông Kiến An)


M.A. MINOR THESIS


Field: English Language Teaching Methodology
Code: 601410



Hanoi, 2012

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES



NGUYỄN THỊ THÙY LINH


A STUDY ON THE REALITY OF
TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH
PRONUNCIATION SKILLS TO THE 11
TH
GRADERS
AT KIEN AN HIGH SCHOOL

(Nghiên cứu thực trạng dạy và học kỹ năng pht âm tiếng Anh
đối với học sinh lớp 11 tại trường trung học phổ thông Kiến An)


M.A. MINOR THESIS

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology
Code: 601410
Supervisor: NGUYỄN THỊ NGỌC QUỲNH, PhD

Hanoi, 2012
iv

TABLE OF CONTENT

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale of the study 2
2. Aims of the study 3
3. Research questions 3
4. Scope of the study 4
5. Methods of the study 4
6. Design of the study 4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT 6
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 6
1. Definitions of pronunciation 6
2. Features of pronunciation 6
3. Pronunciation teaching 9
3.1. The importance of pronunciation teaching 8
3.2. The teacher' s role in pronunciation teaching 9
3.3. Approaches, techniques and activities in pronunciation teaching 12
3.3.1. Approaches 12
3.3.2. Techniques and activities 14
4. Pronunciation learning 16
4.1. Factors affecting pronunciation learning 16
4.2. The student's role in pronunciation learning 18
5. Common problems in pronunciation teaching and learning 18
CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 20
1. An overview of current situation of teaching and learning speaking skills 20
at Kien An high school 20
1.1. The school 20

1.2. The course 20
2. The study 20
2.1. Research methods 20
2.1.1. Survey questionnaires 20
v

2.1.2. Classroom observations 20
2.1.3. Interviews 22
2.2. Participants 22
2.3. Research questions 22
CHAPTER III: FINDINGS 23
1. Teachers' and students' background 23
2. Teachers' problems in teaching pronunciation 25
3. Students' problems in learning pronunciation 29
4. Students' expectation and teachers' recommendation in teaching and learning
pronunciation 31
CHAPTER IV: RECOMMENDATIONS 38
1. Increasing time for teaching and learning pronunciation 38
2. Teaching pronunciation rules 38
3. Resetting class size 39
4. Applying various techniques appropriately and flexibly 39
5. Designing pronunciation tests. 40
PART C: CONCLUSION 40
1. Conclusions 41
2. Limitations 43
3. Recommendations for further study 44
REFERENCES I
APPENDIX 1 III
SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (FOR TEACHERS) III
APPENDIX 2 VII

SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (FOR STUDENTS) VII
APPENDIX 3 XI
CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET XI
APPENDIX 4 XI
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS XI


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LIST OF FIGURES

Chart 1: Students' background
Chart 2: Students' experience
Chart 3: Teachers' problems in teaching pronunciation
Chart 4: Teachers' problems in teaching stress and intonation

2

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
Nowadays, no one can deny that English has become more and more
important as a global language crossing many international boundaries.
Moreover, English is a golden key to open the door of many fields such as
economics, commerce, tourism, communication, science and technology. In
order to meet the demand of the society, a large number of students in most
countries around the word in general and in Vietnam in particular are being
required to learn English through compulsory programs in schools and
universities. The highest target when learning any foreign language is to use
that language fluently and appropriately in oral communication. One cannot
achieve that goal if he is not good at speaking skills, especially pronunciation
skills. Because knowing grammar and vocabulary are important but useless if
one is unable to pronoun those structures or words correctly. (Celce – Murcia,
1987)
It can be said that the role of pronunciation in the field of language
teaching has varied widely from having virtually no role in the grammar-
translation method to being the main focus in the audio-lingual method where
emphasis is on the traditional notions of pronunciation, minimal pairs, drills
and short conversations. (Castillo, 1990:3) This requires the more correct

pronunciation from learners. However, at many schools in Vietnam,
compared with other skills such as reading, writing or grammar and
vocabulary, speaking skills in general as well as pronunciation skills in
particular has been paid less attention to. In the past, there was no place for
pronunciation in English textbook. In recent years, English textbook for high
school students has been designed for not only grammar and vocabulary but
also pronunciation. Nevertheless, the part for pronunciation is still limited and


3

there is no exercise for pronunciation practice. On the other hand, no oral test
is designed during the process of learning English at school to evaluate
students' speaking proficiency. This leads to students' lack of motivation in
learning pronunciation as well as other speaking skills. Therefore, speaking
English fluently and pronouncing English correctly is still a big problem to
most of Vietnamese students.
In terms of my experiences of teaching English at Kien An high school,
I found that there are rather many worrying problems in the reality of teaching
and learning speaking skills, especially pronunciation, at my school.
However, what are those problems in detail? And what are the suitable
solutions to those issues? These burning questions urge me to carry out the
study, namely "A study on the reality of teaching and learning English
speaking skills to the 11
th
graders at Kien An high school" for the purpose of
answering the questions above in order to distribute partly to improving the
quality of teaching and learning pronunciation at Kien An school.

2. Aims of the study

The study is aimed at the following points:
 Identifying the problems in teaching and learning pronunciation with
which teachers and students at Kien An high school confront.
 Making some suggestions for English language teachers at Kien An
high school with hope that those suggested solutions would be useful for them
to enable their students to learn pronunciation effectively in particular and to
communicate in English in general.

3. Research questions
To reach the aims of the study, the three following research question are


4

addressed:
 Question 1: What are problems teachers at Kien An high school have
to face in teaching pronunciation?
 Question 2: What are problems students at Kien An high school have
to face in learning pronunciation?
 Question 3: What should be done to help students make progress with
their pronunciation skills?

4. Scope of the study
A study on the ways to discover the reality of teaching and learning
speaking skills at a high school is quite broad, therefore the researcher would
like to pay much attention to a brief of current situation of teaching and
learning pronunciation skill to the 11
th
graders at Kien An high school. From
that, the difficulties in teaching and learning pronunciation of teachers and

students will be identified and some feasible solutions will be suggested to
help the students to master pronunciation in English. This is also the
limitation of the minor thesis.

5. Methods of the study
To fulfill the aims of the study, both quantitative and qualitative
methods are used for this case study.
The data serving the research analysis and findings are collected by the
following instruments:
- Questionnaire for teachers
- Questionnaire for students
- Classroom observations
- Interviews


5

6. Design of the paper
This minor thesis is divided into three main parts.
Part A, Introduction, presents the rationale, the aims, the research
questions, the scope, the methods and the design of the study.
Part B, Development, consists of three chapters as follows:
- Chapter I, Literature Review, presents the various concepts
most relevant to the research topic.
- Chapter II, Methodology, describes an overview of the context
of investigation, the participants and the instruments.
- Chapter III, Findings, analyzes the collected data to answer the
research questions.
- Chapter IV, Recommendations, suggests some solutions in
teaching and learning pronunciation at Kien An high school.

Part C, Conclusion, addresses the key issues in the study, summarizes
some shortcomings revealed during the process of the completing the study
and offers some ideas for a further study.













6

PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Definitions of pronunciation
Pronunciation is a linguistic notion defined in many different ways. In
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 3
rd
(2004) and Oxford
Advanced Learner's Dictionary 8
th
(2010), pronunciation is simply defined as
"the way in which a language or a particular word or sound is pronounced".

The concept of pronunciation is also described as "a way of speaking a word,
especially a way that is accepted or generally understood" in American
Heritage Dictionary (1992)
In the book "A course in language teaching: Practice and Theory"
published in 1996, Ur states that pronunciation is "the sounds of the language
or phonology, stress and rhythm, intonation, combination sounds, linkage of
sound". Dalton and Seidlhofer (1994) consider pronunciation "as the product
of significant sound in two senses". In the first sense, these two writers
explain that sound is used "as part of code of a particular language". That is
the reason why English sounds are distinguished from sounds of other
languages. Therefore, pronunciation in this sense can be talked about "as the
production and reception of sounds of speech". In the second sense,
pronunciation can be talked about "with reference to acts of speaking"
because the authors clarify that sound is used "to achieve meaning in contexts
of use" and "here the code combines with other factors to make
communication possible".





7

2. Features of pronunciation
According to Kelly (2000), main features of pronunciation can be
presented as the following diagram:


Features of
pronunciation

Phonemes
Suprasegmental
features

Consonants

Vowels

Intonation

Stress

Voiced

Unvoiced
Single
Vowels

Diphthongs

Short

Long

Word stress
Sentence
stress

8

As can be seen from the above diagram, pronunciation includes
phonemes and suprasegmental features, in which consonants and vowels are
two main parts of phonemes meanwhile intonation and stress belong to
suprasegmental. On the other hand, pronunciation is a broad subject with the
boundaries of various items such as consonants, vowels, stress and intonation.
In the scope of this study, the two pronunciation features, stress and
intonation, are focused and deeply investigated.
Quirk & Greenbaum (1973) state that "stress is the prominence with
one part of a word or longer utterance is distinguished from the other parts".
It can also be said that stress is the relative degree of force used by a speaker
on the various syllables he is uttering.
Kelly (2000) considers intonation as an important part "that most
teachers have to deal with when teaching connected speech". It refers to the
way the voice "go up and down in pitch" when we are speaking. Intonation
plays an important role in helping speaker express his opinions and
understand others' thought and meaning.
To sum up, pronunciation includes various sub-items listed above such
as consonants, vowels, intonation and stress. Paying attention to
pronunciation features, especially stress and intonation, and master them is
one of the ways to help language teachers and learners succeed in teaching
and learning pronunciation in particular and speaking skills in general.

3. Pronunciation teaching
3.1. The importance of pronunciation teaching
It can be said that, in English language, it is pronunciation that is
considered as the first and most important factor native speakers notice during
conversations. Mastering grammar and vocabulary is good and important, too.

9

However, it is useless if the speaker is unable to produce those structures and
words correctly. Even when a simplest word is mispronounced, it can prevent
the speaker from communicating effectively in English. Kelly (2000: 11)
confirms that "a learner who constantly mispronounces a range of phonemes
can be extremely difficult for a speaker from another language community to
understand. A consideration of learners' pronunciation errors and of how
these can inhibit successful communication is a useful basic on which to
assess why it is important to deal with pronunciation in the class". Therefore
pronunciation teaching should be considered as an important and significant
part in teaching and learning English.
Sharing the same opinion with Kelly, Hewings (2004:11) indicates that
"difficulties with pronunciation might mean that students fail to get their
message across, even when the correct words are being used, or they might
fail to understand what is said to them". The inaccuracy in using stress and
intonation cause errors in pronunciation which may lead to misunderstanding
in communication. Thus, achieving pronunciation which is good enough for
learners to be always understood should be one of the main goals of foreign
language learners.
In "How to teach Pronunciation" (2000), Kelly states that pronunciation
involves far more than individual sounds including word stress, sentence
stress, intonation and word liking, all of which have influence on the sound of
spoken English. The more chances teachers offer to students so that they can
expose themselves to the sounds of English and the more attention teachers
pay to teaching correct pronunciation to students, the more success students
gain in learning speaking. Harmer (2001: 183) also argue convincingly that
thanks to pronunciation teaching, learners not only become aware of different
sounds and different features, but also improve their speaking considerably.

10

He claims that "concentrating on sounds, showing where they are made in the
mouth, making students aware of where words should be stressed – all these
things give them extra information about spoken English and help them
achieve the goal of improved comprehension and intelligibility".

3.2. The teacher' s role in pronunciation teaching
The reality of teaching pronunciation to English as Foreign Language
learners in many countries in the world points out that there are problems
arising in the classroom such as grammar and vocabulary are often given
precedence over pronunciation by both teachers and students although they
understand the importance of pronunciation, which Kelly (2000:1) call
"paradox". Whilst Kenworthy (1987) states that learners who are learning
pronunciation of a foreign language may sometimes not be able to realize
whether they "got it right", comprehend correctly or not. In order to deal with
this problem, it must be understood that the role of the teacher is significant in
the process of teaching pronunciation. According to Kenworthy (1987), in the
process of teaching English pronunciation, the teacher take responsibility for
the following:
 Helping learners hear
One of the important tasks of the teacher is to help learner perceive
sounds. "Teachers need to check that their students are hearing sounds
according to the appropriate categories and help them develop new
categories if necessary." (Kenworthy, 1987:1)
 Helping learners make sounds
It cannot be negated that there are some sounds in English which do not
exist in several other languages. Thus, learners may get into difficulties when

11

imitating the new sounds. Things become easier if the teacher give them some
hints which may help them to produce new sounds correctly.
 Providing feedback
As being referred to above, in the process of learning pronunciation,
students themselves may not be able to realize whether made mistakes or not.
Therefore the teacher must provide them with information about their
performance to help them be aware of how they learn and what they need to
improve their pronunciation.
 Pointing out what's going on
It can be said that because speaking is for most parts unconsciously
controlled, learners may sometimes make mistakes in producing sounds or
putting stress, which may lead to misunderstanding in communication. In
these cases, the teacher needs to identify what students should pay attention to
and what work on.
 Establishing priorities
It is worth emphasizing the fact that native-like pronunciation may be a goal
only for some, not for all learners. According to Kenworthy (1987:3), "for the
majority of learners a far more reasonable goal is to be comfortably
intelligible". Learners, therefore, need a guide telling them about what aspects
they had better master, what aspects they do not need to be "perfect" like
native speakers. Because native pronunciation is an inappropriate aim for
most learners, teachers and students should learn to satisfy with an acceptably
good level of the aspects which are not really too important.
 Devising activities
Because learning pronunciation is complex, the teacher must consider
what types of exercises and activities will be helpful and bring learners the

best result. In devising activities for learning pronunciation, the teacher also


12

think about certain activities suitable for the learning styles and approaches of
some learners better than others.
 Assessing progress
One of the important roles of the teacher in pronunciation teaching is to
assess progress. Assessing progress is actually a type of feedback. Most of
learners find it difficult to assess their own progress, so the teacher must
provide them accurate information. Tests and marks at appropriate times may
serve as a strong motivation for learners in the progress of learning.

3.3. Approaches, techniques and activities in pronunciation teaching
3.3.1. Approaches
According to Celce – Murcia, Briton and Goodwin (1996, Teaching
Pronunciation), there are two general approaches to the teaching of
pronunciation.
 Intuitive – imitative approach
An intuitive – imitative approach appearing before the late 19
th
century is
occasionally supplemented by the teachers' impressionistic observation about
sounds based on orthography (Kelly, 1969). This approach "depends on the
learners' ability to listen to and to imitate the rhythms and sounds of the
target language without the intervention of any explicit information" (Celce –
Murcia, et al., 1996:2). It means, with this approach, the teaching of
pronunciation mostly depends on how many times the teacher turns on the
cassette or CD player while the main activities in the class are listening and

repeating. The teacher do not have to take responsibility for explaining how
sounds are formed or produced. The learners do their main task of listening
and imitating. With an intuitive – imitative approach, it is expected that
learners gradually achieve pronunciation competence.


13

 Analytic – linguistic approach
The second approach in pronunciation teaching is analytic – linguistic.
This approach "utilizes information and tool such as a phonetic alphabet,
articulator descriptions, charts of the vocal apparatus and other aids to
supplement listening, imitation, and production" (Celce – Murcia, et al.,
1996:2) Analytic – linguistic approach explicitly informs the learners of and
focuses attention on the sounds and rhythms of the target language. It cannot
be said that, between intuitive – imitative and analytic – linguistic, which
approach is better. The analytic – linguistic approach was developed to
complement rather than to replace the intuitive – imitative approach, which
was typically retained as the practice phase used in tandem with the phonetic
information. Therefore, choosing to apply which approach into pronunciation
teaching depends on teachers themselves and learners' level.
Apart from the two common approaches above, Pennington (1996) and
Dalton - Seidlhofer (1994) also mention Bottom-up Approach and Top-down
Approach.
 Bottom-up Approach
Bottom – up Approach has close relationship with accuracy which
should be focused from the very beginning of a course. Learners are taught
with the smallest and most concrete unit elements in pronunciation. The
teacher goes from individual consonants and vowels to more abstract
segments such as intonation.

 Top-down Approach
Top-down Approach gets the idea of contextualized sounds in
connected speech. The teacher goes from the biggest elements to the smallest
ones of pronunciation: from intonation or contextualized sounds to individual
sounds.


14

3.3.2. Techniques and activities
It is no doubt that making pronunciation lessons effective and fun by
using variety of techniques and activities is what the teachers want and need
to do. According Chomsky - Halle (1968), Celce – Murcia (1996), Kelly
(2000), et al., the following common techniques will become helpful and
effective when the teachers use them appropriately and flexibly in the class.
 Listen and imitate
The teacher provides learners with the pronunciation of the target
language pronounced by teacher him/herself or tape recorders or language
labs, etc., then asks learners to listen to sounds and repeat them.
 Drilling
Drilling is one of the main ways to teach pronunciation. With this
technique, the teacher speaks a word or a structure in model, then has learners
repeat it. Through this basic form, pronunciation is practiced easily in the
class.
 Phonetic training
Articulator description, articulator diagram as well as the phonetic
alphabet are applied in this technique because learners are provided with basic
theoretical knowledge about how sounds are formed and also helped by the
teacher to produce correct sounds.
 Chaining

According to Kelly, this technique can be used for sentences which
prove difficult for students to pronounce, either because they are long, or
because they include difficult words and sounds. The teacher is to isolate
certain parts of the sentences and then modeling them separately for students
to repeat. Step by step, students build the sentence up until it is completed.


15

The sentence can be drilled and built up from the start (front-chaining) or
from the end (back-chaining).
 Minimal pairs
In phonology, minimal pairs are pairs of words or phrases in a particular
language, which differ in only one phonological element. Using minimal pair
drills means the teacher ask learners to listen to the tape and distinguish
between the two sounds by presenting them. This activity is considered as a
particularly useful technique to teach sounds causing difficulties for learners.
 Contextualized minimal pairs
Using this technique means the teacher establishes the setting and
presents key vocabulary. Learners are then trained to respond to a sentence
stem with the appropriate meaningful response.
 Reading aloud/Recitation
The teacher provides learners with a passage or script, then asks them to
read aloud, focusing on stress, timing and intonation. This technique is
usually implemented with genres which are intended to be spoken, such as
speeches, poems, plays, and dialogues.
 Recordings of learners' production
Audio-tapes, video - tapes of rehearsed as well as spontaneous speeches,
free conversations, and role plays are used in this technique. Feedback from
the teacher and peer or self-evaluation is necessary after subsequent playback.

 Tongue twisters
This is a technique from speech correction strategies for native speakers.
Sounds in tongue twister drills which are difficult to differentiate are put
together to make meaningful sentences. This type of drills is not easy but a


16

more delighting way to practice pronunciation.
 Practice of vowel shifts and stress shifts related by affixation
According to Celce – Murcia (1996:10), this is "a technique based on
rules of generative phonology (Chomsky and Halle 1968) used with
intermediate or advanced learners. The teacher points out the rule-based
nature of vowel and stress shifts in etymologically related words to raise
awareness; sentences and short texts that contain both members of a pair may
be provided as oral practice material:
Vowel shift: mime /ai/ mimic /i/
Sentence context: Street mimes often mimic the gestures of passersby.
Stress shift: PHOtograph phoTOgraphy
Sentence context: I can tell from these photographs that you are very
good at photography."

4. Pronunciation learning
4.1. Factors affecting pronunciation learning
Kenworthy (1987:4, as cited in Nunan 1991) points out the following
factors that affect the learning of pronunciation.
 The native language
The native language is an important factor in learning to pronounce. The
more differences there are between the native and the target language, the
more difficulties will be encountered by the learners. When a particular sound

does not exist in the mother tongue, the learners tend to substitute it by the
nearest equivalent from their native language. Therefore it cannot be denied


17

that the native language of learners has an impact on their pronunciation in
the target language.
 The age factor
It is commonly assumed that the age factor has a great influence on
pronunciation. The earlier a learner starts to learn a target language, the more
native-like pronunciation he or she achieves.
 Amount of exposure
Another factor is the amount of exposure to English the learners receive.
It means learners who live in the country where the target language is spoken
or are surrounded by an target language – speaking environment have some
advantages over those who do not.
 Phonetic ability
It is generally assumed that some people have a better ability to hear
foreign languages than others. This skill has been variously termed "phonetic
coding ability", "aptitude for oral mimicry" or "auditory discrimination
ability".
 Attitude and identity
Many studies of attitude in language learning has shown that learners
who show positive feelings towards the speakers of the new language tend to
develop more accurate, native-like accents.
 Motivation
For some learners pronunciation is more important than for others. The
learners who consider pronunciation to be an important part of their English
learning are usually eager to be corrected and concern about how good or bad

18

their pronunciation is. This factor should not be neglected as it is considered
to be one of the most important factors affecting pronunciation learning.
4.2. The student's role in pronunciation learning
The learner's role plays an important part in learning any subject in
general as well as in English pronunciation in particular. It means a learner
has to take his or her own responsibility and be willing to learn. When
learners really pay attention to their pronunciation, they will become more
cautious about their speaking, which helps them build up their own good
pronunciation gradually. In teaching and learning pronunciation, besides the
help from the teacher, self-correction is also good for learners to find and
make correction to their pronunciation mistakes themselves.
5. Common problems in pronunciation teaching and learning
It is known that teaching and learning pronunciation involves a variety
of challenges which both teachers and learners cannot overcome successfully
if they do not really have a deep understanding of these problems. The
difficulties in pronunciation lessons arise not only from the nature of
pronunciation itself, but also from other various subjective and objective
factors. In the light of the previous and current studies, several major
problems both teachers and students often encounter in the pronunciation
classes are mentioned as follows:
 The nature of pronunciations
As mentioned above, mother tongue is a factor which has a great
influence on pronunciation learning of a foreign language. Nunan (1991)
states that the problems of acquiring the phonology of the second language
presents formidable challenge to any theory of second language acquisition.
The more differences there are between the native and the target language, the

19

more difficulties will be encountered by the learners. Furthermore, English
pronunciation itself contains a great number of complicated factors and rules,
which causes difficulties for learners of English in general and Vietnamese
learners of English in particular. In more details, Doff (1998) points out
some common problems learners often get into when learning pronunciation
or speaking English such as difficulty in pronouncing sounds which do not
exist in the students’ own language; confusion of similar sounds; difficulty in
pronouncing consonant clusters; and tendency to give all syllables equal
stress and “flat” intonation.
 Class setting
According to some researchers coming from Asian countries such as
Vietnam, Thailand, Korean, China, Bangladesh etc., a large number of
problems in pronunciation teaching and learning arise from class setting. It is
easily seen that in many English classes of state high school education
system, classroom size is too large, on average with over 50 students per
class. Moreover, the classroom condition is poor and the quality of teaching
staff is also a problem. All the issues above partly cause challenges for
teachers and students in teaching and learning pronunciation.
In summary, this chapter has so far conceptualized the discussion of the
issues and aspects concerning the topic of the study. It has mentioned
definitions and features of pronunciation as well as issues involving
pronunciation teaching and learning. In the next chapter, the current situation
of Kien An high school where the data are collected and the methodology of
the research under the light of the above discussed theories are being
presented.

20

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY
1. An overview of current situation of teaching and learning speaking
skills at Kien An high school
1.1. The school
Founded in 1959, located in Kien An district, Hai Phong city, Kien An
high school has been know as one of the leading choices of parents and
students living in Kien An district and some suburbs nearby when they finish
the secondary school. It has 36 classes with over 90 teachers of different
subjects and about 1650 students of three grades: 10, 11 and 12. On the
average, there are 42 to 50 students in a class.
1.2. The course
At Kien An high school, English is taught as a compulsory subject with
three or four classes a week. During three years of learning English at school,
students use three English textbooks (English 10, English 11 and English 12)
focusing on four skills including listening, speaking, reading, writing and
language focus part. Of those skills, most of students are not good at
speaking, especially pronunciation, although they have studied English before
at primary and secondary school. In the textbook, pronunciation part is
designed to be found in the language focus part and generally taught within 5
to 7 minutes in a 45 minute period. It means, after a year of learning English
with 16 lessons, each student spends only about an hour and a half on average
to learn pronunciation in class.

2. The study
2.1. Research methods
This study was carried out in the form of survey questionnaires,

interviews and classroom observations.


21

2.1.1. Survey questionnaires
In order to collect reliable data, two sets of questionnaires were
designed: one for teachers, one for students.
Teacher questionnaire (Appendix 1) with 11 items was designed to get
teachers' ideas of pronunciation teaching and learning reality, problems faced
by their students and some recommendations to improve learning speaking
reality, especially pronunciation reality at school. Therefore, the teacher
questionnaire is divided into some main parts as follows:
- Teachers' background information;
- Teachers' attitude towards present situation of teaching and learning
pronunciation at Kien An high school;
- Problems faced by teachers in teaching pronunciation;
- Teachers' recommendations of techniques to improve students'
pronunciation.
Student questionnaire (Appendix 2) is another survey questionnaire
with 12 items tending to the following categories:
- Students' background information;
- Students' attitude towards learning speaking, especially learning
pronunciation;
- Students' problems in learning pronunciation;
- Students' expectations in learning pronunciation.

2.1.2. Classroom observations
Besides the questionnaires, classroom observation is also the main
instrument used to collect more information about the reality of teaching and

learning English speaking skills for the study. The researcher observed the
two classes, 11B7 and 11B11, taught by two English language teachers with