Using Language Learning Strategies in Pronunciation Training for Non-English Major Students = Kết hợp sử dụng các chiến lược học tập ngôn ngữ cùng với huấn luyệ

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




NGUYỄN NGÂN HÀ



USING LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES IN
PRONUNCIATION TRAINING FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR
STUDENTS
Kết hợp sử dụng các chiến lược học tập ngôn ngữ cùng với huấn luyện
phát âm cho sinh viên không chuyên Anh


Combined Programme Thesis


Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10




Hanoi, 2013


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES




NGUYỄN NGÂN HÀ



USING LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES IN PRONUNCIATION
TRAINING FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS
Kết hợp sử dụng các chiến lược học tập ngôn ngữ cùng với huấn luyện phát âm
cho sinh viên không chuyên Anh


Combined Programme Thesis



Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10
Supervisor: Dương Đư
́
c Minh, Ph.D




Hanoi, 2013

i


DECLARATION
This thesis is a presentation of my original research work. Wherever contributions of
others are involved, every effort is made to indicate this clearly, with due reference to
the literature, and acknowledgement of collaborative research and discussions. The
work was done under the guidance of my supervisor, Dr. Duong Duc Minh, at the
University of Languages and International Studies, VNU.

Student’s name




Nguyen Ngan Ha

In my capacity as supervisor of the candidate’s thesis, I certify that the above
statements are true to the best of my knowledge.

Supervisor




Duong Duc Minh, Ph.D.

Date: Hanoi, October 4
th

2013
ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I offer my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Duong
Duc Minh, who has supported me through out my thesis with his patience and
knowledge. Without his encouragement and tolerance, I could not have completed my
thesis. One simply could not wish for a better or friendlier supervisor.
I thank my beloved students who created joyful time of pronunciation lessons
during the training program. Although I do not teach them any more, I hope that they
will keep being motivated with English pronunciation in particular and English
learning in general.
Finally, I want to express my love to my parents who are always worried about
me and willing to give me the greatest support, especially whenever I find myself the
most useless.
iii

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this action research is to improve student’s pronunciation
performance, especially in terms of English vowel sounds, through a pronunciation
training program. There were 20 non-English majored students from Hanoi University
of Science, VNU participating in this program. During 10 weeks, students were
provided with explanation on English vowel production as well as the similarities and
differences between English and Vietnamese vowel systems before practicing these
sounds with the support of Dickerson’s Covert Rehearsal Model. The data were
collected from three questionnaires, two tests - the pre-test and post-test and reflective
reports from students. The analysis of collected data proved that after the training
program, students gained certain improvement in their pronunciation performance. The
number of errors in pronouncing vowels decreased; nevertheless, some sounds
remained problematic with learners. By studying the mistakes, the researcher found

that the relationship between L1 and L2 exists and L1 influenced negatively on the L2
pronunciation acquisition of students in this study. Besides, the use of various
pronunciation learning strategies was shown to be useful for students’ learning of
pronunciation, especially the social strategy group (as classified by Oxford (1990) and
Peterson (2000)).
iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Acknowledgement ii
Abstract iii
List of abbreviations vii
List of tables viii
List of figures ix
PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Problem statement and rationale for the study 1
2. Aims and objectives of the study 4
3. Research questions 4
4. Scope of the study 5
5. Methods of the study 5
6. Importance of the study 6
7. Design of the study 6
PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 8
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 8
1. Pronunciation teaching and learning 8
1.1. The importance of pronunciation teaching 8
1.2. The two approaches of pronunciation teaching 10
1.3. Intelligibility 12
1.4. Phonological transfer and the effect of L1 on
the pronunciation of L2 14

2. Vowels in English and Vietnamese 17
2.1. Vietnamese vowels 17
2.2. English vowels 18
2.3. Differences between English and Vietnamese vowels 20
3. Pronunciation learning strategies 22
3.1. Definition of language learning strategies 22
v

3.2. The classification of language learning strategies 25
3.3. Pronunciation learning strategies 26
3.3.1. The classification of pronunciation learning
strategies 26
3.3.2. Learners’ use of pronunciation learning
strategies 28
3.3.3. The effectiveness of pronunciation learning
strategy instruction 30
3.3.4. Pronunciation learning strategy instruction
model 32
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 37
2.1. Rationale for action research design 37
2.2. Background of the study 43
2.2.1. The course, textbook and problems with the teaching
and learning pronunciation 43
2.2.2. Participants 45
2.3. Rationale for the use of explicit instruction and
Dickerson’s Covert Rehearsal Model 46
2.3.1. Explicit instruction 46
2.3.2. Dickerson’s Covert Rehearsal Model 48
2.4. Research procedure 49
2.5. Procedure of the pronunciation training program 52

2.6. Data collection instruments 54
2.7. Data analysis 57
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
3.1. Research question 1: Are there any problems of learners
when producing English vowel sounds? If yes, what are
they? 59
vi

3.2. Research question 2: To what extent does pronunciation
training with the use of pronunciation learning strategies
enhance students’ pronunciation performance? 65
3.3. Research question 3: What are students’ perceptions of
the effectiveness and usefulness of the training? 71
CHAPTER 4: IMPLICATIONS 82
4.1. Issues in teaching English pronunciation 82
4.2. Suggestions for implementing the pronunciation training program 83
PART 3: CONCLUSION 85
1. Summary of the findings 85
2. Limitations of the study 86
3. Recommendations for further research 86
REFERENCES 88
APPENDICES I

vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

L1: The Native Language
L2: The Target Language
ESL: English as a Second Language

EFL: English as a Foreign Language
TL: Target Language
DCRM: Dickerson’s Covert Rehearsal Model
VNU: Vietnam National University
HUS: Hanoi University of Science

viii

LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 1. Oxford’s classification of language learning strategies 27
Table 2. Comparison of Traditional Research and Action Research 43
Table 3. Incorrect pronunciation of sounds resulting from the
replacing an English vowel with another in Vietnamese 63
Table 4: Comparison of the means and standard deviation
between pretest and posttest 68
Table 5. The results of paired samples t-test of pre-test and post-test 68
Table 6. The number of students with the most common
mispronounced letters 71
Table 7. The most effective pronunciation learning tactics 80
Table 8.The least effective pronunciation learning tactics 81
ix

LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure 1. Vietnamese vowels 18
Figure 2. The degree of lip rounding 19
Figure 3. The single English vowel system 20
Figure 4. Simple Action Research Model 41
Figure 5. Detailed Action Research Model 41

Figure 6. The number of students in relation with their correct answers 47
Figure 7.Numbers of students having troubles with sounds in Group 1 70














1

PART 1: INTRODUCTION
This part, which is an introduction to the thesis, helps to provide the
background as well as the context for the present study. The section includes the
statement of the problem and rationale for the study, research questions, aims and
objectives, significance, scope of the study and an overview of the rest of the paper.
1. Problem statement and rationale for the study
Whether English is learnt as a second language or a foreign language,
pronunciation should be paid adequate attention by both teachers and learners since
an English learner with a limited pronunciation performance may lose his self-
confidence in social interactions, which “negatively affects estimations of a
speaker’s credibility and abilities” (Gilakjani, 2012, p. 119). In other words,
learners with good English pronunciation tend to be understood despite their

frequent grammatical mistakes in the speech. On the other hand, good knowledge of
English grammar is not an insurance of intelligibility, meaning “how much of the
speech is actually understood by interlocutors” (Munro, 2011, p.9). As a result,
these students may avoid communicating in English, experience social isolation,
and have difficulties in finding jobs and limited opportunities for further study
(Gilakjani, 2012). Many learners rank pronunciation one of the most difficult
aspects in acquiring English. Moreover, “the process of learning English is
interconnected” (Varasarin, 2007, p.11), which means that the acquirement of one
language aspect might be a support for mastering other aspects. For example,
according to Gilbert (1984), the improvement in English pronunciation is of great
importance to enhance students’ listening and speaking skills.
Within the English as a Second Language (ESL) setting, the fact that
students have to use English not only in classrooms but also in real-life
communication and interaction forces them to master it. In other words, English
skills become their survival skills, which makes teaching pronunciation is often
considered essential in an ESL class (Varasarin, 2007). Meanwhile, in the English
2

as a foreign language (EFL) setting, English is no longer a means of communicating
and there is hardly any other place than classrooms where it is used. As a result,
English has lost its title of survival skills in this case. It would be easy for both EFL
teachers and learners to neglect the significant role of pronunciation training in
assisting students to gain precise command of English (Gilbert, 1984). In such cases
where students have few chances to practice English, it is vital for teachers to show
more of their responsibility to create greater opportunities for students to expose to
the target language rather than avoid facing the difficulties.
Even though pronunciation is said to be able to acquire naturally (Krashen,
1985), pronunciation instruction has been proved to bring students chances to
enhance their intelligibility and comprehensibility which are influential factors of
their communicative competence (Prator, 1971, Morley, 1991 as cited in Darcy,

Ewert, & Lidster, 2012). According to Harmer (2007), students can overcome
difficult sounds by understanding how they are produced while teachers may
support their learning of pronunciation by making them aware of their
mispronunciation (Kenworthy, 1987). In short, pronunciation instruction plays an
important role in helping learners acquire knowledge, raising their awareness and
improving skills that support the enhancement of intelligibility.
During the pronunciation learning process, learners may be affected by
various factors such as the native language, the age factor, the amount of exposure,
the phonetic ability, the attitude and identity, the motivation and concern for good
pronunciation (Kenworthy, 1987). Among these factors, the native language is
stated to be the most influential one as the L1 sound system may affect the
acquisition of a second language. For example, people with L1 accent will produce
a “foreign accent” which makes them easy to be identified among speakers of
English. Effects of L1 can be found in the way students cope with difficult sounds
in L2 (Celce-Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 1996 ). They tend to use an L1 sound to
substitute for an L2 one and the phonological rules of L1 may be mistakenly applied
to L2. One of possible solutions for this problem might be making students aware of
3

the differences between L1 and L2. Studies conducted by Ohata (2004), Huthaily
(2008), Tharpe (2008) indicate that the pronunciation instruction becomes more
useful if it can help students understand the similarities as well as discrepancies
between their native and target language.
With regards to language learning strategies, O’Malley and Chamot (1990,
p.29) define them as “special thoughts or behaviours that individuals use to help
them comprehend, learn, or retain new information”. The purpose of using these
strategies is to “affect the learner's motivational or affective state, or the way in
which the learner selects, acquires, organizes, or interacts new knowledge”
(Weinstein and Mayer, 1986, p. 315). The significance of language learning
strategies is appreciated in such a way that they can enhance learners’ language

proficiency and develop their communicative competence (Oxford, 1990).
With profound influence of the development of English as an international
language, Vietnamese schools are providing students with English as one of the
core subjects at school. In big cities, children even can learn English before they
start their primary school (Ha, 2005). However, it is problematic that “many
Vietnamese speakers can speak English, but only a few have intelligible English
pronunciation” (Ha, 2005, p.1). As observed, students in Hanoi University of
Science (HUS) share the same problem. They long to speak English accurately and
fluently but for some reasons, English becomes too challenging for them and they
are too shy to speak English. The biggest reason might be the differences in English
and Vietnamese sound systems (Ha, 2005) and results in some typical pronunciation
errors. As for teachers, it is worth noting that not every English teacher in this
university provides frequent pronunciation training for their students even though it
is required in the curriculum. Therefore, students lack orientation in learning and
practicing as well as exposure to pronunciation of English language and often
ignore it while their focus is mainly on listening, reading, speaking and writing
skills. Hardly ever do they realize that there is always an obvious relationship of
listening and speaking with pronunciation (Gilbert, 1984) and their poor
4

performance in listening and speaking tests partially results from bad pronunciation.
A further consequence is that students might lose their confidence in speaking
English as they are afraid of making mistakes and feel inferior. With the desire to
help my students first improve their pronunciation skills and then consolidate their
self-confidence in using English so that the fear of making mistakes or being
blamed will no longer be their obsession, I decide to conduct an action search in
which I will provide my HUS students with frequent pronunciation training
combining with pronunciation learning strategies. It is believed that with regular
practice, learners will improve their performance and feel confident (Avery and
Ehrlich, 1992).

2. Aims and objectives of the study
The study aims to improve the pronunciation of non-English majored
students in HUS through the pronunciation training process. In this training,
students were given detailed instructions in terms of English vowels as well the
similarities and differences between Vietnamese and English vowels. Moreover, the
training gave students chances to practice English with the use of various
pronunciation learning strategies attached to steps of Dickerson’s Covert Rehearsal
Model. All of activities in this course were to help students develop their acquisition
of English vowels. However, before that, to make it more helpful, the study
identified problems that learners may have while producing English vowels. After
all, the researcher expects to receive students’ evaluation of the whole training
process and to find out which parts of this process show to be useful for their
learning of pronunciation and which learning strategies that students found more
effective.
3. Research questions
The study is expected to find answers for the following research questions:
1. Are there any problems of learners when producing English vowel sounds?
If yes, what are they?
5

2. To what extent does pronunciation training enhance students’ pronunciation
performance?
3. What are students’ perceptions of the effectiveness and usefulness of the
training?
4. Scope of the study
The study was conducted with the pronunciation training program which
included two main parts. The first one was the instruction on English vowel sound
production and explanation of differences between Vietnamese and English vowel
systems. The second was the practice of English vowels with Dickerson’s Covert
Rehearsal Model under the instructions of the teacher-researcher. Learners were

instructed and encouraged to use a variety of learning strategies during some steps
of the Covert Rehearsal to improve their pronunciation. Suggested pronunciation
learning strategies in this study belong to Peterson’s (2000) and Oxford’s (1990)
strategies taxonomies which include five group: (1) Memory strategies, (2)
Cognitive strategies, (3) Metacognitive strategies, (4) Affective strategies, (5)
Social strategies. However, the real use of language learning tactics would depend
on students themselves during the pronunciation training process. Accordingly,
students’ target was the production of vowel sounds only. There were 20 HUS
students participating in this ten-week training course with 100 minutes of
interacting with the teacher per week. The two parts of the program were conducted
simultaneously during those weeks. The teacher provided instructions on essential
knowledge of pronunciation in class while students practiced sounds that they learnt
at home with the Dickerson’s Covert Rehearsal Model.
5. Methods of the study
The research design applied in this study is action research with the use of
some research instruments, namely, questionnaires, pre-test and post-test and
reflective reports. The combination of these instruments helped the researcher gain
reliable data and accurate understanding of learners’ problems and the nature of the
6

training process. Rationale for the choice of this design and research tools is
presented in the Methodology chapter.
6. Importance of the study
First and foremost, with the pronunciation training program, the researcher
expects to bring positive changes in students’ pronunciation performance, especially
the production of English vowels. Hence, those who benefit directly from this study
are students participating in the research. After this training, students do not only
gain essential knowledge about English pronunciation but also build up useful
learning strategies for themselves to improve their skills. Moreover, it is hoped that
students’ confidence and autonomy will be developed.

Secondly, the findings from this research can be valuable evidence about the
relationship of pronunciation learning strategies and learners’ outcomes, besides
showing contribution of explicit instruction on pronunciation to the improvement of
learners. Hopefully, the successful application of this approach will open one more
practical way in pronunciation learning for English learners as well as useful way of
teaching pronunciation for teachers. The results of this study might also be a
significant reference for other teachers and researchers that share the same
concerned field in their practice of teaching English.
7. Design of the study
The following parts of the study were divided into five chapters:
PART 2: Development
Chapter 1: Literature Review
This chapter reviews the current theories in pronunciation teaching and
learning, the classifications of language learning strategies and models of
pronunciation learning strategy training.

7

Chapter 2: Methodology
The Methodology chapter explains why action research was chosen as the
research method, shows the steps of how the research was conducted, and justifies
data collection instruments and data analysis methods.
Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion
In chapter 3, the actions, findings and analysis of the findings of the research
are provided in response to the research questions.
Chapter 4: Implications
This chapter attempts to link the research results and discussed issues in the
previous chapter to the real-life teaching and learning of pronunciation.
PART 3: Conclusion
This part summarizes the findings of the action research, acknowledges

the limitations and offers suggestions for further research.
8

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Pronunciation teaching and learning
1.1. The importance of pronunciation teaching
To achieve high level of English proficiency, learners cannot ignore the
contribution of pronunciation as an integral aspect of communicative competence
(Morley, 1991), which is considered to be essential in deciding the intelligibility of
the speaker (Brown, 1992; Fraser, 2000). Despite some arguments that
pronunciation can be acquired naturally (Krashen, 1985), it is impossible to deny
the significance of pronunciation instruction in improving intelligibility and
comprehensibility (Prator, 1971; Morley, 1991 as cited in Darcy et al., 2012). It
holds its own value in the way that by giving learners “the perceptual and the
productive experience they need to reconceptualize the performance targets”
(Pennington, 1994 as cited in Silveira, 2002, p. 94), the instruction can develop their
interlanguage phonology.
With explicit pronunciation instruction, teachers help learners acquire
knowledge, raise their awareness and improve skills that support the improvement
of intelligibility. According to Harmer (2007), sounds may be difficult for learners
to hear and comprehend so it is teacher’s responsibility to help them overcome the
problem by explaining how sounds are produced. Moreover, hearing the sounds
effectively is useful in improving the quality of sound utterance. Kenworthy (1987)
emphasizes the critical role of the teacher in pronunciation teaching when stating
that the teacher make learners aware of their mispronunciation which is not often
recognized by learners themselves and give them the correction. Kelly (2001)
suggests that pronunciation can be mastered by such activities as games, drills,
chaining, minimal pairs, etc. The author also supposes that the teaching of
pronunciation has two sides - the teaching of productive skills and receptive skills;

9

each kind of activities might have certain effectiveness towards learners’ different
skills. For instance, drilling activities are able to improve both kinds while noting
tasks are useful for receptive skills.
To evaluate the effectiveness of explicit pronunciation towards the learning
of pronunciation, Elliott (1997) conducted a research with intermediate adult
learners and found that it was really beneficial. In this experimental study, there
were two groups with experimental group subjects who received 10 to 15 minutes
of formal instruction and practice of Spanish allophones during twenty-one class
periods. The practice activities used in this study included word and sentence
repetition exercises, rhymes or tongue twister. They would be done after the teacher
taught students how to pronounce specific sounds and their graphemic
representation. The findings indicated that pronunciation instruction had a great
contribution to the pronunciation acquisition of learners who could benefit from
activities focusing on the target language sound system. The similar conclusion can
be found in Moore’s (2001) case study which investigated the effects of formal
instruction on EFL pronunciation learning. With pronunciation teaching, the
experimental group was aware of the importance of pronunciation and had greater
improvement than the control group. Saito’s (2010) study examined the benefit of
explicit phonetic instruction by two outcome measurements: a rubric of
accentedness and comprehensibility. Results showed that even though the
instruction could not reduce the foreign accent which was the evidence of L1
influence on L2 pronunciation, it had significant effect on comprehensibility in the
sentence-reading task. The effectiveness of pronunciation teaching is also
investigated together with other factors such as the use of corrective feedback as in
the study of Saito & Lyster (2012). In this study, Japanese students in the
experimental group benefited more from pronunciation instruction with corrective
feedback and gained great development in pronouncing the most difficult English
sound /ɹ/. This indicates that pronunciation teaching plays an important role in

driving student’s awareness towards the specific target sounds by providing
10

instructional input but corrective feedback is useful in ensuring the intelligibility of
students’ output. Couper (2006) with his classroom-based study investigated both
short-term and long-term effects of pronunciation instruction and confirmed the
importance of instruction to changes in learners’ phonological interlanguage. Long-
term effects of pronunciation were proved through study results showing that
students’ gains made were retained over time. Positive evidences of pronunciation
instruction profits helped the researcher come up with some significant inferences
about the teaching. Effective teaching of pronunciation involves:
• making learners aware that there is a difference between what they say and
what native speakers say
• helping learners to hear the difference and practice it
• finding the right metalanguage
• helping learners to discover useful patterns and rules
• giving feedback and providing opportunities for further practice
(Couper, 2006, p.59)
With the recognition of the significance of pronunciation instruction, the
next concerned issues of the study are the selection of a suitable approach for the
teaching as well as the identification of a target in pronunciation for learners.
1.2. The two approaches of pronunciation teaching
Although, in the history of language teaching methodology, the teaching of
pronunciation has been at-odds with that of grammar (Kelly, 1969), they share one
common point: having “come in and out of fashion as various progressive
movements in language acquisition have prevailed” (Carey, 2009). Pronunciation
teaching could be the focus of the Direct Method in late 1800s and 1900s or Audio-
Lingual Method of 1940s-1950s but then was ignored during 1960s with the emerge
of the Cognitive Approach. It was privileged by the Communicative Approach from
1980s up to now. However, once in the 20

th
century, it was given little attention
when Grammar-Translation Method dominated. According to Kelly (1969) and
11

Celce-Murcia et al,. (1996), the teaching of pronunciation can follow either intuitive
or analytic approach.
In the intuitive (Kelly, 1969) or intuitive-imitative approach (Celce-Murcia
et al., 1996), the imitative procedures, which consist of two stages: perception of
speech and production, are considered the backbone of pronunciation teaching. This
approach indicates that the learner's ability to listen to and imitate the rhythms and
sounds of the target language, without the intervention of any explicit information,
will bring about the development in pronunciation skills. Besides, it presupposes the
availability, validity, and reliability of good models to listen to. This approach
underlies the audio-lingual method until the 80’s of the 20
th
century (Carey, 2009).
Whilst explicit pronunciation is underestimated in the former approach, it is
of great importance in the analytic-linguistic approach (Celce-Murcia et al., 1996).
With information and tools such as a phonetic alphabet, articulatory descriptions,
charts of the vocal apparatus and contrastive information, teachers explicitly inform
learners of the sound system and rhythms of the target language. However, this
approach was not invented to replace but complement the intuitive-imitative
approach, which was used as the practice phase in tandem with the phonetic
information (Celce-Murcia et al., 1996).
The intuitive-imitative approach can be recognized as the basis of many
analytic syllabus types such as Task-based learning where the form-focused
approaches with explicit information of pronunciation are neglected or discredited
as ineffective (Hall, 2011 as cited in Linebaugh & Roche, 2012). Besides, this
approach also appears in a variety of textbooks, guidelines or tips for learning and

teaching English (Linebaugh & Roche, 2012). Nevertheless, so far, there have been
a tiny number of studies comparing the effectiveness of the two approaches towards
pronunciation learning and the issue of which one is the better seems to be never
settled. Hashemian and Fadaei (2011) conducted a comparative study to investigate
the effectiveness of the two approaches on the teaching English vowels to Iranian
12

learners. They came to a conclusion that while the intuitive approach showed to be
helpful in improving students’ pronunciation of diphthongs, the other approach,
analytic-linguistic approach, had its own advantages in terms of pure vowel
learning. This finding implied that these two approaches should be supportive of
each other rather than contradict. It is affirmed by a study of Linebaugh & Roche
(2012), who emphasized that despite the importance of the intuitive-imitative
approach in helping students achieving intelligibility, articulatory training with
form-focused approach is beneficial for the learning of particular problematic
sounds. Underhill’s (2005) suggested that the intelligibility can be improved by
raising students’ awareness of how sounds are articulated. Looking at the
effectiveness of the two approaches, but not from the aspect of what to teach,
Roohani (2012) evaluated it under the influence of the age. The researcher claimed
that the intuitive-imitative approach was more effective for the younger learners at
the age of 13-16 years old whereas the analytic-linguistic seemed to be more
suitable with those who are 17-20 years old.
It seems that neither of two approaches can have the absolute advantage over
the other and their effectiveness depends largely on the teaching and learning
context. With the analytic-linguistic approach serving as the basis, in this study,
information such as the sound systems, the articulation as well as differences
between vowels in L1 and L2 was taught explicitly during the pronunciation
training course.
1.3. Intelligibility
Becoming the goal of pronunciation instruction since 1980s (Celce-Murcia et

al., 1996; Morley, 1987 and Derwing & Munro, 2005), intelligibility is considered
as a basic requirement in human reaction. According to Kenworthy (1987, p.13),
intelligibility is defined as “being understood by a listener at a given time in a given
situation”. This means that in communication, despite not being the same as a
native pronunciation, a foreign pronunciation is intelligible if it is understandable to
13

the listener. However, the judgment on intelligibility varies and depends on some
factors (Kenworthy, 1987 and Yates, 2002) such as:
 The listener’s familiarity with the speaker’s accent
 The listener’s expertise in understanding speakers from different
backgrounds
 The listener’s attitudes towards the speaker and the speaker’s ethnic
Hence, whether the speaker’s pronunciation is intelligible or not relies partly
on “how familiar the listeners are with the speaker, how sympathetic they are to the
speaker and how much they know about the topic” (Yates, 2002, p.2). However,
above all, the intelligibility should involve the role of the speakers, not solely
depend on the listeners (Jenkins, 2000). It indicates that the level of intelligibility is
measured by the quality of the speaker’s pronunciation as well as the perception of
the listener. While there are few studies conducted to determine how much
contribution of speakers and listeners is required to guarantee the acceptable
intelligibility, a pronunciation instructor can help students improve their
intelligibility partially by making their pronunciation of good quality which is
realized by certain requirements on overall prosody, phrasing and sense groups,
intonation, word stress, rhythm, syllable structure and segments - elements
important for intelligibility (Moedjito, 2009).
Based on views about intelligibility, in this study, this term is supposed to be
the level of listener’s understanding of speaker’s intended message as the speaker
utters it. This implies that normally, the intelligibility of a speech should be first
placed more on the speaker than on the listener and the intelligibility level can be

determined by the speaker. Even though segments are considered to be less
important than prosody (Anderson-Hsieh and Koehler, 1988; Anderson-Hsieh,
Johnson and Koehler, 1992), errors in individual sounds may affect the
understanding of speaker’s speech, especially when communication between non-
native speakers of English occurs (Jenkins, 2000 as cited in Moedjito, 2009). By
14

improving students’ pronunciation performance, in terms of vowel production, the
training was expected to increase students’ intelligibility in communication rather
than to train students to have native-like accent.
1.4. Phonological transfer and the effect of L1 on the pronunciation of L2
The acquisition of a second language will more or less be influenced by the
native language. This phenomenon is called “transfer” or “cross-linguistic
influence” which is defined as “the influence of a person’s knowledge of one
language on that person’s knowledge or use of another language” (Jarvis and
Pavlenko, 2008 as cited in Luik, 2010, p.2). According to Gass & Selinker (2001 as
cited in Ly, 2007), using first language in the second language context makes
learners produce a nontarget-like second language form, which is called negative
transfer. It will be a positive transfer if the form is correct. Odlin (1989 as cited in
Ly, 2007) claimed that it is the difference between L1 and L2 that causes students to
adapt the new language by producing new sounds similar to their L1. Hence, the
negative transfer can lead to overproduction, underproduction and misinterpretation.
The transfer process takes place in every aspect of language: pragmatics, rhetoric,
semantics, syntax, phonology, phonetics, etc. (Odlin, 2003). Within the scope and
objectives, this study draws its attention only to the phonological transfer which is
defined as “the way in which a person’s knowledge of the sound system of one
language can affect that person’s perception and production of speech sounds in
another language” (Jarvis& Pavlenko, 2007 as cited in Luik, 2010, p.2)
According to Kenworthy (1987), the acquisition of L2 pronunciation is
determined by several factors: the native language, the age factor, the amount of

exposure, the phonetic ability, the attitude and identity, the motivation and concern
for good pronunciation. Among these factors, the influence of the native language is
proved to be the most influential one. He argued that students who are familiar with
the L1 sound system may be affected greatly during the process of acquiring a
second language. A visible evidence of L1 influence is that people with L1 accent