(Luận văn thạc sĩ) difficulties encountered by second year students at thai nguyen university of agriculture and forestry in producing some english consonants

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

NGUYỄN THỊ THU HƯƠNG

DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY SECOND YEAR STUDENTS
AT THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND
FORESTRY IN PRODUCING SOME ENGLISH CONSONANTS

Những khó khăn trong việc phát âm một số phụ âm Tiếng Anh
của sinh viên năm thứ hai trường Đại học Nông Lâm , Thái Nguyên

M.A. MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS
CODE: 60 22 15

HA NOI - 2010


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

NGUYỄN THỊ THU HƯƠNG

DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY SECOND YEAR STUDENTS
AT THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND
FORESTRY IN PRODUCING SOME ENGLISH CONSONANTS

Những khó khăn trong việc phát âm một số phụ âm Tiếng Anh
của sinh viên năm thứ hai trường Đại học Nông Lâm , Thái Nguyên

M.A. MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS
CODE: 60 22 15
SUPERVISOR: : Assoc. Prof. Dr. VÕ ĐẠI QUANG

HA NOI - 2010


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Declaration ………………………………………………………………

page
i

Acknowledgements………………………………………………………

ii

Abstract …………………………………………………………………..

iii

Table of contents ………………………………………………………...

iv

List of abbreviations and figures……………………………………….

vii

List of tables……………………………………………………………...

vii

List of speech organs…………………………………………………….

viii

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION………………………………….

1

I. Rationale……………………………………………………………..

1

II. Aims of the study…………………………………….........................

2

III. Research questions………………………………………………….

2

IV. The scope of the study………………………………………………

3

V. Design of the study…………………………………………..

3

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT

4

CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW………………………….
1.1 Theoretical Background…………………………………………….

4

2.1.1. What is pronunciation…………………………………………...

4

2.1.2. The role of pronunciation in language teaching………………...

4

1.2 Factors affecting pronunciation in language learning…………….

5

2.2.1. The native language…………………………………………….

5

2.2.2. The learners’ background……………………………………….

7

2.2.3. Pronunciation ability…………………………………………….

7

2.2.4. Motivation to learning English………………………………….

8

2.2.5. Teaching and learning environment

9

1.3.Phonological characteristics and articulation of the sounds /θ/, /ð/,

9

/ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/……………………………………………………………
1.3.1. Phonological characteristics and articulation of the consonant /θ/

10

1.3.2. Phonological characteristics and articulation of the consonant /ð/

11

1.3.3. Phonological characteristics and articulation of the consonant /ʃ/

12

1.3.4. Phonological characteristics and articulation of the consonant /ʒ/

13

1.3.5. Phonological characteristics and articulation of the consonant /tʃ/

13


1.3.6. Phonological characteristics and articulation of the consonant /dʒ/

14

1.4 Previous works………………………………………………………

15

1.5 Sub- conclusion………………………………………………………

16

CHAPTER TWO: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY……………...

18

2.1 Research method……………………………………………………..

18

2.2 Research context…………………………………………………….

19

3.2.1. Description of in – service training English courses at TUAF…..

19

3.2.2. Description of in – service students at TUAF………...................

20

2.3 Research design………………………………………........................

21

3.3.1. Sample and sampling…………………………………………….

21

3.3.2. Research Instruments…………………………………………….

22

3.3.3. Data collection……………………………………………………

23

3.3.4. Data analysis……………………………………………………...

23

2.4 Sub- conclusion………………………………………………………

24

CHAPTER THREE: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION………………

25

3.1 Difficulties due to subjective causes………………………………..

25

3.1.1. Low pronunciation ability………………………………………..

25

3.1.2. Passive way of learning…………………………………………..

27

3.1.3. Low motivation to language learning English……………………

28

3.2 Difficulties due to objective causes………………………………….

30

3.2.1. Mother tongue’s influence………………………………………..

30

3.2.2. Poor learning background………………………….......................

30

3.2.3. Articulatory features of the consonants under research ..................

31

3.2.4. Teaching and learning environment efficiency……………………

31

3.2.5. Simple techniques used by the teacher……………………………

32

PART THREE: CONCLUSIONS……………………………………

34

I. Summary of major points presented………………….....................

34

II. Concluding marks……………………………………………………

35

III. Limitations of the study…………………………………..................

38

IV. Suggestions for further study……………………………………….

38

References…………………………………………………………………

40

Appendices…………………………………………………………………

I


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
TUAF: Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry
No of Students: Number of Students
EFL: English as a Foreign Language

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Diagram of the vocal organ
Figure 2: English consonants

Figure 3: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /θ/
Figure 4: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /ð/
Figure 5: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /ʃ/
Figure 6: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /ʒ/
Figure 7: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /tʃ/
Figure 8: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /dʒ/

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Students’ opinions on the causes of difficulties in producing these
consonant sounds /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/
Table 2: Students’ mistakes in producing English consonant sounds /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/,
/ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/.
Table 3: Students’ methods to improve their pronunciation
Table 4: Students’ reasons for learning English
Table 5: Students’ opinions on pronunciation
Table 6: Teachers’ methods on teaching pronunciation


Figure 1: Diagram of the vocal organ


PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
I. Rationale of the study
English has been playing its significant role in Vietnam since 1986 due to the “Open Policy‟ of
Vietnamese government. Many foreigners from English language backgrounds came to Vietnam
for their investments and traveling. This has created the movement of learning English among
people from rural to urban areas in Vietnam. Currently, English has been a compulsory subject at
all levels in education except in lower primary school in rural areas in Vietnam. Although
communicative language teaching method has been employed instead of the Grammar
Translation method with the hope that Vietnamese students will have better speaking skill, they

are still poor in oral communication. As commented by a native – English speaker (Ha,
) “Many Vietnamese speakers can speak English, but only a few have
intelligible English pronunciation so that they can be understood easily in direct communication
with foreigners”.
One of the main reasons leading to poor pronunciation of Vietnamese learners of English is
the difficulties in producing the English sounds that are unfamiliar with their native language,
Vietnamese, such as θ// ð/ or consonants occurring at the final position of the word such as /z/,
/ʃ/; /ʒ/, /tʃ/, etc; consonant clusters; vowels; and some English features not existing in their first
language such as syllable stress and connected speech. (Honey, 2001; Tran, 2002; Zielinski,
2006, Yates, 2002).
Most of the learners of English agree that the ability to express themselves freely in
communication is of great importance for their future career, especially in modern societies where
contacting with foreigners often occurs. However, there still exist many difficulties in learning and
teaching English in Vietnam in general and at Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry
(TUAF) in particular. Many Vietnamese learners can write and read English quite well but they
cannot speak it correctly and fluently in real-life situations, which makes the listeners
misunderstand, even results in communication breakdown. Surely, there are many reasons for this
reality. After teaching in some courses at TUAF for 7 years, I have recognized some big obstacles
which prevent English language teachers and learners in Vietnam from reaching their aims. These
obstacles are unprofessional environment, students‟ low level of English language proficiency, low


students‟ pronunciation ability and so on. Unfortunately, this is not only the situation at my
university but also the case for many other colleges and universities in Vietnam.
My desire is to conduct a research in order to find out the difficulties encountered by second
year students of English at TUAF in producing the English consonant sounds: /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/,
/dʒ/ as well as to explore the causes of the difficulty and some proposal approaches to improve
teaching and learning some English consonant sounds at TUAF and then help my students dealing
with the pronunciation‟s difficulties.
II. Objectives of the study

With the necessity of pronunciation teaching and learning above and the reality of the
difficulties in producing some English consonant sounds, the objectives of the research presented
here are as follows:
1. To identify difficulties in producing some English consonant sounds /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/,
/tʃ/, /dʒ/ by second year in - service English major students at TUAF (Academic Year 20092010).
2. To explore the causes of these difficulties.
3. To provide some possible solutions to the identified problems.
It is hoped that this study makes a contribution in teaching pronunciation, especially the
consonant sounds /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ to the best results in courses at TUAF in particular and
to those who are in favor of improving the student‟s pronunciation and the result of the study is
considered to be useful for students of English to identify their difficulties in producing these
English consonant sounds and to self – improve their pronunciation.

III. Research questions
Due to limited time and knowledge, it is impossible to cover all difficulties which the students
may face in their using English. Hence this study mainly focused on the questions that have been
raised:
1. What are the difficulties encountered by second year students of English at TUAF in
producing these English consonant sounds: /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ ?

2 . What are the causes of the difficulties?
3 . What are the possible solutions to the difficulties?
IV. The scope of the study


In an overview of the English sound system, its alphabet is based on Latin which
contains twenty six letters: twenty- four consonants; twelve vowels; eight diphthongs
and a total of 44 phonemes (Sousa, 2005, p. 37). It should be noted that other
authorities vary slightly from this, but the number is between 43 and 45 phonemes. However,
Vietnamese learners do not have difficulty in pronouncing all the English sounds but some of

them only in both consonants and vowels. With the limitation of the type of the thesis, the
researcher does not have the desire for finding out all the sounds causing problems for the
author‟s students but articulatory and acoustic features of some typical consonant ones like /θ/,
/ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/. Also, due to the researcher‟s limited ability, time constraints and narrowscaled study, this study only involves in finding out errors and mistakes commonly committed by
second-year students of English at TUAF in producing these consonants of a small number of
TUAF-English major students in their second academic year.
VI. Design of the study
The thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to the thesis. The
review of related literature, the role of pronunciation in language teaching, factors affecting
pronunciation

learning,

phonological

characteristics

and

articulation

of

the

sounds

/θ/,/ð/,/ʃ/,/ʒ/,/tʃ/, /dʒ/ are presented in the second chapter. The third chapter is about methodology
used for the research study. The findings and discussion of relevant difficulties in pronunciation
teaching and learning viewed from subjective and objective causes are presented in the fourth

chapter. The final chapter is the conclusion of the study, which discusses the overview that can be
drawn from the study, voices some concluding marks from objectives given in the first chapter
with recommendations for teachers and students to overcome the obstacles and improve the
quality of their teaching and learning pronunciation in general and consonant sounds in particular.
In addition to this, moreover, the limitations of the thesis and suggestions for further study are
also pointed out.


PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Theoretical Background
1.1.1. What is pronunciation?
The notion of “pronunciation” has been defined in different ways by many writers Ur (1996)
affirm that “The concept of “pronunciation” may be said to conduce the sounds of the language
or phonology; stress and rhythm; intonation; combination of sounds; linkage of sounds”
Dalton, (1994:3) stated pronunciation can be defined “as the production of significant sound
in two senses. First, sound is significant because it is used as part of a code of a particular
language. In this sense we can talk about pronunciation as the production and reception of
sounds of speech. Second, sound is significant because it is used to achieve meaning in context of
use. Here the code combines with other factors to make communication possible. In this sense we
can talk about pronunciation with reference to acts of speaking”
In Oxford Advanced Learner‟s dictionary of current English (1995), “pronunciation” is
defined “the way in which a word is pronounced” and the pronunciation of a word is represented
through alphabetic spelling.
In this paper, the author has no intention of analyzing all definitions of pronunciation but only
gives some simple definitions above that are close to the thesis.
1.1.2. The role of pronunciation in language teaching
Nowadays pronunciation tends to be de-emphasized in language courses. Advocates of
modern comprehension based or communicatively oriented language curricula generally take the
view that pronunciation should not be taught explicitly but should rather be allowed to develop

naturally as a by – product of attempts by students to communicate. However, there has been little
systematic research to discover if certain teaching practices or condition of training can have
positive effects on pronunciation. Hence, we have no firm basis for asserting categorically that
pronunciation is not teachable or that is not worth spending time on pronunciation training in a
language course. New ways of teaching pronunciation are still developed and tested, then there
still a need for careful experimentation to determination and effectiveness of methods.


Sound is the core of the language so that is the reason why when teaching a language the
first thing the teachers should do is to let the learners have chances to explore to the sounds of
that language. Moreover, communicative approach is considered as the major language teaching
in the twenty first century as what the learners really need after graduating is that they can
communicate successfully in their work and their life. That is the reason why pronunciation
teaching has been paid more and more attention by all the teachers. Some years ago,
pronunciation used to be taught along with other skills but at the present pronunciation courses
are provided at any universities where English is taught as a separate and major subject.
1.2. Factors affecting pronunciation in language learning
1.2.1. The native language
The native language plays a very important role in learning a foreign language. It affects a
great deal of aspects, such as the way to achieve the ideas and the way of using the speech organs
in order to produce sounds peculiar to the new language. The findings of many studied on
Vietnamese learners of English has revealed that the influence of their first language, Vietnamese
is the major contributor to the difficulty for Vietnamese learners. (Tran, 2002; Zielinski, 2006,
Honey, 2001). According to Lado (1957), who builds the CA hypothesis, the learners who learn a
particular second or foreign language will find some features of that language easier, while other
features more difficult. The easier elements are similar to those in his native language and the
difficult ones are different from his native language.
The speech of non-native English speakers may exhibit pronunciation characteristics that
result from such speakers imperfectly learning the pronunciation of English, either by transferring
the phonological rules from their mother tongue into their English speech ("interference") or

through implementing strategies similar to those used in primary language acquisition. They may
also create innovative pronunciations for English sounds not found in the speaker's first language.
The age at which speakers begin to immerse themselves into a language (such as English) is
linked to the degree in which native speakers are able to detect a non-native accent; the exact
nature of the link is disputed amongst scholars and may be affected by "neurological plasticity,
cognitive development, motivation, psychosocial states, formal instruction, language learning
aptitude," and the usage of their first and second languages. English is unusual in that speakers
rarely produce an audible release between consonant clusters and often overlap constriction times.
Speaking English with a timing pattern that is dramatically different may lead to speech that is
difficult to understand. More transparently, differing phonological distinctions between a
speaker's first language and English create a tendency to neutralize such distinctions in English,
and differences in the inventory or distribution of sounds may cause substitutions of native
sounds in the place of difficult English sounds and/or simple deletion. This is more common


when the distinction is subtle between English sounds or between a sound of English and of a
speaker's primary language. While there is no evidence to suggest that a simple absence of a
sound or sequence in one language's phonological inventory makes it difficult to learn, several
theoretical models have presumed that non-native speech perceptions reflect both the abstract
phonological properties and phonetic details of the native language. Such characteristics may be
transmitted to the children of bilinguals, who will then exhibit a number of the same
characteristics even if they are monolingual Vietnamese.
Final /s/ is likely to be confused with /ʒ/ or simply omitted
Final /ʒ/ is likely to be omitted
Final /z/ is likely to be confused with /ʒ/or /s/
Final /tʃ/ is likely to be confused with /ʒ/
Speakers often have difficulty with the following phonemes:
/θ/, which is confused with /t/ or /s/
/ð/, which is confused with /d/ or /z/
/dʒ/, which is confused with /z/

/ʒ/, which is confused with /z/ or /dʒ
/s/, which is confused with /ʃ/
Vietnamese is a tonal language and speakers may try to use the Vietnamese tonal system or use
a monotone with English words. They may also associate tones onto the intonal pattern of a
sentence and becoming confused with such inflectional changes.
1.2.2. The learners’ background
It almost goes without saying that students come into the classroom with unique backgrounds
and life experiences. Vietnam has three regions, the North, the South and the Central with
different socio-economic, cultural, traditional conditions, especially with different accents that the
people, even in a country, can not understand easily. According to an author, the accent is one of
the difficulties in causing misunderstanding of the communicative competence. Coming from
different certain backgrounds, the learners have different acquisitions and perceptions. Being
aware of this, the teachers, instructors pay more their attention to those who are inadequate of
knowledge mainly due to objective conditions.
1.2.3. Pronunciation ability


There is a common view that some people have a better ear capacity for foreign language than
some other people. So, they are able to discriminate between the two sounds more accurately
than the others and able to imitate sounds better. We can accept these people as those with
phonetic abilities. Also, this phonetic ability of the learner affects the development of his/her
pronunciation. But it does not mean that people who have a better phonetic ability will be
successful but the others won‟t be successful. So language aptitude ability exists in many
people, but its degree is variable, so some people have more ability but some have less.
Besides the factors mentioned above, the influence of age must be stated as an
efficient factor for phonetic ability because the beginners start to learn a language, the more they
become successful.

It is clear that learners may lose some of their abilities when they become

older, so it can be difficult for them to pronounce the target language with a native or near nativelike accent. At the same time, immigrants, especially their children, have more chance in
learning the target language since they have started to their

learning process in a target

language speaking environment. The poor phonetic ability can be cured again by the foreign
language teachers‟ patient attempts. There are several devices to motivate the poor pronunciation
of the learners such as the phonetic labs and remedial pronunciation teaching techniques.
Those learners must not be discoursed but must be treated meticulously.
1.2.4. Motivation to learning pronunciation
If the learners are highly motivated to have a better pronunciation, they can
develop a concern for pronunciation, and become more eager to take part in the
activities and pay more attention to discriminate the sounds of the target language, and they try
to produce better utterances. Motivation can be the key to learn the target language, and they
try to produce better sounds. Here it must be pointed out what the motivation is and how the
learners will be motivated. According to Brown (1997:114-115) the motivation is thought of
as an inner drive, impulse, emotion, or desire that moves one to a particular action. He also
stated that learning a foreign language requires some of all three levels of motivation which can
be global, situational, or task-oriented. For example, a learner may possess high global motivation
but low task motivation on the written mode of the language.
On the one hand, some factors such as intelligence, aptitude, and self-confidence
have much contribution to the formation of motivation. For example, to motivate the less
intelligent people will be more difficult
cannot appeal

than the intelligent ones because these people

to their needs. Motivation, of course,

is a number of different kinds of

attitudes and can be divided into two basic types: instrumental and integrative motivation (Brown,
1997: 115-117). First one refers to the instrumental goals such as furthering a career,

reading


some kinds of materials,

translation, etc. An integrative motivation is the one which is

employed when the learners want themselves to be in the culture of the second language group, to
identify themselves with and become part of the society. Needless to say, teachers may need to
discern the source of a student motivation in order
pronunciation

teaching must

to meet particular needs. That is,

be directed according to the needs, expectations, attitudes,

intelligence, etc. of the learners. If the learners‟ main goals are to make translation from the
native language to the target language, less time may be needed for pronunciation activities,
and therefore teachers will spend less time for motivating them. If the learners are highly
motivated to have a better pronunciation, they can develop a concern for pronunciation, and
become more eager to take part in the activities, and pay more attention to discriminate the
sounds of the target language, so they try to produce better sounds and utterances. At the same
time, motivation can be achieved by paying attention to the learners‟ concern for
pronunciation because learners generally are not awared of that the way they speak is full of

irritation and misunderstanding for the hearer.
1.2.5. Teaching and learning environment
It can be undeniable for the important of teaching and learning environment to the second
language learning. As a teacher of English with eight years‟ experience, I notice that the
environment affect directly the students‟ learning motivation and their results. Sandberg (1994 –
retrieved from tecfa.unige.ch/.../node4.html) identified the seven components of a teaching and
learning environment must all be there in order to optimize learning. Each component has
functionalities as follows
1.`Teacher'' component: Its role is to provide something between loose guidance and direct
instruction. It can be a human agent (present or distant), an intelligent agent, instructions like
some text books provide, etc. This component provides information from the syllabus to the task
level.
2.``Monitor component: Ensures that something is learned. A role taken by either the human
teacher, the learner (self-control) or by some programs.
3.``Fellow learners'' component: Improves the learning process (some research tries to implement
artificial ones).
4.``Learning material'': Contains what has to be learned in a very broad sense (knowing what,
knowing how). It can be computational in various ways (exploratory hypertext, lesson and task
oriented hypertext, simulation software, task solving environments, etc.).
5.``External information sources'': All kinds of information which is not directly stored in the
learning material (e.g. additional material, handbooks, manuals, etc.).


6.``Tools'': Everything which may help the learning process other then the learning material (e.g.
calculators, communication software, etc.)
7.``School'' [a category we added]: Something that provides a curriculum.
1.3.Phonological characteristics and articulation of the sounds /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/
According to Gerald Kelly (2000), there are three ways of describing the consonant sounds,
namely the manner of articulation (the interaction between the various articulators and the
airstream), the place of articulation (the description for more detailed information about what the

various articulators actually do.) and the force of articulation (referring to the strong or fortis and
weak or lenis form of the consonants). His description about the above consonants is as follows

Figure 2: English consonants
1.3.1. Phonological characteristics and articulation of the consonant /θ/

Figure 3: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /θ/
The consonant /θ/ is a dental, fricative and voiceless consonant according to the place, manner
and force of articulation. In order to pronounce this sound, the tip of the tongue makes light


contact with the back of the top, front teeth, or the tip of the tongue may protrude between the
upper and the lower teeth then blow the air out gently. The soft palate is raised. It is a voiceless
sound so speakers should feel no vibration from their neck when pronouncing it. As in…think /
θiηk/, thief / θi:f/, author / 'ɔ:θə/, nothing /'nʌθiη/, mouth / mauθ/, both /bouθ/…
There are some possible pronunciation problems. This sound does not exist in most languages.
Because it is difficult to recognize, the learners sometimes substitute a variety of more familiar
sounds.
Examples: If you substitute /s/ for /θ/, thank will sound like sank.
If you substitute /ʃ/ for /θ/, thank will sound like shank.
If you substitute /f/ for /θ/, lath will sound like laugh.
If you substitute /t/ for /θ/: bath will sound like bat.
In order to correct these mistakes the learners have to place their tongue between their teeth for
/θ/. If they place their tongue behind their teeth, they will make sounds /t/ and /s/
1.3.2. Phonological characteristics and articulation manner of the consonant /ð/

Figure 4: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /ð/
This consonant is a dental, fricative, voiced and lenis consonant according to the place, manner
and force of articulation. To produce this sound the tip of the tongue is put between the upper
teeth and the lower teeth to make a voiced sound from the throat. The tip of the tongue is close to

the cutting edge of the upper front teeth, blow air through this position so that the friction is
made. The soft palate is raised so that all the breath is forced to go through the mouth. This sound
is made with the vibration of the vocal cords. /ð/ is devoiced at the end of a word. As in…the

/đə/, them /đem /, mother /'mʌđə/, gather /'gæđə/, clothe /klouđ/, smooth /smu:đ/…
There are some possible pronunciation problems. This is an unfamiliar sound. It is difficult to
recognize and produce, especially for Vietnamese learners. We may substitute the more familiar


sound /d/, /z/, or /dʒ/.
Examples:

If you substitute /d/ for /ð/: there will sound like dare.

If you substitute /z/ for /ð/: then will sound like Zen.
If you substitute /dʒ/ for /ð/: leather will sound like language.
In order to correct these mistakes the learners have to place their tongue between their teeth for
/ð/. If they place their tongue behind their teeth, they will make sounds /d/ and /z/.
1.3.3. Phonological characteristics and articulation manner of the consonant /ʃ/

Figure 5: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /ʃ/
The consonant /ʃ/ is a palatal alveolar, fricative, unvoiced and fortis consonant. To produce this
sound, the tongue blade makes light contact with the alveolar ridge and the front of the tongue is
raised. The soft palate is also raised. As in …. she /∫i:/, shop /∫ɔp/, rubbish /'rʌbi∫/, finish
/'fini∫/…
There are some possible pronunciation problems. Although this is a familiar sound, we may
confuse it with /tʃ/ or /s/. As in…shop /∫ɔp/, shy /∫ai/, patient /'pei∫nt/, mission /'mi∫n/, finish
/fini∫/, cash /kæ∫/.
Examples:

If you substitute /tʃ/ for /ʃ/: wish will sound like witch.
If you substitute /s/ for /ʃ/: sheep will sound like sip.

In order to correct these mistakes, the learners are sure to pucker their lips for /ʃ/ but
form a smile for /s/.
1.3.4. Phonological characteristics and articulation manner of the consonant /ʒ/


Figure 6: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /ʒ/
The consonant /ʒ/ is an alveolar - palatal, fricative, voiced and lenis consonant. To produce this
sound, the front of the tongue touches the part between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate. The
air is constricted, causing friction when passing through the organs of speech. This sound is
produced with the vibration of the vocal cords. As in… vision /'viʒn/, measure /'meʒə/, beige
/beiʒ/, garage / 'gærɑ:ʒ/… /ʒ/ does not occur as an initial sound in English, and is rare as a final
sound.
There are some possible pronunciation problems. /ʒ/ is not a common and widely
distributed phoneme. It is easy to with similar English sound /ʃ/ and /dʒ/.
Examples: If you substitute /ʃ/ for /ʒ/: decision will sound like addition.
If you substitute /dʒ/ for /ʒ/: lesion will sound like legion.
In order to correct these mistakes, the learners are sure that their vocal cords are
vibrating when they say /ʒ/ or they will substitute /ʃ/ instead. That means they should
put their hand on the throat until feel the vibration from their neck
1.3.5. Phonological characteristics and articulation manner of the consonant /tʃ/

Figure 7: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /tʃ/
The consonant /tʃ/ is one of the only two affricate phonemes in English. It is palato – alveolar,
voiceless and fortis sound. To produce this sound, the tongue tip, blade and rims close again the


alveolar ridge and side teeth. The front of the tongue is raised, and when the air is released, there

is audible friction. The soft palate is also raised. As in church / t∫ə:t∫/, chew /t∫u:/, nature / 'neit∫ə/,
teacher / 'ti:t∫ə/, match / mæt∫/, much / mʌt∫/…
There are some possible pronunciation problems. The sound /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ are easily
confused with each other.
Examples: If you substitute /ʃ/ for /tʃ/: which will sound like wish.
In order to correct these mistakes, the learners are sure to press your tongue tip
against the gum ridge behind your upper front teeth, or they will say /ʃ/ by mistake.
/tʃ/ is an explosive sound – like a sneeze!
1.3.6. Phonological characteristics and articulation manner of the consonant /dʒ/

Figure 8: Place and manner of articulation of the consonant /dʒ/
The consonant /dʒ/ is the other affricate phoneme in English. It is palato – alveolar, voiced and
lenis sound. To produce this sound, the tongue tip, blade and rims close against the alveolar ridge
and side teeth. The front of the tongue is raised, and when the air is released, there is audible
friction. The soft palate is also raised. It is devoiced at the end of a word. As in … job / dʒɔb
/, joy /dʒɔi/, angle /'eindʒəl/, adjust /ə'dʒʌst/, age /eidʒ/, large /lɑ:dʒ/…
There are some possible pronunciation problems. The learners may have confusions of English
spelling patterns and similarities between /dʒ/ and other sounds, which causes the pronunciation
problems with /dʒ/.
Examples: If you substitute /j/ for /dʒ/: jet will sound like yet.
If you substitute /ʒ/ for /dʒ/: pledger will sound like pleasure.
If you substitute /tʃ/ for /dʒ/: ranger will sound like rancher.
In order to correct these mistakes, the learners are sure to make the tongue press against upper
gum ridge and the vocal cords are vibrating when they say/dʒ/.


1.4. Previous works
The study entitled “Common pronunciation problems of Vietnamese learners of English ” of
Ha Cam Tam was set up to answer the question “What are the most common pronunciation
problems of the students in the English department?”

The data collection was administered through an oral final examination. During the exam, each of
the students who had finished four years of English at English department was requested to
present a talk about a particular topic in approximately five minutes. While listening to students
talking, the researcher took notes of the errors related to pronunciation. Ha Cam Tam found out
that Vietnamese speakers do not have to pronounce the ending sounds. In addition, some of the
sounds, such as /ʃ, ʤ, ʧ / are really hard for Vietnamese learners to pronounce especially when
these sounds occur at the end of words. She concluded three common errors on pronunciation of
her students : sound omission, sound redundancy and sound confusion.
In his study entitled “Pronunciation Matters: English Consonant Production by AUAP
Students” K. James Hartshorn, Central Washington University indicated some problems of his
students‟ pronunciation. This study examined the production of six English phonemes (/l/,
/r/, /v/, /f/, /ð/ and /θ/) by AUAP students after completing the five-month program at
Central Washington University. Two general English proficiency levels were represented. He
indicated that the greatest reason for the pronunciation pitfalls that Japanese students
encounter is because of the phonological differences between Japanese and English. Student
observation suggests that many Japanese ESL learners can produce these consonants
correctly if they learn how to position their mouths, even when perception skills may not be as
developed.
“Vietnamese learners’ difficulties when pronouncing some English sounds /æ/ /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/” is
the study of Nguyen Thi Quynh Hoa, 2007. This study found out some difficulties of Vietnamese
students when producing some English sounds such as /æ/ /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/” and pointed out the
causes of the difficulties of their pronunciation. They are as follows, students lack of real English
speaking environment, influence by their native language, these sounds mentioned above have
different place and manner of articulation, the students‟ low ability of pronunciation, the amount
of exposure and the methods of learning. She also gave some suggestions for further research on
difficulties in pronouncing English sounds.
In her research entitled “Difficulties for Vietnamese when pronouncing English : Final
Consonants” Nguyen Thi Thu Thao indicated that… Vietnamese people have many difficulties
when pronouncing English. Among those, that paper will firstly deal with the hypothesis

“English word-final consonants are not pronounced in a native-like way by Vietnamese
speakers”. Theoretical phonological research about final consonants in the Vietnamese language
and English has been carried out to characterize the difficulties. The author collected and
analyzed data from Vietnamese informants to draw the findings that Vietnamese effort to
pronounce English word-final consonants was towards omitting, adding schwa or replacing by
sounds closer to those existing in their mother-tongue. Results of native speakers‟ evaluation of
Vietnamese-accented final consonants were also concluded to clarify how comprehensible
informants‟ pronunciation is.
In short, all studies mentioned above are really meaningful to this study in the way that they
also consider some factors affecting Vietnamese when pronouncing English.
1.5. Sub – conclusion
This chapter provides us an overview of the theoretical background on which this study based
on. It includes the definition and the role of pronunciation in language teaching, the factors
affecting pronunciation learning such as the native language, the learner background,
pronunciation ability, motivation to learning English, teaching and learning environment and
techniques used by the teachers as well as phonological characteristics and articulation of the
sounds /θ/,/ð/,/ʃ/,/ʒ/,/tʃ/, /dʒ/. In addition to the above matters, a summary of previous works
related to the given issue was also presented.


CHAPTER TWO: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
2.1. Research methods
In order to fulfill the objectives of the study, the qualitative and quantitative methods will be
used as the main method of the study, in which tape recording, a short listening test on
pronunciation, information collection and analysis as well as questionnaire to collect data are
used. As Bouma has stated “both qualitative and quantitative approaches are essentials to the
research process in social sciences” (1996: 173); moreover, each methodology has its strengths
and weaknesses, thus it could not alone help to find out satisfactory and sufficient information. As
a result, I choose to make full use of both approaches rather than approve one and dispose the

other so as to achieve the reliable results.
First, the data including books, journals, e-journals and other kinds of materials on the subject
have to be reviewed carefully. Then, the certain and detailed problems and difficulties in teaching
and learning pronunciation at TUAF will be collected and analysed through survey questionnaire,
tape recording, and a short pronunciation listening test . One of the salient features of the
quantitative methodology is its objectivity. According to Burns (1999), the quantitative approach
is employed when the researcher aims at achieving objectivity and control as it is held that it can
“offer ways of testing hypothesis that are widely accepted or standardized” (1999:22). Therefore,
to gain an overview of difficulties in producing the English consonant sounds /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/,
/dʒ/ by the second year students at TUAF, a survey will be conducted to the 100 second -year in
service English major students.
On the other hand, according to Burns (1999), qualitative research is the methodology of
studying the participants‟ opinion, actions and experiences through tape recording, a listening test
and observation . Correspondingly, this method will be made use of in the phrase of collecting,
analyzing and synthesizing basic knowledge for the literature review since, in this part, I need to
have a deep understanding about the setting of the study, the history of relating studies, ideas,
facts and figures.
One strong point of the qualitative method is that the data collected is usually “extensive” and
“detailed” (Burns, 1999:23) or as held by Larsen Freeman & Long, it supplies researchers with
“real”, “rich” and “deep” data (1991:12). For these reasons, I decide to design a listening test on
pronunciation and a tape recording in order to collect the data from 30 of the above students as I
would like to gain profound understanding of relevant difficulties in producing the English
consonant sounds /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ by the second year students at TUAF.


The author also use the real teaching and learning process in the classroom, and results of a
short listening test on pronunciation for more information and detailed analysis. After that the
results obtained from questionnaires, tape recording and the students‟ results will be discussed in
the findings. At last, the author will provide some recommendations for teaching and learning
pronunciation in general and the consonant sounds /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ studying in particular.

2.2. Research context
2.2.1. Description of the English course at TUAF
The study was conducted at Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry (TUAF).
TUAF associated with Hanoi Open University to train in - service Bachelors of Art of major
English. The Center for Foreign Languages of TUAF has directly been run and controlled these
courses. Students are required to learn all English classes of a major English curriculum, such as
Language Practice 1,2,3,4 (including listening skill, speaking skill, reading skill and writing
skill), Grammar 1,2, English Pronunciation, Business English, Vietnamese – English Translation
1,2, English – Vietnamese Translation1,2, Background, English Literature, Teaching Method, ,
Lexicology, Foreign language 2… with some general subjects as Communist Party, Practical
Vietnamese, Foundation of Vietnamese culture, Introduction of Linguistics, Basic Informatics…
in Vietnamese. Language Practice subjects are required to learn all the course from the first
semester to the final – the eighth semester. They are ranged from elementary to advanced level. In
the first year, Language Practice and Grammar 1 are taught continuously. During semesters 3,4
(the second year) students have to learn English Pronunciation, Business English, Vietnamese –
English Translation 1, English – Vietnamese Translation1 and Language Practice. After finishing
these subjects, they continue to learn some general subjects in Vietnamese. In the third and
fourth years, they complete all the rest subjects.
The first stage- semester 1, 2, 3, 4- aims at providing students with general knowledge of English
grammar, vocabulary, phonetics and phonology as well as developing students‟ four language
skills with more focus on speaking skill, at this very first stage, the textbook Know How 1, 2,
English Grammar In Use, Practical English Grammar, Pronunciation Pair, English Phonetics and
Phonology, Business English, and Vietnamese – English Translation 1, English – Vietnamese
Translation 1 are used. Moreover, at this stage, all forms of tests are employed after each
semester: written middle-term tests, written end-term tests, listening tests, oral tests which forces
students to pay their more attention to speaking skill and pronunciation, but in fact teachers
usually ignore their students‟ mistakes in pronunciation, which results in the students‟ low
pronunciation ability.

At the second stage-semester 5, 6, 7, 8, the students are equipped with the knowledge of terms
and structures related to their future jobs at advanced level. The textbooks utilized at this phrase
consist of Vietnamese – English Translation 2, English – Vietnamese Translation 2, Background,
English Literature, Teaching Method, Lexicology, Foreign language 2…etc with Language
Practice 3, 4. Students are equipped all the necessary knowledge before getting a job as a teacher
of English or an interpreter. Therefore, at this stage, students also have oral tests, listening tests
and written tests at much more difficult level.
2.2.2. Description of in – service students at TUAF
Students in the research are those who graduated from secondary schools and have no ability to
attend to regular training courses (or failed in the university entrance examination). They are from
mountainous and remote area. Most of them live and grow up in poor economic condition. They
do not have the same level of English language proficiency. Some of them have learned English
for 7 years at junior and senior high schools; some have only learned English for 3 years while a
few have never learned English. Only a few of them study English well, but they are only good at
grammar, not speaking in general and pronunciation in particular. They are likely to do
grammatical exercises confidently at their level but when given a topic to speak, most of them
need the teacher‟s correction on pronunciation. Moreover, motivation to their learning English in
these in service training classes, even as major of English, is generally low since English, for
most of the students, is a difficult language and learning these courses is an objective solution
after graduation. More importantly, because mainly coming from the country, most of them have
different dialects which are not Kinh ethnic group standard accent. Some of them are ethnic
minority groups including the Tay, Thai, Muong, Nung and Dao. Hence, it is very important that
the staff at the Center for Foreign Languages of TUAF find out effective ways to help these
students overcome all of their difficulties in learning English in general and in correcting
pronunciation in particular.
2.3. Research design
Data were gained through the employment of three research instruments, namely, questionnaires,
tape recording and a listening test on pronunciation, which will be discussed in detail below.
2.3.1. Sample and sampling
In order to get information to fulfill the aims of the study, first and foremost, the survey will be

conducted among 100 second year English major students at TUAF. The questionnaire was
administered to them. They are in - service students at Center for Foreign Languages of TUAF. The
researcher selected them as the subjects of the study with the hope to find out the difficulties they
encounter in producing the English consonant sounds /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/. There are 40 male


and 60 female students who were randomly chosen from four English classes 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D with
the total number of 195 English major students. Only second-year in service English major
students of 1st term were chosen because they were learning English Pronunciation at the time of
delivering questionnaires. They were all aged between 20 and 22 . Most of them came from the
mountainous and remote area or from the country. They do not have the same level of English
language proficiency and ,certainly, their level is low as they either failed in the entrance
university examination or had no ability to learn at higher level. Some of them have learned
English for 7 years at junior and senior high schools; some have only learned English for 3 years
while a few have never learned English before. The researcher delivered the questionnaire to those
students in order to investigate the problems facing to producing the English consonant sounds /θ/,
/ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/. Moreover, tape recording and a small test on pronunciation will be conducted
among only 30 students who are in the questionnaires have ticked most options of assumed
difficulties they encounter in producing the English consonant sounds /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/.
2.3.2. Research instruments
Data were gained through the employment of two research instruments, namely, questionnaires
and tape recordings with marks measured from a listening test on pronunciation, which will be
discussed in details below.
Instrument 1: Survey questionnaires
The first data collection instrument was a survey questionnaire which served two main
purposes of the study: - to find out relevant difficulties the second year in service English major
students encounter in producing some English consonant sounds, namely /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/,
/dʒ/.
- to identify the respondents for the follow-up tape recording and
pronunciation test in phrase two.

The questionnaire consists of 4 closed-questions with the hope to find out students‟ background
(question 1), their awareness of pronunciation (question 3) and of their difficulties in producing
some English words (question 5), and then students‟ ways of learning. The questionnaire also
consists of 4 open –closed questions with the hope to find out students‟ motivation in learning in
the English in – service course at TUAF (question 2), students‟ opinions on the causes that lead to
difficulties in producing the consonant sounds /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ (questions 7), students‟
methods/ways to make their pronunciation better (question 7), and students‟ assessment of
teacher‟s methodology on teaching pronunciation (question 8).