(Sáng kiến kinh nghiệm) improving the way to pronounce english vowel sounds of grade 6 students

THANH HOA TRAINING & EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

TRIEU SON TRAINING & EDUCATION DIVISION

TEACHING EXPERIMENT

IMPROVING THE WAY TO PRONOUNCE ENGLISH
VOWEL SOUNDS OF GRADE - 6 STUDENTS

Writer: Nguyễn Thị Như Quỳnh
Position: Teacher
School: Thi Tran Trieu Son Secondary School
Subject: English

THANH HOA - 2017

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Number

1

Content

Page

INTRODUCTION
1- Justification of the research

2

2- Aim and objectives of the research

2

3- Scope of the research

3

4- Method of the research
4.1. Subject of the research
4.2. Data collection instrument of the research
4.3. Data analysis procedure of the research

3

4
DEVELOPMENT

2

Part 1: Theoretical background
English pronunciation
1- Standard English pronunciation

4

2- English sounds

4

Part 2: Practical background
Errors concerned with vowel sounds
1. Description of vowel sounds errors

7

2. Error analysis

7

3. Typical vowel sounds error collected from the
survey

8

Part 3: Possible causes and suggested solutions

9

1. Possible causes
1.1. Lack of awareness of the importance of
pronunciation
1.2. Teachers’ neglect of pronunciation.
1.3. Mother tongue interference.

9

2. Suggested solutions

Doing pronunciation exercises
a. Distinguishing sound exercises
b. Find the odd sounds
c. Matching exercises

10

3

CONCLUSION

13

4

REFERENCES

14

2


5

THE EXPERIMENTS HAVE BEEN
REGARDED

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3

INTRODUCTION
1- Justification of the research
We all know that during the time of studying English, there are many
pronunciation errors that secondary students of English tend to make such as
word and sentence stress, intonation, length of vowel sounds, ending sounds and
linking sounds, etc. To help better English pronunciation for students of English
at secondary school, it's is essential to do a search on most typical pronunciation
problems of Vietnamese students, which is, in this research, errors with vowel
sounds.
Secondly, for secondary students, who have to learn English as their main
subject, and then take exams in which English is one of the compulsory subjects.
It's extremely significant to realize their pronunciation errors. They cannot selfcorrect their English pronunciation so they are not confident enough to
communicate in English. It’s obvious that there are some students noticing their
pronunciation errors when their pronunciation erroneously, others, on the other
hand, don't recognize their problem with pronunciation English words.
Last but not least, although there are common errors made by learners, not
at all teachers pay attention to them. The above conclusion partly from personal
observation supports this research. It is possibly because some sounds are not
pronounced so clearly as other sounds in an utterance so they are less noticed by
both learners and teachers. Added to this, there have not been many studies on
these particular pronunciation errors so far at high level. Only studies about
general speaking and pronunciation errors were carried out, which appears to
have failed to emphasize the main pronunciation problem of Vietnamese
students of English.
I believe that a study on English pronunciation errors will help students
become well aware of their pronunciation problems to which they might not
have paid any attention before. It’s also the help for some teachers in teaching
pronunciation at schools if the study can suggest some solutions to help students

practice pronunciation individually and in group. From the reasons mentioned
above, I have decided to carry out this study entitled "Improving the way to
pronounce English vowel sounds of grade-6 students”.
2. Aim and objectives of the research
English phonetics is important as it lays basis for effective oral
communication. As far as I know, students of English at primary schools are not
taught phonetics(and students at secondary schools who learn new curriculum
are taught some sounds) and mostly taught by nonnative- English teachers.
Classes in Viet Nam are big so it is not suitable for teachers and students
to practice pronunciation.
For those reasons, I decided to do a study on pronunciation errors made
by students in grade 6 at secondary schools to analyze the errors, their causes
and the suggest some solutions based on my own experiences in teaching
English to help students improve their pronunciation as well as to present to
teachers of English a realistic picture of pronunciation errors made by their
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students so that they can find the suitable and effective methods to teach this
subject with their students.
3. Scope of the research
The study focuses on English errors made by students in grade 6, I do not
have an ambition to cover all the students' problems with English pronunciation.
Only the pronunciation errors with some typical vowels made by the students in
grade 6 are investigated.
4. Method of the research
4.1 Subjects of the research
This school year, there are 110 students from three classes- 6A, 6B and
6C at Thi Tran Trieu Son secondary school but I choose 50 students
participating in this study. They are about the same age; both genders and they

come from many villages in Trieu Son district.
4.2 Data collection instruments of the research
Information in the study is collected in a natural way. In order to analyze
the pronunciation errors that students in grade 6 make in their utterances, I have
been observing in their lessons in class for many years and write down students'
errors. Then I analyze at home with the help of the attached CD and typescripts
in the course book " Pronunciation Made Simple" provided by an American
teacher Ms. Mindy and many video clips about pronunciation on YouTube.
4.3. Data analysis procedure of the research
Firstly, I took students' errors, checked whether they knew how to
pronounce the words or not, I also counted how many students selected each
pronunciation.
Secondly, I compared students' errors with the guide books, sample
videos.
Thirdly, I asked my colleagues about how to pronounce the words in the
survey and the errors that students made.
DEVELOPMENT
PART 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
This first part will provide readers with the related theoretical background
of the study by introducing some key concepts necessary for the best perception
of this research as well as the review of previous studies related to the topic.
Central concepts chosen to be clarified in this part are English pronunciation,
Standard pronunciation, English pronunciation Errors Aspects of pronunciation
such as the articulator and English sounds.
English pronunciation
Since the research have a strong desire to investigate the pronunciation
errors in English, the definition of English pronunciation is especially important.
Commonly speaking, pronunciation is simply put as "the way in which a
language is spoken" [1]
1- Standard English Pronunciation

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“Standard English is the most preferable accent in any setting and to teach
students. It is considered to be neutral, easier to remember and imitate as
compared to regional accents and it is heard on radio and TV”[1] . Nowadays
English has become the common mean of communication, it is no longer the
own property of British people, a standard pronunciation in one place may not
be as much standard in others.
2- English sounds
There are 44 sounds in English. They are divided into two groups: 20
vowel sounds including 12 pure vowels, 8 diphthongs and 24 consonants
sounds. It is too large for me to study all the sounds so in this study, I just
focuses on pure vowels.
 Pure vowel sounds
Vowels are “sounds in the production of which there is no obstruction to
the flow of air as it passed the larynx to the lips"[1]. Vowels are divided into two
groups: pure vowels(monothongs) and dipthongs.
In the study, only the pure vowel sounds focused on. Monothongs are pure
vowel sounds and when we pronounce them, the organs of speech remain during
the process of pronunciation.
According to Kelly, monothongs are classified based on four criteria:
* Shape of lips(mouth)
+ Spread: The shape of lips is spread: /i:/, /i/, /e/,/æ /
+ Unrounded: The shape of lips is unrounded: /з:/, /∂/, /ʌ/
+ Rounded: The shape of lips is rounded:/ sound meanwhile /ʊ/ sound
needs the loose rounded lips. The other reason is that students do not know to
follow the rule to pronounce /ʊ/.( to pronounce /ʊ/ sound, learners should raise
the part of their tongue just behind the center and above the half - close position,

not the back of their tongue just below the close position)
3. Typical vowel sounds error collected from the survey
Target
sounds

Target
words

Pronunciation Mispronunciation Frequency of
errors(times)

/ɪ/

Delay

/dɪˈleɪ/

/di-lei/

7

In

/ɪn/

/i:n/

8

Delete

/dɪˈliːt/

/di-lit/

6

Sit

/sɪt/

/s i:t/

7

Bad

/bæd/

/bed/

8

/æ /

9


/ʊ/

Grand

/grænd/

/grend/

9

Land

/lænd/

/lend/

6

Bank

/bænk/

/benk/

6

Snack

/snæck/

/sneck/

7

Put

/pʊt /

/pu:t /

8

Pull

/fʊl/

/fu:l/

8

Look

/lʊk/

/lu:k/

6

Wood

/wud/

/wu:d/

7

PART 3: POSSIBLE CAUSES AND SUGGESTED SOLUTION
1- Possible causes
Too much of the concern about teaching pronunciation has centered on
the exact pronunciation of vowel and consonant sounds. However, if the
ambition of English teaching is to enable learners to communicate in English,
we can see that communicative effectiveness depends on not only correct
pronunciation of these vowel and consonant sounds but also speakers
themselves. Being able to use the rhythm and intonation of English will enable
speakers to be much more intelligible than being able to pronounce vowel and
consonants perfectly. It is not unusual for teachers who are not native speakers
of English to feel worried about teaching pronunciation.
1.1. Lack of awareness of the importance of pronunciation
Being asked, students think that pronunciation does not much decide their
learning English; they claim that they can learn other skills well without a good
pronunciation.
The other skills that students said are listening, writing, reading…They do
not know that pronunciation is closely linked with listening comprehension,
spelling, grammar and reading. To ignore pronunciation is to ignore an
important part that can support the improvement of other skills. Pronunciation
plays a very important in both learning a language and communicating using
that language. Although students have good self- comments on pronunciation,
many students are still unconfident when speaking in English. They need to
understand that good pronunciation should be one of the first things that they
learn in English. They can use simple words and simple grammar structures to
say what they want instead of the advanced ones. Improper pronunciation has
certain negative effects on communication that may result in a failure in making

one understood by others.
1.2. Teachers' neglect of pronunciation
To give this reason, I do not mean that teachers of English have poor
pronunciation. I myself as well as other teachers of English have to teach many
big classes without modern equipment. We also ask students to practice in front
of the class, after finishing their presentation; the listeners (both teachers and
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other students) have given comments. However, teachers paid attention more to
the best content and forgot to show the errors made in our students’ pronouncing
English words. It would be beneficial to the students if the teachers constantly
remind them of the need to practice pronunciation and help them correct errors.
1.3. Mother tongue interference
We all know that our students have own dialect so it is very difficult for
teachers to correct their errors.
2. Suggested solutions
Doing pronunciation exercises
Aim: New English curriculum has Pronunciation part. It is very
convenient for teachers to use exercises in this part to ask their students to
practice their pronunciation. Students can self- practice by doing the phonetics
exercises. These exercises will help students to recall and review the sounds
they have learnt and know the differences between the pairs of sounds.
a. Distinguishing sound exercises
Example 1:
UNIT 4- MY NEIGHBORHOOD (ENGLISH 6)
Exercise 4
Listen and repeat the words. Pay attention to the sounds /ɪ/ and /i:/
exciting
cheap

convenient peaceful

historic
police

sleepy
noisy

Now, in pairs put the words in the correct column
/i:/

expensive
friendly
[5]

/ɪ/

In this exercise, I model the sounds /i:/ and /ɪ/ first and ask students to
identify which sound is longer and which one is shorter. Ask Ss to practice the /
i:/ and /ɪ/ sounds together. Then I play the recording twice, ask my students to
listen to the recording, repeat the words and notice the sounds. Then I ask some
students to practice in front of the class, others listen and correct their
classmates’ errors(for more able students) or I have to point their errors(for
weaker students)
KEY:
/i:/
cheap
sleepy
peaceful
convenient

/ɪ/
Exciting
historic
expensive
noisy
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police

friendly

[6]
Exercise 5: Listen to the sentences and underline the words you hear
1. Tommy is living/ leaving there.
2. Shall we hit/ heat the oil first?
3. This airplane sits/ seats 100 people.
4. There's a ship/sheep over there.
5. Jimmy is finding some tins/ teens now.
6. Peter bought a mill/ meal last week.
7. Some Tims/teams are coming in.
8. It is a fish and chip/ cheap shop.
[5]
In this exercise, I play the recording twice, ask my students to listen and
circle the words they hear. After that I get them to give the answers. For more
able students, I ask them to give example; for weaker students I ask them to
practice again.
KEY:
1. Tommy is living/ leaving there.

2. Shall we hit/ heat the oil first?
3. This airplane sits/ seats 100 people.
4. There's a ship/sheep over there.
5. Jimmy is finding some tins/ teens now.
6. Peter bought a mill/ meal last week.
7. Some Tims/teams are coming in.
8. It is a fish and chip/ cheap shop.
[6]
Example 2:
UNIT 11- OUR GREENER WORLD
Pronunciation /ɑː/ and /æ /
Exercise 5(p51)
Listen and repeat. Pay attention to how the underlined part is pronounced
Fast had
bag
dance
answer

plastic
activity

glass apple
afternoon

[5]
In this exercise, I model the sounds /ɑː/ and /æ / first and ask students to
identify the sounds. Then I play the recording twice, ask my students to listen to
the recording, repeat the words and notice the sounds. Then I ask some students
to practice in front of the class, others listen and correct their classmates’
errors(for more able students) or change into exercise 6(for weaker students)

Exercise 6. Listen again and put the words in the correct column
/ɑː/

/æ /

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KEY:
/æ /

/ɑː/
Fast
glass
afternoon
answer
dance

Bag
plastic
apple
activity
bag
[6]

b. Find the odd sounds
1- A- bike
B- tennis
2- A- stay
B- vacation

3- A- lake
B- take
4- A- beach
B- theatre
5- A- brush
B- music
6- A- hill
B- ship
7- A- cheap
B- great
8- A- evening
B- extreme
KEY: 1- B
5- B

2-C
6- C

C- tonight
C- citadel
C- match
C- idea
C- truck
C- kite
C- peace
C- scene
3-C
7- B

D- idea

D- day
D- play
D- near
D- bus
D- chip
D-meal
D- exercise

4-A
8- D

c. Matching exercises
Show words, sounds and ask students to match
Sounds
1- /æ /
2- /ɑː/
3- /ɪ/
4- /i:/
5- /e/

Words
a- live, fit, charity, continent
b- land, bank, character, landmark
c- end, helicopter, hedge, energy
d- leave, peaceful, creature, need
e- castle, Antarctica, guard, regard

After three times teaching grade 6- the new English curriculum, I have
used the tips above and got some big achievement
Number

Target sounds

Mispronounced sounds Number
errors

of

13


1

/ɪ/

/i:/

7

2

/æ /

/e/

5

/ɑː/

4

/uː/

4

3

/ʊ/

CONCLUSION
1. Conclusion
Through the process of teaching, I have got some goals on improving the
way to pronounce vowel sounds of grade- 6 students. Students are aware of
vowels, how to pronounce them more correctly and they overcome difficulties in
learning English pronunciation. However, there are still certain limitations such
as: the practice procedure should have been done more seriously and for a
longer time.
I would like to receive more ideas from my colleagues.
2. Request
The process of teaching and learning English needs a lot of materials. So I
would like:
2.1. For school
Facilitate for both of the teachers and students to apply the new
technology in teaching and learning English in order to get higher achievement.
2.2. For teachers
Regularly learn, get information from books, Internet and exchange with
colleagues, and try to recognize and correct students’ mistakes.
2.3. For the leaders of the district, division
Provide more teaching materials for schools such as projectors,
computers, Wi-Fi.....Organize classes for teachers to learn new methods,

technologies and exchange experience. Organize more excellent exams for
students to evaluate themselves.
The cooperation of all is the best way to get higher and higher
achievements.
DETERMINATION OF THE SCHOOL
REPRESENTATIVE

Thanh Hóa, 18th April, 2017
I pledge that this is my own experience
initiative, do not copy the content of
others.

Nguyễn Thị Như Quỳnh

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REFERENCES
[1]. How to teach pronunciation - Kelly Grand - Pearson education - 2001
[2]. English Made Simple - Jonathan Crichton and Pieter Koster- Tuttle
Publishing - 2006
[3]. Oxford Advanced Learner's Encyclopedic dictionary - Jonathan
Crowther- Oxford university Press- 1992
[4]. Internet webs: - Tiếng Anh 123; Hello Chao; Tailieu.doc (Luận văn
nghiên cứu tìm lỗi phát âm của sinh viên Việt nam ở trường ĐH VinhNguyễn Thị Hồng Anh - 2010)
[5]. English 6 (Student’s book) - Hoàng Văn Vân (Tổng chủ biên), Nguyễn
Thị Chi (Chủ biên) - Nhà xuất bản giáo dục Việt Nam-2013

[6]. English 6 (Teacher’s book) - Hoàng Văn Vân (Tổng chủ biên), Nguyễn
Thị Chi (Chủ biên) - Nhà xuất bản giáo dục Việt Nam - 2013

1-

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DANH MỤC
CÁC ĐỀ TÀI SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM ĐÃ ĐƯỢC HỘI ĐỒNG
ĐÁNH GIÁ XẾP LOẠI CẤP PHÒNG GD&ĐT, CẤP SỞ GD&ĐT VÀ
CÁC CẤP CAO HƠN XẾP LOẠI TỪ C TRỞ LÊN
Họ và tên tác giả: Nguyễn Thị Như Quỳnh
Chức vụ và đơn vị công tác: Trường THCS Thị Trấn Triệu Sơn

TT

Tên đề tài SKKN

Kết quả
Cấp đánh
đánh giá
giá xếp loại
xếp loại
(Phòng, Sở,
(A, B,
Tỉnh...)
hoặc C)

Năm học

đánh giá xếp
loại

1.

Nâng cao kĩ năng viết Tiếng
Anh cho học sinh cấp 2

Phòng

B

2012- 2013

2.

Improving listening English
for students at secondary
school

Phòng

A

2014-2015

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