CÁC yếu tố ẢNH HƯỞNG của PHƯƠNG NGỮ đến TÌNH TRẠNG PHÁT âm TIẾNG ANH của SINH VIÊN năm HAI KHOA TIẾNG ANH THƯƠNG mại TRƯỜNG đại học KINH tế QUỐC dân

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KINH TẾ QUỐC DÂN
KHOA NGOẠI NGỮ KINH TẾ
BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH THƯƠNG MẠI

ĐỀ TÀI THAM GIA XÉT GIẢI THƯỞNG
“SINH VIÊN NGHIÊN CỨU KHOA HỌC
ĐẠI HỌC KINH TẾ QUỐC DÂN- VIETCOMBANK”
NĂM HỌC 2019-2020

INFLUENCING FACTORS OF REGIONAL DIALECTS
ON THE STATUS OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION SKILL
OF 2ND YEAR BUSINESS ENGLISH STUDENTS
IN NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY.
CÁC YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA PHƯƠNG NGỮ ĐẾN TÌNH TRẠNG
PHÁT ÂM TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM HAI KHOA TIẾNG ANH
THƯƠNG MẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KINH TẾ QUỐC DÂN

Thuộc lĩnh vực khoa học và công nghệ: Giáo dục

Hà Nội, 2020

1


TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KINH TẾ QUỐC DÂN
KHOA NGOẠI NGỮ KINH TẾ
BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH THƯƠNG MẠI

ĐỀ TÀI THAM GIA XÉT GIẢI THƯỞNG
“SINH VIÊN NGHIÊN CỨU KHOA HỌC
ĐẠI HỌC KINH TẾ QUỐC DÂN- VIETCOMBANK”

NĂM HỌC 2019-2020

INFLUENCING FACTORS OF DIALECTS
ON THE STATUS OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION SKILL
OF 2ND YEAR BUSINESS ENGLISH STUDENTS
IN NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY.

Nhóm sinh viên thực hiện:
Lê Diệu Ngân

Giới tính: Nữ

Trần Thị Lan Trinh

Giới tính: Nữ

Trần Hồng Nhung

Giới tính: Nữ

Phan Thị Thanh Hường

Giới tính: Nữ

Lê Thị Hải Yến

Giới tính: Nữ

Người hướng dẫn khoa học: Thạc sĩ Lê Thùy Linh
Thuộc lĩnh vực khoa học và công nghệ: Giáo dục

Hà Nội, 2020

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF CHART.......................................................................................................................................3
ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................................................4
1.

INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................................5

2.LITERATURE REVIEW...........................................................................................................................6
2.1. Pronunciation.............................................................................................................................7
2.1.1. Definition.............................................................................................................................7
2.1.2. Pronunciation features........................................................................................................7
2.1.3. Problems in teaching and learning pronunciation..............................................................8
2.1.4. Difficulties in learning pronunciation................................................................................10
2.2. Dialect.......................................................................................................................................12
2.2.1. Definition...........................................................................................................................12
2.2.2. Types of dialects................................................................................................................13
2.2.3. Language and dialects......................................................................................................14
2.2.4. Vietnamese dialect overview............................................................................................15
2.3 Influencing factors of dialects on the status of English pronunciation skill of Vietnamese
people..............................................................................................................................................17
2.3.1. Vowels................................................................................................................................17
2.3.2. Consonants.........................................................................................................................18
2.3.3 Word stress.........................................................................................................................19
3.

RESEARCH DECRIPTION...............................................................................................................20
3.1.

Research scope and scale....................................................................................................20

3.2.

Research question................................................................................................................21

3.3.

Research method.................................................................................................................21

3.4.

Data collection and analysis................................................................................................21

4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION............................................................................................................22
4.1 Some perception of BE second-year students about the impact of Vietnamese dialect on
speaking English and listening English pronunciation....................................................................22
4.1.1 The influence of dialect on the status of English pronunciation skill.................................22
4.1.2 The difficulty to listen people from each region speaking English....................................23
4.2 Impact of Vietnamese vowel sounds in dialect on English pronunciation...............................24
4.3 Impact of consonant sounds in dialect on English pronunciation............................................26

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4.3.1 Types of consonants............................................................................................................26

4.3.2 Initial consonant sounds.....................................................................................................28
4.4 Impact of Vietnamese dialect on word stress...........................................................................31
4.5
5.

. Other problems..................................................................................................................32

CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................32

APPENDIX.............................................................................................................................................33
REFERENCE LIST...................................................................................................................................36

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LIST OF CHART
Chart 1: Students’ perception of the impact of dialect on
English pronunciation skill.

23

Chart 2: Students’ perception of the impact of dialect on
hearing English pronunciation

24

Chart 3: Students’ confusion of English vowel pronunciation

25

Chart 4: Students’ problems in English consonant pronunciation

27

Chart 5: Confusing English initial consonants for Northern students

29

Chart 6: Confusing English initial consonants for Central students

30

Chart 7: Confusing English initial consonants for Southern students

30

Chart 8: Students’ word stress tendencies

32

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ABSTRACT
Dialect plays an important role when making conversation to other people. And it
also affects the foreign language learning process of regional students. The research
concentrates on how factors of dialects can influence on English pronunciation. The
diversity of Vietnamese people influences student’s ability in understanding the
subject which learned. Moreover, the study discusses the feature of English
pronunciation to find out the problems and difficulty in Vietnam teaching and learning

pronunciation. It makes an attempt to debate concerning the link between the
Vietnamese dialect and standard English pronunciation. Since Vietnam is as a country
with many regions, there are several variety of regional dialects. Therefore, the paper
identifies the characteristics accents of each region in order to identify the reason for
the problem in English pronunciation skills. By collecting data instruments like
questionnaires, interviews in the study, it would like to find out the influencing factors
of regional dialects on the status of English pronunciation skill. The results of the
research show that BE second-year students at NEU in 3 regions are usually affected
three main factors of Vietnamese dialect on pronunciation skill. It also demonstrates
that the influencing levels of each factor in each region are different. For the reason,
this study provides students with useful knowledge to improve English pronunciation
skill.

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1. INTRODUCTION
Learning a new language is about learning new grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation
and culture. The challenge which many foreign language learners encounter is the
mother tongue factors in learning second foreign language. This research will focus on
the Vietnamese dialects influence on the English language pronunciation.
Vietnam is a country that has different regional dialects affect Vietnamese language in
many aspects particularly in pronunciation. Therefore, the strong influence of dialects
on English pronunciation of Vietnamese people is quite evident. This influence could
literally become a hindrance in the command of English pronunciation skill and may
cause misunderstood by the listeners. Many second-year BE students in National
Economics University also constantly confronted a lot of problems in English
pronunciation due to regional dialects.
English is becoming the world’s most widely spoken language. It is globally used in
business, commerce, science, service and many other important areas. In Vietnam,

English is also the second most spoken language. As English has spread around the
world, there are different varieties of English language with different regional accent.
English is now shared by everyone. It is no longer a language that its learners are
obliged to come up to the British or American pronunciation standard. However,
having a good and clear pronunciation is still significant. English learners often expect
to be able to speak English with a native accent. But, they encounter many factors to
achieve their goals. One of the most common factors that they find difficult is the
different phonology pronunciation. Pronunciation is considered as one of the most
important aspects in communication skill. This is also most definitely the first thing
that people can notice in foreign language learners when they are speaking it.
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Moreover, people might not understand a speaker with a bad pronunciation.
Comprehensibility in communication plays a key part in people lives. The inability to
produce intelligible speech can negatively affect a person’s social, professional and
educational life. Lack of intelligible speech due to poor pronunciation can definitely
lead to limit job opportunities, especially where English communication is of utmost
importance. Moreover, students with bad pronunciation might feel uncomfortable
asking questions and cooperating with other students. In social contact, some people
might feel scared and even have anxiety of making mistakes or having a
communication so they confidence and put them at disadvantage at many other things
in their daily lives. Thus, it is important for every one especially those who major in
English should acquire standard English pronunciation. It seems reasonable to explore
and identify what dialectic factors that affect the standard of English pronunciation
skill of second-year BE students in NEU. The study aims at making a little
contribution towards the information about the impact of mother tongue factors,
especially influencing factors of dialects on second language acquisition. Due to the
lack of research about this topic in Vietnam, the study can highlight the importance of
this subject. Base on this research, the students can find out some of their English

pronunciation problems related to regional dialects and learn to fix them and the
teachers can also figure out more effective teaching pronunciation methods.

2.LITERATURE REVIEW
The following literature review examines the research regarding the overview of
pronunciation and some problems in teaching and learning pronunciation. In addition,
it provides a basic understanding of difficulties Vietnamese students might encounter
when learning English pronunciation. Next, the relationship between language and
dialect is investigated, followed by an overview of Vietnamese dialect. Finally, there is
an analysis of influencing factors of dialect on pronunciation skill of Vietnamese
students in terms of vowels, consonants and word stress. This review of the research
lays the groundwork for exploring the essential question: What are influencing factors

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of regional dialect on the status of English pronunciation skill of 2nd year Business
English students in National Economics University?

2.1. Pronunciation
2.1.1. Definition
Uddin and Monjur (2015) state that pronunciation is a way to speak a word,
particularly that is acknowledged or for the most part comprehended. For example, in
case of “light” and “night”, if /l/ and /n/ are not pronounced correctly, the meaning of
the whole sentence may be changed and hard to understand. Therefore, while
communicating with one another, people are to ensure correct pronunciation so that
meaningful communication can be achieved.
Besides, Siregar (2017) characterize pronunciation as the sounds creation, which is
used by people to make sense. It is related to the particular sounds of language, aspects
of speech beyond the level of the individual sound, such as intonation, phrasing, stress,

timing, rhythm (suprasegmental aspects), how the voice is projected and in its broadest
definition, attention to gesture and expressions that are closely related to the way
people speak language. For instance, the verb "present" is pronounced / prɪˈzent /, and
the noun "presentation" is pronounced / prezənˈteɪʃən /. Thus, carrying the same
meaning but different word forms as well as different stress make the pronunciation
different.
To sum up, we can understand that the act or consequence of generating speech sounds
is the pronunciation.

2.1.2. Pronunciation features
Pronunciation features are regularly classified in two categories including segments
and suprasegmentals (Tweedy, 2012).
 Segmental Features
The sound inventory of a language is segmental characteristics. The sound inventory
in North American English includes fifteen vowels and twenty-five consonant sounds,

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for a total of forty distinct sounds that allow speakers to differentiate one word from
another (Cunningham Florez, 1998).
In the sound system, segmental features consist of individual vowels and consonants
(Seferoglu, 2005). The sound systems of consonants, vowels or combinations of
specific sounds in words are called phonemes. According to Burns (2003), when
pronounced incorrectly, phonemes will produce different sounds leading to change the
meaning of word.
 Suprasegmental features
Suprasegmentals encode wealthy data structure, allowing listeners to identify
phrases, speech actions (for example statements versus questions), expression
boundaries, and attitudes and emotions. This suprasegmental information introduces

itself in the aspects of speech beyond the level of the individual sound, such as stress,
rhythm, adjustments in connected speech, prominence and intonation (Tweedy, 2012).
In the definition of Burn (2003), suprasgmental has three important factors that
contribute to pronounce effectively, are linking, intonation and stress.

2.1.3. Problems in teaching and learning pronunciation.
Due to research scope, the main objects are English and Vietnamsese, so comparision
with other languages do not contribute to this topic.
The biggest issue students and teachers have to face when learning and teaching
English is the differences in phonology between English and Vietnamese. Four basic
phonological characteristics which we will focus on are consonants, vowels, tones and
syllable structure (Tweedy, 2012).
To start with, Vietnamese people have a tendency not to pronounce the consonant
sound /p/ with an exhalation of breath. Therefore, they must practice aspiration when
learning the sounds of aspiration in English. Besides, /p, t, k/ which are the ending
consonants are released only in English, but not in Vietnamese. This is why
Vietnamese learners have to practice the ending consonant sounds as it is not
pronounced in their native language. The Vietnamese consonant “-ch” can sound same
as the English consonant sound /ʧ/. Both of them are palatal and voiceless; however, “ch” is stopped, while /ʧ/ is affricated. Learners can be confused when not looking at
the differences in the actual pronunciation of these sounds. Similarly, the "th"
consonant is not articulated between the upper and lower teeth in Vietnamese.

8


Meanwhile, it is pronounced that way in English. Therefore, some learners have
difficulties in practicing the articulation of the /θ/ English consonant sound.
Along with consonants, vowels are also a major part of a word. Following Lan Truong
(2015):

Front
Front

Front

Central Back

i (y)

u

Front

ư
Mid

Ê

â

ơ

Mid

ơ
Low

E

a

à

Vietnamese vowels

o

Low

Central

Back

i

U

ɪ

ʊ

e

ə

O

ɛ

ʌ

ɔ

a

ɑ

ỉ

English vowels

The vowels in bold can only be found in Vietnamese, whereas those in blue bold
belong only to English. English vowels tend to be more than Vietnamese vowels, but
diphthongs with two vowels are not included in the charts. Diphthongs in Vietnamese
are much more complicated than English. While English has only five main
diphthongs /aɪ, aʊ, eɪ, oʊ, ɔɪ/, Vietnamese has twenty possible two-vowel
combinations and seven three-vowel combinations such as -ia, -iê, -ua, -uô, -ưa, -ươ,
-oe, -oi, -iu, -eo, -ao, -ay, -iêu, -yêu, -uây, -uya, -ươu, -uôi, -oai and so on (Giang
Tang, 2007). It should also be noticed that the Vietnamese vowels are formed in one
utter whether they have combinations of two or three vowels.
Besides, according to Tweedy (2012), tones are the main phonological difference
between Vietnamese and English. Vietnamese may have some consonant and vowel
concepts the same as English, but lexical tones are what English does not have. In
Vietnamese, tones can be used to modify a word's meaning, while the distinct
articulation of sounds in English affects its meaning. For instance, the meaning of the
Vietnamese word "tim"(heart) is different from "tím"(purple), or "tìm"(find) as
applying different tones to the steam word "tim". On the other hand, because the initial
sound is pronounced differently, the meaning of the word "hip" does not the same as
"lip" in English. Basically, Vietnamese has six tones which are rising, falling, dipping
rising, creaky, constricted, and level.

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Regarding the syllable structure, Vietnamese does not have consonant clusters. This is
why it is hard for most Vietnamese beginning learners of English to pronounce some
words such as “spring, strength, string, scrunched” and may add vowels between the
consonants to memorize the pronunciation of these words. For instance, they may turn
the word “script” into a different word to English native listeners by transcribing it in
the Vietnamese way as “sờ-cờ-ríp-tờ”. Moreover, the final sounds are not produced in
Vietnamese, whereas they are in English. As a result, most beginning learners cannot
release English ending sounds.
In conclusion, when teaching and learning pronunciation, teachers and learners need to
understand clearly the differences in phonology between two languages to have
suitable solution so as to achieve success.

2.1.4. Difficulties in learning pronunciation
There are a lot of problems related to pronunciation that learners and teachers have
to face when leaning English:
Age
The first problem which is quite arguable is age (Tweedy, 2012). The controversy over
whether there is an important period for language acquisition has been a burdensome
one. The debate over the impact of age on pronunciation is investigated by CelceMurcia et al. (1996) and Cunningham Florez (1998). Some researchers assert that the
brain becomes lateralized after a learner goes through puberty. Lateralization, or the
appointing of linguistic functions to particular brain hemispheres leads to learners'
difficulties in receiving and being able to generate new sounds to the extent possible
by a child. Other researchers dispute that there are different sensitive periods for
language learning and that “adults need to re-adjust existing neural networks to handle
new sounds” (Cunningham Florez, 1998, p.1). In general, nevertheless, research has
shown that when learning a foreign language, adults have more trouble pronunciation
than adolescents.

First Language Transfer
The first language of the learner may have a major impact on the degree of
accentuation and intelligibility of the new language (Tweedy, 2012). Negative transfer,
also referred to as intervention, means that the characteristics of the first language are

10


passed to the second language. With differences between the two languages, the faulty
production of aspiration, rhythm, and intonation in the new language result from the
negative transfer. According to Meng, Tseng, Kondo, Harrison, and Viscelgia (2009),
language transition happens at both segmental and suprasegmental levels, and these
intervention impacts may become age-fossilized, causing difficulties for the adult who
learn the second language.
Language Exposure
The language exposure of the learner is also a key (Tweedy, 2012). The amount of
time a person has spent communicating with the language may have an influence, and
perhaps more significantly, the quantity and quality of English interaction in everyday
activities may be vital (Singer, 2006). Languages are gained by obtaining huge
amounts of intelligible input. This intelligible input can be easily observed when
visiting a good primary school where pupils communicate freely in a comfortable
environment. In contrast, adults often work all day in an environment that does not
have a wealthy source of intelligible input. In Singer's (2006) case study of factors
affecting the English pronunciation of native Somali speakers, the most significant
determinant of correct pronunciation was apprehensive everyday access to English.
Attitude and motivation
Attitude and motivation of learners are other necessary issues that are not related to
linguistics or aptitude (Tweedy, 2012). Students who are positive and motivated are
extremely different from students who are negative and unmotivated. This has been
corroborated by lots of teachers. While some students may study English at university

to achieve their future academic and career goals, others may feel compelled to learn
English. Also, some people may feel conflicted about learning a new language if they
feel that it will eventually lead to the loss of their native language. A person's attitude
towards new culture, its language and speakers can affect positively or negatively to
the development of pronunciation understanding. Synchronously, personal identity
problems and learning motivation can also hold up or hinder pronunciation

11


(Cunningham Florez, 1998). Elliott (1995) tested the pronunciation accuracy of a
group of intermediate students studying Spanish at university. Using the Pronunciation
Attitude Inventory (PAI), he assessed the students' attitudes towards learning nearnative-like pronunciation. The results revealed that the motivation of a student to
achieve the pronunciation of the target language was the major variable in its accuracy
of real pronunciation output.
In conclusion, Vietnamese people have many difficulties in learning and teaching
English. The differences in consonants, vowels, tones and syllable structure between
English and Vietnamese can be tough to recognize and modify. Besides, some other
factors such as age, first language transfer, language exposure, and attitude and
motivation are enormous challenges for Vietnamese people. As a result, learning and
improving correct pronunciation become harder and harder.

2.2. Dialect
Dialect is one of the important parts in language in general and in communication in
individual. So that, it will also influence pronunciation skill. Due to research purpose,
in this part we will discuss in details about some aspects of dialect, includes definition,
classification and the relationship between language and its dialect.

2.2.1. Definition
According to Cambridge dictionary (2020), dialect is a form of a language which is

spoken in an individual part of a country, comprehending some different words and
grammar, etc.:. In other words, dialect is a language variety used in a specific region
by a specific social class. Some example such as: in case of South and North English
dialects are:
South: “Howdy”; North: “Hello”
South: “Fixin to”; North: “About to”
In the definition of John Edward (2009), a dialect is a variety of a language that is
at variance with others in three aspects: grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation
(accent). As they are types of the same language, however dialects are reciprocally

12


intelligible. Mutually intelligibility as a criterion of dialect (as opposed to languages)
falters at another level. For example, the long Spanish-Portuguese frontier in South
America, as well as European chain formed by dialects of German and Dutch, etc.
Edward Finegan (2004) pointed out that dialect denotes the language variety typical
of a particular regional or social group. Besides, dialect is a language variety in its
whole-including vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and any other aspect of that
language. Dialects of the specific language differ from each other due to many
regional and social factors.
It can be understood that dialect is a variety in many aspect: vocabulary, grammar
and pronunciation of a specific language that is used by a social class.

2.2.2. Types of dialects
Wardhaugh (2006) classified dialect into two branches including social dialect and
regional dialect.
Regional dialect
According to Wardhaugh (2006), the regional difference in way of speaking a
linguistic is the one of easiest ways of observing language diversity. In other words,

differences in dialect are due to geographical area. This can cause differences in
pronunciation, in choices and form of words, or in syntax. As apposed to a national
dialect, a regional dialect is spoken in one particular area of a country.
An example for this, differences between America-English and British-English:
America-English
Gas
I don’t have a book.
Dove

British-English
petrol
I haven’t a book.
dived.

Social dialect

13


Social dialect is defined that a variety of speech related to a social group or social
class within a society. It also called sociolect.
Whereas regional dialect is distinguished by geography, social dialect comes from
among social groups and associated to many factors that are social class, religion,
education, age, gender, profession and caste.
For instance, in England some pairs of word were to identify two social class: non
upper-class speakers and upper-class speakers.
Upper-class speakers

Non upper-class speakers

old

vintage

Avocado

Avo

Differences between social dialect and regional dialects ( slideshare, n.d.)
Social dialects
 Difference in use of language due to

Regional dialects
 Difference in use of language due to

social class discrepancies.

geographical discrepancies.

 Distance is not an important factor.

 Distance is important factor.

 Distinction is not clear.



Distinction is clear.

 Be easily influenced by external factors. Not be easily influenced by external

factor.

In conclusion, each type of dialects has its own characteristics that distinguish with
each other, but all of them reflect diversity of a specific language.

2.2.3. Language and dialects
In many situation, people usually have mistakes between language and dialect.
Below some opinion of authors about relationship between language and its dialect.

14


Edward Finegan (2004) said that “every dialect is a language, and every language is
realized in its dialect.” According to his opinion, dialect reflects language’s features,
with each dialect, language is showed in many different aspects. However, people also
determine it when hearing, seeing or using it dialects. For instance, in English,
Australian English

New Zealand English

Beat

but

Seat

sut

Although Australian English or New Zealand English are different in some word, but
all of them are varieties of English and people can realize English through them.

On the other hand, Wardhaugh (2006), the term “dialect” is different from the term
“language”. Dialect is one small part of variety language. Some languages have more
than one dialect. One example for that is various dialect of English. Language and
dialect have in common in some cases that can be language spoken by a few people or
language had only one variety, but some experts say there is not enough basic to
conclude language and dialect is the same. Besides, he showed that language may
change from region to region, from one social to another, from individual to
individual, and from situation to situation. That leads to form many varieties of
language.
As John Edward (2009) defined, a dialect is a form of a language that differs from
others in three elements: vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation (accent). It can be
understood that dialect is a kind of language that is changed a part in word, grammar
or pronunciation. In other words, language contains all its dialects and standard
language.
Moreover, a language is both written and spoken, but a dialect is just spoken.
In conclusion, dialect is only a branch of a specific language, therefore, language and
dialect are two different concepts.

15


2.2.4. Vietnamese dialect overview
In Vietnam, dialects are divided into three parts included northern dialects, southern
dialects and middle Vietnamese dialects (central dialects).
Here are some features of each dialects ( ngonngu.net, n.d.)
 Northern dialects are almost the same as general language. However, people
who speak Northern dialects usually have mistakes in pronouncing consonants
such as: /l/ with /n/, /ch/ with /tr/, /s/ with /x/ and so on.
 Middle Vietnamese dialects or central dialects are spoken wrong mainly in
rhyme and tone.

+ Having only five tones. In this, people do not distinguish between two
tones /?/ and /~/. For example, people say “tất cã” instead of “tất cả”, “nước lả” instead
of “nước lã” and so on.
+ the system of double vowels is simplified, the second element in the double
vowel is suppressed and the first one is lasted longer than usual.
For instance, /ươ/ -> /ư/, /uô/ -> /u/.
+ In the system of final vowels, people speak /-ng/ instead of /-n/ and /-k/
instead of /-t/.
 Southern dialects appear from Da Nang to Ca Mau. These dialects also have
five tones. Two tones /?/ and /~/ are homogeneous, usually spoken /?/. Besides,
it changes consonant /v/ -> /j/, /qu/ -> /w/. As an example, “văn hóa” -> “jăng
wóa”, etc.
Some featured consonants that only in Southern such as “ênh” -> “inh”, “inh” ->
“anh”, “ân” -> “ơn”, “ing” -> “iêng”.
People in this region pronounce vowels longer than usual, to distinguish with short
sounds.

16


Regarding to all the features, Vietnamsese dialects are different in two main aspects
which are consonants and vowels.

2.3 Influencing factors of dialects on the status of English pronunciation
skill of Vietnamese people.
2.3.1. Vowels
According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2020), vowel is a speech
sound in which the mouth is open and the tongue is not touching the top of the mouth,
the teeth, etc. Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1996) also described vowels as "the
tools of poets" (p. 93) since vowels allow poets to create assonance and rhythm. It can

be understood that vowels are sounds which are pronounced with open mouth,
allowing the air to flow through it.
According to Doan Thien Thuat (1976), there are eleven vowel sounds and many more
diphthongs and triphthongs in Vietnamese. Those vowels are /a/, /ă/, /â/, /o/, /ô/, /ơ/,
/e/, /ê/, /u/, /ư/, and /I /. In English the vowels which are written in the alphabet are a,
e, i, o, u and sometimes y.
Honey (1987) stated that there are several similarities between English and
Vietnamese vowel systems (p. 240). The Vietnamese language often alternatives to the
closest pure vowel in pronouncing the pure vowel in English, such as: /nô/ or /nâu/ for
‘no’. However, some pairs of Vietnamese diphthongs can only be distinguished by the
length of the constituent vowels (p. 240). For example, say meaning “drunk” and “sai”
meaning “wrong”. As a result, by pronouncing English in that way, Vietnamese
speakers face a large number of problems when speaking in English.
Vietnamese people find it difficult to pronounce lax and tense vowels. Avery and
Ehrlich (1992) pointed out that, "the distinction between tense and lax vowel pairs of
English almost always creates problems" (p. 96). For example, they mentioned that
Vietnamese students cannot identify the vowel /e/ and /æ/, such as in ‘bed’ and ‘bad’.
Moreover, Vietnamese people also have problem with pronouncing short and long
vowels. McGilvray (2005) indicated that a minimal pair is a pair of words that differ in

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a single phoneme and have different meanings (p. 102). They are used to show two
contrast sounds in a language, such as ship with short [I] and sheep with long [i], etc.
Of all short and long vowels, there can be minimal pair that are vowels with the same
pronunciation but different in length.
Finally, the complications of vowels, particularly between tense and lax vowels, short
and long vowels in English can be tough for Vietnamese speakers to learn. However,
these problems can be managed by regularly practicing. For example, you need to

lower your mouth and tongue far enough to pronounce the sound /ae/.

2.3.2. Consonants
According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2020), consonant is a
speech sound made by completely or partly stopping the flow of air being breathed out
through the mouth. It can be described as sounds that are pronounced by closing your
mouth or preventing the air freely flowing through the it such as /m/, /s/, /f/.
Peter Roach (1983) stated that there are “24 consonant sounds in most English
accents” (p. 10), conveyed by 21 letters of the regular English alphabet. They are
/p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /h/, /x/, /tʃ/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /l/, /3/, /r/,
/w/, /d3/, /j/. In Vietnamese, Doan Thien Thuat (1976) noted that there are twentythree consonant sounds: p, b, ph, v, m, w, t, th, đ, x, l, n, tr, s, r, ch, nh, j, k, kh, g, ng,
h.
According to Honey, "the Vietnamese consonant system is very different from that of
the English, and there is considerable variation between dialects” (p. 240). English
learners of Vietnam from different dialects may confront particular problem with some
or all of the sounds such as: /f/, /θ/, /ð/, /z/, etc.
These are some typical errors caused by effects of Vietnamese Dialects on English
consonant pronunciation.
3.2.1, Confuse /n/ with /l/:
Hoang Thi Chau (2004) wrote that some province in the North area such as Ha
Nam, Nam Dinh, Bac Ninh usually mistakenly pronounce between /n/ and /l/ (p. 219).
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As a result, people from these areas also confuse /n/ with /l/ in English. For example,
“play” is pronounced as /pnei/, “lounder” is pronounced as /naʊdər/, “neighbor” is
pronounced as /ˈleɪbər/.
3.2.2, Substitute /r/ for /z/:
In North area, /r/ and /z/ are not distinguished. (Cách phát âm tiếng Việt qua các
vùng miền. 2019, February 21). The phonetic spelling of /r/ is the same as /z/ in most

area at the North so students substitute /z/ for /r/, therefore “grow” is usually
erroneously pronounced as /ɡzəʊ/ instead of /ɡrəʊ/, “rule” is pronounced as /zu:l/.
3.2.3, Substitute /tr/ for /tʃ/:
Similar to /r/ and /z/, many students in North area substitute /tr/ for /tʃ/. . (Cách phát
âm tiếng Việt qua các vùng miền. 2019, February 21). For that reason, “train” is
pronounced as /tʃaɪn/, “trouble” is pronounced as /ˈtʃʌbl/.
3.2.4, Problem with /z/ and /j/
Truong Thi Mai Hanh (2018) pointed out that students in North, North Central
region when pronouncing [j] as the leading sound of words or syllables in English,
taking the role of consonants (eg, yes, young, European ...) will pronounce / z /
According to the Vietnamese Basis syllabus, the [j] sound appears only in the
Central and Southern dialects in the form of scripts such as: d and gi while in the
North it is read as / z / and the northern dialect does not exist [j] like in English. In
addition, the southern dialect tends to read / v / as [j], so English language learners
from the south have a better chance of accurately pronouncing sound [j] in English
than learners from the northern provinces.
In conclusion, Vietnamese people encounter lots of difficulties when learning English
consonant pronunciation. A second language learner usually apply his habits from his
mother tongue to the new language system. As a result, it is very hard for some
Vietnamese people to fix the mistakes such as confusing /n/ with /l/, /j/ with /z/ since
they can hardly pronounce them correctly in their mother tongue.

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2.3.3 Word stress
Honey (1987) pointed out that Vietnamese speakers are not able to vocalize stress by
tone in English words due to syllabic tone (p. 241). Vietnam is a tonal language that
does not have word stress system but it has six lexical tones to use pitch to contrast
lexical words. Hwa-Froelich (2002) indicated that the Vietnamese have six basic

contrastive tones, namely high-rising, more emphasized high-rising, mid-level, midrising, low-falling, and low-rising. The way Vietnamese speakers pronounce English
words is clearly affected by their mother tongue, which uses tones instead of word
stress. For that reason, Vietnamese people tend to speak English either without any
stress at all, for fear of getting the word meaning wrong, or they apply Vietnamese
pronunciation rules and stress each syllable the same.
According to Ladefoged (1993) and Kreidler (1997), every word in English that has
more than one syllable has a prominent stress. The stress pattern of an English word is
fixed. English speakers do not freely give a prominent stress to any syllable that they
want. Learners’ failure to acquire English word stress patterns is one of the
pronunciation errors that possibly lead to misunderstanding (Benrabah, 1997; Ur,
2003). As a result, reading the correct stress will determine whether other people hear
it correctly. A ship of stress may change the part of speech of a word from a noun to a
verb although its spelling still unchanged.
For instance, the word "present" consists of 2 syllables.
If the emphasis on the first syllable is pronounced /ˈprez.ənt/ is a noun that means
“món quà” or “hiện tại”
If stressed on the following syllable, it will be read as / prɪˈzent / a verb meaning to
“thuyết trình” or “giới thiệu”
Another example, the word “import” when it is a noun, its stress is on the first
syllable, while in verb form, its stress is in the second syllable. Therefore, knowing the
word stress is extremely important. Because of Vietnamese speaking habits, we often
skip this stress.
At last, since each of languages has its own sound system, the local language will
affect the student pronunciation in learning the other language. Therefore, there is a
possibility that the local language that is used in the speech community could affect
the pronunciation of English since the local language is the first language students
acquired. Mistakes are inevitable since the learners often apply their mother tongue
sound rules in learning foreign language.

3. RESEARCH DECRIPTION

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3.1.

Research scope and scale

There are several influencing factors English pronunciation that second year students
encounter such as: accent stress, rhythm, intonation, regional dialects…. However, this
research will only focus on influencing factors of regional dialects on the status of
English pronunciation skill of 2nd year Business English students in National
Economics University in in 2019 - 2020. Currently, we will conduct a survey 100
students of 2nd year BE in this field.

3.2.

Research question

This study is carried out with the purpose of answering the following query:
What are influencing factors of regional dialects on the status of English pronunciation
skill of 2nd year Business English students in National Economics University.

3.3.

Research method

This research uses only one method that is questionaire
The survey which is conducted online consists of 7 multiple choice questions and one
open-ended question. We use the Google Docs to create a form which will be sent to

the students online via email or messenger. The aim was to conduct the survey with
100 BE60 students within two weeks. According to their answers, we can find out the
students who speak dialect and also their difficulties in English pronunciation.

3.4.

Data collection and analysis

To analyze the data from questionare, MICROSOFT EXCEL was used.
The data from each question were sorted and arranged according to those categories
including Northern, Central and Southern students for comparison. In addition, the
variables (such as the students’ other problems in pronunciation resulted from dialectic
factors) were also created according to the content of each question. Finally, all data
were entered and checked carefully to create charts and tables.

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4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Some perception of BE second-year students about the impact of
Vietnamese dialect on speaking English and listening English
pronunciation.
4.1.1 The influence of dialect on the status of English pronunciation skill.

Chart 1: Students’ perception of the impact of dialect on English pronunciation
skill.
The pie chart shows the rating of 2nd-year Business English students based on their
opinions about the influence of dialect on the status of pronunciation skills. It can be
seen that the rating for four options is different.
As you can see, the number of people who rated “Not at all” accounted for the

smallest part of the pie chart - only 11%. The second option - “Slightly” - is a little
more popular than the first option, accounting for a quarter of the pie chart, which is
25%. Besides, the number of people who think that dialect has a moderate influence on
the status of pronunciation skills is largest in the chart, accounting for 50%. As a
result, the "Extremely" option makes up the rest of the chart, i.e. 14%.

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As such, most students believe that dialect influences moderately on the status of
pronunciation skills, whereas there is only a small selection of other options such as
“Not at all”, “Slightly” and “Extremely”.
Also interested in this topic, Saida and Laalia (2013/2014) studied the effects of the
Algerian dialects on English pronunciation, with specific research subjects being
Annaba, Constantine, and Tebessa dialects. In this study, the first research question
investigated whether or not Algerian dialects affect the pronunciation of the English
language. Another test is the audio which recorded the opinion of some Algerian
teachers of English about whether or not Algerian dialects have direct impacts on
them. To put it in another way, it is used to explain their hypothesis of research on the
effect of Algerian dialects on the pronunciation of English. As a result, they have
demonstrated that Algerian dialects affect pronunciation in English. Besides, learning
and acquiring a second language are negatively interfered with by the dialects.
To sum up, our survey results and the research of Saida and Laalia (2013/2014)
show that dialects have a certain influence on learning and improving pronunciation
skills in the second language in general and English in particular of students.

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