VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOL UNIVERSITY GF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE LE NGOC HAN A STUDY ON COMMON MISTAKES MADE BY VIETNAMESE BEGINNERS OF ENGLISH IN PRONOUNCING 9, 6,53, 6,if AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS CNghiên cứu về những lỗi thường gặp của học viên người Việt khi phát âm các phụ âm tiếng Anh 6, ö, ƒ, 5, ử, Ý và cách khắc phục khả hữu} M.A MINOR TIIESIS Major: English Linguistics Code: 602215 HA NOI,2011 UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE LE NGQC IIAN A STUDY ON COMMON MISTAKES MADE BY VIETNAMESE BEGINNERS OF ENGLISH IN PRONOUNCING 6, 6, J,3,6,i AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS CNghiên cứu về những lỗi thường gặp của học viên người Việt khi phat âm các phụ âm tiếng Anh 6, ỗ, ƒ, 3, &, ƒ và cách khắc phục khả hữu) M.A MINOR THESIS Major: English Linguistics Code: 602215 Supervisor: Assoc.Prof:VÕ DAI QUANG (PhD) TIA NOI,2011 wv TABLE OF CONTENTS Candidate's statement. Table of contents. List of flgure: Chapter one: Introduction.2, Aims and objectives of the study. Scope of the study Rho 14 Organization of the study.
Chapter two : Literature Review 2.1 Theoretical Background Wb RR WWW 2.1 The rote of pronaunciation in language teaching .2 Factors affecting pronunciation learning .1 The mative language 2.2 The age factor.4 Motivation and cancern for good pronunciation 2.1 General description of English consonants 2.4 Articulatory features of /0,8/and /S,3 /.5, Mistakes in language learning “Mistakes in language learning 2.2 Types of mistakes 2.3 Possible causes of mistakes im language Icarning.1 The interference of the mother tongue 2. 2 Canses other than interference by first language 2.2 Previous works Chapter three: Methodology.1 Steps for conducting a survey research .3 Methods of collecting survey data.2 Techniques employed in this thesis 3.1 Data collection instruments.2 Methods of data analysis, 3. 12 CIIAPTER TIIREE: METIIODOLOGY Chapter three “Methodology” describes in detail the rescarch mothodology which comprises the principles based on which the study is cartied out. it also presents techniques employed in this thesis, namely questionnaire, tape recording and interview Tn order to fulfill the study, a combination of survey questionnaire, Lape tocording and interview is employed, 3.1 Survey research Among the research methods, survey research is one of the most important areas of measurement in applied social research ‘the broad area of survey research encompasses any imeasurcinent procedures that involve asking questions of respondents.
A “survey” can bz anything form a short paper-and- pencil feedback from to an intensive ono-on-onc in-depth interview. Survey esearch can be also defined in lenms of the type of information gathered or the purposes for which the information is collected. Alreck and Settle (1995-98) contended that the reasons for conducting survey include influencing a selected audience, modifying a service or product, and understanding or prodicling human bchaviour, Rea and Paker (1997/88) added understanding people’s interests and concems as motivations for using surveys, with data reflecting desoriptive, bahavioural or preferential characteristics of respondents 3.1 Steps for conducting a survey rescarch In this process of conducting a survey research, the researcher mist make a series of careful ds isious about how the study will be carricd out. These includz a great deal of stcps such as: determining the purpose of the study; stating the research questions; specifying the population and drawing a sample from the population; deciding on the methods of data collection; developing instruments, and training data collectors or interviewers ; collecting data ; analyzing the data, and addressing non response.
Understanding these steps will help researchers assess and construct their own meaning from reports of surveys that they read 3.1 Defininga population After stating the research questions, it is advisable to define a population. ‘The population is the entire group of entilics or pongle ta which the results of'a sludy arc infended lo apply. The Chapter four: Findings ani discussia 4.1 Findings from tape recording .2 Findings and discussions from the questionnaire 4.1 Students’ attitude towards pronunciation 4.2 Students’ perceptions of thelr frequency ofPronunciation mistakes 27 4.3 Students' perceptions of the causes of those mistakes.4 Students’ self-treatment to overcome those mistakes.5 Reflection on teachers’ methods used to help students fo overcome those mistakes.3 Findings from the interviews - 32 44 Swumary. 33 Chapter five: Conclusion.3 Suggestions for further research.
Exercises [or tape recoriling. 12 CIIAPTER TIIREE: METIIODOLOGY Chapter three “Methodology” describes in detail the rescarch mothodology which comprises the principles based on which the study is cartied out. it also presents techniques employed in this thesis, namely questionnaire, tape recording and interview Tn order to fulfill the study, a combination of survey questionnaire, Lape tocording and interview is employed, 3.1 Survey research Among the research methods, survey research is one of the most important areas of measurement in applied social research ‘the broad area of survey research encompasses any imeasurcinent procedures that involve asking questions of respondents. A “survey” can bz anything form a short paper-and- pencil feedback from to an intensive ono-on-onc in-depth interview.
Survey esearch can be also defined in lenms of the type of information gathered or the purposes for which the information is collected. Alreck and Settle (1995-98) contended that the reasons for conducting survey include influencing a selected audience, modifying a service or product, and understanding or prodicling human bchaviour, Rea and Paker (1997/88) added understanding people’s interests and concems as motivations for using surveys, with data reflecting desoriptive, bahavioural or preferential characteristics of respondents 3.1 Steps for conducting a survey rescarch In this process of conducting a survey research, the researcher mist make a series of careful ds isious about how the study will be carricd out. These includz a great deal of stcps such as: determining the purpose of the study; stating the research questions; specifying the population and drawing a sample from the population; deciding on the methods of data collection; developing instruments, and training data collectors or interviewers ; collecting data ; analyzing the data, and addressing non response. Understanding these steps will help researchers assess and construct their own meaning from reports of surveys that they read 3.1 Defininga population After stating the research questions, it is advisable to define a population.
‘The population is the entire group of entilics or pongle ta which the results of'a sludy arc infended lo apply.2 Previous works As monlicned above, there trave been a grzat deal of nolable works abou! pronounciation issues and pronounciation teaching ones but some of them express the writers’ coneern about pronounciation problems especially the learners” difficulties in pronouncing Lnglish sounds Trowever, it can be confirmed that Avery & Thlrich (1992:67) are the two first people mentioning problems Victnamesc learners may facc with when studying English “As the sound systems of English and Vietnamese differ greatly, Vietnamese speakers can have quite serve pronounciation problems? Recently, an article named Common pronunciation problems of Vietnamese learners of English by Ha Cam ‘Tam (2005:7) also pointed out some main problems in pronunciation of Vietnamese leamers, namely sound omission, sound confusion and sound redundancy. However, many previous studies found in books, linguistic magazines or on the Internet are only about general pronunciation problems of wide issues, none of them specifies in certain consonants that most impede Viemamese leamers from communication and common mistakes in English pronunciation. For this reason, the rescarch is cazricd out to find out th: common mistakes made by the students studying in Bac Ninh Specialized High School in pronouncing some Tinglish consonants and improve their pronunciation 2.2 Previous works As monlicned above, there trave been a grzat deal of nolable works abou! pronounciation issues and pronounciation teaching ones but some of them express the writers’ coneern about pronounciation problems especially the learners” difficulties in pronouncing Lnglish sounds Trowever, it can be confirmed that Avery & Thlrich (1992:67) are the two first people mentioning problems Victnamesc learners may facc with when studying English “As the sound systems of English and Vietnamese differ greatly, Vietnamese speakers can have quite serve pronounciation problems? Recently, an article named Common pronunciation problems of Vietnamese learners of English by Ha Cam ‘Tam (2005:7) also pointed out some main problems in pronunciation of Vietnamese leamers, namely sound omission, sound confusion and sound redundancy. However, many previous studies found in books, linguistic magazines or on the Internet are only about general pronunciation problems of wide issues, none of them specifies in certain consonants that most impede Viemamese leamers from communication and common mistakes in English pronunciation.
For this reason, the rescarch is cazricd out to find out th: common mistakes made by the students studying in Bac Ninh Specialized High School in pronouncing some Tinglish consonants and improve their pronunciation 8 CHAPTER ONE: [INTRODUCTION Chapler one “Introduction” inchides the r sons of choosing the thesis, the nims, the objectives, the scope, rescarch questions and the organization of the study.1 Rationale English, the most popular foreign language in Vistnamn, bas been taught from the early age (at the age of 7 ot even younger) in most of schools and universities throughout the country as a compulsory subject however, not many of them “have intelligible English pronumciation so thai they can be understood casily in dicot communication with foreigners”, It is the exact thet happening in Bac Ninh Specialized Lligh School. Over many years of teaching Lnglish in this school, the writer of the study has observed that there are quite a number of students who Gcquontly make mistakes with English sounds, Being fully aware of the nce sily of correcting mistakes for students as weil as Vietnamese learners of English, the writer of this paper decided to conduct the study entitled “A study on common mistakes xuadc by Victnamesc beginners of English in pronouncing 8, Š, ƒ, 5, ủ, ƒ anẻ possible solutions”. Aims and objectives of the study 1.1 Aims “The research aims at - improving students’ pronunciation of the six English consonants 6, Š, J3, Š, t - providing English teachers with a reference for the pronunciation of @, ô, ƒ, 340 1.2 Objectives To achieve these aims, the following objectives are set forth as tasks of the study. - identity Vietnamese learners’ common mistokes in pronouncing 6, Š, ƒ', 3, Š, t - find out causes of mistakes made by Vietnamese leamers in pronouncing 8, 8, L3G - find oul solutions to make (aching and learning process belicr so thal mnistakes in pronouncing 0, 6, ƒ, 5.
&, if can be avoided. 12 CIIAPTER TIIREE: METIIODOLOGY Chapter three “Methodology” describes in detail the rescarch mothodology which comprises the principles based on which the study is cartied out. it also presents techniques employed in this thesis, namely questionnaire, tape recording and interview Tn order to fulfill the study, a combination of survey questionnaire, Lape tocording and interview is employed, 3.1 Survey research Among the research methods, survey research is one of the most important areas of measurement in applied social research ‘the broad area of survey research encompasses any imeasurcinent procedures that involve asking questions of respondents. A “survey” can bz anything form a short paper-and- pencil feedback from to an intensive ono-on-onc in-depth interview.
Survey esearch can be also defined in lenms of the type of information gathered or the purposes for which the information is collected. Alreck and Settle (1995-98) contended that the reasons for conducting survey include influencing a selected audience, modifying a service or product, and understanding or prodicling human bchaviour, Rea and Paker (1997/88) added understanding people’s interests and concems as motivations for using surveys, with data reflecting desoriptive, bahavioural or preferential characteristics of respondents 3.1 Steps for conducting a survey rescarch In this process of conducting a survey research, the researcher mist make a series of careful ds isious about how the study will be carricd out.