Luận Văn Some suggestions for correcting errors made by English non - major first year students at HPU of pro

Khóa luận tốt nghiệp năm 2013
Đề tài: Some suggestions for correcting errors made by English non - major first year students at HPU of pronouncing ending sounds




TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale 1
2. Aims of the study 2
3. Research methods 2
4. Scope of the study . 3
5. Significance of the study . 3
CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND . 4
2.1. English pronunciation 4
2.1.1. What is pronunciation? 4
2.1.2. The importance of English pronunciation . 5
2.2. English sounds . 6
2.2.1. Vowel sounds 6
2.2.1.1. Definition . 6
2.2.1.2. Classification and Description of vowels . 6
2.2.2. Consonant sounds 9
2.2.2.1. Definition . 9
2.2.2.2. Classification and Description of consonants 9
2.3. English ending sounds 13
2.3.1. Definition . 13
2.4. Pronunciation errors . 15
2.4.1. What is pronunciation error? . 15
2.4.2. Ending sounds errors . 16
2.5. Existing studies on some common mistakes about final consonants that
English learners in Vietnam tend to make 17
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION . 19
3.1. Survey questionnaires 19
3.1.1. Participants . 19
3.1.2. Purposes of the survey questionnaires . 19
3.1.3. Design of the survey questionnaires 20
3.1.4. Data collection instrument . 20
3.1.5. Data analysis procedure . 21
3.2. Data analysis 21
3.2.1. Students’ attitudes toward English ending sound pronunciation 21
3.2.1.1. Students’ attitude toward English pronunciation 21
3.2.1.2. Students’ frequency of pronouncing ending sounds . 22
3.2.1.3. Problems related to ending sounds faced by English non-major
first year students at HPU 23
3.2.1.4. Students’ perceptions about reasons for their difficulties related to
ending sounds . 27
3.2.2. Teachers’ techniques in teaching pronunciation in class . 28
3.2.3. Students’ expectations toward teachers in pronunciation class . 29
3.2.3.1. Students’ preferred techniques by teachers in pronunciation class 29
3.2.3.2. Students’ expectations toward teachers in class . 31
3.3. Discussion 31
CHAPTER 4: SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS TO CORRECT
ENDING SOUNDS ERRORS 33
4.1. Suggested tips to 5 common ending sounds errors /ð/, /θ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /ʃ/ . 33
4.2. Suggested techniques for students to correct ending sounds errors 35
4.2.1. Games . 35
4.2.1.1. Odd one out . 35
4.2.1.2. IPA Bingo . 36
4.2.1.3. Minimal Pair Slap . 37
4.2.1.4. Crazy ed- cards . 37
4.2.1.5. Crazy s- cards 38
4.2.1.6. Number dictation 39
4.2.1.7. Tongue twister 39
4.2.1.8. The Restaurant Menu 40
4.2.1.9. Large – Group Interviews . 42
4.2.1.10. The Memory Game . 43
4.2.2. Training your ears by listening to music . 44
4.2.3. Recording yourself 46
4.2.4. Reading pronunciation books 47
4.2.5. Watching pronunciation videos on Youtube . 48
4.2.6. Pronouncing the consonants only . 50
4.2.7. Practicing in front of the mirror 50
4.2.8. Monitoring . 51
4.3. Exercises for practicing ending sounds 51
4.3.1. Odd one out exercise 51
4.3.2. Circle the words ending with /dʒ/ 53
4.3.3. Practicing ending sounds with minimal pair final /t/ and /d/ . 53
4.4. Conclusion 53
APPENDICE .
APPENDIX 1 .
APPENDIX 2 .
REFERENCES




CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
In recent years, English has become one of the most popular languages in all
over the world and in Vietnam as well. Besides, English plays an important
role in the period of intergration. Thus, it has become a second language in
Vietnam. Of the four basic skills in English, speaking seems to be paid great
attention by ESL learners. Nevertheless, there is a large percentage of
Vietnamese people who speak English making mistakes with pronunciation.
While learning English, there are a number of problems relating to
pronunciation errors that ESL learners tend to make: intonation, word,
sentence stress, especially ending sounds. However, Vietnamese students who
study English have their own problems. In order to study these problem in
depth, this research will go into details of pronunciation errors concerning
ending sounds of English non-major 1
st
year students at Haiphong Private
University.
As can be seen, if ESL learners want to speak English correctly and fluently,
it is necessary to pay attention to ending sounds. Vietnamese is a kind of
language which has single words with no ending sounds while these sounds
play a very important role in English. It is particularly difficult for native
English to identify the words being spoken without pronouncing ending
sounds. As a matter of fact, ending sounds errors are very typical and popular
to Vietnamese students, especially English non -major 1
st
year students at
Haiphong Private University. Therefore, it was a motivation for the author of
the reasons to discuss. Hopefully, this study will help students grow
awareness of problems that they might have not noticed before and raise some
suggestions to correct errors.
2
2. Aims of the study
The purpose of this research is to help English non-major 1
st
year students at
Haiphong Private University realize mistakes when pronouncing ending
sounds. Besides, it will help them raise awareness of their pronunciation
problems. Moreover, this research also aims to help these students improve
speaking skill and ending sounds pronunciation. This study will focus on two
issues. The first one is to find out the ending sounds errors of English non major first year students at HPU. The second one is to give out the
suggestions for students to correct these errors. Here are the two research
questions of the study:
Research questions:
1) What are the ending sound errors that English non-major 1st year
students at Haiphong Private University are likely to make?
2) What can the students do to improve English pronunciation, especially
ending sounds?
3. Research methods
To achieve the above mentioned aims, the study employs the following
methods of study:
Firstly, reference book and previous researches related to ending sounds are
review to get background knowledge of English pronunciation, ending
sounds.
Secondly, a survey is conducted for two Toeic level 1 classes at HPU with a
view to finding out their problems, evaluations of the matter and the
difficulties that they have as well as the expectations towards pronunciation.
Last but not least, all the necessary information needed for the findings of the
survey will be collected through the observation and interview with students.
3
4. Scope of the study
In English, there are many problems related to pronunciation errors. However,
this study does not aim to cover all problems with pronunciation errors of t he
ESL learners. Within the time limitation, the research just focuses on five
common ending sounds errors of 60 English non-major first year students at
Haiphong Private University, that is, /ð/, /θ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /ʃ/.
5. Significance of the study
It is undeniable that English is one of the most important subjects in all
school. At Haiphong Private University, all students from different
departments have to learn English and they have to pass the Toeic exam at the
end of the semester. It can be clearly seen that, four skills in learning English
are also important but the most important one must be speaking skill.
However, this is the skill that students often afraid of. To English non-major
first year students at Haiphong Private University, their speaking skill seems
to be pretty bad, especially in pronouncing ending sounds. The thesis is
intended to point out the ending sounds errors that students tend to make and
the solutions to solve the problems. The research is a useful reference for
students to learn English pronunciation and correct ending sounds errors.
Consequently, chapter 1 has dealt with the content of the study. Rationale,
aims, research methods and questions, scope and significance of the study
were gave out to introduce and to be a basis for analysis in the next parts. In
chapter 2, the theoretical background of pronunciation, ending sounds errors,
previous studies will be thoroughly presented.




REFERENCES
Reference books
1. Avery and Ehrlich.(1992). Teaching American English pronunciation.
Oxford University Press
2. Collins English Dictionary.(2003). HarperCollins
3. Dulay, Burt and Krashen.(1982). Language Two. Oxford University
Press
4. Ellis, R.(1997). Second Language Acquisition. Oxford University Press
5. Fraser, H.(2000). Teaching pronunciation: A handbook for teachers and
trainers. Canberra: Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs
6. Littlewood, W. (1981). Communicative Language Teaching.
Cambridge University Press
7. Marianne, Donna and Janet.(1996). Teaching Pronunciation. Cambridge
University Press
8. Morley, J.(1994) . Pronunciation pedagogy and theory. New views, new
directions. Alexandria, VA: TESOL
9. Oxford Advance Learner’s Encyclopedic. Oxford University Press
10. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary.(2008). Oxford University
Press.
11. Roach,P.(2000). English Phonetics and Phonology. Cambridge
University Press
12. Rachael-Anne Knight.(2003). Understanding English Variation, Week
3. University of Surrey – Roehampton
13. Richards, J.C.(1971). Error analysis and second language strategies.
International Center for Research on Bilingualism
14. Treiman, R. (1989). The internal structure of the syllable
Websites:
1. AMEP Fact sheets
http://www.ameprc.mq.edu.au/docs/fact_sheets/01Pronunciation.pdf
2. Barbara A. H., Brian B. (1997). The Status of Final Consonant Clusters
in English Syllables: Evidence from Children Journal of Experimental
Child Psychology Volume 64, Issue 1, p. 119-136 University of New
England, New South Wales, Australia. Retrieved January 16, 2009
from the web
http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S002209659692322X
3. Do Hai Ha, lecture 1 (Feb, 2013)
http://www.slideshare.net/hadohai/lecture-1-consonants
4. Ha Cam Tam, Common pronunciation problems of Vietnamese
learners of English
http://tapchi.vnu.edu.vn/Ngoaingu_1/Bai3.pdf
5. Nguyen Thi Thu Thao, Difficulties for Vietnamese when pronouncing
English final consonants, 2007
http://du.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:518290/FULLTEXT01
6. Pham Cam Chi, Errors 1st year students at E.D., HULIS, VNU make
with ending sounds and strategies to overcome using communicative
teaching
http://www.slideshare.net/khoaanhmy/errors-1st-year-students-at-edhulis-vnu-make-with-ending-sounds-and-strategies-to-overcome-usingcommunicative-teaching-pham-cam-chi-main-text
7. Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_research)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descriptive_research