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

TẠ PHƯƠNG LIÊN

IMPROVING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION FOR VIETNAMESE
ADULT LEARNERS AT ELEMENTARY LEVEL –
ARTICULATORY PHONETICS
CẢI THIỆN KỸ NĂNG PHÁT ÂM TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC VIÊN
VIỆT NAM Ở TRÌNH ĐỘ CƠ BẢN THÔNG QUA VIỆC
ĐIỀU CHỈNH BỘ PHẬN CẤU THÀNH ÂM

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111

HANOI - 2017


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

TẠ PHƯƠNG LIÊN

IMPROVING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION FOR VIETNAMESE
ADULT LEARNERS AT ELEMENTARY LEVEL –

ARTICULATORY PHONETICS
CẢI THIỆN KỸ NĂNG PHÁT ÂM TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC VIÊN
VIỆT NAM Ở TRÌNH ĐỘ CƠ BẢN THÔNG QUA VIỆC
ĐIỀU CHỈNH BỘ PHẬN CẤU ÂM
.

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111
Supervisor: Dr. Hà Cẩm Tâm

HANOI - 2017


DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this thesis “Improving English pronunciation for
Vietnamese adult learners at elementary level – Articulatory phonetic” is my
own work and effort has not been submitted anywhere for any purpose. In addition,
the contributions of my colleagues and students are involved. Other sources of
information have been used and acknowledged. I cede copyright of the thesis in
favor of Post-graduate Department – Vietnam National University.

Hanoi, 2017
Signature

Tạ Phương Liên

i



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis would not be fulfilled without the help of many people, and I
would like to show my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has taught me, inspired me,
challenged me, and supported me throughout the realization of this thesis.
I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Ha Cam
Tam, for her whole-hearted assistance, encouragement as well as profound guidance
she gave me while I was doing my research.
My gratitude also goes to all the instructors in my M.A course and staffs at
the Faculty of Postgraduate Studies, the University of Languages and International
Studies, Vietnam National University of Hanoi whose support and consideration
have enabled me to pursue the course.
I am also very grateful to my colleagues for their valuable help and students
of Step Up English center for their willingness to participate in the research.
Without their assist, this thesis could not be fulfilled.
Last but not least, I owe my sincere thanks to my family and my kind-hearted
classmates who are always by my side and encourage me to complete this study.

ii


ABSTRACT

The present study was intended to check the effectiveness of articulatory
phonetic instructions on improving the English consonant pronunciation of 10 adult
learners at the level of elementary of an “Step Up” English center. Initially, an entry
test was carried out to investigate the remarkable errors made by the subjects
regarding consonant sounds. Then, they received the conventional classroom
instructions on pronunciation skills which were based on articulatory phonetics.

During the course, the subjects were examined 4 times in total to see the studying
progress. After 7 weeks, a final test was implemented to evaluate the participants‟
pronunciation after receiving the instructions. Since this study focused on the
pronunciation, all the tests were in the form of oral test which requires audiorecording as a crucial instrument to collect the data. Apart from that, observation
was another tool to obtain the data as the subjects practiced with their partners. The
findings from the research revealed that articulatory phonetics did have positive
effects on the English consonant pronunciation of elementary adult learners at Step
Up, however, there still existed some limitations which were hardly avoidable.
Suggestions were also given with the hope that the next researcher could overcome
the limited issues to conduct a more successful research.

iii


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration .............................................................................................................. i
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ii
Abstract ................................................................................................................ iii
Table of contents ................................................................................................... iv
List of tables and figures ......................................................................................vii
PART ONE. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1
1. Rationale ............................................................................................................... 1
2. Aims of the study .................................................................................................... 2
3. Scope of the study .................................................................................................. 2
4. Research questions .................................................................................................. 3
5. Method of the study ................................................................................................ 3
6. Design of the study ................................................................................................. 3
PART TWO. DEVELOPMENT ................................................................................. 5
CHAPTER ONE. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................. 5

1.1. Approaches to pronunciation teaching ................................................................. 5
1.2. Phonetics and Phonology ..................................................................................... 6
1.2.1. Phonetics ........................................................................................................... 6
1.2.2. Phonology ......................................................................................................... 7
1.3. Articulatory phonetics .......................................................................................... 7
1.4. English consonants ............................................................................................... 9
1.4.1. The place of articulation.................................................................................. 10
1.4.2. The manner of articulation .............................................................................. 11
1.4.3. English consonants .......................................................................................... 11
1.4.4. Phonological rules ........................................................................................... 12
1.5. Action research ................................................................................................... 13
CHAPTER TWO. METHODOLOGY ..................................................................... 15
2.1. Setting of the study............................................................................................. 15

iv


2.1.1. Step Up English center .................................................................................... 15
2.1.2. Pronunciation course ....................................................................................... 15
2.2. Participants ......................................................................................................... 17
2.3. Research methods............................................................................................... 17
2.3.1. Problem identification ..................................................................................... 17
2.3.2. Planning........................................................................................................... 18
2.3.3. Actions ............................................................................................................ 21
2.3.3.1. Fricatives /θ, ð/ ............................................................................................. 23
2.3.3.2. Fricatives /ʃ, ʒ/ ............................................................................................. 23
2.3.3.3. Affricatives /tʃ, dʒ/ ...................................................................................... 23
2.3.3.4. Initial consonant clusters .............................................................................. 24
2.4. Research instruments ......................................................................................... 25
CHAPTER THREE. DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS ................................... 27

3.1. Observations ....................................................................................................... 27
3.1.1. Teaching observations ..................................................................................... 27
3.1.1.1. /θ, ð/ .............................................................................................................. 27
3.1.1.2. /ʃ, ʒ/ ............................................................................................................. 28
3.1.1.3. /tʃ, dʒ/ ......................................................................................................... 28
3.1.1.4. Initial consonant clusters .............................................................................. 29
3.1.2. Mini-tests ......................................................................................................... 31
3.1.3. Final tests ........................................................................................................ 34
3.2. Reflection ........................................................................................................... 37
3.2.1. Informants‟ pronunciation ability ................................................................... 37
3.2.2. Factors contributing to the development of the informants‟ s pronunciation
competence ............................................................................................................... 39
PART THREE. CONCLUSION ............................................................................... 40
1. Recapitulation ....................................................................................................... 40
2. Implications ........................................................................................................... 41

v


3. Limitations of the study ........................................................................................ 42
4. Suggestions for further study ................................................................................ 42
REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 44
APPENDIX 1: ENTRY – TEST ................................................................................ I
APPENDIX 2: MINI – TEST ................................................................................... II
APPENDIX 3: MATERIALS FOR OBSERVATION ........................................... IX
APPENDIX 4: FINAL – TEST ............................................................................. XII
APPENDIX 5: LESSON PLAN .......................................................................... XIV

vi



LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Page
Figure 1: The organs of speech

8

Table 1: English consonants

12

Figure 2: Sounds of speech animation application

16

Table 2: Teaching plans

18

Table 3.1: Mispronunciation across the subjects in teaching observation

30

Table 3.2: Mispronunciation across the subjects in mini-tests

33

Table 3.3: Mispronunciation across the subjects in final test

35


vii


PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
The chapter plays as an introduction part of the study which presents an
overview of the research report including rationale, aims, scope, research questions,
methods and design of the study.
1. Rationale of the study
During the period of globalization, nations have been coming closer to each
other more than ever. In this process, the need of expressing and exchanging ideas
has given English an excellent opportunity to claim its vital role in every
communication attempt. Vietnam, in order to develop the national economy,
industries or in any area, has to blend into the global communication and meet its
requirements. However, in fact, adults who are directly involved in the influence of
globalization tend to have many difficulties in communicating with foreigners due
to their limited speaking and listening skills. In a certain proficiency standard, the
fault which diminishes the communication process in EFL/ESL learners severely is
pronunciation, rather than vocabulary or grammar (Hinofitis & Baily, 1980,
pp.124-125). Pronunciation errors were suggested as the decisive element which
causes the communication breakdowns according to Derwing Munro and Weibe
(1998, p.407) as cited in Derwing and Munro (2005) and Jenkins (2000). In the
related issue, Fraser (2000) states that apart from other sub-skills which involve
vocabulary, grammar, pragmatics and so on, the most crucial element is
pronunciation. It is confirmed that with good pronunciation, the message between
interlocutors is much easier to understand and in the case the speaker and/or the
listener has poor pronunciation, it is very difficult for them to understand each other
despite accuracy in other areas. Hence, the pronunciation should be paid sufficient
attention since it is the aspect that affects how the speaker is judged by the others.
Pronunciation is an integral part of foreign language learning since it directly

affects the learners' communicative competence as well as performance. Thus,
limited pronunciation might decrease learners‟ self-confidence and adversely affect
speaker‟s communicative skills. Vietnam, in this context, with the purpose of
communicating with foreigners effectively, speaking and listening skills are

1


strongly focused, but the pronunciation has not been paid sufficient attention in
many years. However, the process of teaching and learning pronunciation recently
has been changing. Indeed, it is being integrated into the textbook of schools and
tertiary colleges widely. Moreover, since private educational institutions nationwide
acknowledge the importance of pronunciation teaching and learning, it has been
designed and adapting as an independent course which mainly focuses on
segmentals and suprasegmentals. Step Up English Center is not an exception;
pronunciation course is the program in which forty-four sounds of English are
deeply focused on and it is suitable for students and adult learners who are at the
level of elementary due to its contents and feasibility. The course is mainly
allocated to help learners acknowledge the differences between English and
Vietnamese sounds, and know how to use the articulators properly in the process of
making the intelligible sounds.
In the process of acquiring the second language, it is found out that learners
encounter a few problems concerning to some certain foreign sounds which do not
exist in the first language. They seem confused about how to use and control their
articulators to produce the proper sounds as well as to pronounce intelligibly. The
situation is urged and needed strategies to help learners to overcome such problems,
which leads the author to the thought of making a research on “Improving English
pronunciation for Vietnamese adult learners at elementary level”.
2. Aims of the study
The study aims at:

-

Finding the typical errors that Vietnamese adult learners at the elementary
level often makes regarding pronunciation in a particular context.

-

Uncovering the impact of articulatory phonetics instructions on adult
learners‟ pronunciation.

3. Scope of the study
The research focused on the pronunciation problems in terms of consonants
made by ten adult learners at Step Up English center, and their English are at

2


elementary level. The remarkable errors will be figured out after implementing the
entry test. The teaching methods applied in the research was articulatory phonetics.
4. Research questions
What are the remarkable errors in consonant pronunciation that adult learners
in Step Up English center have and how to improve them?
5. Methods of the study
The method employed in this study is an Action Research followed the
model of Kemmis and Mc Taggart (1988) which is composed of four phases:
-

Planning: a problem or issue is identified and a plan of action is developed to
bring about improvements in specific areas of the research context.


-

Action: the plan is to put into action over an agree period of time.

-

Observation: the effects of the action are observed and data are collected.

-

Reflection: the effects of the action are evaluated become the basis for
further cycles of research.

6. Design of the study
The study consists of three main parts as follows:
-

Part one: Introduction. This part discussed the rationale of the study, aims,
scope, research questions and methods and design of the study.

-

Part two: Development.
+ Chapter 1: Literature review. This chapter provides the theoretical
knowledge relevant to the field under investigated. A brief introduction of
segmental and suprasegmental teaching will be presented. Later, English
phonetics and phonology will be stated. Articulatory phonetics will be the
main issue which is following by the phonological rules. And the final part is
the theory of action research.
+ Chapter 2: Methodology. This chapter describes the setting of the study,

the participants, research methods, instruments to collect data.
+ Chapter 3: Findings and discussion. Findings and analysis of the research
are provided in response to the research question

3


-

Part three: Conclusion. This part summarizes the findings of the action
research, pedagogical implications, limitations and offers suggestions for
further research.

4


PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter is devoted to the presentation of the theoretical issues related to
the study. Firstly, a brief of pronunciation teaching trends will be presented. Later,
some basic concepts including phonetics, phonology and articulatory phonetics will
be given. English consonant part will be the next issue and the final part is the
action research model which will be applied in this study.
1.1. Approaches to pronunciation teaching
Pronunciation teaching consists of two parts named segmentals (vowels and
consonant sounds) and suprasegmentals or prosody (i.e., stress, rhythms, intonation,
etc.) (Morley, 1991) and the question of which part should be taught first in the
pronunciation class still has not been answered. With this controversial idea, several
scholars and linguistics suggested two ways of teaching pronunciation: bottom-up
and top-down approach (Dalton and Seidhofer, 1994), Pennington (1989).

In bottom-up method, it begins with the production of individual vowels and
consonants and intonation will be mentioned later. It is assumed that if the
segmentals are taught first, the suprasegmental will take care of themselves (Dalton
and Seidhofer, 1994: 69-70). This approach has been considered as traditional way
since its structure is parallel with grammar and lexical teaching method. On the
other hand, being more relevant to communicative perspectives, in top-down
method, the segmentals are followed by the suprasegmental features which are
considered as the main trend in pronunciation teaching (Celce-Murcia, 2001).
Indeed, over the last 25 years, suprasegmentals are being emphasized in
pronunciation teaching and learning (Morley, 1991). Anderson Hsieh and Koehler
(1988) as cited in Field (2005) stated in their findings that suprasegmentals might be
the main factor adversely affecting comprehension rather than segmentals. So far,
language teachers are strongly encouraged to prioritize the prosodic features in
pronunciation teaching and learning. Nevertheless, according to McNerney and
Mendelsohn (1992: 186) as cited in Celce-Murcia (1996:10), suprasegmentals
should be focused first and foremost for the short-term pronunciation course instead

5


of segmentals, but the authors did not mention which level of learners should be
suitable for such method. As it is said before, the subject in this study is adult
learners whose level is elementary – the first stage in the process of acquiring
foreign language and it is also said that the initial step in learning English speech
should be focused on individual vowel and consonant sounds (Yule, Hoffman and
Damico, 1987 as cited in Shankar, 2010). Additionally, Saito (2007:20) firmly
emphasized the significance of sound awareness. In his assumption, the messages in
communication might still be conveyed even speakers make mistake of prosodic
features, however, if certain sounds such as in minimal pairs are mispronounced, it
might cause the misunderstanding between interlocutors and lead to communication

disruption later. Shared the ideas of Riney (2005), Saito also points out that in her
study, phonetics is their major medium to evaluate students‟ speaking ability and
individual sounds is the core that should be focused mostly. He further stated that
segmentals should be prioritized in teaching English pronunciation in the case of
Japan – a nation that local dialect is a dominant language. Likewise, in Vietnam,
English is still the foreign language which in fact is not used on daily basis, learners
do not have many chances to practice English in the real-life situations. So, it is
believed that segmental features would be suitable for teaching pronunciation in
Vietnamese context due to the similarity of predominant mother tongue between
Vietnam and Japan. Moreover, the in the context of this study, the subjects are at
the level of elementary are assumed to be suitable with segmental teaching.
1.2. Phonetics and Phonology
1.2.1. Phonetics
Phonetics is a study of human speech sounds which is concerned with
various aspects relevant to the physical characteristics of sounds. Typically, (1)
physiological production is the main concern of the Articulatory phonetics area –
the study of the production of speech sounds by the articulators and vocal tract by
the speaker. (2) Acoustic properties, the major characteristic of Acoustic phonetics,
deals with the transmission of speech sounds from the speaker to the listener. (3)
Auditory perception, relevant to the process of reception and perception of speech

6


sounds by the listener is the remarkable feature of the study Auditory phonetics.
(Richard et al, 2013. p.398)
1.2.2. Phonology
Along with phonetics, phonology is the study which is concerned with the
description of sound systems and patterns that occur in a language (Ladefoged,
2001, p.23).

It involves studying a language to determine its distinctive sounds and to find
out which sounds convey a difference in meaning. When words can be
differentiated by two sounds, it is said that they belong to different phoneme – the
smallest unit of sound in a language which can distinguish two words. For example:
“tip” and “dip” differ only in their initial sound, “cab” and “cap” differ only in their
final sound. In general, it can be said that when talking about how phonemes
function in language, and the relationships among the different phonemes – when,
in other words, it is studied the abstract side of the sounds of language, it is studied
a related but different subject that it is called phonology (Roach, 2010).
Regarding the phonemes, it cannot be excluded the allophones notion.
An allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds (or phones) or signs
used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, [ph] (as
in “pot”) and [po] (as in “speak”) are allophones for the phoneme /p/ in English. It
also can be said that allophones are the concept when a phoneme is conditioned by
the sounds around it or by its position in the word. That is also the reason why
students should be aware of some certain allophone rules in order to have an
intelligibly pronunciation. Nevertheless, before investigating in more details about
allophone rules, it is necessary to figure out the articulatory phonetics concept since
this study aims at finding how articulatory phonetics teaching and learning
influences on learners‟ pronunciation skills. For that reason, articulatory phonetics
will be presented as the following part.
1.3. Articulatory phonetics
As mentioned above, articulatory phonetics is one of three main branches of
phonetics, it is the study of the organs of speech and their use in producing speech
sounds. In other words, articulatory phonetics investigates how the sounds are

7


physically produced. Speech organs or articulators (as shown in Figure 1) included

lips, teeth, tongue, alveolar ridge (the bony ridge behind the upper teeth), hard
palate (the bony dome constituting the roof of the mouth), velum, or soft palate (the
soft tissue immediately behind the tongue; when raised, it forces all air through the
mouth; lowered, it allows air through the nose), uvula (the soft appendage hanging
from the velum), pharynx (the back wall of the throat behind the tongue), larynx
(containing the vocal cords) and glottis (the part of the throat that contains the vocal
cords and the narrow opening between them).

Figure 1. The organs of speech
According to Dalton and Seidhofer (1994, pp.128-129), the knowledge of the
sound productions (phonetics) and the imperative sounds in relevant languages
(phonology) should be taught clearly and explicitly. Regarding the phonetics area,
awareness-building activities are used to help learners acknowledge the articulation
as well as the movements of articulators in the process of making English sounds.
Catford (1987, p.99) emphasized the significance of “precisely teaching” of
students‟ vocal organs in the process of producing the intelligible sounds.
Nevertheless, Kenworthy (1987, p.69) also reminds teachers and students that
perceiving directions about what to do with articulators is completely strange and
weird to people. Hence, in her book, she stated that there are some postures and

8


movements of the vocal cords that learners could easily recognize and control.
These are:
Lip position: whether the lips are pursed (like whistling) or spread (like smiling) or
wide apart (like yawning).
Contact between the tongue and teeth: whether the sides of the tongue are touching
the upper back teeth or the tip of the tongue is touching the top or bottom front
teeth.

Contact between the tongue and the roof of the mouth: whether the tip of the tongue
is touching a part of the roof of the mouth, or whether the back of the tongue is.
(Kenworth, 1987; Dalton & Seidhofer, 1989)
The fundamental issues above is suitable for the teaching and learning
context of the study whose subjects are adult learners with the level of elementary.
By showing them the diagrams of lips shapes, the tongue movements and the
combinations with other speech organs, learner might aware of the way how to
control their articulators and pronounce English more intelligibly afterwards.
In the view of phonetics, in fact, both foreign consonants and vowels might
render language learners confused but in terms of learning and teaching
pronunciation, consonants are often paid more attention than vowels. Indeed, one of
the reasons why learners pronounce unintelligibly is the way they put their tongue
not in the right place, the shape of lips or other speech organs combinations they
make incorrectly causing the misunderstanding between interlocutors. Moreover,
articulatory phonetics is much relevant to place and manner of articulations which is
referred fairly in consonants comprehension rather than vowels. Hence, in the scope
of this study, the author will focus on the consonants issues and its main features
will be discussed later.
1.4. English Consonants
Consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial
closure of the air stream by a constriction of the speech organs. According to
Richard (1997), a consonant is the sound where the air stream from the lungs is
completely blocked (STOP), or partially blocked (LATERAL) or where the opening
is so narrow that the air escapes with audible fiction (FRICATIVE). Another kind

9


of consonants (NASALS) the air stream is blocked in the mouth but allowed to
escape through the nose.

Consonants are formed by interrupting, restricting or diverting the airflow in
many ways. They can be divided into different kinds in accordance with three
categories, i.e. the degree of vocal cord vibration, the place and the manner of
articulation. In terms of vibration of vocal cords, if certain consonants involve,
which will be called voiced and the others are voiceless. (Kelly, 2000, pp.5-7).
1.4.1. The place of articulation
The place of articulation focuses on the interaction between articulators. It
defines both the area of the oral-pharyngeal vocal tract where the constriction is
made and the part of the tongue used to form the constriction. Consonants in terms
of this classification are bilabial, labio-dental, dental, alveolar, palato-alveolar,
palatal, velar and glottal (Kelly, 2000).
Bilabials:

are the sounds made by using the upper lips and the
lower lips pressed together or coming together.

Labio-dentals:

are the sounds made by using the lower lip and the
upper front teeth.

Dentals:

are the sounds made by using the tip or the blade of the
tongue touching the upper teeth.

Alveolars:

are the sounds made by using the tip or the blade of the
tongue touching or approaching the alveolar ridge.


Palato-alveolars:

are the sounds made by using the tip or the blade of the
tongue coming close to the area between the back of the
alveolar ridge and the front of the hard palate.

Palatal:

is the sound made by using the front of the tongue
coming close to the hard palate.

Velars:

are the sounds made by using the back of the tongue
touching the soft palate.

Glottals:

are the sounds which are produced without the active
use of the tongue and other parts of the mouth.

10


1.4.2. The manner of articulation
The manner of articulation refers to the interaction between the articulator‟s
act in the way that the air is temporarily trapped, and then suddenly released.
Consonants classified based on the manners of articulation are plosive, fricative,
affricate, nasal, lateral and approximant (Kelly, 2000).

Plosive:

a complete closure which is made somewhere in the
vocal tract, and the soft palate is raised. Air pressure
increases behind the closure, and is then released
“explosively”.

Fricative:

a continuant sound made by two articulators coming
close together but there is still a small opening between
them so the air-stream is partially obstructed and an
audible friction noise (a hissing sound) is produced.

Affricative:

a complete closure which is started by a plosive and
immediately followed by a fricative. The soft palate is
also raised. Air pressure increases behind the closure,
and is then released more slowly than in plosives.

Nasal:

a closure is made by the lips, or by the tongue against
the palate, the soft palate is lowered, and air escapes
through the nose.

Lateral:

a partial closure is made when the air-stream is

obstructed at a point along the center of the oral tract,
with incomplete closure between one or both sides of
the tongue and the roof of the mouth.

Approximant:

a frictionless continuant in the production of which two
articulators come close together but without the vocal
tract being narrowed to such an extent that a friction
noise is produced.

1.4.3. The degree of vocal cord vibration
Voicing is also one of the main categories when describing consonants. The
vocal folds may be held against each other at just the right tension so that the air

11


flowing past them from the lungs will cause them to vibrate against each other. The
process is called voicing. Sounds that are made with vocal fold vibration are said to
be voiced.
Sound made without vocal fold vibration are said to be voiceless. There are
several pairs of sounds in English which differ only in voicing that is, the two
sounds have identical places and manners of articulation, but one has vocal fold
vibration and the other does not, for instance: /p, b / or /k, g/. The table below
showed the English consonants in terms of the three characteristics.

Table 1. English consonants
1.4.4. Phonological rules
Most dialects of English have about 24 distinctive (phonemic) consonant

sounds divided by three categories: place of articulation, manner of articulation and
voicing.
However, sounds do not stand individually, sound system is a sequence of
phonemes which make up utterances. Sounds sometimes must “blend” itself in the
aggregate of surroundings. Take the example above: “pop” /pɒp/. Based on the
theories, the phoneme /p/ at the initial and final position should be pronounced by
using both lips and being aspirated strongly, however, in the real situation, only the
initial is aspirated which is represented as [ph], the final one is a glottal stop which
is not aspirated explicitly and is being represented as [po]. Therefore, besides giving
the theoretical fundamentals, language teachers should provide other practical

12


knowledge in order to help students aware of the phonetic issues in the real
conversations.
Allophones, as mentioned above, are phonetic variants of a phoneme in a
language, which do not make any changes of the word meaning. Yet, they play
crucial roles making the conversation smoothly and intelligibly. Therefore, students
should be provided this part of the knowledge to have a better pronunciation
competence. Since this study focuses on the fricative, affricative and initial clusters,
the students would be perceived the relevant allophones rules which were based on
Ladefoged (2001, p.56).
-

Obstruent – stop and fricatives – classified as voiced (/b, d, g, v, ð, ʒ/) are
voiced through only a small part of the articulation when they occur at the
end of an utterance (as /v/ in “try to improve”) or before a voiceless sound
(as /d/ in “add two”).


-

Voiced stops and affricates /b, d, g, dʒ/ are voiceless when syllable initial,
except when immediately preceded by a voiced sound.

-

The approximant /w, r, j, l/ are a least partially voiceless when they occur
after initial /p, t, k/. Eg: pray, cute, class.

-

Voiceless stops /p, t, k/ are not aspirated after /s/ at the beginning of a
syllable. Eg: spy, stay, sky.

-

Voiceless stops and affricates /p, t, k, tʃ/ are longer than the corresponding
voiced stops and affricates /b, d, g, dʒ/ when at the end of a syllable.
(Ladefoged, 2001)

The allophones rules mentioned above would be the analytical frame for the
articulatory phonetic instructions applied in the whole course.
1.5 Action research
Action research is a popular research method in the current development of
society. Many well-known scholars have a number of different ideas regarding the
action research.
According to Nunan, D. (1992, p.18), action research is “a descriptive case
study of a particular classroom, groups of learners or even a single learner counts as


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action research if it is initiated by a question, is supported by data and
interpretation, and is carried out by a practitioner investigating aspects of his or her
own context and situations”. This definition shows that in order to carry out an
action research, the teacher must be a practitioner who must identify the problem
that her/his class encounter, and then carry out a plan to solve the problem.
Another definition given by Kemmis & McTaggart (1982): “action research
can be defined as a combination of „action‟ and „research‟. Action research puts
ideas into practice for self-improvement and increasing knowledge about
curriculum, teaching and learning. The ultimate result is improvement in what
happens in the classroom and school”. In other words, the research or the teacher
must do the research – find out what the problem of the class and then take an
action to overcome such difficulties.
“Action research is a strategy for teacher to make changes and develop
professionally by reflecting on their own everyday teaching” (Wallace, 1998: 16).
Wallace believed that via action research conducted by teachers, they will become
expert gradually in their teaching area. Although each expert has their own
definition about action research, it can be concluded that action research is carried
out with the aim of solving the practical problems in a classroom which will be
suitable for this study.
In this study, the methodology of the research will follow the model of
Kemmis and Mc Taggart (1988) which is composed of four phases:
-

Planning: a problem or issue is identified and a plan of action is developed in
order to bring about improvements in specific areas of the research context.

-


Action: the plan is to put into action over an agree period of time.

-

Observation: the effects of the action are observed and data are collected.

-

Reflection: the effects of the action are evaluated become the basis for
further cycles of research.

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CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY
This chapter provides a detailed discussion of methodological design of the
study including: the setting of the study, participants, research methods and research
instruments.
2.1. Setting of the study
2.1.1. Step Up English center
The research project was conducted in Step Up English Center which was
founded in 2011 and is specialized with Pronunciation, Communication and TOEIC
course. Being a teacher at Step Up, the researcher has been working there since
2014 and her specialization is teaching Pronunciation.
2.1.2. Pronunciation course
The pronunciation course is designed for beginners as well as learners at the
elementary level. The duration for the course was 11 weeks, 2 lessons for each
week and 2 hours for each lesson which included the entry test and the final test (the
first and the final session in the course were used to exam and evaluate students‟

pronunciation competences). The schedule of the course will be implemented as the
followings: the first 7 weeks are about consonants, 2 weeks later are for vowels and
the rest are for suprasegmental features as Stress, Linking & Elision and Intonation.
However, because this study is focused on the consonant issues only, so the
duration for the research will be conducted within the first 7 weeks of the course.
Studying about the consonant, the learners will be taught how to use their
articulators in order to pronounce the intelligible consonant sounds.
Articulatory phonetics teaching will be the major theme for the whole stage
of teaching and learning consonants. Each session, students were taught from two to
four sounds, usually the pair of voiced and voiceless sounds. The teacher gave the
articulatory descriptions of each sound first, helped learners to control their
articulators to produce intelligible sounds. Students had time to practice by
themselves and teacher corrected the mistakes for each of them if necessary.
The syllabus that the teacher used simultaneously are “Pronunciation in
Use”, elementary level by Jonathan Marks (2007) and “Pronunciation Workshop
Training Program” by Paul S. Gruber, MS, CCC – SLP” (2005). Although

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“Pronunciation in Use” were for British accent while the latter was for American
accent, the research chose the two material for two reasons: first, the theoretical
descriptions about the phonology, articulatory phonetics or the related orthography
in the “Pronunciation in Use” were quite explicit and easy to understand but for the
practicing, “Pronunciation workshop” had a number of practical benefits. The
syllabus included the visual description regarding how to use the tongue, shape of
the lips and other articulators performed by the author himself. The contents in the
tutorial videos were firmly related with the syllabus, the teacher used the videos as a
supplementary material in order to explain the sound production mechanism. In
addition, to minimize the abstract notions, the teacher used a website published by

the University of Iowa, USA showing the lively animation of oral anatomy and it
thoroughly

played

a

crucial

role

in

the

whole

course:

/>
Figure 2. Sounds of speech animation application
The American sounds were illustrated apparently in this website in both
„animation with sound‟ and „step-by-step description‟, examples and a visual model
were attached either. It is said that in the process of acquiring the foreign language
regarding articulatory phonetics, experiencing the visual materials are easy to
approach rather than reading the theories only. Other supporting activities like:
games or songs were also included to boost up the quality of teaching and learning

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