ABSTRACT
This paper investigates problems in English pronunciation encountered by
English-majored freshmen at Thuong Mai University and proposes the best
solutions for their English pronunciation improvement. The researcher needed the
participation and cooperation of 50 students from K55 of Thuong Mai University’s
English faculty to conduct the study. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were
used to collect and analyze data from the participants. The qualitative approach was
applied to collect and analyze the pronunciation errors in the participants’
recordings. Simultaneously, the quantitative method was used to accumulate
information relating to pronunciation levels, study methods, and difficulties in
pronouncing those students’ English sounds.
This paper showed that the freshmen’s pronunciation levels were diverse, but
almost all participants have encountered several problems in their English
pronunciation. The results revealed that they made any mistakes or had trouble
producing consonants, vowels, ending sounds, and word stress. Several strategies or
techniques were proposed to improve pronunciation, and their effectiveness was
agreed upon by the participants.
By showing English pronunciation problems and suggested solutions, I hope
that it will help first-year students at Thuong Mai University recognize their
pronunciation problems. From that, they have suitable strategies to improve their
pronunciation and speak like a native speaker.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To complete my graduate paper, in addition to my extensive effort and study, I
1


also would like to express my high appreciation for the enthusiastic help of the
people whom I approached during the various stages of writing this paper.
First of all, I would like to express my wholehearted gratitude to Ms. Han Thi
Bich Ngoc, who directly guided and supported me with various knowledge and

valuable hints to complete this graduate paper in the best way.
I would like to sincerely thank all Thuong Mai University teachers for giving
helpful courses and invaluable knowledge in this field of study.
I also want to extend my thanks to all of the authors of the books, magazines,
and other materials mentioned in the reference section for their contributions to the
research.
I am so thankful to students for the cooperation of first-year students-K55 of
the English Faculty, Thuong Mai University. Without your help, I can’t be able to
collect sufficient data to conduct the research.
I am equally indebted to my classmates for their suggestions and
encouragements in the process of my study.
Last but not least, I’d like to express my gratitude to my parents for their
encouragement and support, which contributed significantly to the success of my
graduation paper.
Hanoi, April 10, 2021
Do Thi Thuy Nguyen
TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

2

No.

Abbreviation

Explanation

1


AMEP

Adult Migrant English Program

2

BBC

British Broadcasting Corporation


3

ELT

English Language Teaching

4

ESL

English as a Second Language

5

Etc

Et cetera

6


IPA

International Phonetic Alphabet

7

RP

Received Pronunciation

8

TESOL

9

TMU

10

The UK

Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
Thuong Mai University
The United Kingdom

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURE

3



CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
1.1. Rationale
Proper pronunciation is the key to master any language. Whether vast
vocabulary and good grammar you have, communication becomes less effective
without correct pronunciation. Pronunciation is also a requisite for good listening
and speaking skills. If we mispronounce a word, do not pronounce the ending
sounds, choose an incorrect part of a word to give stress, or do not pronounce the
correct intonation, the listener may misunderstand the word’s meaning. These
problems prevent students from achieving native-like English and confidently
speaking to native speakers or any good English users and even put them in
unexpected situations. Therefore, to speak English well, English learners need to
focus on pronunciation first.
In many Vietnamese universities and colleges, teaching specialized English
subjects and setting English requirements for graduates is generally applied;
Thuong Mai University is not an exception. However, most first-year students of
Thuong Mai university’s English faculty have many difficulties and mistakes when
they pronounce English words, phrases, or dialogues. Even the students who have a
long history of learning English, when they apply their language skills in practice,
still have pronunciation errors, especially difficult consonants, ending sounds,
stress, and intonation rules. To further study this issue, the author has conducted a
study entitled “Problems in the English pronunciation of English majored freshmen
at Thuong Mai university and some suggested solutions.” This paper hopes that
English learners, especially the English majored first-year students of Thuong Mai
university, can recognize their English pronunciation problems and understand the
importance of correct enunciation, common errors in pronunciation, and solutions to
their problems.
1.2. Previous studies
Pronunciation has been studied for a long time and has become a science field.

However, research on pronunciation is not completed, and there is still a
tremendous amount of work to carry on. The previous studies pointed out that
learners’ pronunciation problems are not given much concern, and investigations
into how to help learners correct their pronunciation have not been fulfilled yet.
4


In some periods, the pronunciation was considered extremely important, while
it did not draw much attention. Not until the 1890s, when the International
Phonetics Alphabet (IPA) was developed, pronunciation became a science study.
Although “Intelligible pronunciation is an essential component of communicative
competence” (Morley, 1991), Brown (1991) shown that pronunciation was still a
minimal skill in many language programs. He surveyed the number of documents
written on pronunciation in Applied Linguistics, Language learning, TESOL
Quarterly and ELT journal between 1975 and 1988 and concluding that only 11,9%
of articles were written on pronunciation. However, the last decade saw an increase
in the interest of teachers and scholars to accent. Surveys indicated the growth of
pronunciation literature in language textbooks (Orlando, 2013). Pronunciation is not
only about the individual sound. Intonation, stress, rhythm, connected speech
should be emphasized (Celce-Murcia et al., 2010). In recent years, research on
pronunciation has been more practical. Pronunciation problems of learners are
identified, which makes English acquisitions more efficient.
The studies on English pronunciation problems of Vietnamese people also
were conducted. Pronunciation errors recognized are related to ending sounds,
consonant sounds, stress (Ngo, 2009; Tuan, 2011; Thao, 2007). Researchers also
found reasons for the poor English pronunciation of most Vietnamese people. Ha,
C. T. (2005) pointed out that Vietnamese people encounter difficulties in learning
English because “Firstly, the English sound system has several sounds foreign to
Vietnamese speakers. Secondly, the way English speakers pronounce the ending
sounds is completely different from the one deeply rooted in Vietnamese speakers”.

In Ha, C.T. (2005), students from an examination room were surveyed. There were
about 20 English-majored students, and most of them were female. The researcher,
also the examiner, collected data from students’ performance in the final oral exam.
The results showed that those students often omitted ending sounds and
mispronounced /z/; /ʒ/; /dʒ/; /θ/; /ð/. The main reason is the affection of the mother
tongue. However, the study is not fulfilled and does not suggest any solutions.
Based on prior research, the author carries on the study to investigate the most
typical pronunciation problems facing English-majored first-year students at
Thuong Mai University and suggests some solutions.
5


1.3. Aims of the study
This study is written to improve the pronunciation of students at Thuong Mai
University. Generally, it aims at:
- Determining pronunciation problems facing English-majored freshmen at
Thuong Mai University.
- Suggesting some practical solutions to overcome these obstacles and enhance
pronunciation.
To achieve the aims of the study, the author tends to seek answers for the
following question:
- What are problems in pronunciation of English- majored freshmen at Thuong
Mai University?
- What are techniques or strategies to improve their pronunciation?
1.4. Research subjects
The research subjects are problems in English pronunciation. The participants
of this study included 50 students from K55N of TMU (the academic year 2020201). They are both boys and girls with different accents and from other provinces
of Vietnam. Many of them have learned English for ten years or even more, but the
previous English curriculum did not focus on pronunciation and practicing English
skills. As a result, despite good grammar, almost all students still face problems in

their English pronunciation. Moreover, those students have just left high schools,
and their pronunciation is weaker than others at English faculty.
1.5. Scope of the study
Pronunciation is a vast field, including consonant sounds, vowel sounds, word
stress, sentence stress, etc. Regarding its broad scope, the research focuses on
identifying problems in some consonant sounds, some vowel sounds, and consonant
clusters of English-majored freshmen at Thuong Mai University. The other parts of
English pronunciation are not investigated. Due to the researcher's limitation of time
and ability, the shortage of reference materials, this study cannot cover the whole
problems of English pronunciation. Moreover, the study could not touch upon all
the students at TMU. Only 50 students from K55 of Thuong Mai University's
English faculty took part in a survey and were required to answer questions and
record their English.
6


1.6. Research of methodology
This research is designed to apply both quantitative and qualitative methods. Its
purpose is to identify the problems in the English pronunciation of freshmen based on
collecting and analyzing data from the recording and the survey questionnaire.
First of all, the researcher recorded the English pronunciation of 50 students
who are in the significant first year at the Faculty of English, TMU. Each student
was delivered a paper of one pronunciation exercise and was asked to pronounce
loudly and clearly. At the same time, the researcher recorded these participants'
pronunciation and significant note-taking problems.
Besides, a list of questions for the survey questionnaire was handed out to
every student. The researcher explained the questionnaires to the students and gave
them instructions to fill out the questionnaires. Finally, the researcher collected the
answers of the students.
Finally, the data collected were saved carefully for the last analysis. All files of

the recording were stored on the computer to utilize the data efficiently. The data
from the survey questionnaire were also classified carefully and stored by images
on the computer.
1.7. Organization of the study
This study is divided into four chapters:
- Chapter 1 (overview of the study) gives an overview of the study in which
rationale, previous studies, aims of the studies, research questions, research
subjects, scope of the study, research methodology, and the organization of the
study are briefly presented.
- Chapter 2 (literature review) provides a summary of the theoretical basis,
including definitions of pronunciation. In this chapter, some pronunciation aspects
are presented, and common English pronunciation problems of Vietnamese people
are shown. From that, suggesting some solutions.
- Chapter 3 (research findings) discusses the methods used in the research. It
also concludes the results of the survey showing English majored freshmen's
common English pronunciation problems and pointing out the most effective
pronunciation techniques.
- Chapter 4 (recommendations and suggestions) shares limitations of this
research and gives some recommendations for the subsequent studies.
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Definition of Pronunciation
Pronunciation is one of the vital skills and the basis of oral communication for
English learners at all levels. There would be no oral language and no verbal
communication without pronunciation, so what is pronunciation?
Many authors with different perspectives have answered this question in
several ways. According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Encyclopedic (1992:718),
pronunciation is shortly defined as “how a language is spoken.” Dalton &

Seidlhofer (1994:1) stated that pronunciation refers to “the production of sounds
that we use to make meaning. It includes attention to the particular sounds of a
language (segments), aspects of speech beyond the level of the individual sound
such as intonation, phrasing, stress, timing, rhythm (suprasegmental aspects), how
the voice is projected (voice quality), and, in its broadest definition, attention to
gestures and expressions that are closely related to the way we speak a language”.
AMEP research center (2000) gave another definition: “Pronunciation refers to
the production of sounds that we use to make meaning. It includes attention to the
particular sounds of a language (segments), aspects of speech beyond the level of
the individual sound, such as intonation, phrasing, stress, timing, rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects), how the voice is projected (voice quality) and, in its
broadest definition, attention to gestures and expressions that are closely related to
the way we speak a language.”
Richards et al. (2001:175) indicated that: “Pronunciation (as known as
phonology) includes the role of individual sounds and sound segments, that is,
features at the segmental level as well as supra-segmental such as stress, rhythm,
and intonation.”
There are so many diverse definitions of pronunciation, and pronunciation has
several segmental and suprasegmental aspects. Yet only a small part of
pronunciation is taken into the research.
2.2. Standard English Pronunciation
It is recorded that English is globally used as it is the official language in 67
countries out of 195 countries worldwide (Wikipedia, 2015). It is the international
language that serves as an official language in the Union Nations. Therefore, there
8


are many English, such as American English, British English, and Australian
English, to name a few. Roach (2000) stated that “One of that everybody knows
about languages is that they have diverse accents. They are pronounced differently

by people from different geographical places, from different social classes, of
different ages and different educational backgrounds”. The UK is an example. There
are many different English accents, but the range becomes very much more
comprehensive if Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are considered. As a result,
a Standard of English was set for English learners to follow.
Steven in Larry Smith’s edition (1983:88) defined Standard English as “a
particular dialect of English, being the non-localized dialect, of global currency
without any significant variation, universally accepted as the appreciate educational
target in teaching English, which may be spoken with an unrestricted choice of
accent.” In other words, Standard English can be any dialect of English that is
acknowledged in their countries in the world. However, Vietnamese people and
many people from different countries tend to learn RP (received pronunciation),
which is “the accent used by most announcers and newsreaders on serious national
and international BBC broadcasting channels” (Roach, 2000). In this study, the
researcher will use RP as the criteria for investigating students’ problems in their
pronunciation. The IPA will be used to transcribe the speech samples throughout the
research.
2.3. Aspects of Pronunciation
Pronunciation is a broad field, so the following is just a tiny part of it to give
the research background.
2.3.1. Articulatory phonetics
2.3.1.1. Articulators
Dale and Poms (2005:4) considered the articulators as different parts of the
mouth area that we use when speaking, such as lips, tongue, teeth, and jaw, to name
a few. However, articulators are not only parts of the mouth.
According to Wikipedia, “The field of articulatory phonetics is a subfield of
phonetics. In studying articulation, phoneticians explain how humans produce
speech sounds via the interaction of different physiological structures. Generally,
articulatory phonetics is concerned with the transformation of aerodynamic energy
into acoustic energy.

9


Aerodynamic energy refers to the airflow through the vocal tract. Its potential
form is air pressure: its kinetic form is the actual dynamic airflow. Acoustic energy
is variation in the air pressure that can be represented as sound waves, which are
then perceived by the human auditory system as sound.”
Articulators include several different parts: nose, upper lip, lower lip, upper
teeth, lower teeth, alveolar ridge, tongue, hard palate, soft palate, velum, pharynx,
and larynx.
2.3.1.2. Production of speech sounds
Kelly (2000:5) describes the production of speech sounds: “When we are
making sounds, the air from the lungs comes up through the wind-pipe and arrives
first at the larynx. Then it goes through the vocal cords into the pharynx and up the
pharynx to the uvula. At this point, it may go in either way. It may go into the oral
cavity (if the soft palate is raised) and go out of the mouth. Or it may go into the
nasal tract (if the soft palate is lowered) and get out through the nostrils”.
i, Oral sounds and nasal sounds.
Oral sounds: In the process of making sounds, at the uvula, if the soft palate
is raised, blocking off the nasal tract, the airstreams can only go into the oral tract
and go out of the mouth, then we have verbal sounds. e.g., /g/, /s/.
Nasal sounds: In the process of making sounds, if the airstream is blocked
somewhere in the oral cavity, but the soft palate is lowered so that the airstream can
get into the nasal tract and get out through the nostrils, then we have nasal sounds.
e.g., /m/, /n/.
ii. Consonant and vowel sounds.
Consonant sounds: When we are making sounds, if two articulators come
together, obstructing the airstream cannot get out freely, we have consonant sounds
e.g., /k/, /f/, /b/, /m/.
Vowel sounds: When making sounds, if there is no obstruction to the airflow

as it passes from the larynx to the lips and the air can get out freely, we have
consonant sounds.
e.g., /ә/, /u/, /ӕ/, /ʌ/
iii. Voiced and voiceless sounds.

10


Voiced sounds: When we are producing sounds, the airstream goes through
the vocal cords. If the vocal cords come together, obstructing the airstream, the
airstream cannot get out through them freely, and it makes them vibrate, then we
have voiced sounds.
e.g., /d/, /v/, /m/.
Voiceless sounds: When we are making sounds, the airstream goes through
the vocal cords. If the vocal cords come apart, they are open. The airstream can go
out through them freely, and it does not make them vibrate, then we have voiceless
sounds.
e.g., /s/, /t/, /p/.
2.3.2. English sounds
There are 44 sounds in English. They are divided into 20 vowels, including 12
pure vowels and 8 diphthongs, and 24 consonants.
2.3.2.1. Vowel sounds
Roach (2000:10) defined vowels as “sound in the production of which there is
no obstruction to the flow of air as it passes the larynx to the lips”. There are 20
vowels divided into 12 monophthongs and 8 diphthongs.
a. Pure vowels (monophthongs)
“A vowel which remains constant and does not glide is called a pure vowel.”
(Roach 2000: 28). Vowels are different from each other. According to Roach (2000),
vowels are classified by four criteria:
*Tongue height

-

High vowels are produced when the tongue is high in the mouth: /ʊ/, /u:/,

/ɪ/, /i:/.
-

Low vowels are produced with the tongue below its rest position: /ʌ/,

/ɑ:/, /æ/, /ɒ/.
- Mid vowels are produced with the tongue either high or low in the mouth:
/e/, /ə/, /ɜ:/,/ɔ:/.
*Part of the tongue which is raised
-

Front vowels: The front of the tongue is the highest point: /æ/, /e/, /ɪ/, /i:/.

-

Back vowels: The back of the tongue is the highest point: /ʊ/, /u:/, /ɔ:/,

/ɒ/, /ɑ:/.
-

Central vowels: The center of the tongue is the highest point: /ʌ/, /ə/, /ɜ:/.
11


*Degree of lip rounding
-


Rounded vowels: The corners of the lips are brought towards each other

and lips are pushed forward: /ʊ/, /u:/, /ɒ/, /ɑ:/, /ɔ:/.
-

Unrounded vowels: The corners of the lips are moved away from each

other as for a smile: /ɜ:/, /ʌ/, /ə/.
-

Neutral vowels: The lips are neither rounded nor spread: /æ/, /i:/, / ɪ /, /e/.

*The length of the sounds:
-

Short vowels: /ʌ/, /æ/, /ə/, /e/, /ɪ/, /ɒ/, /ʊ/.

-

Long vowels: /ɑ:/, /ɜ:/, /i:/, /ɔ:/, /u:/.

b. Diphthongs
According to Roach (2000), diphthongs are “sounds which consist of a
movement or glide from one vowel to another”.
English has 8 diphthongs easily divided into 3 groups as follow:

Diagram 2.1:English diphthongs( by Roach 2000)
They are also divided into centering diphthongs (/eə/, /ɪə/, /ʊə/) - gliding
towards the (schwa) vowel- and closing diphthongs (/aɪ/, /aʊ/, /eɪ/, /oʊ/, /ɔɪ/) gliding towards a closer vowel.

2.3.2.2. Consonant sounds
In English phonetics and phonology (Roach 2000:10), the term “consonant” is
defined as “sounds in which there is a blockage to the flow of air as it passes the
larynx to the lips”.
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In English, there are 24 consonants: b/; /d/; /f/; /g/; /h/; /j/; /k/; /l/; /m/; /n/;
/ŋ/; /p/; /r/; /s/; /ʃ/; /t/; /tʃ/; /θ/; /ð/; /v/; /w/; /z/; /ʒ/; /dʒ/.
Consonants are often classified in 3 ways:
a. The place of articulation.

The place of articulation is the location of the obstruction of the airstream in
the articulation of consonants.
- Bilabials are the sounds made with the two lips pressed together or coming
together, including: /p/, /b/, /m/, /w/.
- Labio-dentals are the sounds produced with the lower lip touching the upper
front teeth, including: /f/, /v/.
- Dentals are the sounds produced with the tip or blade of the tongue touching
the upper front teeth, including: /θ/, /ð/.
- Alveolars are the sounds which are produced with the tip or blaze of the
tongue touching or approaching the alveolar ridge, including: /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /n/, /l/.
- Retroflex is the sound produced with the tip of the tongue curling back
towards the back of the alveolar ridge, including: /r/.
- Palato- alveolars are the sounds produced with the tongue tip or blade
coming close to the area between the back of the alveolar ridge and the front of the
hard palate, including: /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /ʒ/, /dʒ/.
- Palatal is the sound produced with the tongue’s front coming close to the
hard palate, including: /j/.
- Velars are the sounds produced with the tongue’s back touching the soft

palate, including: /k/, /g/, /ŋ/.
- Glottal is the sound produced without the tongue’s active users and other
parts of the mouth, including /h/.
b. The manner of articulation.
Manner of articulation is how the airstream is obstructed or altered in the
production of speech sounds.
- Nasals are the sounds produced with the airstream being stopped in the oral
cavity, but the soft palate is down so that the air can go out through the nose,
including: /m/, /n/, /ŋ/.
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- Plosives are the sounds, which are produced with the airstream being stopped
in the oral cavity and the soft palate is raised blocking off the nasal cavity,
including: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/.
- Fricatives are the sounds in the production of which two articulators come
close together. However, there is still a small opening between them, so the
airstream is partially obstructed, and an audible friction noise (a hissing sound) is
produced, including: /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /h/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /θ/, /ð/.
- Affricates are the sounds produced when a fricative immediately follows a
plosive. They begin like a plosive, with complete closure, but instead of a plosion,
they have a very slow-release, moving backward to a place where friction is heard
(palate-alveolar), including: /tʃ/, /dʒ/.
- Lateral is the sound made when the airstream 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, including: /l/.
- Approximants are the sounds 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, including: /r/, /w/, /j/.
2.4. Common problems in pronunciation of Vietnamese people.

Vietnamese learners face several pronunciation problems, and below are the
issues which are investigated in this research.
2.4.1. Problems with vowels.
Mother tongue has considerable influence on learning English pronunciation
of Vietnamese people. In Honey (1987), English and Vietnamese vowel systems
have some similarities. Some Vietnamese language alternatives to the pure closet
vowel in pronouncing the pure vowel in English, such as lam /lam/ for lime and
luc /lúc/ for look. Pronouncing that way, Vietnamese speakers face several problems
when speaking English.
Avery and Ehrlich (1992) showed that “the distinction between tense and lax
vowel pairs of English almost always creates problems.” They also found that
second language learners could pronounce “neither the tense nor the lax vowel, but
a vowel between the two. Failure to make these distinctions can lead to
14


misunderstandings”. Like that, almost all Vietnamese learners of English
erroneously pronounce the two vowels of each pair. For example, when Vietnamese
speakers pronounce these words like sleep, taste, and stewed, English native
speakers may hear slip, text, and stood instead.
2.4.1.1. Problem with /i:/ versus /I/.
Vowel /ɪ/ is quite frequently spelled as letter [i] in Vietnamese, and since
Vietnamese rely on spelling to produce the English sounds, they are prone to
confuse /ɪ/ for /i:/. According to teacher Nguyen Tien Dung, faculty of Foreign
Languages, Ba Ria – Vung Tau University, most of the students could not
distinguish the differences between these sounds, such as “seat” and “sit”, “sheep”
and “ship”. Although many people realize a difference between them due to the /i:/
sound is more prolonged than /I/ sound, they pronounced both sounds the same
when pronouncing them.
2.4.1.2. Problem with /u:/ versus /u /.

Mr. Dung ( 2014) mentioned that similar to the issues with the /i:/ and /I/
sounds, some students learned how to pronounce the /u:/ and /u/ sounds but were
unable to distinguish between them. Nevertheless, many English words containing
“oo” be pronounced as neither /u / nor /u:/, which can confuse many Vietnamese
learners. As a result, many students projected the same sound for both /u:/ and /u /.
An example is that the word ‘good’ is pronounced /gud/. In contrast, the word ‘pool’
is pronounced /pu:l/.
2.4.1.3. Problem with /e/ versus /æ/.
Some Vietnamese students cannot spot the vowels/e/ and /æ/, such as in bed
and bad (Avery and Ehrlich, p. 156). It is considered the most serious problem of
almost Vietnamese English speakers when learning to speak English vowels.
According to Avery and Ehrlich (p.99), students often pronounce these two vowels
in the same way. Students usually fail to lower their tongue and jaw far enough in
attempting to produce the /æ/ sound”. For example, 'bag' / bæg / is often mistaken
for / beg /, or 'hand' / hænd / is mistaken for / hend.

15


2.4.2. Problems with consonants
According to Honey P. J. (1987), the Vietnamese consonant system is
extremely distinct from that of English, and there is a considerable change between
dialects. English learners in Viet Nam can be expected to come across particular
difficulty with some or all of the following sounds: /f/, /θ/, /ð/, /z/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /ʒ/, /dʒ/".
- Problem with final voiceless stop consonants /p/, /t/, and /k/:
which occurs at the end of a word in Vietnamese. However, they pronounce
these consonants with concise duration, which is very difficult for English native
speakers to hear these sounds from Vietnamese speakers. For example, a
Vietnamese learner of English pronounces the word seat may sound like see (Avery
and Ehrlich, 1992, p. 153).

- Problem with liquid /l/ and nasal /n/:
According to “some common pronunciation problems facing Viet Nam
learners of English” ( Nguyen Tien Dung, 2014), both sounds exist in the
Vietnamese language. However, many Vietnamese people, especially those who live
in the north of Vietnam, such as Hai Phong, Hai Duong, Quang Ninh, Bac Giang,
Bac Ninh, or suburban Hanoi..., cannot distinguish the differences between /l/, /n/ in
their national language. Therefore, when they speak English, they always struggle
with the two sounds (Nguyen Tien Dung, 2014, For example, say /ləʊ/ for the word
no (/nəʊ/) or /laɪn/ for nine (/naɪn/), or they may say /ˈsnəʊ.li/ for the word ‘slowly’
(/ˈsləʊ.li/).
- Problem with /θ/, /ð/:
Vietnamese people are often used to creating a heavily voiceless stop /t/
instead of a voiceless fricative /θ/ in a word like ‘thank’. They pronounce the
sound /t/ based on their language because in Vietnamese, the letter’ th’ is combined
by a heavily aspirated /t/. Therefore, the word ‘three’ can be vocalized exactly like
‘tree’. Vietnamese English learners commonly vocalize /d/ or /z/ for /ð/ sounds, so
the word then may read similar to /dæn/ or /zæn/ (Avery and Ehrlich, 1992, p. 155).
2.4.2.1. Problems with final consonants.
Honey P. J. (1987) said that, like other Asian speakers, Vietnamese speakers
have trouble pronouncing words ending with consonants; they are usually confused
16


with final consonants. Therefore, they delete or substitute most of them. The
consonants Vietnamese students commonly struggle with are: /z/, /s/, /t/, /v/, /ks/,
/ʤ/. However, the most popular failures may be problems between consonant /s/
and /z/. Many people usually omit /s/ sound in the spelling of some words. While as
many speakers encounter is the redundancy of the /s/ sound. Mr. Dung ( 2014) also
agreed that Vietnamese don’t use /s/ and /z/ sounds at the final position in
Vietnamese words, which is different from English. As a result, many Vietnamese

English learners are over aware of these sounds, and over-awareness leads them to
make pronunciation mistakes. Vietnamese people often add the /s/ sound in both
adjectives and noncount nouns. For instance, instead of saying “very good”, many
Vietnamese speakers say “very goods,” and “a lot of money” sounds like “a lot of
moneys”.
2.4.2.2. Problems with voiced-voiceless distinction
Vietnamese people are often confused with voiced and voiceless consonants
and thus mispronounce them. As such, Vietnamese speakers can alternate a voiced
stop /b/ or a voiceless fricative /f/ for /p/. Examples of this are that the word ‘pool’
may sound like ‘fool’, and ‘pop’ may sound like ‘bop’. On the contrary, in the final
positions, these consonants often provoke confusion for learners. For example, ‘lab’
might sound like ‘lap’ (Avery and Ehrlich, 1992, p. 155).
2.4.2.3. Problems with silent sounds
Many words in English contain silent sounds. However, Vietnamese speakers
often mispronounce them by producing English sounds based on their spelling
( Honey P. J. (1987)). Some common failures such as pronounce the ‘b’ in “climb”
(/claym/), “debt” (/det/), or pronounce “d” in Wednesday (/wenzday/).
2.5. Techniques to improve English pronunciation.
Some numerous techniques or strategies are proposed by linguistics in their
phonetics books or the other English learners from their experience. Below are
several of the most used methods.
2.5.1. Doing pronunciation exercises
Aim: Only learning theoretical knowledge about English pronunciation from
textbooks would not help students achieve good accent. Doing phonetics exercises
17


is the best way for students to recall what they have learned and strengthened their
pronunciation skills.
How: There are numerous pronunciation exercises on the internet or textbooks

for students to choose from.
Example:
I.

Write the appropriate words.
1. [' kɪŋ ]

2. [ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ ]

3. [ˈspænɪʃ ]

4. [ˈbrʌðə(r) ]

5. [ˈærəʊ ]

6. ['hɔ:(r)s ]

7. [ˈfəʊtəɡrɑ:f ]

8. ['dɒɡ ]

9. [ˈtelɪˌvɪʒnn̩ ]

10. ['dʒi:p ]

II. Choose the correct words.
11. [' kæt ]

cat


cut

cot

12. [' ʃɪp ]

cheap

ship

sheep

13. [' hæt ]

hut

hat

hot

14. [' li:v ]

live

life

leave

15. [' θɪn ]


thing

think

thin

2.5.2. Listening and imitating
Aim: Native-like pronunciation is the ultimate goal that all English learners
aim to. This technique improves the listening skills of students. However, in the
meantime, it can help students recognize the distinction between their pronunciation
and the pronunciation of English native speakers. Therefore, pronunciation errors
are recognized, and students can fix these errors by imitating native speaker
pronunciation. Furthermore, students’ English accents are also modified to be more
native-like.
How: There are plentiful sources of English videos or soundtracks that can be
used. However, English videos or soundtracks made by English native speakers are
more recommended, such as CNN news, BBC news, English movies, English
songs, and other English videos and soundtracks. The student should pay attention
to the videos and soundtracks and imitate them.
2.5.3. Reading aloud and clearly while recording produced sounds.
Aim: This technique is one of the most efficient techniques. However, it
consumes a significant amount of time and requires enormous determination.
18


Reading aloud helps students feel more confident when speaking English and avoid
concealing pronunciation errors. Recording what they say can help students
recognize these errors and compare them to English native-speakers accents to see
the difference between their English speaking. Therefore, students can amend their
pronunciation to become more English native-like.

How: Students can prepare a computer equipped with recording software and
a headphone or just a smartphone and recording applications. Then, an English
paragraph or an English video, to name a few, should be chosen. After that, students
read aloud while recording what they speak. Finally, they should listen to their voice
and concentrate on their pronunciation errors and fix them.

19


CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS
The study has been conducted in quantitative and qualitative methods to
answer the research question in Chapter 1 to reduce the potential limitations of
using only a single approach. The researcher collected two different kinds of data
employing the recording and the survey questionnaire.
3..1. The recording
The recording is considered the most effective instrument to investigate the
problems in the English pronunciation of students. Recording the students' Englishpronounced sounds was easy for the researcher to estimate the English
pronunciation skills of each of them. Each student was given one pronunciation
exercise (see Appendix 1) and asked to pronounce every word. Meanwhile, the
audio recorder application was turned on, and the researcher placed the phone near
students for the excellent quality of the sound recordings. The typical pronunciation
errors determined from the recording helped the researcher investigate the most
challenging areas of pronunciation.
3.2. The Survey questionnaire.
Because the recording cannot provide all data and information on subjects'
pronunciation level and learning experience, the survey questionnaire (see
Appendix 2) was designed to collect those data. A list of questions was written
appropriately to answer the research questions initially addressed. The question list
contained 13 questions and was divided into two parts. The first part includes eight
questions on students' background information about English pronunciation skills.

The other is students' opinions about problems in pronunciation and suggestions to
improve their pronunciation.
3.3. Data analysis procedures
With the data collected, the researcher implemented a data analysis procedure.
The quantitative data gathered in the survey questionnaires were converted into
percentages and showed in charts and tables. Relating the result of recording
participants' pronunciation, the researcher listened carefully, then analyzed and
discussed them to find the English pronunciation problems of English-majored first20


year students at TMU and the best solutions to improve their pronunciation.
Data analysis was conducted through excel, which is known as one of the most
popular spreadsheet software that enables the calculation. Therefore, the researcher
chose to use Excel to enter the data, formulas, and functions into the worksheet.
After calculating automatically, it is necessary to format the worksheet and
embed pie charts and bar graphs to display the results. Hence, the charts and
supporting data appeared to present exact percentages. Besides, the word was also
employed as a standard method to create a simple table. Those charts showed
uncomplicated data and information which other people could easily understand
they were.
After finding the study's answers, the researcher concluded the results of the
research, writing the thesis paper to present all the findings and results of this study.
3.4. Results from recording
From the recording, the researcher found several pronunciation errors. Below
are the most common mistakes that the researcher discovered.
a. Problems with vowel sounds
Target
words

Target

Mispronounced
transcription
transcription

Frequency
of errors

Percentage (%)

Coupons

/ˈkuːpɒnz/

/kəʊpəns/

46/50

92

Dough

/dəʊ/

/dɒf/

43/50

86

Bough


/baʊ/

39/50

78

Cork

/kɔːk/

29/50

58

Clothe

/kləʊð/

/bɒf/
/
kək/, /
kɒk/, /kɜːk/
/clɒθ/

27/50

54

Word


/wɜːd/

/wəd/

30/50

60

Bead

/biːd/

/bid/

14/50

28

Work

/wɜːk/

/wək/

16/50

32

Bird


/bɜːd/

/bəd/

9/50

18

Sheep

/ʃiːp/

/ʃip/
8/50
Table 3.1: Vowel sound errors

16

21


b. Problems with consonant sounds
Target
transcription

Mispronounced
transcription

Frequenc

y of
errors

Percentag
e (%)

/ˈʃəʊvɪnɪzəm/

/tʃəʊvɪnɪzəm/

50/50

100

/ˈtʃeləʊ/

/seləʊ/

49/50

98

Hiccough

/ˈhɪkʌp/

/hikɒf/, /haikɒf/

41/50


82

Pizza

/ˈpiːtsə/

/piza/;/pizə/

37/50

74

Islands

/ˈaɪləndz/

/aɪslənd/

38/50

76

Colleague

/ˈkɒliːɡ/

/kɒlɪdʒ/

43/50


86

Clothe

/kləʊð/

/kləʊz/;/klɒð/
29/50
/swɔːd/; /swəd/; /sw ɜː
/sɔːd/
23/50
d/
/wɪʃ/
/wɪs/
21/50
Table 3.2: Consonant sound errors

58

Target
words
Chauvinis
m
Cello

Sword
Wish

46
42


c. Problems with ending sounds
Target
words
Mastered
Coupons
Islands
Traps
Develops

Target
Mispronounced
Frequency
transcription
transcription
of errors
/ˈmɑːstəd/
/mɑːstə/
27/50
/ˈkuːpɒnz/
/kuːpən/;/kəʊpəns/
21/50
/ˈaɪləndz/
/aɪlənd/;/aɪlənds/
19/50
/træps/
/træp/
14/50
/dɪˈveləps/
/dɪveləp/

10/50
Table 3.3: Ending sound errors

Percentage
(%)
54
42
38
28
20

Both 50 students participated in the recording, and no one pronounced English
words without making mistakes. The researcher noted that they hesitantly
pronounced unfamiliar terms, such as chauvinism and cello. Therefore, they tended
to guess the transcription of the words and ended up mispronunciation.
They are also confused with some words. Cloth and clothe look like having
nearly the exact spelling, but they are pronounced distinctively. Therefore, some
students pronounced clothe like cloth. The articulation of cough influenced their
pronunciations of bough, dough, and hiccough because they all have [ough] in their
spelling, and cough is more familiar to students than the other words.
3.5. Results from survey questionnaire
22


In the first question of the part personal information, most students recognize
that they have learnt English from 9 to 12 years.
PART

1:


STUDENTS’

BACKGROUND

INFORMATION

ABOUT

ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION SKILLS
Question 1: How long have you been learning English?
Question

Options

How long have
you been learning
English?

1-4 years
5-8years
9-12 years

Number of
students
0/50
0/50
37/50

more than 12 years


13/50

Percentage (%)
0
0
74
26

Table 3.4: Students’ English learning experience
As presented in table 3.4, English-majored freshmen at TMU have studied
English for an extended period, more than nine years. 74% of students, equivalent
to 37 students, said that they had studied English for about 9-12 years. 13 students,
accounting for 26% of participants, even said they have more than 12-year
experience learning English.
Question 2: How much time do you spend practicing pronunciation daily?

Diagram 3.1: The mean daily time spent on pronunciation practicing of students

23


The time spent on practicing is essential for students to improve their
pronunciation as the longer time spent is typically supposed to the better
pronunciation. It can be seen on diagram 3.1 that the participants struggled to
improve their pronunciation. However, nearly a half of students only spent 0-2
hours practicing pronunciation daily. 30% of them or fifteen students put in 2-4
hours every day to enhance their pronunciation skills. The number of students
spending 4-6 hours per day on pronunciation was ten people, equal to 20% of the
participants. Only one student spent 6-8 hours daily, a vast amount of time, to
improve their pronunciation, and no one spent more than 8 hours enhancing these

essential skills.
Question 3: In your opinion, how good is your pronunciation?

Diagram 3.2: Students’ levels of pronunciation
Despite long learning English and practicing pronunciation, many students
thought that their pronunciation was at average or even bad levels. As shown in
diagram 3.2, nearly 60% of participants, equivalent to twenty-nine students,
reported that their pronunciation was average. 24% of students or twelve students
24


evaluated their pronunciation at bad levels. Considering that their pronunciation
was good, the number of students only accounted for 18% of the participants. None
of the participants thought that they have excellent pronunciation skills.
Question 4: What do you think about pronunciation teaching at schools?

Diagram 3.3: Students’ views of pronunciation teaching at schools
Diagram 3.3 shows the perspectives and attitudes of students towards
pronunciation teaching programs at their schools. It reveals that different students
from different schools also have different views on pronunciation teaching they
received. The group of students receiving average pronunciation teaching was the
largest group making up about 56% of participants. The next group included six
students who agreed with ineffective pronunciation teaching, nearly as many as the
number of students evaluating pronunciation teaching at their schools effectively.
The numbers of students reporting that they did not receive pronunciation teaching
at schools or their schools’ pronunciation teaching was very effective were nearly at
the same rate of three and four students respectively.
25