VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE AN ANALYSIS OF COMMON ERRORS IN PRONOUNCING ENGLISH FINAL THREE-CONSONANTCLUSTERS IN CONNECTED SPEECH MADE BY GENERAL ENGLISH LEARNERS AT CLEVERLEARN LANGUAGE SCHOOL Submitted to the Department of English Linguistics and Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By LÊ KIM HỊA Supervised by Assoc Prof Dr TƠ MINH THANH HO CHI MINH CITY, JUNE 2013 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I confidently assert that this thesis entitled ―An analysis of common errors in pronouncing English final three-consonant clusters in connected speech made by general English learners at Cleverlearn Language School‖ is my own work This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution Ho Chi Minh City, 2013 Lê Kim Hòa ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost I would like to express my deep gratitude to Assoc Prof Dr Tô Minh Thanh, my inspiring teacher and dedicated supervisor, through whose lectures I became more and more interested in Phonetics and Phonology, and without whose dedication, comments, criticism and support this thesis could never have been accomplished She counseled me, corrected and accompanied me throughout its completion Thanks to others who have helped me are (and if I have omitted any of the many, please forgive me): authorities, teachers, and students at Cleverlearn Language School (Cleverlearn for short) who have been helpful and provided me with data on which this thesis is based; Mr Kenneth, the rater, without whom much of what is written in this thesis would never have taken place and all friends who have been supportive to this thesis Finally, I continue to be indebted to my family members, especially my parents who have given me whole-hearted encouragement and support The responsibility for errors in fact or judgment is, of course, mine alone iii ABSTRACT Avery and Ehrlich [1995: 59] state that since Vietnamese does not have any consonant clusters, the Vietnamese have difficulties pronouncing English words with initial and final consonant clusters: ―they tend to delete one consonant of the cluster rather than insert a vowel.‖ It goes without saying that most people learn a target language first for communicative purposes; mispronouncing leads to unintelligible conversations Though, teaching pronunciation in general and consonant clusters in connected speech in particular has not been brought to considerable attention to general English learners at foreign language centers, particularly at Cleverlearn, the fact is that pronunciation is merely and implicitly taught and that the classrooms are not well-equipped enough for pronunciation teaching, as a teacher of English here, I have witnessed my students‘ problems in dealing with English final consonant clusters in isolation and connected speech as well Therefore, the study done for and reported in this M.A thesis aims at (i) determining problems of perceiving and pronouncing English final consonant clusters in connected speech that general English learners at Cleverlearn may face, (ii) discovering what possible causes of the students‘ pronunciation errors are, (iii) suggesting ways to deal with English final threeconsonant clusters in connected speech; finally (iv) investigating the students‘ attitude towards the teaching techniques applied during the experimental teaching The study first examines literature on English final consonant clusters which is served as a conceptual framework for the study Next, it investigates problems and the current teaching and learning English final consonant clusters including the final three-consonant ones in connected speech at Cleverlearn through a questionnaire survey covering 12 teachers and approximately 40 students of two general English classes at this school and Pre-test, designed by the researcher to be Post-test as well, consisting of two parts: the listening (Part I) and the reading aloud individual words, separated sentences and short passages (Part II) which respectively evaluate the iv students‘ perception and production of English final three-consonant clusters Pre-test‘s results also help to describe the current learning and teaching at Cleverlearn After that, the researcher will carry out an experimental teaching of English final three-consonant clusters on the treatment group only for six weeks, three fifteenminute class meetings per week Then the two groups will Post-test towards the end of the study‘s experimental teaching to value how well Treatment group‘s students acquire English final three-consonant clusters especially in connected speech and how different the students of Treatment group and those of Control group are after the experimental teaching is over The students‘ performance is scored by two raters: the foreign teacher-in-charge of the two selected classes scored the recording (Part II); the researcher did the listening (Part I) Finally, the treatment students are asked to respond to Students‘ questionnaire after the experimental teaching It is found that (i) all of the student subjects failed to deal with English final three-consonant clusters in both isolation and connected speech, (ii) English final three-consonant clusters were not explicitly taught at Cleverlearn, and the student subjects did not have much exposure to English (iii) the students‘ perception and production were improved after the experimental teaching, and (iv) the techniques applied to teach and practice English final three-consonant clusters in isolation and then in connected speech were highly appreciated by the students Based on the findings, some conclusions and recommendations were made v CONTENTS Statement of authorship …………………………………………………… .i Acknowledgements………………………………………………… ……… …… ii Abstract ………………………………………………………………………… … iii Contents ……………………………………………………………………… v List of tables ………………………………………………………………………… x List of charts ……………………………………………………………… xiv Abbreviations………………………… ………………………………………… xiv CHAPTER — INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.1.1 Teaching and learning pronunciation and final consonant clusters at Cleverlearn 1.1.2 Syllabus of the pre-intermediate General English course at Cleverlearn Rationale for teaching English final three-consonant clusters in connected speech 1.3 Purpose of the study 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Organization of the thesis 1.6 Limitation of the study CHAPTER — LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Background theory 10 2.1.1 Linguistic notions 10 2.1.1.1 Syllables 14 2.1.1.2 Careful speech and connected speech 14 2.1.1.3 Assimilation 15 2.1.1.4 Dissimilation 17 2.1.1.5 Elision 17 2.1.1.6 Linking 19 2.1.1.7 Epenthesis 20 2.1.1.8 Metathesis 21 2.1.2 Pedagogical notions 21 vi 2.1.2.1 Theory of pronunciation teaching and learning 21 2.1.2.2 Suggested steps in teaching English final consonant clusters 23 2.2 Background research 23 2.2.1 The Vietnamese syllable 24 2.2.2 The English syllable 26 2.2.3 A contrastive analysis of the Vietnamese and English syllable structure in the final position 26 2.2.4 Related research in English final consonant clusters 30 2.2.4.1 Influential factors 31 2.2.4.2 Common errors in pronouncing English final consonant clusters 35 2.3 Summary………………………………………………………………………… 42 CHAPTER — METHODOLOGY 3.1Research questions 44 3.2 Research design… 44 3.3 Participants………… 45 3.3.1 Student subjects 45 3.3.2 Teacher subjects 45 3.3.3 Evaluators 45 3.3.4 The researcher 46 3.4 Instruments………… 46 3.4.1 Questionnaires 46 3.4.2 The interview 48 3.4.3 Class observations 48 3.4.4 Tests 49 3.5 Experimental teaching 50 3.6 Research procedure 51 3.7 Lesson plans……… 52 3.7.1 Background of developing lesson plans 52 3.7.2 Lesson plans for 18 class meetings 55 3.8 Summary………… 55 vii CHAPTER — DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 4.1 Results of questionnaires 56 4.1.1 Results of students‘ questionnaire before experimental teaching – Set 56 4.1.1.1 Students‘ gender: 56 4.1.1.2 Students‘ learning time at Cleverlearn 56 4.1.1.3 Students‘ regular class attendance 57 4.1.1.4 Students‘ participation in extra class 57 4.1.1.5 Students‘ view on the importance of pronouncing English final consonant clusters correctly 58 4.1.1.6 Students‘ previous experience in learning English final consonant clusters 58 4.1.1.7 Students‘ information on how and how often English final consonant clusters were taught at Cleverlearn 59 4.1.1.8 Students‘ own evaluation of pronouncing English final three-consonant clusters 59 4.1.1.9 Students‘ current opportunities to use English outside class 60 4.1.1.10 Summary 61 4.1.2 Results of teachers‘ questionnaires – Set 62 4.1.2.1 Teachers‘ age and gender 62 4.1.2.2 Teachers‘ teaching time at Cleverlearn 62 4.1.2.3 Teachers‘ opinion on teaching pronunciation 63 4.1.2.4 Teachers‘ judgment on teaching English final three-consonant clusters 64 4.1.2.5 Teachers‘ opinion on the course book 65 4.1.2.6 Teachers‘ regularity in teaching English final three-consonant clusters 65 4.1.2.7 Teachers‘ opinion on teaching aid 66 4.1.2.8 Teachers‘ previous experience in and suggestions on teaching English final consonant clusters 67 4.1.3 Results of students‘ questionnaire after experimental teaching – Set 69 4.1.3.1 Students‘ opinion on the exercises 69 4.1.3.2 Students‘ practicing English final consonant clusters outside class 69 4.1.3.3 Students‘ improvement after the experimental teaching 70 4.1.3.4 Positive effects on students‘ listening comprehension and verbal communication via their improvement in pronouncing English final three-consonant clusters 71 viii 4.1.3.5 Students‘ suggestions on how English final three-consonant clusters should be taught 71 4.2 Tests' results……… 72 4.2.1 Results of Part I 73 4.2.1.1 Pre-test‘s results 73 4.2.1.2 Post-test‘s results 79 4.2.1.3 The comparison between the two groups‘ results of Post-test – Part I 83 4.2.2 Results of the recording (Part II) 84 4.2.2.1 Pre-test's results 84 4.2.2.2 Post-test's results 96 4.4 Overall summary………… 100 CHAPTER — CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Answers to the research questions 101 5.2 Recommendations……………………………………………………………….102 5.2.1 For teachers at Cleverlearn 103 5.2.1.1 Be investigators 103 5.2.1.2 Foster students patiently 103 5.2.1.4 Guide students to learn out of class 104 5.2.1.5 Build up a good rapport with students 105 5.2.1.6 Pay more attention to training students in English final consonant clusters…………………………………………………………………… 104 5.2.2 For the administrators at Cleverlearn 106 5.2.3 For students at Cleverlearn 107 5.3 Limitations and contributions 107 5.4 Summary…………………………………………………………………………108 BIBLIOGRAPHY…… 109 Appendix 1a Set — Students' questionnaire (Vietnamese version) 120 Appendix 1b Set — Students' questionnaire (English version) 123 Appendix Set — Teachers' questionnaire 126 ix Appendix 3a Set — Students' questionnaire after the experimental teaching (Vietnamese version) 130 Appendix 3b Set — Students' questionnaire after the experimental teaching (English version) 132 Appendix Pre-test and Post-test 134 Appendix Answer keys of Pre-test and Post-test 138 Appendix Phonemic symbols of British English consonants and vowels 143 Appendix Lesson plans 144 Appendix Handouts 167 Appendix Answer keys for handouts 190 Appendix 10 Pilot study 199 212 The students’ errors in producing English final three-consonant clusters: Percentage of error production (%) in individual words in separate sentences in short passages /s1lks/ 100 100 100 /helps / 100 100 100 /sa$ndz / 66.7 33.3 100 /l1sts/ 100 0 /91fts / 100 66.7 66.7 /@:sks/ 100 0 /h1nts/ 100 100 66.7 /k`mps/ 100 33.3 66.7 /f1lmz/ 100 100 100 /t1lts/ 100 100 100 /9@:sps/ 100 33.3 /4pts/ 100 66.7 66.7 /`kts/ 100 33.3 66.7 /h6$ldz/ 100 100 100 /817ks/ 100 66.7 33.3 Table 41: Percentage of students’ error production As shown in Table 41, students‘ errors in producing English final three-consonant clusters in individual words are much higher than in separate sentences and in short passages; accounting for the maximum rate of errors (100%) in all these three types are the consonant clusters containing the liquid /l/ such as /-lps/, /-lks /, /-lmz/, /-lts /, /-ldz/, which are definitely the most problematic clusters It seems a bit easier for the students to pronounce the clusters /-sts/; /-sks/ and /-sps/ in sentences and in passages because the students have applied simplification strategies, particularly the omission of the middle consonant of these three-consonant clusters, resulting in something like /l1s/, /@:s/, and /9@:s/ Below is an example of omission: This part indicates there is a complete pause of the oral stop /k/ in the production of /s1lks/ by NS This part indicates there is no pause of the oral stop /k/ in the production of /s1lks/ by S1 213 And this is an example of substitution: This part shows the oral stop /t/ in the production of /91fts/ by NS This part shows the fricative /f/ instead of the oral stop /t/ in the production of /91fts/ by S3 Simplification strategies: Among common simplification strategies are omission, substitution, epenthesis and combination of two or more simplification strategies, as shown in the tables below: Simplification strategies observed in the students’ producing individual words Omission Substitution Epenthesis Combination of strategies /-lks/ 0 /-lps/ 0 /-ndz/ 1 /-sts/ 0 /-fts/ 1 /-sks/ 0 /-nts/ 0 /-mps/ 0 /-lmz/ 0 /-lts/ 0 /-sps/ 0 /-pts/ 0 /-kts/ 0 /-ldz/ 0 /-7ks/ 0 Table 42: Students’ common errors in producing consonant clusters in individual words 214 Simplification strategies observed in the students’ producing separate sentences Omission Substitution Epenthesis Combination of strategies /-lks/ 0 /-lps/ 0 /-ndz/ 0 /-sts/ 0 0 /-fts/ 0 /-sks/ 0 0 /-nts/ 1 /-mps/ 0 /-lmz/ 0 /-lts/ 0 /-sps/ 0 0 /-pts/ 0 /-kts/ 0 /-ldz/ 0 /-7ks/ 1 0 Table 43: Students’ common errors in producing consonant clusters in separate sentences Simplification strategies observed in the students’ producing short passages Omission Substitution Epenthesis Combination of strategies /-lks/ 0 /-lps/ 0 /-ndz/ 0 /-sts/ 0 0 /-fts/ 1 0 /-sks/ 0 0 /-nts/ 1 0 /-mps/ 1 0 /-lmz/ 0 /-lts/ 0 /-sps/ 0 /-pts/ 0 /-kts/ 1 /-ldz/ 0 /-7ks/ 0 Table 44: Students’ common errors in producing consonant clusters in short passages 215 Simplification strategies for producing final three-consonant clusters Omission Substitution Epenthesis Combination of strategies 79.5 4.5 0.0 16.0 61.5 11.5 3.9 23.1 70.0 16.7 3.3 10.0 in individual words in separate sentences in short passages Table 45: Percentage of different types of simplification strategies for producing consonant clusters As found in Table 45, omission and substitution were used more frequently than epenthesis and combinations of strategies Much more prominent than other simplification strategies is omission, which respectively takes 79.5%, 61.5%, and 70% in the students‘ reading aloud individual words, separate sentences and short passages From the students‘ reading aloud individual words, separate sentences and short passages, it comes to the conclusion that the students seem to better at the level of sentences and passages than at the word level The result also corresponds with research findings presented in the literature review of this M.A thesis that students tend to have big problems with final three-consonant clusters containing the liquid /l/, as in help /helps/, and the oral stop /t/; /k/; /p/, as in acts /`kts/ They employ nearly always omission as their first simplification strategy in pronouncing English final three-consonant clusters; their second simplification strategy is substitution one sound for another Specifically, the students have difficulties in pronouncing plural nouns and verbs conjugated in the third person singular; they not know when the voiced /-z/, not the voiceless /-s/, is used, and vice versa The results of the pilot study enable the researcher to have some adjustments for conducting the main study done for and reported in this M.A thesis: (i) The student subjects’ questionnaire needs some modifications: the instruction for Question needs to be clarified because the researcher caught the students‘ mistaking when answering the question Two students answered Question even they said they had not studied English final consonant clusters at Cleverlearn Also, it is more appropriate that Question 11 should be rearranged and placed 216 right after Question because Question and Question 11 are related in case the students answer that they have learnt English consonant clusters at Cleverlearn in the above Question Thus Question 11 has changed its position and been renamed Question (ii) The teacher subjects’ questionnaire seems to be appropriate and useful for the researcher‘s designing effective lesson plans for the experimental teaching, adapting various extra materials in designing well-organized drill exercises, and flexibly using more visual aids However, the teacher subjects‘ convenience as well as the researcher‘s time-saving data analysis in the main study, the researchers transfers open-ended questions in the teacher subjects‘ questionnaire to close-ended ones Furthermore, to get more information on the ways in which English final three-consonant clusters are taught, an open-ended numbered Question is added (iii) The test seemed to be appropriate because they consist mainly of fairly common words, all being monosyllabic, to measure the student subjects‘ pronouncing English three-consonant clusters only The result of the pre-test hinted the researcher‘s preliminary preparation for the experimental teaching, particularly focusing on a number of common problematic English final three consonants such as /s1lks/, /helps/ , /f1lmz/, /t1lts/, /h6$ldz/, etc More importantly, the student subjects should be trained to pronounce the noun plural suffix and the verb third person singular suffix because of their high rate of errors in producing the two inflectional suffixes in individual words, separate sentences, and short passages 217 STUDENTS’ QUESTIONNAIRE (the Vietnamese version for the pilot study) Cleverlearn School PHIẾU THĂM DÒ Ý KIẾN HỌC VIÊN – PHIẾU Phiếu thăm dị ý kiến nhằm tìm hiểu thông tin cá nhân ý kiến bạn tầm quan trọng việc phát âm khó khăn việc phát âm tổ hợp phụ âm cuối tiếng Anh từ rời, câu riêng lẻ lời nói tự nhiên Câu trả lời bạn góp phần quan trọng để hồn thành nghiên cứu Mong bạn trả lời xác câu hỏi Xin chân thành cảm ơn Tên:……………………………………………………………………………………… Tuổi:……………………………………………………………………………………… Nghề nghiệp:……………………………………………………………………………… Giới tính: Nam Nữ Câu hỏi 1: Bạn học tiếng Anh Trường ngoại ngữ Cleverlearn rồi? Dưới tháng Từ đến tháng Từ đến tháng Từ đến 12 tháng Hơn 12 tháng Câu hỏi 2: Mức độ đến lớp thường xuyên bạn là? Không Hiếm Thỉnh thoảng Đều đặn Câu hỏi 3: Ngoài lớp này, bạn cịn tham gia học lớp tiếng Anh khác khơng? Nếu có học rồi? Và học tuần buổi? Có Khơng Thời gian:……………… ……… buổi /tuần 218 Câu hỏi 4: Việc phát âm tổ hợp phụ âm cuối tiếng Anh47 có vai trị giao tiếp lời nói? Rất quan trọng Quan trọng Khá quan trọng Không quan trọng Câu hỏi 5: Trước theo học Trường ngoại ngữ Cleverlearn, bạn có học tổ hợp phụ âm cuối tiếng Anh khơng? Khơng (Nếu khơng chuyển qua Câu hỏi 8.) Có Câu hỏi 6: Bạn học tổ hợp phụ âm cuối tiếng Anh nào? Và đâu? (Đánh dấu  vào lựa chọn Bỏ qua câu hỏi bạn không chọn Ở Trường ngoại ngữ Cleverlearn) Ở trường tiểu học Ở trường trung học sở Ở trường trung học phổ thông Ở trường đại học/trường cao đẳng/trường dạy nghề Ở Trường ngoại ngữ Cleverlearn Ở trường ngoại ngữ khác Tự học nhà Tự học qua radio, truyền hình, internet, v.v… Khác (Xin ghi rõ.):…………………………………………………………………… Câu hỏi 7: Nếu học tổ hợp phụ âm cuối tiếng Anh Trường ngoại ngữ Cleverlearn bạn dạy nào? Học tổ hợp phụ âm cuối từ rời Học tổ hợp phụ âm cuối câu riêng lẻ Học tổ hợp phụ âm cuối lời nói tự nhiên Câu hỏi 8: Khả phát âm tổ hợp phụ âm cuối từ tiếng Anh bạn là: Rất tốt 47 Tốt Khá tốt Không tốt Tổ hợp phụ âm cuối cụm phụ âm xuất cuối từ tiếng Anh /mz/ streams /stri:mz/, /nts/ points /p41nts/, v.v 219 Câu hỏi 9: Khả phát âm tổ hợp phụ âm cuối câu tiếng Anh bạn là: Rất tốt Tốt Khá tốt Không tốt Câu hỏi 10: Khả phát âm tổ hợp phụ âm cuối lời nói tự nhiên tiếng Anh bạn là: Rất tốt Tốt Khá tốt Không tốt Câu hỏi 11: Nếu bạn dạy tổ hợp phụ âm cuối tiếng Anh Trường ngoại ngữ Cleverlearn, mức độ thường xuyên là: ……………………lần/tuần, lần khoảng…………….phút Câu hỏi 12: Hiện bạn có hội nói tiếng Anh ngồi lớp học khơng? Khơng Hiếm Thỉnh thoảng Mỗi ngày Câu hỏi 13: Hiện bạn có hội nghe tiếng Anh ngồi lớp học không? Không Hiếm Thỉnh thoảng Mỗi ngày CÁM ƠN BẠN RẤT NHIẾU! 220 STUDENTS’ QUESTIONNAIRE (the English version for the pilot study) Cleverlearn School STUDENTS’ QUESTIONNAIRE This survey questionnaire aims to find out your personal information as well as your ideas of how important pronunciation is to you and what your problems of pronouncing English final three-consonant clusters in individual words, separate sentences and connected speech are Your answers are very important for the thesis accomplishment Hopefully, you will answer the questionnaire truthfully Thank you very much for your kind help Name: …………………………………………………………………………………… Age:……………………………………………………………………………………… Job:……………… Gender: Male Female Question 1: How long have you studied English at Cleverlearn? Less than months 3– months 6– months 9– 12 months More than 12 months Question 2: How often you attend class at Cleverlearn? Never Rarely Sometimes Always Question 3: Have you participated in any other English classes beside this class? How long have you attended the class? How often per week? Yes No Time:…………… ……time(s)/week 221 Question 4: How important is pronouncing English final consonant clusters48 in oral communication? Very important Important Not very important Not important at all Question 5: Have you ever been taught English final consonant clusters before attending this class? No (If No then skip to Question 8.) Yes Question 6: Where and how were you taught English final consonant clusters? (Tick  all that apply, please Skip question in case you not tick At Cleverlearn) In elementary school In secondary school In high school In University or college At Cleverlearn At other language schools By self-study By programs on radio, television, internet Others (Please specify.): ……………… ……………………… ………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… Question 7: How have you been taught English final consonant clusters at Cleverlearn? In individual words In separate sentences In connected speech 48 A final consonant cluster is a sequence of consonants occurring at the end of such English words as /mz/ in streams /stri:mz/, /nts/ in points /p41nts/, etc 222 Question 8: How is your pronunciation of English final three-consonant clusters in individual words? Excellent Good Not very good Bad Question 9: How is your pronunciation of English final three-consonant clusters in separate sentences? Excellent Good Not very good Bad Question 10: How is your pronunciation of English final three-consonant clusters in connected speech? Excellent Good Not very good Bad Question 11: If you have been taught English final consonant clusters at Cleverlearn, how often per week? …………………………time(s)/week……………….minutes each Question 12: Do you have opportunities to speak English outside class now? No Rarely Sometimes Everyday Question 13: Do you have opportunities to listen to English outside class now? No Rarely Sometimes Everyday THANK YOU VERY MUCH! 223 TEACHERS’ QUESTIONNAIRE (Version A for the pilot study) Cleverlearn School Your considerate responses and recommendations will certainly make special contributions to the success of this research in teaching English three-final consonant clusters in individual words, separate sentences and connected speech The researcher of this thesis is deeply grateful to your kind help Name:…………………………………………………………………………………… Age:……………………………………………………………………………………… 26 – 29 30 – 35 36 – 39 40 – 45 Gender: Male Female Question 1: How long have you taught English at Cleverlearn? Less than year – years – years – years More than years Question 2: How often you think you taught pronunciation to your students in class? Very often Often Sometimes Never Question 3: How have you taught pronunciation to your learners of General English at Cleverlearn? …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… 224 Question 4: It is necessary to teach English final three-consonant clusters to General English learners Strongly agree Agree Not sure Disagree Strongly disagree Question 5: A good command of English final three-consonant clusters helps General English learners improve their speaking and listening comprehension Strongly agree Agree Not sure Disagree Strongly disagree Question 6: The course book, American Inside Out, is enough to teach English final three-consonant clusters and you don‘t need to apply supplementary material Strongly agree Agree Not sure Disagree Strongly disagree Question 7: How often you teach English final three-consonant clusters? Always Often Sometimes Seldom Never (If never then skip the following questions.) 225 Question 8: Teaching aids in Cleverlearn are well equipped to teach English final threeconsonant clusters Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree Question 9: What teaching aids you often use for teaching English final three-consonant clusters to Cleverlearn learners of General English? Cassette player Drawings Projector Flash cards Others (Please specify.): …………………………………………………………… Question 10: What possible difficulties you have in teaching English final consonant clusters to Cleverlearn learners of General English? …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… Question 11: What are your suggestions in teaching English final consonant clusters, including three-consonant clusters, to Cleverlearn learners of General English? …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… THANK YOU VERY MUCH! 226 ... basis of a systematic comparison of the grammars of the native language, the target language and the markedness relations stated in universal grammar, such that: (i) Those areas of the target language. .. following units: Unit Topics Speaking and Writing Reading and Listening texts Grammar, Vocabulary and Pronunciation Names Memory Language learning Names and family Memory techniques Language learning... STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I confidently assert that this thesis entitled ? ?An analysis of common errors in pronouncing English final three- consonant clusters in connected speech made by general English