Rationale of the study
Language is essential for effective communication, enabling people worldwide to interact through speech and writing, the two main forms of linguistic expression.
In any speech communication scenario, a speaker aims to ensure clarity and engage the audience, with pronunciation being a crucial factor in achieving this Effective pronunciation is the primary element that captures listeners' attention when speaking English Even when using basic vocabulary and grammar, the complexity of pronunciation cannot be overlooked, as it plays a significant role in conveying ideas effectively.
Learning a language involves mastering vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation Good pronunciation significantly enhances communication, allowing learners to be understood despite potential mistakes in other areas Conversely, poor pronunciation can hinder understanding, regardless of grammatical accuracy.
In fact, pronunciation is becoming increasingly recognized as a crucial area for language learners (Celce-Murcia et al, 1996)
Pronunciation is crucial for all language learners, yet many struggle to achieve an intelligible accent This challenge often arises from the interference of their native language, as each language possesses unique rules and phonetic systems that can hinder proper practice and performance.
Avery and Ehrlich (1992) explain that English speakers can easily identify various foreign accents, such as Spanish, Russian, and Chinese, because the characteristics of these accents are largely influenced by the learner's native language.
Vietnamese learners of English face significant challenges in pronunciation due to interference from their native language The differences between Vietnamese and English lead students to transfer Vietnamese sound patterns into their English speech, resulting in imperfect and often unintelligible pronunciation.
As an English teacher at Thai Nguyen University of Technology (TNUT), I have observed common pronunciation errors among students that stem from their Vietnamese language background This research aims to identify the specific ways in which the Vietnamese language interferes with the English pronunciation of first-year students and to propose effective improvements Thus, I have chosen to conduct a study titled: “The Interference of the Mother Tongue in First-Year Students’ English Pronunciation at Thai Nguyen University of Technology.”
Objectives of the study
The objectives of this study are stated as follows:
- To discover pronunciation mistakes made by students at Thai Nguyen University of Technology
- To investigate whether the causes of the mistakes come from students‟ mother tongue.
Research questions of the study
To achieve the aims mentioned above, this study tries to answer the following questions:
1 What are pronunciation mistakes made by students at Thai Nguyen University of Technology?
2 Are they caused by mother tongue influences?
Scope of the study
The study was carried out with two classes (49J1, 49H) comprising 100 students in their second term, the academic year 2013-2014
This thesis examines the impact of mother tongue interference on pronunciation, specifically focusing on how it affects the production of English sounds While it addresses key issues related to pronunciation, it does not encompass all aspects of the topic.
Methods of the study
A combination of different data collection methods were used including recording students‟ pronunciation in an oral test, observing their performance in class and note-taking.
Organization of the study
The thesis consists of three parts: introduction, development with three chapters and conclusion
Part A: Introduction presents the rationale, aims, research questions, and organization of the study
Part B: Development includes three main chapters
Chapter 1 Literature review provides a brief literature review relevant to the study
This chapter explores the influence of the mother tongue on foreign language acquisition, with section 1 addressing this interference Section 2 delves into key aspects of English pronunciation, while section 3 focuses on the nuances of Vietnamese pronunciation Finally, section 4 provides a review of previous studies related to these topics.
Chapter 2 The study consists of two sections: section 1 presents methodology, section 2 displays findings and discussion
In conclusion, this section encapsulates the key findings related to the research questions outlined in Part A, highlighting their significance It also discusses practical implications for enhancing students' pronunciation skills, acknowledges the study's limitations, and offers recommendations for future research endeavors.
Literature review
The interference of the mother tongue in foreign languages
1.1.1 Definition of the mother tongue and foreign languages
A first language, also known as a native language or mother tongue, is the language that an individual acquires from birth or during a critical developmental period It is typically the language a person speaks most proficiently and plays a significant role in shaping their sociolinguistic identity.
Richards and Platt (1992) define the mother tongue as the first language learned at home, often synonymous with native language This term refers to the language that a person acquires first, highlighting its significance in language development and identity.
The first language is the language through which the child makes acquaintance with everything about it to communicate Mostly it may be their mother tongue
A foreign language refers to a language that is not native to a particular country Typically, individuals study a foreign language to communicate with non-native speakers or to comprehend written materials in that language (Richards and Platt, 1992).
A foreign language refers to a language that originates from another country and is not spoken in the native country of the individual, such as an English speaker in Japan considering Japanese as a foreign language However, this definition may not encompass all interpretations, and the term can sometimes be used in misleading or inaccurate ways.
1.1.2 The interference of the mother tongue in foreign languages
Mother tongue interference is defined as the use of elements from one‟s native language while learning the second language Mother tongue interference is one of the causes of mistakes
When we learn a foreign language, we often make mistakes in grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary caused by our first language “The sound system
The influence of phonology and grammar from a learner's first language can significantly affect their acquisition of a new language, often resulting in a foreign accent, incorrect grammatical structures, and sometimes inappropriate vocabulary choices (Hubbard et al., 1983, p 140).
Linguists generally agree that a learner's mother tongue significantly influences their English skills, impacting areas such as pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, and discourse structure This influence is particularly evident in pronunciation, where the phonological structure of the first language and the associated articulatory settings—like the positioning of the lips, tongue, and jaw—can strongly affect how a person speaks English (Swan and Smith, 1987).
The mother tongue significantly influences English pronunciation, as highlighted by Ken Worthy in his 1987 book He points out that a learner's foreign accent often retains sound characteristics from their native language.
Avery and Ehrlich (1992) highlight that a student's native language sound system significantly impacts their English pronunciation in three key ways Firstly, learners may struggle with English sounds absent in their native language Secondly, differing rules for sound combinations can lead to pronunciation challenges Lastly, the transfer of stress and intonation patterns from the native language affects the rhythm and melody of English speech.
They also state that the native language not only affects the ability to produce English sounds but also the ability to hear English sounds.
English pronunciation
This section does not focus on all aspects of English pronunciation It only deals with English consonants, vowels, consonant clusters and sound linking
In English there are twenty-four consonants illustrated in the following chart
Chart of English consonant phonemes English consonants are sounds produced by partially or completely blocking air in its passage from the lungs through the vocal tract (Finegan, 1994)
English consonants have three basic characteristics making the main differences between them: place of articulation, manner of articulation and voicing
According to Roach (1998), consonants can be classified into eight types based on the combination of speech organs that create sound barriers These types include bilabial consonants such as /p/, /b/, /m/, and /w/; labio-dental sounds /f/ and /v/; dental sounds /I/ and /J/; alveolar consonants like /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /l/, and /n/; palato-alveolar sounds including /M/, /N/, /CM/, /DN/, and /r/; palatal /j/; velar sounds /k/, /g/, and /R/; and glottal /h/.
There are six types of consonants classified according to manner of articulation: fricatives /f/, /v/, /I/, /J/, /s/, /z/, /M/, /N/, /h/ , affricates /CM/, /DN/, nasals /m/, /n/, /R/, approximants /w/, /r/, /j/, lateral /l/, and plosives /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/ (O‟Corner, Avery and Ehrlich call plosives stops)
Consonants can be classified based on voicing, categorizing them into two types: voiced and voiceless In English, there are a total of fifteen voiced consonants and nine voiceless consonants.
In learning a language, it is very important to know how to produce a sound Linguists describe English consonants as follows:
According to Roach (1998), a plosive is a consonant articulation with the following phase:
- The first phase is when the articulator or articulators move to form the stricture for the plosive We call this the closure phase
- The second phase is when the compressed air is stopped from escaping We call this the hold phase
- The third phase when the articulators used to form the stricture are moved so as to follow air to escape This is the release phase
- The fourth phase is what happens immediately after the third phase, so we call it the post-release phase
English has six plosive consonants /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/ These plosives have different places of articulation
Plosives in phonetics are categorized into three main types based on their articulation: bilabial (/p, b/), alveolar (/t, d/), and velar (/k, g/) Bilabial plosives are produced by pressing the lips together, while alveolar plosives involve the tongue blade pressing against the alveolar ridge, without contacting the front teeth as seen in dental plosives in other languages Velar plosives are articulated with the back of the tongue against the junction of the hard and soft palate These six plosives can occur in various positions within words, including the initial, medial, and final positions.
Fricatives are consonant sounds produced by forcing air through a narrow opening, resulting in a distinctive hissing noise These continuant consonants can be sustained without interruption, provided there is sufficient airflow from the lungs.
/f, v/ are labiodentals that is the lower lip is contact with the upper teeth The fricative noise is never very strong and is scarcely audible in the case of /v/
The sounds /I/ and /J/ are classified as dental fricatives, produced by positioning the tongue between the teeth The tip of the tongue makes contact with the inside of the lower front teeth, while the blade touches the upper teeth Air flows through the spaces between the tongue and the teeth, creating these distinct sounds.
/s, z/ are alveolar fricatives with the same place of articulation as /t/ and /d/ The air escapes through the gaps between the tongue and the teeth
The palate-alveolar fricatives /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are articulated with the tongue positioned slightly further back than for /s/ and /z/, creating a wider passage for airflow When pronouncing /s/ followed by /ʃ/, one can feel the tongue moving backwards Most Received Pronunciation (RP) speakers round their lips when producing /ʃ/ and /ʒ/, distinguishing them from /s/ and /z/ The airflow for /ʃ/ is diffuse and voiceless, while /ʒ/ may involve some vocal cord vibration, resulting in a different friction pattern against the roof of the mouth.
All the fricatives described so far can be found in initial, medial and final positions
The sound /ʒ/ has a limited distribution in English, with very few words starting with it, primarily borrowed from French Additionally, there are not many words that end with this consonant, making its occurrence in the language quite rare Most instances of /ʒ/ are found in the middle of words, such as in "measure" and "leisure."
“measure”, „usually‟ is it found at all commonly
The /h/ sound is a glottal fricative, articulated at the glottis, where the friction noise occurs between the vocal folds In English, the production of /h/ varies depending on context; for instance, in the word "hat," the /h/ must be followed by an /æ/ vowel During this articulation, the tongue, jaw, and lip positions for the vowel are produced simultaneously with the /h/, giving the glottal fricative an /æ/ quality This phenomenon is consistent across all vowels that follow /h/.
The sounds /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ are classified as affricates Their articulation involves raising the soft palate and shutting off the nasal resonator, creating an obstacle to the airstream This obstruction occurs through a closure formed by the tip, blade, and sides of the tongue against the upper alveolar ridge and adjacent teeth.
The front of the tongue is elevated towards the hard palate, preparing for the fricative release The closure is gradually released, allowing air to flow diffusely over the central surface of the tongue, creating friction between the blade of the tongue and the alveolar region of the mouth's roof During the stop and fricative phases, the vocal cords remain apart for the sound /ʧ/, while they may vibrate for /ʤ/ depending on the context of the utterance.
The sounds /m/ and /n/ are nasal consonants produced with the soft palate lowered, allowing voiced air to escape through the nose For /m/, the lips are closed, while /n/ is articulated by pressing the tip of the tongue against the sides of the palate Both sounds are voiced in English and in various other languages.
The /R/ sound is classified as a velar nasal, produced with the soft palate lowered, allowing air to flow exclusively through the nose During this articulation, the back of the tongue presses against the soft palate, effectively blocking the mouth, resulting in a voiced sound (O'Corner, 1980).
The English language features a single lateral phoneme, /l/, which does not distinguish between fortis and lenis, voiced or voiceless, or fricative and non-fricative sounds Within the /l/ phoneme, there are three primary allophones that occur.
- Clear [l], with a relatively front vowel resonance, before vowels and /j/
Dark [ł] is characterized by a back vowel resonance and occurs after a vowel, before a consonant, or as a syllabic sound following a consonant In contrast, clear [l] involves raising the front of the tongue towards the hard palate while making contact with the tip For dark [ł], the tip contacts the teeth ridge, with the front of the tongue slightly depressed and the back raised towards the soft palate, resulting in a distinct back vowel resonance Both [l] and [ł] are voiced, although partial devoicing may occur with fortis preceding consonants The point of contact for [ł] varies based on the following consonant’s articulation; for example, it has a dental contact in "health" and "will they," while it is likely post-alveolar in "already," "ultra," and "all dry."
The /r/ sound is a post-alveolar approximant produced with a curved tongue shape, where the tip points toward the hard palate near the alveolar ridge, while the front of the tongue remains low and the back is elevated The tongue-tip does not create friction with the palate, and the lips are rounded, particularly when /r/ occurs at the beginning of words Additionally, the soft palate is raised, allowing voiced air to flow smoothly between the tongue-tip and the palate without any friction.
Vietnamese pronunciation
In this section, Vietnamese consonants and vowels are dealt with
According to Nguyen Huu Quynh (1994), the Vietnamese language comprises twenty-two consonants that can be positioned at the beginning or end of a syllable In the initial position, there are twenty-one consonants: /m/, /n/, /Л/, /η/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /ť/, /t/, /c/, /k/, /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /Ş/, /ʐ/, //, /γ/, /h/, and /l/ Conversely, six consonants appear in the final position: /p/, /t/, /m/, /n/, /k/, and /η/.
Vietnamese consonants can be classified according to manner of articulation, place of articulation, and voicing They are shown in the following table:
Dorsal Radi cal Gl ot t al dent al pal at al s to p n o is e
According to Đoàn Thiện Thuật (1999), the Vietnamese language comprises 13 single vowels, which include nine long vowels and four short vowels The long vowels are /i/, /e/, /ɛ/, /a/, /ɔ/, /o/, /ɤ/, /u/, and /ɯ/, while the short vowels are /ὲ/ (anh ách), /ɔ/ (ong óc), /ɤ/ (tân, thân), and /ă/ Additionally, Vietnamese features three diphthongs: /ie/, /ɯə/, and /uo/.
About diphthong distribution, diphthongs in Vietnamese are mostly centering, e.g: /ie/ -iê, yê, ia, ya (hiền, miền, tiên), /ɯɤ/ -ươ, ưa (hươu, thưa, thương), /uo/ -uô, ua
Review of Previous studies
Numerous studies have highlighted the impact of mother tongue interference on English pronunciation, underscoring its significance in language learning Recent research findings illustrate the extent of this phenomenon and its implications for effective communication in English.
The study entitled Mother tongue interference in the pronunciation of English sounds by Yoruba language speakers by Samson, Abdullahi and Olagunju was conducted
Place of articulation with participants at Ahmadu Bello University It revealed that the postgraduate students have minimal interference compared to the undergraduate students and the non students interviewed
In her 2012 study, "Discovering Factors that Influence English Pronunciation of Native Vietnamese Speakers," Leah Tweedy identified that the Vietnamese language significantly impacts the English pronunciation of native Vietnamese speakers.
In Vietnam, there is a minor thesis entitled The Interference of Mother Tongue as
The study conducted at Mai Thi Thuy High School focuses on the differences between English and Vietnamese pronunciation, highlighting the impact of the mother tongue on students' ability to learn English sounds and stress By examining these pronunciation challenges, the research aims to enhance understanding of how native language influences English language acquisition among Vietnamese high school students.
The study
Methodology
A study at Thai Nguyen University of Technology (TNUT) highlights the challenges faced by students in learning English, particularly in pronunciation Many students hail from mountainous regions with diverse ethnic backgrounds, resulting in varied language experiences; some have no prior English education, while others began studying it in the sixth grade This disparity creates significant difficulties for both teachers and students in the English learning process.
At TNUT, first-year students engage in 90 periods of general English using the New Cutting Edge textbooks, which emphasize the development of four essential language skills and grammar Each term culminates in both oral and written exams, prompting students to concentrate on speaking, reading, and grammar However, many students struggle with English pronunciation, and teachers face challenges in dedicating enough time to this aspect of language learning To enhance students' pronunciation skills, it is crucial for educators to adopt flexible teaching strategies and explore effective methods to support their students.
Due to time limitation, it is impossible to conduct the study with all of the first year students Therefore, the study was carried out with two classes (49J1, 49H) consisting of
100 students at Thai Nguyen University of Technology in their second term, the academic year 2013-2014 and each class had 50 students
The data of the study were obtained using 2 research instruments: class observation and recording
The class observation aimed to identify students' pronunciation mistakes during twenty speaking lessons conducted over 20 periods in two classes, 49J1 and 49H The researcher closely monitored classroom activities, noting both students' speaking performance and speech patterns to classify the pronunciation errors Additionally, the researcher assessed whether these mistakes were influenced by the students' mother tongue.
Students' pronunciation was assessed through recordings of their speeches during oral examinations, where they spoke freely on topics of their choice This approach aimed to capture an accurate representation of their true pronunciation skills.
The free speech component of the oral examination allows participants to select topics of their choice, enhancing their engagement and expression This study focused on the final oral examination for the academic year 2013-2014, conducted at the end of the second term after students completed "English 1." Students were given a variety of topics to choose from for their presentations.
- Your father or your mother
- Your brother or your sister
While students talk about these topics, the researcher recorded all their talk and then transcribed their pronunciation to discover mistakes
The recording was administered with 30 students in the two classes in the oral test because there were three supervisors in each class, the researcher could only work with 30 students.
Between April and May, a researcher conducted observations of two classes, 49J1 and 49H, comprising a total of 100 students over 20 speaking lesson periods During these sessions, the researcher attentively listened to the students as they spoke English and meticulously recorded their pronunciation errors.
In June's oral test, students selected topics from a provided list and had 10 minutes to prepare notes for their speeches The researcher recorded 30 speeches from students in classes 49J1 and 49H, enabling the transcription of their performances This process allowed for the identification and classification of pronunciation errors, as well as an analysis of their potential causes.
Findings and discussion
This section outlines the findings from the class observation and recordings, focusing on English and Vietnamese pronunciations The analysis was conducted after studying two classes with a total of 100 students Due to time constraints during the oral test, recordings were collected from a sample of 30 students.
2.2.1 Description on the three most frequent types of mistakes
Research revealed that students frequently made repeated errors, which were categorized into three primary types: omitted sounds, sound replacements, and consonant clusters The accompanying tables present the findings from class observations and recordings, detailing the types and frequency of mistakes made by students, as well as the number of students who committed these errors.
Sound omission Final position: tM, z, s,
Table 1: Mistakes observed in the class and recorded in the oral test
No of Participants with mistakes
Sound omission Final position: tM, z, s,
Table 2: Mistakes made by participants
2.2.2.1 Mistakes in omission of sounds
The analysis of Tables 1 and 2 reveals three primary types of mistakes in the data, with sound omission being the most prevalent Specifically, there were 376 instances of sound omission noted during class observations and an additional 257 mistakes identified in the oral test recordings.
In the oral test, the researcher recorded 30 students‟ talks and as a result, 30 students made mistakes of sound omission
Class observations revealed that most students frequently omitted ending sounds such as /tM, z, s, M, I, J t, v, d, p, k, f, DN/ In two classes, students consistently struggled with these sounds, even mispronouncing simple sentences like “I often go to school by bike,” where the /k/ sound in “bike” was omitted The research involving 30 subjects indicated a significant frequency of ending sound omissions in words like “supermarket,” “enjoyed,” “village,” “hard,” “province,” and “because.”
Students often omit ending sounds in English due to the differences between Vietnamese and English phonetics Vietnamese features only six final consonants, leading speakers to frequently skip ending sounds, such as /t/ in “một” and /p/ in “thép.” For instance, during a speaking lesson in class 49J1, a student intended to say, “He likes playing tennis,” but instead said, “He like playing tenni,” omitting all ending sounds Commonly omitted sounds include /tM/, /I/, /J/, and /DN/, with the first four being particularly challenging for students to pronounce at the end of words due to their absence in Vietnamese In our study, 12 participants demonstrated this pattern with words ending in /tM/.
“watch, which, beach, much…, 16 participants saying the words ending in /I/ such as in
“with, month, sunbathe, both…” and 6 participants saying the words ending in //DN/ such as in “college, language, village, stage…” but all of them omitted these ending sounds
In both English and Vietnamese, the labiodental sounds /f/ and /v/ are present; however, students often struggle to pronounce these sounds when they appear at the end of words This difficulty arises because Vietnamese fricatives are not found in word-final positions, leading speakers to frequently omit these sounds During a speaking lesson in class 49H, a student shared details about herself, highlighting this pronunciation challenge.
Many students struggle with pronunciation, particularly with the final sound /s/ This often leads to sound redundancy, as they may incorrectly add /s/ to words that do not end with it For instance, during an oral test, a student said “I likes cats and dogs” instead of the correct “I like cats and dogs.” This highlights the need for focused practice on proper English pronunciation to avoid such errors.
Many learners struggle to pronounce the sound /z/, often substituting it with /s/ due to excessive airflow The distinction between /s/ and /z/ is significantly influenced by the fortis versus lenis opposition.
The pronunciation of ending sounds in students is influenced by their mother tongue, particularly in Vietnamese, where all final consonants are closed This characteristic results in a lack of a release phase during pronunciation, leading to silent final consonants, as evidenced by examples like the /k/ in “bác” and the /t/ in “mất.”
In Vietnamese, the voiceless stop consonants /p/, /t/, and /k/ are unreleased in final positions and are shorter in duration compared to their English counterparts As a result, English speakers may struggle to perceive these consonants when pronounced by Vietnamese speakers.
Due to the differences between languages, students often struggle with sound omission, particularly in pronouncing ending sounds This tendency to "swallow" final sounds is a form of negative transfer from their native language, which hinders their ability to articulate these sounds correctly in the target language.
Students exhibited sound replacement errors primarily in consonants, with fewer mistakes in vowels The data revealed that certain English sounds were substituted with Vietnamese equivalents, such as J being replaced by z, I by t’, tr by C, and DN by C.
Table 1 shows that students made a total of 171 sound replacement mistakes in oral tests and 373 during observations, with the most common error being the substitution of /J/ with /z/ Specifically, 121 of these mistakes occurred in two classes, where 16 students replaced /J/ with /z/ in the oral test Errors were particularly evident in words containing the /J/ sound, such as "the," "there," and "together," where students pronounced /z/ instead of /J/ This issue arises because the Vietnamese language uses the letters 'd' or 'gi' for the /z/ sound, while English represents /J/ with 'th.' Although both sounds are fricatives, they differ in articulation; /z/ is produced with the blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge, whereas /J/ requires the tongue to be placed between the teeth Since the /J/ sound does not exist in Vietnamese, many students at TNUT tend to substitute /z/ for /J/, leading to mispronunciations such as "they" being pronounced as "dây" and "that" as /z$t/.
The analysis of the data highlights the significance of the /J/ sound in English, revealing that students made a total of 171 mistakes related to this phoneme This high frequency of errors can be attributed to the prevalence of words containing the /J/ sound, which includes commonly used terms such as "the," "this," "that," "their," "them," "then," and "they."
In a study on the pronunciation of the interdental sound /I/, it was found that 7 students consistently mispronounced words by substituting the English /I/ with the Vietnamese sound /tʰ/ This error occurred in 10 words, including "things," "think," "three," and "thin," highlighting the influence of orthographic similarities between Vietnamese and English, as both use the spelling "th." Despite the distinct pronunciation of /I/ and /tʰ/, students often defaulted to the aspirated stop /tʰ/ Notably, this substitution was the second most common type of error, with a total of 73 mistakes across various words such as "thought," "thick," "thin," "think," "thing," "thank," and "through."
Limitations of the study
Despite significant efforts, this research has inherent limitations, as it exclusively examines the impact of the mother tongue on English sounds, without addressing other pronunciation elements like stress, intonation, and rhythm.
This study was limited to Thai Nguyen University of Technology and did not encompass a broader range of universities across the country Therefore, the assertion that Vietnamese significantly impacts students' English pronunciation may not be entirely accurate.
Suggestions for further study
Because of the scope limitation, the following topics could be best to study:
- The interference of the mother tongue in learning intonation at Thai Nguyen University of Technology
- A contrastive analysis between Vietnamese and English intonation
- The interference of the mother tongue in English stress
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Việt Hiện Đại, Nhà Xuất Bản Giáo Dục
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8 Finegan, E (1994) Language: Its Structure and Use Harcourt Brace College
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10 Kenworthy, J (1987) Teaching English Pronunciation Longman Group UK Limited
11 Ladefoged, P.1982 (1975) A Course in Phonetics New York: Harcourt Jovanovich
12 Nguyễn Hữu Quỳnh (1994) Tiếng Việt Hiện Đại, Trung Tâm biên Soạn Từ Điển Bách Khoa Việt Nam
13 O‟ Corner, J (1980) Better English Pronunciation Cambridge: Cambridge
14 Roach, P (1998) English Phonetics and Phonology Cambridge: Cambridge
15 Swan, M., &Smith, B (1999) Learner English Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
16 Ur, P (1991) A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
17 Vương Hữu Lễ, Hoàng Dũng (1994), Ngữ Âm Tiếng Việt, Trường Đại Học Sư
Phạm Hà Nội 1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_language
Oxford University Press, Oxford Learner‟s Pocket Dictionary, (Third Edition, China,
Sounds omitted Sound replacement Consonant clusters Sound linking S1 He like (s)learning
S3 He chavels (travels) to school by cham (tram)
S4 My mother often wears s+mart c+lothes at work
S5 He made a lot of money
S6 My mother likes all types of music
S7 Shops in Vietnam don‟t close at light (night)
Table 4 Students‟ performance of English pronunciation in spoken discourse
Students‟ talks Pronunciation mistakes and transcriptions of the student‟s mispronunciation
1 Last summer, I went to Ho
Chi Minh city and stayed at my sister’s house for about two weeks I went there by train
My hobby is going shopping, so I went Thuan Kieu supermarket and bought some things which I enjoyed After that, I went to Tien river,
Dam Sen water park, Vung tau
Beach These places are very beautiful I had a wonderful holiday
[trein] [c"z] [su:p+ma:kIt] [I"Rz] [w"CM] ["nDN&"d]
2 I have a friend His name is
Thao has black hair and eyes, along with a tall nose, making him as tall as I am His typical attire consists of trousers and shirts, although he occasionally opts for jeans and T-shirts We share a preference for similar clothing styles.
[M*::t] doing the same things He and I are crazy about football We go to football matches every
Sunday We work hard at school He and I play football
I have many friends, but Thao is the best friend I think it is fun to have my friend
3 My young sister’s name is
Loan She‟s 8 She comes from
Nam Dinh province She‟s pupil in the first grade in
Ninh Xuan is a petite girl with long hair and striking black eyes, complemented by her very fair complexion She often dresses in beautiful outfits and enjoys spending her free time taking walks with her beloved plastic doll.
She is crazy about music and she sings well
She is a dedicated learner and the top student in her class Her exceptional painting skills shine through when she creates beautiful artwork of her family, school, and various activities during her time away from school.
[pT.H"QK][pU(::pS] [M*::st] [KP&:S]
[ɪntelɪdʒnt] intelligent and funny I love my young sister very much
4 Last summer I had an exciting holiday with my friend in Nha
During weekends in Trang city, I enjoyed visiting the seaside, where we sunbathed on the beach each morning After soaking up the sun, we would savor breakfast and coffee, followed by leisurely walks and shopping excursions.
In the afternoon I went swimming At night we went to the cinema and went for walks
I like the holiday very much because the seaside was very beautiful and very exciting
[si:said][wiːkendz] [sʌnbeɪI] [biCM] [brekfəst]
5 My name is Hieu I‟m a girl I live in Lao Cai I have a family
I like music and films I don‟t like golf My sisters are small
We like children songs Our family is very happy At the moment, I‟m studying in Thai