1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************

TRẦN THỊ QUỲNH FROM NEEDS ANALYSIS TO DESIGNING A
COMMUNICATIVE ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION SYLLABUS
FOR THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT
UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL INDUSTRIES

PHÂN TÍCH NHU CẦU NHẰM THIẾT KẾ MỘT CHƯƠNG
TRÌNH PHÁT ÂM TIẾNG ANH CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG
CHUYÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KINH TẾ -
KỸ THUẬT CÔNG NGHIỆP

M.A. Minor Thesis Field: English Methodology
Code: 60 14 10

FOR THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT
UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL INDUSTRIES

PHÂN TÍCH NHU CẦU NHẰM THIẾT KẾ MỘT CHƯƠNG
TRÌNH PHÁT ÂM TIẾNG ANH CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG
CHUYÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KINH TẾ -
KỸ THUẬT CÔNG NGHIỆP

M.A. Minor Thesis Field: English Methodology
Code: 60 14 10
Supervisor: Nguyễn Minh Huệ, M.A

HANOI – 2010 6
TABLE OF CONTENTS


2.1.2. Some major approaches in designing a syllabus
4
2.1.2.1. Synthetic strategy
5
2.1.2.2. Analytic strategy
5
2.1.3. Three principal types of language syllabus
5
2.1.3.1. Structural syllabus 5
2.1.3.2. Situational syllabus
6
2.1.3.3. Notional-functional syllabus 6
2.1.4. Essential steps in designing a language syllabus
7
2.1.4.1. Needs background 7
2.1.4.1.1. Needs analysis 7
2.1.4.1.2. Resources analysis
8
2.1.4.2. Goal setting 8
2.1.4.3. Selecting and grading content 9
2.1.4.3.1. Selecting the content 9
2.1.4.3.2. Grading the content 10
2.1.4.4. Selecting and grading tasks and activities 10
2.1.4.4.1. Selecting tasks 10
2.1.4.4.2. Grading tasks 11 8
2.1.4.5. Teaching method 12
2.1.4.6. Testing – Evaluation 12

CHAPTER FIVE: A PROPOSED SYLLABUS OF ENGLISH
PRONUNCIATION
5.1. Introduction 32
5.2. Goals and objectives 32
5.2.1. Goals 32
5.2.2. Objectives 32
5.3. The content 32
5.4. Teaching methodology 36
5.4.1. Accuracy and Fluency in teaching pronunciation 36
5.4.2. Teaching pronunciation on the level of Accuracy 37
5.4.2.1. Teaching individual sounds 37
5.4.2.2. Teaching problematic consonants 37
5.4.3. Teaching pronunciation on the level of fluency 38
5.4.3.1. Stress and Rhythm 38
5.4.3.2. Intonation 39
5.5. A sample test 40
CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION
6.1. Conclusion 42
6.2. Implications of the study for teaching English pronunciation 42
6.2.1. Awareness of the importance of teaching and learning
pronunciation 42
6.2.2. Relation between pronunciation and other aspects of language 43
6.3. Limitations and recommendations for future research 43
REFERENCES 44
10

EFL: English Foreign Language
ELT: English Language Teaching
FLD: Foreign Language Department
N.P: Number of Participants
UNETI: University of Economic and Technical Industries

APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire for the first-year students at UNETI
APPENDIX 2: The mock speaking test
APPENDIX 3: Questions for interview for teachers 12


will have to take examination only in written form before leaving school, even the entrance 13
exams to universities or colleges are never taken orally. As a result, the emphasis has been
shifted away from teaching speaking skill, including teaching pronunciation and many
school leavers can not pronounce English words, even simple words, correctly. They have
no ideas of stress, intonation, or rhythm etc…Moreover, our current English materials are
New Headway and Toeic so pronunciation parts in these materials are insufficient,
unspecific and unsuitable for students at UNETI. In addition, there has not been any
research, up to now, on the subject of teaching and learning pronunciation at UNETI.
From all the reasons mentioned above, I have chosen the topic “From needs
analysis to designing a communicative pronunciation syllabus for the first year non-major
English at UNETI”.
1.2. Aims of the study
The research is aimed at investigating the students‟ expectations and their attitude
towards pronunciation learning, the problems in learning English pronunciation, the
teachers‟ perception of teaching pronunciation and their evaluation of the existing
materials. Based on the findings, the study also aimed to design a 30-period pronunciation
syllabus appropriate and workable for the first-year students at full-time University level at
UNETI. To achieve the aforementioned aims, the following research questions are set out
to be answered:
1. What are the students‟ expectations towards the teachers of pronunciation and
materials exploited in pronunciation?
2. What are the students‟ attitudes towards pronunciation learning?
3. What problems do the students encounter in learning pronunciation?
4. What are the teachers‟ perception of teaching pronunciation and their evaluation
of the existing materials?
1.3. The scope of the study
UNETI is a University which has two headquarters (one in Nam Dinh and the other

teachers of Foreign Language Department and the materials used here as the first step in
designing the syllabus for the first-year students at UNETI.
Chapter 5 introduces goals, objectives, the content of the proposed syllabus of
English pronunciation, some suggested methods of teaching and a test sample.
Chapter 6 summarizes the main issues, and then gives some suggestions for further
research and the implications for English pronunciation teaching in English are made.

15

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Language syllabus design
Language syllabus design is an area of applied linguistics. It is a comparatively new
area that has come into prominence since the early 1970s. In this part I would like to give a
general review of syllabus design and then the distinction between syllabus and
curriculum. This will be the discussion of two terms which are confused, followed by some
of the major trends in syllabus design, and the essential steps in designing a language syllabus.
2.1.1. Syllabus and curriculum
Syllabus and curriculum are two terms which are confused. That is why they need
to be reexamined and clarified.
Candlin (1984) suggests that curriculum is concerned with making general
statements about language learning, learning purposes and experience, evaluation and the
role relationships of teachers and learners. Syllabus, on the other hand, is more localized
and is based on accounts and records of what actually happens at the classroom level as

Wilkins and some other applied linguists, including Yalden (1983) assume that the
synthetic strategy produces a structural syllabus in planning syllabuses based on this
approach, the language items are ordered into a list of grammatical structures and probably
a list of lexical items. The learner‟s task is then to resynthesize those “small pieces” of
language. In implementing this kind of syllabus the teacher is concerned much more with
knowledge of the language system than with its use. In other words, in synthetic syllabus,
top priority is given to teaching the “grammar” or “structure” of the language.
2.1.2.2. Analytic strategy
Analytic approach is one within which a semantic, meaning – based syllabus is
produced, which leads to a wider goal – the goal of communicative competence. Wilkins
argues that analytic syllabuses “are organized in terms of the purposes for which people are
learning language and the kinds of language performance that are necessary to meet those
purposes” (Wilkins, 1976: 13). In an analytic syllabus, learners are presented with chunks
of language, which may include structures of different degrees of difficulty. However, the
starting point for syllabus design is not grammatical system of the language, but the
communicative purposes for which language is used.
2.1.3. Three principal types of language syllabus
2.1.3.1. Structural syllabus
The structural syllabus specifies structural patterns as the basic units of learning
and organizes these according to criteria such as structural complexity, difficulty,
regularity, utility and frequency, so structural syllabus has traditionally organized along 17
grammatical lines with learning units bearing labels such as “articles”, “future simple” or
“relative clauses” which reflect an emphasis on language form.
Wilkins (1976) regards structural syllabus as synthetic. In structural syllabus, the
teacher may use either a grammar-translation method or an audio-lingual one, or “eclectic”
approach. Whichever he uses, the constraints are the same; the content of the syllabus has
been determined by giving top priority to teaching the “grammar” or “structure” of the

approached through the study of language in use, language in discourse. Approaching
language in this way leads us directly to the study of the communicative functions of
language and their relation to grammatical form.
Apart from three kinds of syllabus mentioned above, there are other types of
syllabuses such as phonological, topical, procedural, task-based, lexical, etc. and each kind
has its own good and bad points. Nevertheless, usually a course has one syllabus as the
starting point and the others combine to support the primary syllabus. We would be wise to
heed Wilkin‟s (1981) advice that a syllabus should incorporate different sorts of language
content and that we take a balanced, multi-dimensional approach to syllabus design.
2.1.4. Essential steps in designing a language syllabus
2.1.4.1. Needs background
2.1.4.1.1. Needs analysis
Why should we conduct need analysis? The main reason for having to do it, according
to Nunan (1988) is to provide the input which is relevant to the needs of given learners.
There are two types of needs analysis: learner analysis and task analysis.
 Learner analysis
Learner analysis is based on information and learner. The central question of
concern to the syllabus designer is: “For what purpose or purposes is the learner learning
the learner?” Except this main question, there are many other subsidiary questions`, from
which the syllabus designer can collect a wide range of information about the learner. On
analyzing the information about the learner some syllabus designers gives distinction
between “objective‟ and “subjective” information. They state that “objective information is
factual information which doesn‟t require the attitudes and views of learner. “Subjective”
information, on the other hand, reflects the perceptions, goals and priorities of the learner.
It includes the information why the learner has to learn the language and the classroom
tasks and activities the learner prefers.
 Task analysis
Task analysis is used to specify and categories the language skills required carrying
out real-world communicative tasks, and often follows the learner analysis which
establishes the communicative purposes for which the learner wishes to learn the language.

gathered via a questionnaire or informal interview.
2.1.4.2. Goal setting
Together with the appearance and development of communicative approach, goal
setting has become an important step in the development of a language program. Language
is no longer seen as a discrete grammatical system existing in isolation, but as a set of 20
resources and options for achieving a variety of goals outside the language classroom. In
other words, language is perceived as a tool rather than as an end in itself. However, what a
syllabus designer should start from in setting course goals. From a survey of courses,
Nunan(1985: 10) points out “ the course can reflect the sort of uses to which the target
language will be put, the contexts and situations in which it will be used the skills that
will be developed and the level at which the courses will be conducted”.
Goals can be analyzed according to their orientation on the process/product
continuum. Product-oriented goals are mostly appropriate with general English courses.
Product-oriented goals can be derived directly from the learners themselves, that is, by
asking the learners why they are learning the language. Learners are involved in the
process of establishing goals. This process can be as simple as asking students which of the
macro-skills they wish to focus on or which content areas they would like to cover from a
given list. The learner‟s preferences are then arranged into a hierarchical order through a
process of negotiation between learners. And the goals of language program are set based
on these learner‟s preferences.
The process-oriented goals are generally appropriate with special purpose courses,
which are established by the teacher or course designer before the course itself begins.
These kinds of goals can be derived by syllabus designer through a process of introspecting
what the learner will achieve, what they should be able to perform as a result of instruction.
2.1.4.3. Selecting and grading content
2.1.4.3.1. Selecting the content
After the general goals of a course have been set, the next step is to specify the

5. What is the learner likely to need most frequently?
All these five criteria can be summarized as relating to the usefulness of the language
to the learner – a utility principle.
 Pedagogical factors: One would also attempt to teach earlier language which:
1. Can be taught most effectively and efficiently given the classroom situation, the
“frame factors”.
2. Can be used in teaching other language (not necessarily as a component).
3. Is needed for classroom purposes (less important as a criterion).
4. Is simpler in form or meaning, assuming that a progression from simple to more
complicated is good pedagogy.
The above-mentioned factors of extrinsic criteria have been regularly used over many
years, and “having stood the test of time can be discounted lightly” (Gibbons 1983: 143).
2.1.4.4. Selecting and grading tasks and activities
2.1.4.4.1. Selecting tasks
Candlin offers some criteria for good tasks as follows: 22
- to promote attention to meaning, purpose and negotiation.
- to involve learner contribution, attitude and affects.
- to be challenging, but not threatening, to promote risk-taking.
- to define a problem to be worked through by learners, centered on the
learner, but guided by the teacher.
- to provide opportunities for language practice.
- to promote sharing of information and expertise.
(Adapted from Nunan, 1988: 45-46)
Long (1985: 91) suggests that in selecting tasks a syllabus designer should consider
needs analysis as the starting point. He offers four steps in the process of developing tasks:
1. Conduct a need analysis to obtain an inventory of target tasks.
2. Classify the target tasks into task types.

- Listen/read, respond meaningfully
- Listen/read, rehearse
- Listen/read, role-play
- Listen/read, solve problem/ come
to conclusion

In summary, factors affecting the determining task difficulty are various, that is
why it is not always easy to determine whether a given activity is easier or more difficult
than another, and it is sometimes a matter of judgments. 23
2.1.4.5. Teaching method
At the phase of selection of teaching and learning activities in syllabus
development, choice of a particular method can be justified only when it is clear that there
is a close degree of fit between the program goals and objectives and the objectives of the
method. Various method features and procedures are selected from different methods,
which can be shown to relate explicitly to program objectives. Most language teaching
programs in the world have adapted some kind of eclecticism rather than one specific
method. The reason for this is that each of those methods has both its advantages and
disadvantages. This eclecticism is informed, i.e. the teacher knows why she/he is choosing
specific features from specific methods at particular times in his / her lesson.
A balanced activities approach sees the job of the teachers as that of ensuring that
students get variety of activities which foster acquisition and which foster learning. The
program will be planned on the basis of achieving a balance between the different
categories of input and output. This integrated approach is one of the most dominating
factors in language teaching today.
2.1.4.6. Testing – Evaluation
Evaluation is the final phase in the process of developing a language program. As
Yalden (1983) points out this phase has two broad aspects: to evaluate or tests the students

opportunities, and overall supports and encourages the learner” (Morley, 1991). It can be
seen the teacher‟s role is not only to “teach” but to facilitate learning by monitoring and
modifying English at two levels, speech production and speech performance.
2.2.2. History and scope of teaching English pronunciation
The role of pronunciation in different schools of language teaching has varied
widely from having virtually no role in the grammar-translation method to being the main
focus in the audio-lingual method where emphasis is on the traditional notions of
pronunciation, minimal pairs, drills and short conversations (Castillo, 1990).
The “little relationship exists between teaching pronunciation in the classroom and
attained proficiency in pronunciation” was supported by research done by Suter (1976) and
Suter and Purcell (1980) on twenty variables believed to have an influence on
pronunciation. They concluded that pronunciation practice in class had little affect on the
learner‟s pronunciation skills and moreover “that the attainment of accurate pronunciation
in a second language is a matter substantially beyond the control of educators”. They
qualified their findings by stating that variables of formal training and the quality of the
training in pronunciation could affect the results, as the area of pronunciation that had been
emphasized, that is segmental or suprasegmentals. Gilbert (1987) and Pennington (1989)
questioned the validity of Suter and Purcell‟s findings as the factors of formal
pronunciation training and the quality of teaching, if not taken into account, could affect 25
any research results. He stated that there was “no firm basis for asserting categorically that
pronunciation is not teachable or that is not worth spending time on ” It is quite clear
from the research mentioned above that the role of pronunciation training in the learner‟s
language development is widely debated, with researchers such as Suter, Purcell and
Madden (1983) all thinking that pronunciation training is really is relatively ineffective,
and in opposition researchers such as Pennington believing that teachers, with formal
training in pronunciation and teaching suprasegmentals in a communicative language
program, can make a difference. Between these opposing views, Stern (1992) says “there is

The study was conducted at UNETI, 353 Tran Hung Dao street, Nam Dinh City. It
was established in 1956. The students at UNETI are mainly trained to become technicians,
engineers, mechanics, accountants and bankers with different levels (University level,
college level, high school and vocational level). In this study, I only focus on the first-year
students at full-time University level. They have to learn Basic English (New Headway
Pre-Intermediate and Intermediate for four terms) and Toeic for the last two terms. But we
have not used any materials mentioning directly how to pronounce English correctly and
effectively. Of course, at schools these students had no chance to practice pronouncing
English words and speaking skills as well. They were taught English to pass the written
examination at the end of the 12
th
form. And one more reason is that the classes at schools
are often big, consisting of about 45 to 50 pupils, this makes teaching pronunciation more
difficult. Therefore, their knowledge of pronunciation is considered to be poor.
After four years of teaching English at UNETI, I realize that New Headway
materials in which there is a little attention paid to pronunciation. Moreover, in Toeic
materials, there are not any parts for teaching or learning pronunciation. During the lesson,
the teachers may spend a little time on helping their students with pronunciation problems.
Some teachers may even ignore students‟ pronunciation problems simply because of the
pressure of time.
Our University has provided some modern equipment for teachers of English such
as a large lab, cassette recorders, etc. However, with the present syllabuses, these facilities
are not used in the most effective way to better students‟ pronunciation.
3.2. Participants
This study was carried out with the participation of 124 first-year students at full
time University level and 10 teachers of Foreign Language Department (FLD) at UNETI.
* The teachers
We chose all the teachers of from FLD. All of them are female from 24 to 52 years
old. The length of years of teaching English varies from 2 years to 25 years (30% more
than ten years). 2 of them are M.A in ELT or linguistics, 5 of them are attending a

124 copies of the Questionnaire were delivered to the students and fortunately, all of these
copies were returned for analysis.
Through the research on the students‟ expectation and their attitude towards
pronunciation learning, the researcher reckoned that the students wanted a specific and
suitable pronunciation syllabus.
28
3.3.2. Mock speaking test
The researcher carried out the mock speaking test with the participation of 124
students. The format of the mock speaking test allowed the researcher to have a thorough
look into students‟ problems of English pronunciation. The test consisted of two parts:
reading aloud, pronouncing some individual sounds and discussion. For the first part, by
providing an appropriate passage and some individual sounds in that passage for the
students to read and pronounce, the researcher was able to identify almost every
pronunciation mistakes and problems of English pronunciation. For the second part, she
could check the students‟ pronunciation in their real-life speaking. Besides, their natural
way of producing sounds, intonation, stress and linkage were recorded secretly when they
were reading the passage, pronouncing the individual sounds and discussing topics with
their partner.
Based on the results of the mock speaking test, the researcher was able to decide
the content and the length of each unit in the syllabus.
3.3.3. Interview
An interview with 10 teachers of English Department was carried out. The
researcher used the interviews as she could have in-depth information. Before the
interview, the researcher had prepared a set of questions. Additionally, some possible
follow-up questions were also prepared. All the interviews were recorded so that the
researcher could concentrate on observing interviewees‟ behavior without wasting time
taking notes their facial expressions sometimes unveiled more information than words