I. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
Language is a means helping people to communicate with each others to
understand others properly. However, to master a language is not easy at all.
Most of Ss at my school can not communicate or are not confident enough to
talk to a foreigner in Engligh. The reason is that they canot pronounce English
words correctly which discourages them from talking and communicating in
English. This is very challenging for me, and I have tried my best to find out
reasons which make my ss mispronounce or not pronounce a word correctly.
However, I began to find some simple strategies that worked for them, such as
turning activities into a game. We began to make some progress, and I
discovered some new ways to help older ss build a stronger foundation of
pronunciation. That’ why I chose the topic “The most common errors in
English pronunciation made by the 10th grade students at Yen Dinh 2
Secondary School and some strategies to help them pronounce English words
correctly”.
I hope this will help both teachers and Sts to realize the factors obstacling
the ss in learning English pronunciation, then find out solutions to this problem.
1.2. Purpose of the study
The main purpose of the study is to find out errors made by the 10th form ss
at Yen Dinh II secondary school (YD2SS), in Thanh Hoa province in English
vowel and consonant pronunciation. This also offers some appropriate strategies
to better the current context.
Research questions:
a. What are sound errors in English vowel and consonant pronunciation.that
th
10 grade students at YD2SS often make?
b. What are strategies for teachers to use in teaching to address the issue?
1.3. Scope of the study
This study is conducted among the 10th form Sts at YD2SS during the
school year 2015- 2016.

what a standard pronunciationis. However, it can not be denied that a native-like
English pronunciation is still what non-native learners are looking forward to.
In their research, Streven in Larry Smith’s edition (1983: 88) defines
Standard English as “a particular dialect of English, being the non-localized
dialect, lobal currency withoutany significant variation, universally accepted as
the appropriate educational target in teaching English; which may be spoken
with an unrestricted choice of accent”. So Standard English pronunciation can
be any dialect of English that is widely used and accepted in the world. It is
common knowledge that there are two major varieties (or dialects) of English
that command respect in their countries and elsewhere in the world: RP in the
United Kingdom and General American (GA) English in the United States. They
are the two main dialects for international broadcasts and in social and business
settings. However, Vietnamese people tend to follow non-rhotic accent (like RP
English) in which the /r/ sound is not pronounced at the end of words, so it is
more reasonable to choose RP English as the standard one. In this paper, RP
English will be used as the criteria for students’ pronunciation analyzing. The
International Phonetic Alphabet will also be used to transcribe the speech
sample throughout the research.
2.1.1.2. English sounds
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There are 44 sounds in English. They are divided in to 2 groups: 20 vowel
sounds including 12 voweơls, 8 diphthongs and 24 consonants sounds. This
paper aims to investigate just final sounds, however, sounds system in English
are also presented below to support later analysis.
2.1.1.2.1.Vowel sounds
Vowels are “sounds in the production of which there is no obstruction to the
flow of air as it passes the larynx to the lips” (Roach, 2000:10).
Figure 1: Vowel chart (John, 1998:23)

7. /iə/

– here, hear, beer

8. /uə/

– sure, moor, tour

2.1.1.2.2.Consonant sounds
According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Encyclopedic (1992: 192),
consonants are “speech sounds made by completely or partly stopping the flow
of air breathed out through the mouth”. Consonant sounds differ from consonant
letters. In Wikipedia Dictionary, it is said that “the number of consonants in the
world’s languages is much greater than the number of consonant letters in any
one alphabet”. Those consonant letters like c, q and x are missing as they are
found in other sounds. (The C letter is found in the k sounds and in the s sound
in words like cereal, city and cent. The q letter is found in ‘kw’ words like

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backwards). Kelly (2000) and Roach (2000) categorized the 24 consonants into
6 groups:
•Plosive
•Fricative
•Affricative
•Nasal
•Lateral
•Approximant
Here under is the table of consonant sounds

2.1.2.1. What is pronunciation error?
In language learning, making errors is an inevitable part that can not be
avoided. People can not learn language without first systematically committing
errors (Dulay, Burt and Krashen, 1982). Before embarking on Error Analysis, it
is crucial to discuss the definition of the term “errors.” In linguistic field, errors
are defined by researchers as “flawed side of learner speech or writing” (Burt
and Krashen, 1982:138). In pronunciation, errors are defined as the
incompetence in language and incorrect pronunciation that may affect
intelligibility in communication (Nguyen, 2007). Because in this new era,
English is the common means of communication all over the world, it is not
always defined as an error when people speak dissimilarly from native speakers.
So the definition that seems more precise is according to Jenkins (2006: 36) in
Nguyen (2007) pronunciation errors are “variants of pronunciation which
prevent one communicator from understanding the propositional content of the
other’s utterances”
Until the late 1960s, errors were considered as a sign of learning failure that
could not be tolerated (Little Lewood, 1984). Although nowadays people have a
more tolerant view toward errors in language learning, still they should be paid
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particular attention so that non-native speakers can achieve the best result in
communication. Richards (1971) acknowledges two different kinds of errors:
performance errors, caused by, such as, fatigue and inattention, and competence
errors resulting from lack of knowledge of the rules of the language. Corder
(1967) in his research proposes different terminologies for these two kinds of
errors and stresses that we must make a clear distinction between mistakes and
errors; the former refers to non-systematic performance errors of chance
circumstances, whereas the latter can be defined as “the systematic errors of the
learner from which we are able to reconstruct his knowledge of the language to

/s/: master; western
/v/: severe; savage; rival; never
Error Type 3: Replacing /t/ /tr/ /dʒ/ with /tʃ/
A significantly common error committed by Vietnamese learners is to replace
/t/ /tr/ & /ʤ/, with /ʧ/. That shows that learners struggle greatly with the concept
of combining purely alveolar sounds with post palatal ones. Examples:
/t/: time; task; talent; cutter
/tr/: trash; transit; hatred; tried
Error Type 4: Confusing /ð/ for /d/ or /z/
Vietnamese learners find it difficult as most English learners to place the tongue
tip between the teeth, so they resort to an easier solution that is to bring the tip
into contact with the back of the teeth or alveolar sometimes in the form of /d/ or
/z/.
Example: ð/: weather; loathe; then; rather
Error Type 5: Confusing/ʃ/ for /s/Or/s/ for /ʃ/
Vietnamese learners use /s/ and /ʃ/ interchangeably, however, based on my
classroom experience, I have found that /ʃ/ is more commonly confused for /s/
especially when it is the initial sound in a word as in [shoe], which becomes
[sue] and sometimes when it’s final as in [cash] which becomes [Cass]. There
are times when the opposite is true but more commonly when /s/ is located in
the middle of the word as in [castle] which sounds as [cashol?]. Due to the lack
of distinction between the two sounds, it’s very difficult to establish a pattern of
error. Examples: /s/: muscle; person; percent; mouse and rats
/ʃ/(initial): shovel; shine; sheep; shape; shallot
/ʃ/(final): reddish; selfish; cash; rush; tarnish
Error Type 6: /dʒ/
Since /dʒ/ is one form of consonants cluster (/d/ + /ʒ/), Vietnamese confuse it
with a number of other consonants most commonly as follows: /j/ /d/ /s/ /t/ /z/
/ʧ/./dʒ/ then, as mentioned in TYPE 1, is normally either omitted when it’s the
final sound in a w ord, or substituted for one of the consonants mentioned in the

help the learners drop the nasality when attempting to produce that sound as
well as free the sides of the tongue while keeping contact between the tip and
the alveolar ridge.
/l/ (initial): light; lace; lead; laugh; learn
/l/ (medial): fault; rolling; falling; swollen; really
/l/ (final): recall; fall; roll; available; identical
Error Type 10: Voiced-Voiceless distinction

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In English, frequent shifts between voiced and voiceless consonants are required
to distinguish between certain words. Such mechanism does not exist and is not
required in Vietnamese, thus, constitutes a complex problem
/v/: live; serve; Dave; leave; vile; volt; oven
/f/: life; surf; Tafe; leaf; file; fault; often
/b/: beal; best; ball; bye; ban; rib; robe; burb
Error Type 11: Confusing /θ/ for /t/ or /s/
As voiced /ð/ is confused for /d/ or /z/, voiceless /θ/ is confused for /t/ or /s/.
Teachers must advise the learners to place the tongue tip between the teeth
without biting or moving the lips down. For many learners, it is simply odd or
embarrassing to have the tongue visible to others. Also, most often, the problem
for English learners is to be able to produce either /ð/ or //θ/ smoothly along with
/s/ /z/ /t/ /d/ and mainly other alveolar sounds
Examples : θ/: both; Ruth; math; teeth; thick; thin; bath
/t/: boat; root; mat; teat; tick; tin; bat
/θ/: path; faith; thought; forth; growth; thank.
/s/: pass; face; sought; force; gross; sank.
Error Type 12: Confusing /j/ for /z/
For learners from the south, or central provinces of Vietnamese, /j/ in word

Teachers must explain the difference between lax VS tense as well as short VS
long vowels and conduct some minimal pairs’ exercises to drill these sounds and
assist learners in distinguishing between them. Examples
u:/: Room; tooth; food; mood; rude; wooed
/ʊ/: Book; put; foot; hood; could; would
Error Type 17: Confusing /ɝ/ for /ɔː/
Vowel /ɝ/ is quite difficult for most English learners including Vietnamese and
is usually mispronounced as /ɔː/ which could considerably affect the speech
intelligibility.
ɝ/: First; sir; burn; curl; work; learn; worm
/ɔː/: Forced; soar; born; call; walk; lawn; warm
Error Tyope 18: Confusing/eɪ/ for /e/
Diphthongs are very complex sounds as they require combining one vowel and
one consonant in one sound and these combinations are unfamiliar to the
Vietnamese learners who typically end up dropping consonant /j/ and retaining
vowel /e/.
/eɪ/: fade; date; wait; trained; bake; cane; wage
/e/: fed; debt; wet; trend; beck; Ken; wedge
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Error Type 19: Confusing/oʊ/ for /ɔː/
Vowel /oʊ/ is another diphthong involving vowel /o/ and consonant /w/ and as in
TYPE 18, only the vowel is retained while the consonant is dropped. Teachers
must encourage the learners to round their lips at the end of that sound after
pushing them forward for /ɔː/.
Examples : /oʊ/: Wrote; old; boat; coat; mode; road; showed
Error Type 20: Confusing the schwa sounds/ə/ or /ɚ/
One of the most important English sounds yet most neglected by teachers is the
schwa sound. This smallest sound in the English language is crucial for

Most of them could not distinguish the differences between these sounds. When
my students have spoken these types of words, they associate these words as
illustrating the same sound.
When teaching, I took some minimal pair words, such as "seat" and "sit",
"sheep" and "ship", “foot” and “food”. I tried to lengthen the longsound for
them to listen, so that they could recognize the differences.
Problem with /e/ versus /æ/
My students cannot identify the vowel /e/ and /æ/, such as in bed and bad (Avery
and Ehrlich, p. 156). The confusion between /e/ and /æ/ may be considered as
the most serious problem that Vietnamese speakers encounter when they learn to
speak English vowels. They cannot identify the differences. Learners usually
make numerous mistakes with these sounds. According to Avery and Ehrlich,
"students often pronounce these two vowels in exactly the same way. Most
commonly, students fail to lower their tongue and jaw far enough in attempting
to produce the /æ/ sound" (p. 99).
Confusion between /ʌ / and /ə /
These two sounds are somewhat easier to recognize than the vowel sounds as
discussed above. However, in some certain instances, they still demonstrate
mispronunciation of them. For instance, the word ‘love,' may be pronounced
as /ləv/
2.3.2. Problems with consonants
Sound ommited: /l,/ /ʤ// r/, /s/, /i/, /ei/,/ k / at medial position or z, s, t, v, ks,
ʤ at final position.
The most common errors were sound omission in which omission of
ending sounds were more frequent than others. It is easy to understand why
ending sounds were omitted so frequently, because in Vietnamese speakers do
not have to pronounce the ending sounds. In addition, some of the sounds, such
as /ʒ, ʤ, ʧ / are really hard for Vietnamese learners to pronounce especially
when these sounds occur at the end of words.
Sound confusion ; /t/=/ ʧ /, tr = ʧ, ð = z/d, ʃ = s, ʤ = /j/d/s/t/z/ʧ/, s = /ʃ/ʒ/, p = b;

Secondly: Listening: If you haven’t heard the sounds, you can’t reproduce them.
Therefore, T should play tape as much as possible so that Sts can listen much.
They can know and remember how words are exactly pronounced by a native
speaker. Good foreign ESL teachers do model the target language, before asking
students to produce it. But it’s not enough. When sts learn English, they should
hear phrases hundreds or even thousands of times before they speak them. But in
Vietnam, students are asked to produce after one or two hearings. Once again, if
they don’t listen, they can’t learn the target language and won’t be able to
reproduce it
Thirdly, learners should be given enough practice both inside and outside
classroom. This may help them become more fluent and automatic in
pronouncing the sounds. Practice makes perfect and can be done in the forms
of a variety of exercises and games.Consequencely, in terms of teaching, a
teacher should give students as many speaking practices as possible and help
them correct the prononciation.At the same time, teacher can use these books to
teach pronunciation and teacher can suggest students using these to get more
practices as well: Pronunciation Tasks, English Pronunciation in Use,
Understanding English pronunciation, Three or Tree, Ship or Sheep,
American Training etc. Besides, above is just a very general suggestion, teachers
also should recognize the level of the students so that teacher can have the best

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teaching method.
pronunciation:

Here are

some

communicate with a native speaker or speakers so that they feel more
confident that they are actually learning from authentic sources.
2.5. Applying suggestions in teaching pronunciation for 10th grade sts
I myself have applied these suggestions in teaching pronunciation. I often
oen tape so that my sts can listen to native speakers ‘pronunciation. In addition, I
download videos teaching how to pronounce sounds. Besides, I ask sts to act out
plays in which sts practice conversations containing target sounds........Below is
one of my lessons in which I have applied some ways to improve the
pronunciation to my Sts

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UNIT 3 : PEOPLE’S BACKGROUND
E. PRONUNCIATION

I/ Aims: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to :
* Distinguish two sounds /e/ and /æ/
* Produce sounds /e/ and /æ/ accurately
* Use words containing these sounds to form sentences and use them in
conversation
II/ Teaching aids: handouts, colorchalk, pictures, radio, cassette tape
III/ Methods: Integrated, giving instruction (30%) and communicative
(70%)
IV/ Anticipated problems: Level of students may be different, maybe time
have to be given more to those slow ones.
V/ PROCEDURE (10 minutes)
Teacher’s activities
Ss’ activities
* T introduce the sound and give

difference between them.
Giving sample and instruction:

- Write down two sounds.

– Write two sounds on the board and
pronounce them clearly twice, then ask sts
to repeat.
– Reviews how to pronounce two sounds.
T sticks the image on the board
- Sts look at the board and listen to
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T to see the difference between two
sounds

The clearest difference is that /e/ is spoken
with a wider, more stretched mouth. You
can make this clear by seeing how your
mouth gets wider and wider as you go
from /æ/ to /e/ to /i:/.

.

– Calls some Ss to read sounds aloud and
makes correction.
- T writes down more pairs :
Axe- X
Back- bek


individually

- Move around to conduct the activity.
- Ask one st to report and other sts to give
remarks.

- Answers:
/e/

/æ /

red

fat

- Ask some sts to read these sentences
aloud.

pen

man

- Listen and give remarks.

sent

handbag

c. T opens the tapes with words

st
10A1 1 term
5%
`17 %
68 %
10 %
nd
10A1 2 term
10 %
33 %
53 %
4%
st
10A10 1 term
0%
5%
14%
81 %
nd
10A10 2 term
3%
8%
19 %
70 %
Excellent : 9-10 points
Quite good: 7-8,9 points
Average: 5-6,9 points
Bad: < 5 points

16

Yên Định, ngày 15 tháng 05 năm
2016
Tôi xin cam đoan đây là sáng kiến
kinh nghiệm của mình viết, không sao
chép nội dung của người khác.
Người thực hiện

Lê Thị Sáu

17


REFERENCES
Celce – Murcia, M & Brinton, D.M. & Goodwin, J.M. 1996 Teaching
Pronunciation A
Reference to Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Langugages. Cambridge
University Press.
Lê Quang Thiêm ( 2004). Nghiên Cứu Đối Chiếu Các Ngôn Ngữ. Hà Nội : Nhà
xuất bản đại học quốc gia Hà Nội
Avery, & Ehrlich. (1992). Teaching American English pronunciation. Oxford:
University Press.
Celce-Murcia, M., & Brinton, D. M., & Goodwin (1996). Teaching
pronunciation: A reference for teachers of English to speakers of other
languages. Cambridge University Press.
Honey P. J. (1987). Vietnamese speakers. In M. Swan & B. Smith, Learner
English: A teacher's guide to interference and other problems. (1st ed., pp. 243248). London: Cambridge University Press.
Nation, I. S. P., & Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL listening and speaking.
New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis.
Christian, P. (2002) Surname Variation and Surname Matching Algorithms.
Cook, A. (1991) American Accent Training. Matrix Press.