Some suggestions of how to make active teaching methods more effectively in teaching pronunciation, English 10, 11,12 (basic)

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
 HẬU LỘC 3 UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL
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THE RESEARCH
SOME SUGGESTIONS OF HOW TO MAKE ACTIVE TEACHING METHODS MORE EFFECTIVELY IN TEACHING PRONUNCIATION , ENGLISH 10,11,12 (BASIC )
UNIT 1,2,5,6 (ENGLISH 10): UNIT 9 (ENGLISH 11): UNIT 1 (ENGLISH 12) – LANGGUANGE FOCUS - PRONUNCIATION
 Writer : NGUYỄN THÀNH AN 
 Position : A teacher of English 
 Field : English
 Academic year : 2017 - 2018
 THANH HÓA 2017
 Teaching and learning Pronunciation in high schools
Index
Headings
Pagination
A. Introduction 
Page 1
I. Rationale for the study 
Page 1
II. Aims of the study 
Page 1
III. Scope and object of the study 
Page 2
IV. Methods of the study 
Page 2
B. Content 
Page 2
. I. Theoretical base and realistic base 
Page 2
1.Theoretical base 
Page 2
2. Realistic base 
Page 2
II. The fact of teaching and learning pronunciation in high schools 
Page 3
1.Teaching pronunciation 
Page 3
2. Learning pronunciation 
Page 3
3. Common pronunciation errors 
Page 3
III. Suggested solutions to these above problems 
Page 5
VI. Some effective pronunciation activities 
Page 5
V. The application of some fun activities in teaching certain
pronunciation lessons in high school. 
Page 9
2. Unit 6 (Tieng Anh 10) 
3. Unit 2 (Tieng Anh 10) 
4. Unit 1 (Tieng Anh 10) 
5. Unit 1(Tieng Anh 12) 
6. Unit 9 (Tieng Anh 11) 
7. Unit 5 (Tieng Anh 10) 
Page 11
Page 11
Page 14
Page 17
Page 17
Page 18
C. Conclusion 
Page 18
1. Conclusion 
Page 18,19
2. Suggestions
Page 20
D. Reference books 
Page 21
A. INTRODUCTION
I. Rationale for the study:
English is the fourth most widely spoken native language in the world, and in terms of sheer number of speakers, it is the most spoken official language in the world. It is the primary language used in international affairs. The English language has official status even in nations where it is not the primary spoken language. English is indisputably the primary language of global trade and commerce. In many countries, most tourism authorities and other officials in contact with the public speak English to interact and engage with tourists and immigrants. Knowing English opens job and employment opportunities in many countries and markets. 
In Vietnam, the need of integrating into the world has been increasing due to the open-door policy. More and more Vietnamese people have desired to learn English. That is why English teaching and learning have become very important and significant to our country’s cause of industrialization and modernization. 
Pronunciation is very much a “must” skill for any English language learner. Pronunciation is definitely the biggest thing that people notice when you are speaking English . Knowing grammar and vocabulary are important but useless if you are unable to pronounce those structures or words correctly. Also, native speakers are more likely to understand you, even if you make grammatical mistakes rather than if you make mistakes in pronunciation. Even the simplest words misspoken will keep you from effectively communicating with English speakers. 
Proper English pronunciation is crucial to a student's success, yet it is often neglected in the classroom. Teaching pronunciation is frequently classified as the most neglected aspect of language in English classrooms. Focusing on pronunciation requires dedicating a significant amount of time to practicing, frequently with each student individually. Teachers of English frequently believe this time is better used if dedicated to working on grammar and vocabulary. Regardless of the teaching method that is predominantly used, pronunciation is often considered unimportant. 
The high-school age is late for the acquisition of habits of speech, but more can be accomplished then than at any later time. It should certainly be the desire of the high-school teachers as well as students to correct the many faults of pronunciation which commonly persist until this time.
 In the process of fact teaching at Hau Loc 3 Upper Secondary School, fact teaching in classes , I find that most teachers have been strongly influenced by the traditional methods. Emphasis has been placed on the mastery of language structures rather than on how language is used. Teachers as well as students are used to concentrating on grammatical items. In this research I want to write about the method of teaching and learning pronunciation effectly.
I am very glad to receive the sharing and contributing ideas of colleagues so that I can perfect in the process of applying and teaching facts.
II. Aims of the study:
To report some English pronunciation mistakes commonly made by
Vietnamese learners in general, and high-school students in particular. And
suggest some solutions.
To provide high- school teachers and students of English with classroom
activities for efficient pronunciation teaching and learning.
To give the application of some activities in teaching English pronunciation in certain lessons of high school curriculum.
To widen the writer’s herself knowledge of English pronunciation, and
somehow help her collegues enrich their knowledge as well as improve their
pronunciation teaching methods.
III. Scope and object of the study:
Vietnamese people’s learning English is various in age, purpose, level ....
However, this study is concerned only with the pronunciation teaching and
learning in high schools.
IV. Methods of the study:
Studying textbooks, reference books and documents of the subject.
Observing some pronunciation teaching lessons of the colleagues, discuss
the drawbacks, and find out solutions.
Applying some activities and games in certain pronunciation lessons, make
small tests to see how these activities work.
B. CONTENT
I. Theoretical base and realistic base:
1. Theoretical base
Education and training play an essential role in the preservation,
development and continuation of human civilization. In the era of scientific and
technological revolution nowadays, education and training are becoming the
main motive force for the developmental acceleration and considered as a
determining factor for the success or failure of a nation in international
competitions and for the success of each individual in his life. Thus, the
Government and people of every nation highly appreciate the role of education
and training.
In Vietnam, Article 35 of the current Constitution stipulates: Education is
the first priority of the national policy. The Second Plenary Session of the
Central Party Standing Committee VIII has issued the Resolution on the
strategic orientation for the development of education and training during the
period of industrialization and modernization.
To meet the increasing trends of globalization, the quality of English
teaching and learning in Vietnam should be promoted further especially for
communication.
Pronunciation has an important role in overall communicative
competence. Accordingly, teaching methods, strategies, teniques ... must be
innovated and diversified in English classes, and learning pronunciation should
be fun to all students.
2. Realistic base:
Pronunciation is integral to learning and teaching a language because it
decides how good one’s communicating skill is. And it is neglected in many
classrooms. Thus, making pronunciation lessons more fascinating and less
difficult to learners is extremely essential.
3.In many high schools including the school in which I am working,
pronunciation is really a trouble. Both teachers and students are indifferent to it,
or they do it ineffectively.
II. The fact of teaching and learning pronunciation in high schools
1. Teaching pronunciation:
English teaching in general and pronunciation in particular is strongly
influenced by the traditional approach for which the pronunciation is irrelevant,
focuses only on imitation.
Many teachers are not active enough to study and apply new methods in
teaching especially pronunciation. And there are not few teachers who make
mistakes when pronouncing.
Teaching pronunciation in high schools is the issue to which has not been paid enough attention. In some classes, pronunciation part is even ignored, and that results in students not being able to communicate with others properly in the near future.
2. Learning pronunciation:
There is lack of concern and awareness for pronunciation learning among
high school students. They focus mainly on grammar, reading and writing skill
because what worries them most is their examinations without knowing how
important pronunciation is for their later lives.
Apart from teaching methods of the teachers, the majority of students is
passive in learning. They often find pronunciation difficult and boring to study.
As a result, they do not know how to pronounce words in a correct and proper
way.
Influence of local accent is one of the reasons that make pronunciation
difficult for Vietnamese students.
3. Common pronunciation errors:
Error Type 1: Omission of final consonants
As in the case of several Asian languages, Vietnamese does not contain
words ending with consonants; so naturally, learners are usually very confused
with final consonants and thus end up deleting most of them. The consonants
commonly omitted are: /z/, /s/, /t/, /v/, /ks/, /ʤ/
/z/: tables; rose; rise; bags
/s/: mice; class; mess; rice
/t/: right; fight; hate; fruit; start
/v/: love; drive; retrieve; Steve
/ks/: six; lakes; cooks; hacks
/ʤ /: manage; bridge; engage
Error Type 2: Omission of Medial sounds
Some sounds occurring in the middle of words are also omitted by
Vietnamese learners as such occurrence is an unfamiliar phonetic phenomenon.
These sounds are: /z/, /s/, /t/, /v/, /ks/, /ʤ/
/z/: Wednesday; president; rising
/s/: master; western
/v/: severe; savage; rival; never
/ks/: mixer; Foxtel; excel; vaccine
/ʤ /: pledger; virgin; midget; bludger
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.
/t/: time; task; talent; cutter
/tr/: trash; transit; hatred; tried
/ʤ /: cage; badge; grudge
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/.
/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. Teachers then are strongly advised to provide the students with step-bystep instructions on how to produce these consonants and train their ears to
distinguish between them.
/s/: muscle; person; percent; mouse and rats
/ʃ /(initial): shovel; shine; sheep; shape; shallot
/ʃ /(final): reddish; selfish; cash; rush; tarnish
Error Type 6: Consonants clusters
As formerly stated, the consonants cluster phenomenon is quite unfamiliar to the Vietnamese language and hence complex, so teachers should expect to see plenty of omissions, additions and substitutions occurring in words
with [pr] [pl] [tr] [kr] [kl] [fl] [ks] [sk] [st] [ts] combinations. Teachers need
to spend a considerable amount of time with the students to practice these
sounds as they affect intelligibility dramatically.
/pr/: problem; practice; pronunciation; present
/pl/: place; plough; plane; please; plumber.
/tr/: try; train; trophy; trail; tricky; trace; trim.
/kr/: crane; crab; crime; Kristen; cram; cradle.
/kl/: climb; claim; cloud; clear; Clayton; cluster.
/fl/: fly; fleece; Fletcher; fluke; flirt; fluster.
/ks/: lacks; Max; spikes; takes; seeks, ticks.
/sk/: ask; task; husky; rascal; mascot; risky.
/st/: must; rusty; festival; pastor; best
/ts/: rights; mates; fights; boots; seats; hits
Error Type 7: Voiced-Voiceless distinction
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. It is the
teacher’s responsibility to explain the contrast between voiced and voiceless
consonants as well as the opposition of fortis and lenis as they can play a part in
the voicing and de-voicing process.
/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
/p/: peel; pest; Paul; pie; pan; rip; rope; burp
/g/: goal; gap; gate; ragged; beggar; bag; blog
/k/: coal; cap; Kate; racket; Becker; back; block
Error Type 8: Confusing long sounds for short sounds . /ɪ / for /i:/
Another common mistake resulting of the confusion between spelling and
pronunciation. Vowel /ɪ/ is quite frequently spelled as letter [i] in English and
since Vietnamese rely on spelling to produce the English sounds, they confuse
/ɪ/ for /i/.
/i/: need; read; teat; leave; meat; wheel; seat
/ɪ /: knit; rid; tit; live; mitt; will; sit
Error Type 9: Confusing /æ/ for /ʌ /
This error is among many generated by the learners’ unawareness of the
gap that exists between the English spelling and pronunciation. Vowel /æ/ is
quite often spelled with letter [a] which learners would then read as /ʌ/ or /a/.
Teachers must repeatedly remind the students that English spelling and
pronunciation are two very different things.
/æ/: bad; man day; hat; badge; tramp
/ʌ /: bud; Monday, hut; budge; trump
Error Type 10: Confusing /ʊ / for /u:/
These two vowels are sometimes spelled the same as in [foot] and
[food]. 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.
/u:/: room; tooth; food; mood; rude; wooed
/ʊ /: book; put; foot; hood; could; would
III. Suggested solutions to these above problems
The teachers of English should try their best to improve their knowledge
of pronunciation, and to practise pronouncing everyday for accuracy and
fluency. 
New teaching methods with games should be applied to draw students’
attention to the lessons and bring fun to learning.
Get students listen to the tapes, records or watch videos performed by
native speakers to help them be familiar with native way of pronouncing.
It is essential that the teachers design a variety of interesting activities to
get students practise pronunciation to help them to be aware of the importance
of pronouncing a word correctly in communication.
Below are some activities that can be used in teaching pronunciation in
high schools.
IV. Some effective pronunciation activities
1. Odd One Out.
Prepare a list with sets of three to four words (or pictures) that have the
same vowel sound, plus one somewhere in the middle that is different. For
example, cut, but, nut and put. Divide your class into two teams and have them
form two lines in front of the board. Write the first set of four words on the
board. The students at the front of the line must read the set of words, race to the
board once they have identified the word that sounds different and circle it. The
first student to circle the odd word scores a point for the team.
2. Syllables snap:
Students take turns turning over cards with words written on them from
their packs. If the two words have the same number of syllables, the first person
to say “Snap” and/ or slap their hands down on the cards wins all the cards that
have been turned over so far. The person with most cards at the end of the game
is the winner. This also works with vowel sounds in one syllable words and
word stress.
3. Homophone Go Fish:
This is a game that is best played in pairs or small groups – a really fun
way to practice homophones! Make a list of the homophone pairs you’ll use, and
write each word on a separate index card or piece of paper. Make as many decks
of cards as you’ll need depending on the number of groups you’ll have. Each
group gets a set of cards; each student gets five cards. The remaining cards are
put in a draw pile. The goal of the game is to find the matching homophone by
asking another student if they have “a word that sounds like”. For example
S1: Do you have a word that sounds like “plane”?
S2: Yes, I do. (hands over “plain”)
Now, to keep the matching pair the S1 must use both words correctly in a
sentence or two. If S2 does not possess the homophone he/she has to say, “Go
fish!” And S1 takes a card from the draw pile.
4. Kim’s game:
Prepare about 20 objects (or pictures) involving the sounds students have
learnt. Teams of students look carefully at the things or pictures shown by the
teacher. Students then try to remember and write down what they saw. Teacher
may ask students to read the words aloud to check their pronunciation.
5. Sounds brainstorming board race7
Teams of students try to write as many words with the sound they have
been given on the board as quickly as possible. Each team member can only
write one word before they pass the pen onto someone else, but they can prompt
each other. This also works for number of syllables and word stress.
6. Minimal Pairs picture board race
Prepare 2 sets of minimal pair pictures. Divide the class into two teams
Students take turn try to stick the pictures at the right column on the board. The
one who sticks right has to read the word indicating the picture to get a point for
the team.
7. Sounds same or different
In this variation on Minimal Pairs Stations, rather than indicating which
sound they hear, students indicate if they think two words you say have the same
or different pronunciation. This is good for homophones as well as minimal
pairs. The easiest way to explain the task is to give students pieces of paper with
“Same” and “Different” written on for them to hold up or race to slap.
8. Four in a Row
Divide your class into groups of three to four students. Print out this Four
in a row worksheet (or make your own!) and cut it up into separate cards. In
groups, students must work together to arrange the words into sets of four words
that sound the same. The first team to complete all of the sets wins.
9. Dictation
Dictation is when someone speaks out loud and someone else writes it
down. Getting your students to write down what you say is good listening
practice for them, and when you’re dictating minimal pairs they need to listen
especially carefully. There are a few different dictation activities you can use.
Minimal Pairs Dictation—The teacher reads out minimal pairs in a particular
order and the students write them down. Or the students could have the words
already written down and you could instruct them to put marks, numbers, colors,
etc. on particular words as you read.
Running Dictation—The students work in pairs. One student runs to read the
words or sentences from somewhere farther away, like on the wall outside the
classroom. They then dictate to the other student who writes them down. The
dictation could be single words, minimal pairs or sentences including target
words and sounds.
Fast Dictation—This is where the dicta