Title: “Teaching vocabulary by using phonetic transcriptions to improve students’ pronunciation at Trieu Son 3 high school”

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION & TRAINING
 TRIEU SON 3 HIGH SCHOOL
 =~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=
EXPERIENCE INNOVATION
TITLE:
“TEACHING VOCABULARY BY USING PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTIONS TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ PRONUNCIATION AT TRIEU SON 3 HIGH SCHOOL”
Implemented by:: Nguyen Minh Hai
Position: Teacher
Work place:: Trieu Son 3 High School
Experience innovation of subject: English
THANH HOA, YEAR 2017
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page 1
1. INTRODUCTION
2
1.1. Reasons for choosing the research
1.2. Aims of the research
1.3. Scope and object
1.4. Researching method
2. CONTENT
2.1. The reasoning basis of the theme
The role of the mother tongue
3
Age factor 
Motivation
Learner’s attitude and sense of identity
2.2. The real situation of the matter
4
2.3. Some methods to solve the problem 
A. Teaching English sounds.
5
3.1. Teaching vowels:
Teaching diphthongs:
6
Teaching consonants:
7
B. Different activities to motivate students in learning vocabulary.
8
Listen and repeat:
Isolation:
Minimal pairs:
Show a vowel diagram:
Sing:
9
 Tongue twisters:
C. Apply the methods in some lessons.
10
Teaching Unit1 and Unit 13 of grade 10 English textbook
2.4. The result
11
3. CONCLUSION
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Reasons for choosing the research:
Although there are thousands of languages but millions of people speak English as their mother tongue. Moreover, millions of others use English as their second language or an international language when communicating with people all around the world. With the help of the developing technology, English has been playing an important role in many sectors including medicine, engineering and education. Particularly, as a developing country, Vietnam needs to make use of this world- wide spoken language in order to prove its international power. This can merely be based on the efficiency of education. Therefore, English is a compulsory subject applied in the Upper secondary Education system in Vietnam.
With the question “What is the destination of the language?” The answer is - “to communicate”. What do students learn English for? They learn English for the same reasons. Our job is to provide them with the basic skills that they will need to practice the language and to make sure that they have the basic knowledge and skills that they need for future study. In the process of teaching skills at my school, I have to face to unintelligible pronunciation of some students. Intelligible pronunciation is essential during a listening process. If the pronunciation is clear and accurate, it will make the conversation more comfortable and help to avoid misunderstandings for both the speaker and the listener. Therefore, I decided to focus this paper on teaching pronunciation that is not only aimed at pronunciation teaching process but also at helping my students to be clearly and easily understood by others. The subject of this paper is “teaching vocabulary by using phonetic transcriptions to improve students’ pronunciation at Trieu Son 3 high school”.
1.2. Aims of the research:
To show some factors affecting students’ pronunciation.
To show some mistakes students often have. 
To show the usefulness of the phonetic symbols.
To show how to pronounce English sounds with the phonetic symbols.
Give students confidence in learning and correcting their pronunciation.
1.3. Scope and object:
- Researching in the process of teaching English at my classes.
- This subject is concerned with ways of using the phonetic transcription effectively for students of tenth grade. 
1.4. Researching method: Reading reference books; discussing with other teachers; applying in teaching; observing and drawing out experiences.
2. CONTENT
2.1. The reasoning basis of the theme:
My paper has been based on some of the author's linguistic papers [Gilakjani, 2011 & 2012; Jones, 1997; Collier,1988; Dörnyei, 1994; Oxford & Shearin, 1994; Fraser, 2001]. 
These studies show the factors that affect the pronunciation of students such as:
- Firstly, The role of the mother tongues:
The mother tongue is the first reason that affects students’ pronunciation. Pronunciation problems may occur when non-native speakers communicate because speakers are used to sounds that exist in their mother tongue but may not exist in the target language. There are many sounds that do exist or are similar in English and Vietnamese, however, there are sounds that are very different or do not exist in Vietnamese. Students have problems with pronunciation mainly due to the fact that our native tongue may not have a particular sound. In the system of phonetic transcriptions, it is not easy for the Vietnamese to pronounce some consonants such as: / δ / , / θ /, /z/ , /s/ / ή /.... . Furthermore, when an English word has many syllables, one of them is always pronounced more strongly. This is called word stress, and we say that the syllable is stressed. It is the stress and the intonation that make an influence on students’ pronunciation.
- Secondly, the Age factor: 
It is believed that first grade students learning second language with adequate exposure to the target language can attain near native-like pronunciation. We can say that it is important to start teaching pronunciation at the beginning of second language learning since first grade students can attain near native-like pronunciation with ease. This means that during the critical period a second language is acquired naturally and more easily since the brain is more flexible. 
- Thirdly, Motivation:
Motivation appears to be a very influential factor as some of students are more concerned about their pronunciation than others. Their desire to attain good pronunciation, usually influenced by their sense of responsibility, helps them to achieve comprehensible pronunciation. Some factors make students motivated to pronounce well: The factors that make students motivated to work on their pronunciation: 
• Students want to improve themselves 
• Students want to become a part of the target language community 
• Students need their speech to be intelligible to their teachers 
• Students want to improve their employment in the future.
• Students want to improve their everyday communication skill. 
- Fourthly, Learner’s attitude and sense of identity: 
In the process of language teaching, teachers cannot influence students’ age, motivation, nor can they have control over their attitude or sense of identity. If students do not like the target language for any reason, they can subconsciously build up negative attitudes towards the language, which subsequently prevent them not only to achieve comprehensible pronunciation but also to learn the language itself.
2.2. The real situation of the matter:
Most students in Trieu Son 3 high school have been affected by the factors mentioned as mother tongue; age; motivation; Attitude and self-consciousness. In addition, they have some mistakes in pronunciation such as:
- Most of our students have bad habits in pronouncing English words. Especially, such sounds as: / ei ; t∫; ʤ; ʒ; θ; ℧ə; æ; ŋ;../. 
- They confuse between the sounds /dʒ/ and /t∫/ or even never pronounce the sound /dʒ/ at the end of the word as the word (Change).
- Students are used to omitting the sound /s/. It makes the listeners misunderstand what they say. 
- Many students cannot distinguish the voiced and voiceless sounds. This happens even though pronunciation and signs of pronunciation are taught in an ordered and systematic way in each unit in the syllabus of the English language in senior high school level.
- The final sounds in English are very important to tell what the word means. Students, for instance, do not pronounce the ending sounds /t, θ, k, s, E, z; l, n, f, etc/. 
- Some students cannot pronounce the sounds/ə℧; a℧ / appropriately such as the word (go / now).
From the above situation, I have been teaching vocabulary through phonetic symbols.
a. Phonetic symbols help students use dictionaries effectively. 
b. Students can become independent learners. They can find out the pronunciation of words by themselves without asking the teacher.
c. Phonetic symbols are arranged in a chart. Just as they have a grammar table for grammar and a word store for vocabulary, students need reference material for pronunciation too: the phonetic symbols are simple, keywords that show the sound of each symbol
2.3. Some methods to solve the problem:
Because of the factors that affect students’ pronunciation, some common mistakes of the students as well as the roles of the phonetic transcriptions, I have applied some methods that help students improve their pronunciation effectively in learning vocabulary.
A. TEACHING ENGLISH SOUNDS:
At the beginning of the school year, teachers should copy a phonetic symbol board. It is better for us to copy the source from school textbooks and give the Vietnamese sound equivalent beside each sound. 
I. Vowels: 22	
1. Short vowels: 9
di
U
 cat cup ten about sit got put happy actual 
2. Long vowels: 5
	 father fur see saw too
3. Diphthongs: 8
 now hair near pure my say boy go 
II. Consonants: 24	
Voiced consonants: 15
/b/ 
bin, lab 
//
gene, jar, gradual 
/m/ 
man, ham 
//
leisure, vision
/v/ 
vine, live 
/r/ 
rip, narrow, year 
/ð/ 
this, bathe, either 
/j/
year, young 
/d/ 
den, lid, hugged 
/g/ 
get, leg 
/z/ 
zoo, easy, lose, eggs 
/ŋ/ 
sing, anger, anchor 
/n/ 
pin, manner, listen 
/w/ 
witch, which, reward 
/l/ 
lip, sell, castle 
 2. Voiceless consonants: 9
/p/ 
pin, spin, lap 
/s/ 
sin, kiss, lips 
/t/ 
talked, stone, lit, 
// 
shin, mission, nation, fish, machine 
/k/ 
kin, call, lick, chemical 
// 
church, nature 
/f/ 
fin, if 
/h/ 
hip, home, how
/θ/ 
thin, both
2.3.1. Teaching vowels: (illustration)
* Method 1: 
- Drawing the symbols on the board and eliciting whether any of the students know them. After drilling the sounds a few times, students will then attempt to write the correct spelling of certain words from the phonemic script.
=> For example, after drilling the sounds of /i:/, /ɪ/, /ʊ/, and /u:/ students would then have to write the word under the phonemic script 
 1) /bi:k/     2) /bɪn/        3) /bʊk/      4) /blu:/
 (beak)        (bin)            (book)        (blue)
* Method 2: 
- The focus is on minimal pairs. I systematically go through the chart and focus on two symbols (normally quite similar) per-class. I use this minimal pair’s website and find four or five words with each sound and write them on the board. Before telling students the sound, they have to separate the words into two groups.
=> For example, I may write the following words on the board randomly.
  see, she, knee, eat, tree
 	 fit, ship, lit, chip, bin
- Students then have to separate the word into the correct group under the sounds of /i:/ and /ɪ/. I will then write the symbols of each sound and they will record them in their notebooks.
- I also give them a phonemic chart so that they can write a word under each symbol.
2.3.2. Teaching diphthongs:
A quick way of teaching them is to cut each of the diphthong symbols in two and then do a dictation activity where they have to put the symbols together. 
So cut up each of these symbols: /ɪə/, /ʊə/,  /eə/,  /eɪ/, /ɔɪ/,  /aɪ/,  /əʊ/, /aʊ/ and then give each pair a set and dictate each symbol. We can dictate the sounds in the order above so they notice how the diphthongs end.
2.3.3. Teaching consonants:
A lot of the consonants are similar to the alphabet so students can normally figure out which words go with the sounds. However, there are a few consonants sounds that need to be taught. 
- A good way is to use the following table:
p
b
t
d
ʧ
ʤ
k
g
f
v
θ
ð
s
z
ʃ
ʒ
m
n
ŋ
h
l
r
w
j
- Get the students to match these words to the symbols, but only to those which are similar to the transcripts above.
dog
Germany
cat 
ghost
fry 
violet 
snake 
television 
moon 
nose  
light 
rabbit
worm
yes
ball  
table
house 
three
zoo  
shoe
fishing 
pen 
chicken  
then
- They would find it easy and get the following results:
p
b
t
d
ʧ
ʤ
k
g
pen
ball
table
dog
cat
ghost
f
v
θ
ð
s
z
ʃ
ʒ
fry
violet
snake
zoo
m
n
ŋ
h
l
r
w
j
moon
nose
house
light
rabbit
worm
yes
Then we have to teach them the difference between the following sounds. The difference is that one is voiced and the other is unvoiced.
Voiceless
Voiced
ʧ - chicken 
ʤ- Germany
θ – three
ð – then
ʃ - shoe    
ʒ - television
ŋ -
sing, anger, anchor 
- They normally get the nasally /ŋ/ sound in (fishing).
Once we have taken our own actions, this is a good order to carry out the operation.
Show the action and mouth movements to the students (without making the sound).
Ask them to copy the action, pay special attention to their mouth. Make sure that they have the correct shape.
Students listen as we do the action and make the sound 3 times.
Students copy the action and make the sound.
Do some individual drilling.
Ask students which two words have the sound and write them up next to the symbol. Students copy the words.
Repeat for the next symbol.
Don’t forget to recap all the sounds and symbols each time (repetition is key)
B. DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES TO MOTIVATE STUDENTS IN LEARNING VOCABULARY.
Besides the sound, we can teach students accurate pronunciation by giving them information on the pronunciation of difficult words. We can possibly give Vietnamese transcription equivalents of the words provided. Students can learn, step by step, each of the international phonetic symbols and this will help them practice pronouncing at home by themselves without any problems. We can use variety in our pronunciation lessons and our students will be more successful with English pronunciation and gain the confidence that comes with it by these activities:
2.3.4. Listen and repeat:
This will be the first and most common method of teaching sound specific pronunciation in English.  If we are teaching a long word with multiple syllables, start with the final syllable of the word. Then add the penultimate syllable and ask our students to repeat after us. Work backwards in this manner until our students are able to pronounce the entire word correctly.
2.3.5. Isolation:
Show a special sound from any other words and ask students to read along with the teacher. This helps students who are having difficulty identifying specific sounds. 
=> For example: /ʃ/ + /I/ = she 
2.3.6. Minimal pairs:
Minimal pairs are a great way to focus pronunciation on just one sound. If you are not familiar with linguistics, a minimal pair is two words that vary in only one sound. / i:/ and /I/
=> For example: see, she, knee, eat, tree
 	 fit, ship, lit, chip, bin
2.3.7. Show a vowel diagram: (See the illustration of method1 below)
If we are using phonetic symbols to help you teach vowel pronunciation, a diagram of where each English vowel sound is produced can be eye opening for your students. Print copies to distribute in class or show your students where they can find this diagram online. When students know which area of the mouth in which they should be making their sounds, they may have an easier time distinguishing between similar sounds because they are produced in different areas of the mouth.
2.3.8. Sing:
Singing is a good way to practice their vowel pronunciation, as it maintains vowels for more than a second and gives students the opportunity to focus on the target sound and adjust what sound she/he is making.
Create excitement for students with a number of songs such as “Love paradise” or “Hello” etc
2.3.9. Tongue twisters:
Try some tongue twisters. This can be a fun way to practise sounds with older students. Here are some popular English tongue twisters.
=> For example: + She sells sea shells on the sea shore
 + A proper copper coffee pot
=> Notes: However, when we apply these methods we should pay attention to these things: 
When students are unsure of pronunciation, ask them to mark the signs of pronunciation above or under the words in their textbooks and then learn them by heart. Study the signs of pronunciation given thoroughly.
 Practice pronunciation frequently to get it fluent. Students should listen to the cassette tapes; radio or English TV programs regularly to verify the way to pronounce the words they have already learnt.
Whenever meeting a strange word, ask students to learn the sign(s) of its pronunciation by heart as well as its meanings.
Give compliments to students by rewarding them with extra encouraging marks. Ask them to write down the phonetic symbols on a large sheet of paper and put it in a special place so that they can see it every day.
Encourage students to mark directly the signs of pronunciation of the words beside the words as many times as they can in order that when they see them, the way to pronounce comes to them spontaneously.
 Give students short paragraphs or beautiful sentences to learn by heart in each unit. Make sure they are not given the paragraphs that are too long or too difficult.	
C. APPLY THE METHOD IN SOME LESSONS:
2.3.10. According to grade 10 English textbook [Van, Hoa, Minh, Phuong & Tuan, 2006] - Unit 1: A day in the life of..
 Part E: Language focus
- Teaching vocabulary (10 minutes) 
 Teacher’s activities 
- Write the words on the boards: 
exciting, heat, hit, beat, bit, meat, little, repeat, kick, read, click, eaten, interest, cheap, historical, see, expensive, convenient, police,
- Ask students look at the words on the board and guess the sounds in each word.
- Ask students:
 * Are there any differences between two letters “i” and “i:” ?
- Read the words and ask students to write the transcriptions
- Ask students write on the board
- Correct
/i:/
/i/
cheap, heat, convenient, repeat, read, eaten, beat, police, meat, see
historical, hit, bit, exciting, little, kick, interest, expensive,
- Read and ask students to repeat.
 Students’ activities
- Look at the board and remember
- Guess the sounds and syllables in each word.
- Answer: yes/no
- Listen and take notes
- Write on the board
- Correct and take notes
- Listen and repeat
* Unit 13: Films and Cinema
 Part E: Language focus
- Teaching vocabulary (10 minutes)
 Teacher’s activities 
- Write the words on the boards and explain the sounds in the words.
/ ƒ / → fan, photograph, enough, 
/ v / → van, view, Stephen,.
- Read and distinguish all the sounds
/ ƒ / and / v / 
- Ask students to give some other words having similar sounds.
- Read words and ask students to repeat.
E.g: 	T: fan, photograph, enough,...
 T: van, view, Stephen,.
 Students’ activities
- Look at the board and remember
- Distinguish the sounds / ƒ / and
 / v /
 - Tell some words having similar sounds
- Read the words
2.4. The result:
Applying these methods in teaching vocabulary at my school, I find that students have made great progress in learning English. They have been improved not only the words but also pronunciation. Many students are more excited and more active in learning. Lessons are becoming livelier and livelier in the class. Besides, almost my students remember the words after the lessons especially, they are able to look up new words in the dictionaries and pronounce the words themselves correctly. Moreover they find it easier to make stress as well as where the stress is. According to the observation and evaluation from Unit1 and Unit 13, there are about 80% to 85% of the new words that are learned at home and memorized in the classroom quickly by my students.
3. CONCLUSION
Teaching is like an art and the teachers play an important role in training students. Therefore, the teachers are always creative to explore effective methods so that their students can achieve the knowledge effectively and feel self-confident when communicating. 
W