5 th vttn hanoi january 2009 tackling common pronunciation errors of the vietnamese english...

5th VTTN Hanoi January 2009

Tackling Common Pronunciation Errors of the

Vietnamese English Learners.

Tran Thi Lan, Ph.D

Hanoi University

lantt08@fpt.vn, lantt@hanu.edu.vn

Background

Previous talk on Essential pronunciation to the Vietnamese – list of problems

• Experts from the field: TESL-L voices on pronunciation, BBC English learning website.

• Feedback by teachers from English Dept. HCM University of Pedagogy. www.khoaanh.hcmup.edu.vn

Briefing on feedback

Useful, helpful, interesting

Time-consuming, consistent, needing more effort and patience

Challenging, difficult to put into practice (rules re. voiced/unvoiced; long-short vowels, consonant clusters etc., regional accent, end of words etc.) but

Important, early treatment (needing more writings with focus on languages distinction)

Major objective

To tackle common problems of the Vietnamese

How to go?

•Defining errors: How? How long to define them (if any)? How long to correct errors?

•Defining your own attitude toward errors.

•Correction

How to identify students’ problems?

Interviews, talks (e.g. records): teacher- students, students-students, students reveal their own problems

Quick, easy, friendly and most importantly: learner-focused class)

[E.g. from a tape. ]

Listen – define student’s problems

Common Errors

Dyslexic:

Northern dialect: /l/ and /n/, /S/ and /s/

Central Dialect: /r/ and /d3/

Southern dialect: /q/ and /g/

All regions: /ð/ and /t/ and /õ/- unvoiced and /f/

Intonation

Stress

YOU

How do you want your students to sound in English?

• Perfect? Native like?• Which native? US? UK? Or else?

• Standard? RP? TV, Radio?

• Clear to understand and be understood? Regardless of accents, registers?

How do you want to correct your students’ mistakes? always? Every mistake? Directly? TPR? Or else?

Rod Bolitho

Some questions for teachers:

• Is your own pronunciation perfect? Does it need to be?• If you are a non-native speaker, how do you like the

way you sound in English?•What do you do to help your learners tune into

English?• How do you respond when a learner mispronounces

a word?

•Main ways to deal with common errors (demonstration with tapes, exercises)

•Place of articulation

•Drilling, imitation, backward vocalizing

•Analogue with Vietnamese or whatever language the learners know

•Other…

Place of articulation

/l/ and /n/ (tape)

/b/ and /p/

/õ/ and /ð/

/q/, /g/, /w/, and /v/

/t/, /p/

/k/

Backward vocalizing

With long words:

Establish

Disestablish

Disestablishment

Anti-disestablishment

Antidisestablishmentarian

Antidisestablishmentarian

Antidisestablishmentarianism

Drilling (tape)

La la la la la / na na na na na

Tha tha tha tha tha

Tho tho tho tho tho

Thy thy thy thy thy

Ra ra ra ra ra ro ro ro ro ro

Sha sha sha sha sha sho sho sho sho sho

Ta ta ta ta ta to to to to to

Ba ba ba ba ba po po po po po etc.

Sta sto sto stu, stra stro stru stry etc.

Analogue with Vietnamese and other foreign languages

/s/ and Vietnamese /x/

/z/ and Vietnamese /d/

/S/ and Vietnamese /s/ or French /ch/

/g/ and /d3/: a, o, u and i, e, y like the case of g –gh; ng-ngh (Vietnamese)

c as /k/, /s/, and / S/

Ch as /k/, /S/ and /ts/ (separated sheets)

Classifying errors

Permanent errors: ends of words

Recognizable errors by speakers

Unrecognizable errors by speakers

Can be tackled easily

Can’t be tackled immediately

Conclusion: clarifying some concepts

Purpose of teaching English pronunciation:

• To make sounds clear to the listeners, not native-like (disadvantage of lack of accent – TESL-L experiences)

• To be able to understand others.

Select one variety but make learners aware of other varieties.

• Being consistent – key point for teachers

Phonemic chart with sounds

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/resources/pronunciation/phonemic-chart

Thank you for your attention!