A study on pronunciation

DECLARATION

I prove that this thesis is the result of my own research and the substance of the thesis has not, wholly or in part, been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution.

Son La April 25th, 2009

Pham Thi Lan Huong

















ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

On the completion of my graduation paper, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Do Thanh Tra M.A – the lecturer of English in the foreign language department, who gave me very carefully detailed comments and suggestions which helped me complete this study.
I would like especially to acknowledge the assistance and encouragement of all my teachers in the foreign language department.
I would like to give my thank to both teachers and 12th form students at To Hieu upper-secondary school who gave their time to complete my questionnaires and freely shared information and ideas about all aspects of pronunciation teaching and learning.
My sincere thanks to my friends who help me a lot in gathering documents, expressions and instruction comments to may study.
I am also grateful to my family members who encouraged me a lot to carry out this graduation paper.

Son La, April 20th, 2009

Pham Thi Lan Huong






ABSTRACT
The term ‘global English’ is being increasingly nowadays. It is a means of demonstrating that English is spoken in very part of the world. It is no longer spoken only by native speakers, and by those who learn English in order to communicate with native ones. Therefore, the language teaching and learning have been changing rapidly to meet this demand. However, learning English as a foreign language is quite difficult for the non-native speakers who have no opportunities to practice it with the native ones, so do Vietnamese students. The English language teaching in Vietnam in general and at To Hieu upper-secondary school in Son La city in particular has been not much effective.
This graduation paper aims to examine the situation of teaching and learning English pronunciation for the 12th form students at To Hieu upper-secondary school. The study reviews relevant theories related to the English pronunciation, mainly, the definition, the features, the importance of pronunciation, and the purpose of pronunciation teaching.
To find the answers to the research questions, the study used the combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, which include document analysis, survey questionnaire, interview and classroom observation. The current textbook and pronunciation teaching methods applies to teach English for the 12th form students at To Hieu upper-secondary school are stated. Then, data collections from the research methods were processed and analyzed.
The findings of the study indicate that the learning background of the students, the students and teachers’ attitudes towards English pronunciation, the present condition and real status of learning and teaching English pronunciation and the other difficulties both teachers and students facing are all affect the English pronunciation learning and teaching of both students and teachers here. To deal with these difficulties the author of the study also suggests some techniques/activities that can help teachers and students teach and learn English pronunciation more effectively.