PRONUNCIATION

ASSESSMENT OF PRONUNCIATION
Helen Huntley
Senior English Language Fellow Ministry of Education and Training, Vietnam
[email protected]
http://helenshuntley.com/

Workshop Goals


To review common pronunciation difficulties of Vietnamese speakers
To review and practice writing test items for assessing pronunciation


Which pronunciation?
British English
American English
Canadian English
Australian English
Indian English
Vietnamese English
Other ‘Englishes’

The Pitfalls of English Pronunciation
I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, laugh, and through.
Well done! And now you wish perhaps
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word,
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead: it’s said like bed, not bead,
For Goodness sakes, don’t call it “deed.”
Watch out for meat and great and threat
They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.
Possible Pronunciation Difficulties for Vietnamese Speakers (I)
Omission of word-final voiceless stop consonants: /p/, /t/, /k/: bite > bi
Difficulty in differentiating between voiced and voiceless stops in word-final position: /b/ and /p/, /d/ and /t/, /g/ and /k/: cup > cub, pat > pad, back > bag
Omission of word-final consonants /f/, /v/, /th/, /s/, /z/, /sh/, /z/
The boys always pass the garage on their way home > the boy alway pa(t) the gara on their way home.
Tendency to delete one or more consonants from a consonant cluster: first > firt, street > stheet
Substitution of /n/ for /l/: children > chinren
Difficulty in pronouncing the voiceless and voiced /th/:
this > zis, think > tink
Substitution of /s/ for /sh/: delicious > deli/s/ious





Possible Pronunciation Difficulties for Vietnamese Speakers II
Tendency to substitute /sh/ for /ch/:
church > shursh, child > shild
Substitution of word initial /p/ for /b/ or /f/:
pen > ben/fen, pig > big/fig
Some difficulty differentiating between vowels:
bed/bad, hut/hot
Multi-syllabic words tend to lack the correct stress patterns:
grandfather, embassy
Lack of linking in connected speech:
I’ve gotta go > I have got to go.
Difficulty pronouncing contractions with consonant clusters: I would’ve gone if…
Difficulty with English intonation patterns

Difficult Sounds for Vietnamese Speakers
Consonants
p
t
k
b
d
g
th
z
s
v
f
sh
ch
Vowels


/iy/ (beat)
/I/ (bit)
/ey/ (bait)
/ɛ/ (bet)
/uw/ (boot)
/ʊ/ (book)
/æ/ (bat)
General Rules for Word Stress
Longer, louder, higher in pitch
90% of two-syllable nouns have stress on the first syllable: REcord, SURvey
60% of two-syllable verbs have the stress on the second syllable: reCORD, surVEY
The first part of a noun compound is stressed: GREENhouse, SUNshine
The preposition part of a phrasal verb is stressed: watch OUT, get UP
The suffixes ‘er’ and ‘or’ are not stressed
The first syllable after a prefix is usually stressed: unHEALTHy, proPOSal
BUT nouns: FOREcast, OUTlook, OVercoat, UNderdog, UPkeep
The stress patterns of multistyllabic words need to be learned



Typical Test Questions
#1

rough
though
tough
enough

#2

stopped
caused
forced
worked
Typical Test Questions
#3

good
food
moon
noodle
#4

hats
roofs
grapes
chairs
Typical Test Questions
#5

kitchen
ridden
given
widen
#6

stone
zone
phone
none
Typical Test Questions
#7

religion
comprehend
understand
engineer
#8

prefer
record (verb or noun?)
promote
forecast
Techniques for Testing Knowledge of the Sound System
I. Minimal Pairs
listen to two/three words and indicate if they are the same or different
listen to two/three words and indicate whether they rhyme
listen to one word first, followed by a number of other words; indicate the word that is the same as the first one
listen to two/three words and indicate which one is relevant to the picture

Listening Minimal Pair Examples
Is he living?

Is he leaving?
Is he living?
He’s getting a new ship tomorrow.
He’s getting a new sheep tomorrow.
He’s getting a new ship tomorrow.

Techniques for Testing Knowledge of the Sound System

II. Recognizing Grammatical Structures

listen to a sentence and indicate whether the verb/noun is singular or plural
listen to a sentence and indicate whether the verb was in the past/present/future

Listening Grammatical Structure Examples

I missed you very much.

I missed you very much.
I miss you very much.
Techniques for Testing Knowledge of the Sound System

II. Recognizing Word Stress

listen to a word/sentence and choose the correct stress pattern from several written choices

Listening Word Stress Examples
My boyfriend can’t go to the movie.

My boyfriend can’t go to the movie.
My boyfriend can go to the movie
Typical Test Questions
Partner Activity

Create at least 5 multiple choice questions for each question type on the handout.



Any Questions??
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