Journal of Science and Technology, Vol.

52B, 2021

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE COMMON PRONUNCIATION

ERRORS MADE BY YOUNG LEARNERS
TRAN KIEU MY AN
Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City
[email protected]

Abstract. This paper aims to investigate the common pronunciation errors of young learners who study
English at a language school as their extra-curriculum. This study adopted the qualitative methodology,
using voice recording to allow a deeper insight into the reality of pronunciation errors made by these
students. There are 50 participants (aged from 11 to 15 years old) who are studying in Language School A
– Branch 2. The students had to read one paragraph in the text book aloud and the researcher recorded their
voice. To make the accuracy of the study, the students have already known how to pronounce the words
that are used to test the students’ pronouncing ability the research. Based on the analysis, the sounds that
were commonly mispronounced by the students were long vowel sounds, plosives consonants and the final
consonants. This study will be a useful resource for both teachers and students to enhance the teaching and
learning with regard to phonology aspect. However, the small size of dataset means that it is not possible
to generalize the whole situation and thus another study with a larger size of sample should be carried out
to find out a more accurate answer for the problem.
Keywords: pronunciation, young learners, errors, English, centers.
1. INTRODUCTION
On the trend of international integration, non-native language learning and usage are increasingly popular
in many countries around the world. In recent years, English is indeed used as an international language. In
Vietnam, this language is learned by a large number of people with every passing day because of its two
importance in this modern world: a mean to communicate and to create a greater opportunity for a job.
Following that trend, English has been taught as a compulsory subject in Vietnam from an early age (at the
age of seven or even younger) in most schools and universities throughout the country. Thus, many
Vietnamese, especially young people, can speak English. However, not many of them have intelligible
English pronunciation in order to understand easily in direct communication with foreigners. This is what
really happening in Nam Sao Language School – Branch 2. The researcher decided to do research on the
common pronunciation errors of students at this center because of the two following reasons. Firstly, during
the time learning the English language, the researcher found that pronunciation played a very important
role. Mispronunciation can lead to misunderstanding when communicating in English. Secondly, during
the period of internship and as an assistant at Nam Sao Language School- Branch 2, the author found that
the students at this center made many mistakes in speaking English, especially in pronunciation. Besides,
most of them have not realized which sounds they mispronounced yet. They also have problems in learning
and practicing pronunciation. Moreover, through the research process, there has not been any research on
English pronunciation done at this center yet. From the above reasons, the author decided to conduct
research on pronunciation errors in Nam Sao Language School – Branch 2 and give some suggestions on
how to learn and how to practice pronunciation so that students can improve their pronunciation.
This current study will try to answer the following questions:
 What are the most common mistakes that students at Nam Sao Language School – Branch 2 make
when pronouncing English language?
 How do ending sounds errors cause difficulties for the students?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Definitions of pronunciation
Pronunciation is the manner of how to pronounce a word or a language. According to John Burgess and
Sheila Spencer [3], “Pronunciation in language learning is the practice and meaningful use of the target
language phonological features in speaking, supported by practice in interpreting those phonological
features in a target language discourse that one hears” [Burgess and Spencer, 2000]. In addition, defined by

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Lynda Yatesand Beth Zielinski (2009) [16], “pronunciation refers to how we produce the sounds that we
use to make meaning when we speak. It includes the particular consonants and vowels of a language
(segments), aspects of speech beyond the level of the individual segments, such as stress, timing, rhythm,
intonation, phrasing, (suprasegmental aspects), and how the voice is projected (voice quality).” (Yates and
Zielinski, 2009). Besides, the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary New 9th Edition (2015)[13] indicates
a definition of pronunciations as "The way in which a language or a particular word or sound is pronounced.”
This research will employ the definition provided by Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary since the
research will find out the mistakes when the students pronounce a particular word or sound of English.
2.2 The importance of having good pronunciation
The first reason why having a good pronunciation plays an important role is that it helps us make a good
impression when speaking the language. Having a good English pronunciation will make foreigners
understand you easily and be willing to listen to you. When we talk to someone in everyday life, our
pronunciation is the first thing that they notice in a conversation. Besides, it will be the key to help learners
be more confident in communicating with native speakers and assert our English ability with them since
wrong pronunciation might lead to misunderstanding. In addition, having a good pronunciation will help
us learn other skills easily such as listening and reading skills. Fangzhi (1998)[6] states that it is important
to pay attention to pronunciation since it results in whether or not someone's message can be passed or not
by other people. Additionally, Burns (2003)[4] says that, “Clear pronunciation is essential in spoken
communication. Even where learners produce minor inaccuracies in vocabulary and grammar, they are
more likely to communicate effectively when they have good pronunciation and intonation” (Burns, 2003).
Therefore, learners need to practice their pronunciation every day to improve their English speaking skills.
2.3. What are the English pronunciation errors?
Hornby (1987)[1] states that the error is something done wrong or condition of being wrong in beliefs or
conduct. The term error also means the flawed side of learners' speech or writing. According to Nguyen
(2007) [12], errors in pronunciation are defined as “variants of pronunciation which prevents one
communicator from understanding the propositional content of the other’s utterances”. According to the
process of learning language, every English learner would make pronunciation mistakes at least several
times before they are able to produce the sound with minor errors.
2.4. English sounds
2.4.1. Consonant sounds
David A. Rosenbaum (2010) claims that the production of consonants is the same as vowels. It depends on
where the tongue is located. The consonants are also affected by the position and activity of lips, jaw, and
vellum. Moreover, according to Helen Ashton & Sarah Shepherd (2012) [7], consonants are defined as
"sounds for which the airflow is obstructed as it leaves the mouth. This means that you have to make strong
movements to produce each of these sounds”. They also divide the consonants of Received Pronunciation
(RP) into six groups based on how they are made. They are explosives, fricatives, affricates, nasals, laterals,
and approximants. Another more recent definition is used by the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
New 9th Edition (2015) which indicates consonant as “a speech sound made by completely or partly
stopping the flow of air being breathed out through the mouth”.
2.4.2. The vowel sounds
Long time ago, In Merriam Webster Dictionary (1828), the term of vowel sounds are defined as “one of a
class of speech sounds in the articulation of which the oral part of the breath channel is not blocked and is
not constricted enough to cause audible friction”. Nowadays, according to Hellen Ashton & Sarah Shepherd,
(2012) [7], “vowels are open sounds. That means there is no contact between your articulators while you
make the sound; your tongue and lips do not touch each other or anything else.”There are two different
kinds of vowel: Monoptthongs and Diphthongs. In the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary New 9th
Edition (2015), the vowel sounds is generally understood to be a speech sound in which the mouth opens
and the tongue does not touch the top of the mouth and teeth.
2.6. English ending sounds
In English, attention to ending sounds is one of the very important factors in pronunciation. Lacking ending
sounds may cause misunderstanding of what the speakers are saying. These ending sounds are also called

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Codas: “The coda is the final consonant or consonant cluster.” (Barbara and Brian, 1994)[2]. There are 20
ending sounds in English sound system.
2.7. Review of previous studies
In fact, a considerable amount of literature on mistakes in English has been published not only in Vietnam
but also in many countries. Many linguists and researchers concluded that the English pronunciation
problems among speakers of other languages were the same but they were caused by each language
background. For instance, Elkhair Muhammad Idriss Hassan (2014)[5] did a case study about pronunciation
problems at Sudan University of Science and Technology" His research indicated that Sudanese Students
of English (SSEs) often made pronunciation mistakes in sounds, e.g. / b / and / p /, / s / and / θ /, / z / and /
ð/ sounds. He argued that some researchers said this was not a serious problem because Arabic consonants
were more than English ones, thus SSEs were expected to be quite good at English consonants. However,
the researcher believed that such problems were still considered a big problem for English learners who
wanted to have a standard pronunciation and communicate confidently with native speakers. He pointed
out that SSEs confused some of sounds such as the dental fricative /θ/ and the alveolar fricative /s/, / z / and
/ ð /, voiceless bilabial / p / and voiced bilabial / b /, / v / and / f /, / ʃ / and / tʃ/.
Moreover, Le Thanh Hoa (2016)[9] found that students at Dong Nai University encountered many
difficulties in pronunciation because of the differences in phonetic - phonological differences between
English and Vietnamese. He pointed that students made some consonant pronunciation errors, usually in
/d/, /t/, /z/, /b/, /d/ sounds. At the end of the syllable, the student's last consonant pronunciation error still
existed, it fell into the /d/, /t/, /z/, /s/, /l/, /b/, /d/, /f/ sounds. Students often mispronounced the final
consonants. For example, when students pronounced the word “find”, they mispronounced the ending
sound /d/ (/faɪnd/ into /faɪn/). He pointed out that students also made pronunciation mistakes about vowels.
A common English vowel error was students who could not distinguish between a long and short vowel
sound (/i/ and /I/, /u:/ and /ʊ/.
At the same time, another research was conducted by Priscilla Shak et al (2016)[14].The research tried to
demonstrate the pronunciation problems of low proficient students through a case study. Based on the
thematic analysis conducted by the author, the sounds were often mispronounced by students such as
vowels (short vowels, long vowels, and sonic diphthongs), consonants (sounds, friction sounds, and tones),
silent letters and the "-ed" sounds. The researchers also pointed out that participants made many mistakes
in the pronunciation of fricative consonants. Analysis of errors indicated that among the problematic sounds
was the / ð / sound (e.g. then, other, them and that) and the / θ/ sound (e.g. north).
Finally, a recent study about English Pronunciation errors made by Saudi students was reported by Islam
Ababneh (2018)[8]. This study identified the pronunciation errors made by Saudi students in pronouncing
words of problematic nature to Arabs in general. The findings of this study revealed that Saudi students
mainly confused the vowel sounds with another one or two phonemes vowel sounds such as the /e/ with /i/,
/ie/, /ae/; the /i/ sound with /ɛ, ai, ei, ai/; and the /a/ sound with the /e, ɛ, æ/. Besides, the students had
problems with missing sounds in Arabic such as the /p, v/ sounds and often replaced them with the /b f/
English sounds.
In conclusion, the research studies examined in this literature review related to the current study regarding
the investigation in pronunciation mistakes. The researchers have found that the sounds were
mispronounced such as vowels, consonants by learners. The most common cause for these pronunciation
errors was the influence of the mother tongue and the differences between the English language system and
the language systems of some countries around the world.
3. SCOPE AND PROCEDURE OF RESEARCH
3.1. Research methodology
The study is a qualitative research since its aim is to try to identify the students’ pronunciation problem.
The recording was used to observe students' English pronunciation when pronouncing single word as well
as in a longer speech. From this method, the author would select the appropriate contents to test them which
meant that the material that students had to read to be recorded should have matched the students' current
English level. The researcher prepared two pieces of reading material. The first form contained the single
words that they had learned in the main textbook: “Family and Friends 4”. The second form was a short
paragraph about health. This test was also copied from a paragraph in the main textbook: Family and Friends

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4 on page 90. Then, the researcher would add some sentences to make the investigation complete with all
final consonants. The researcher also makes sure that the students have learned these lessons, thus all
students will know how to read the words that appear in the passage that the researcher uses to conduct the
survey.
3.2 Participants
The data was collected from 50 students which accounted for 50% of the number of students who were at
the level of A2 ( according to the CEFR) of Nam Sao Language School – Branch 2 within the age between
11 and 15. These students were studying English at the center (course book: Family and Friend 4) as their
extra class and had learned how to pronounce English properly such as how to pronounce the words with
ending sounds. The researcher asked an Academic manager of this English center for permission to get
access to the class. After that, students would do the two pronunciation tests by reading them aloud and the
researcher will record their voice. Each student would be recorded within 5 to 7 minutes. The students
would be named in the recording by a specific number, not their name so as to avoid any confusion or
shyness.
3.3 Data analysis
After the data collection was complete, the researcher started to analysis the data. The researcher proceeded
to the data by listening to the recordings and evaluating their errors based on the rating scale. To analysis
the data, the researcher uses some specialized software such as Gold wave, Excel. The researcher then
classified those types of errors and presented them in the form of the charts and tables.
4. RESULTS OF RESEARCH
4.1. Students’ pronunciation errors
Through the process of analyzing data from the recording, the results will be discussed in detail as follows:
Diphthongs Fricatives
16% 17%
Plosives
18%
Long vowels Affricates
25% 4%
Nasals
Short vowels Approximants Laterals2%
14% 2% 2%
Figure1: Students common pronunciation errors
The pie chart gives information on the percentage of pronunciation errors made in the reading aloud test.
As can be seen from the pie chart, the top three pronunciation errors made were long vowel sounds, plosives
and fricatives. In particular, the long vowels accounted for the highest percentage (25%) of the total sounds
surveyed. Through the data analysis process, the researcher found that the way students pronounced these
sounds is similar to that of the short vowels. For example, the word "sheep" had the pronunciation of / ʃiːp
/, but the students pronounced as / ʃip /.
The next sounds that the students pronounced incorrectly are plosive consonants. The plosive consonants
accounted for 18 % in the total of the sounds examined. The sounds that most students mispronounced in
this type are the / k / and / t / sounds. Students often forgot to pronounce these sounds. For example, in the
word "got" is pronounced as / ɡɒt/, but students often mispronounced / t / in that word so they led to
pronounce this word like / ɡɒ /.
Fricatives consonants were the last types of sound in top three pronunciation errors. This sound error
accounts for 17 % of the sounds surveyed. They were the / θ /, / ʃ /, / ð /, / ʒ / sounds. These sounds, when
pronounced, were suppressed but are not completely blocked. For instance, the word "she" is pronounced
as / ʃi/, but most students pronounced it as / si /.
 Vowel Pronunciation Problems

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50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
/ǝ/ /ɜ:/ /ɪ/ /i:/ /e/ /æ/ /ʌ/ /ɑ:/ /ʊ/ /u:/ /ɒ/ /ɔ:/ /ǝʊ/ /æʊ/ /ei/ /ʌi/ /ɔi/ /iǝ/ /eǝ/ /ʊe/
/аʊ/ /ai/
Figure 2: Errors of vowels
The bar chart shows the number of people who have a pronunciation error in the case of vowels.
As shown in the bar chart, there were more errors with long vowels than that with short vowels and
diphthongs. The long vowel / i: / had the highest number of people mispronouncing. There are 40 people
out of 50 survey participants who mispronounce this vowel. During the time of recording, the researcher
asked the participants to read three words from the form “sheep, she and tea”. These words all contain the
/ i: / sound. However, most participants pronounced those words with the /i/sound. For example, the word
"mean" should be pronounced /miːn/, but most students read it as /min/. This was their biggest pronunciation
problem since there is no distinction between long and short vowels in their language. Therefore, they
tended to confuse words such as "ship" and "sheep" or "bit" and "beat".

The vowel sounds Words Number of learners mispronounced

Long vowel sounds nurse, world, skirt 20
sheep, mean, tea 40
bath, car, start 35
goose, you, fruit 30
ball, sport, short 26
Short vowel sounds seven, other, computer 12
ship, hill, dish 9
dress, men, next 13
hat, match, cat 26
foot, book, full 11
lot, want, cloth 3
cup, cut, money 13
Diphthongs home, only, boat 18
mouth, around, shout 9
Sunday, age, cake 13
night, fly, drive 10
joy, boy, choice 15
cheer, really, clear 9
hair, pear, wear 10
sure, during, tour 11
Figure 3: Number of students mispronouncing vowel sounds

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 Consonant pronunciation problem

Consonant sounds Phonetic symbol Number of learners mispronouncing Words
Plosive consonant /p/ 26 park, open, cup
/t/ 37 to, butter, late
/k/ 17 cat, record, six
/b/ 13 banana, above, tub
/d/ 8 do, India, read
/g/ 6 got, again, dog
Fricative consonant /f/ 14 fast, after, if
/ʒ/ 9 Asia, vision, treasure
/s/ 10 sport, boss, face
/v/ 12 visit, seven, of
/θ/ 15 three, both, seventh
/z/ 11 zoo, lazy, use
/ʃ/ 14 she, pressure, push
/ð/ 16 this weather, breathe
Affricate consonant /tʃ/ 11 rich, chip, nature
/dʒ/ 13 giraffe, judge
Nasal consonant /m/ 5 me, summer, come
/n/ 3 no, any sun
/ŋ/ 4 sing, singer, walking
Lateral consonant /l/ 5 Love, follow, lock
/ƚ/ 6 Will, belt, file
Approximant /r/ 8 Rock, read, orange
consonants /j/ 4 Yes, reuse, cute
/w/ 3 Week, quiet, why
Figure 4: Number of students mispronouncing consonant sounds
The table shows the number of people who make a pronunciation error in the consonant sounds.
Closer inspection of the table shows that plosive consonants are the sounds that cause most errors for the
participants. In particular, the /t/ sound is a consonant with the most people mispronounce (37 people out
of 50 survey participants mispronounce). Most students omitted this sound when the /t /sound is in the
ending of the word. For example, the word "late" has the pronunciation as / leɪt /, but the students
pronounced it / leɪ /.
4.2. Students ending sound errors
The third question in this research is: “How do ending sounds errors cause difficulties for the students?”
First of all, it was found that the final consonants that students made the most mistakes so that we can
conclude which final consonants made difficult for students to pronounce. The results of analysis are set
out as follows:

50
38
40 34 35
30 32 31
30 22 24 25
19 20 20 21
20 15 12 15 12
10
10 1 2 1
0
/t/

/l/
/p/
/b/

/d/
/k/

/g/
/n/

/v/

/ð/
/s/

the silent /r/

/m/

/z/

/θ/
/dʒ/
/f/
/η/

/ʒ/
/t∫/

/∫/

Figure 5: Number of students made ending sound errors

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The bar chart includes all ending sounds that were given out and the number of students who made errors
with those ending consonant. It is apparent from the chart that the / t /, / z /, / s /, / k /, / v / sounds receive
the most significant numbers of people making errors.
In particular, there were 38 participants out of 50 mispronouncing the / t /sound. The most common error
that students often got is omission the / t / sound when pronouncing. For example, the words "want" appear
in the survey form that I gave them to read. They often omitted the final sound /t/. Another example, the
word "chocolate" is pronounced / ˈtʃɔːklət / but most students omitted the / t / sound when pronouncing this
word and read it into / ˈtʃɔːklə /. Another case of false pronunciation the / t / sound is that students pronounce
some words in English that contain the /t/sound into Vietnamese words. For example, the word "but" with
English pronunciation is / bət /, but there are some students who pronounce "but" like the word “bút”(“pen”)
in Vietnamese.
The second common sound error was the / z / sound. There are 35 participants mispronounced the sound
/z/. Most people confuse the pronunciation between the sound / z / and the / s / sound. There are two cases
where students often make false pronunciation in the consonant / z /. In the first case, the learners tend to
read the words with the / z / sound by replacing the / z / sound / with / s / sounds. For example, the word
"besides" is pronounced as / bɪˈsaɪdz /, but during the recording process, most students pronounce/ bɪˈsaɪds
/. In the word "has", they often pronounce / həs/ instead of having to pronounce / həz /. In the second case,
students often do not pronounce / z /. They end up deleting / z / sound in the word "because". They
pronounced this word into / bɪˈkə /, while the word "because" is pronounced / bɪˈkəz /.
The next sound error that students pronounce incorrectly was the / s / sound. There were 34 students out of
50 students who participated in the survey pronounced the wrong sound. It accounts for 68% of the final
consonant pronunciation errors. Again, these young learners often confused the pronunciation of the / s /
sound and the /z/ sound because these two sounds have similar pronunciation. The / s / sound is a voiceless
consonant thus when pronouncing, the tongue is kept tense as air is pushed between a small groove along
the center of the tip of the tongue and the front of the tooth ridge, and the / z / sound does not. They omitted
the /s/ sound when pronouncing. This error appears in some words in the current research survey such as
some word "friends, tips, sports, foods".
The next sound that students had trouble is the / k /sound when it stands at the end of the words. The /k/
sound accounts for 64% of the total sound surveyed. This sound was also omitted by students. For example,
the word "milk", the correct pronunciation is / mɪlk / but most students pronounced as / mɪl /. The word
"like" is pronounced as /laɪk/ but they often pronounced into /laɪ/.
Besides, we can see from the chart that the /v/ sound is the sound with the fifth number of students
pronounces wrongly. There were 31 people out of 50 survey participants who mispronounced the /v/ sound
and accounted for 62% of the total sounds surveyed. The /v/ sound is produced by high-pressure air flow
between a narrow space in the mouth. A common error that students make is not forcing air out between
their teeth whilst voicing out. This error appears in some words such as "have" and "give".
Together these results provide important evidence for the pronunciation errors made by these learners.
Firstly, they omit the sounds that are too difficult for them and secondly, reduce final clusters and the last,
move strange English ending sounds towards similar sounds which exist in their mother tongue. This may
make their English very "Vietnamese", which causes some problems for communication with native
speakers and others.

Final consonant sound errors words Percentage (%)

/p/  help, up  38%
/b/  club  40%
/t/  want, fit, it, eat, chocolate, but  76%
/d/  instead, should, good  6%
/k/  walk, like, milk  64%
/m/  time, them  4%
/g/  big  40%
/n/  and, join  2%
/η/  skating  2%
/s/  tips, sports, helps, source  68%

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/z/  is, as, besides, has  70%
/f/  if  44%
/v/  have, of, give  62%
/t∫/  much, such  30%
/dʒ/  cabbage  42%
/ð/  with  20%
/θ/  teeth, health  48%
/∫/  fish  24%
/l/  all, will  50%
The silent /r/  four  24%
Figure 6: Percentage of errors of ending sounds made by students
5. CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATION, AND LIMITATION
5.1. Conclusion
The aim of the current research was to examine the common pronunciation errors made by young learners
and thus suggest some solutions to the problems. The analyzing of the recording shows that participants are
most likely to make mistakes in long vowel sounds, plosive consonant, and ending sounds. The findings of
this study also complement those of earlier studies in the literature review.
For the long vowel sounds, the sounds that students often pronounce incorrectly are /iː/, /ɑː/, /ɔː/, /uː/. The
way these students pronounce long vowels is similar to that of short vowels. The reason for these errors
may be because most students cannot distinguish short vowels and long vowels. Learners do not
differentiate between English single vowel pairs with long/short distinction criteria. According to Nguyen
Thanh Hoa (2016), these vowels only appear in the English sound, not in Vietnamese. Therefore,
participants made these mistakes because they are not familiar. Therefore, they had problems when asked
to pronounce these strange sounds. From this finding, the English teacher in this center should be aware of
the need to focus their attention on teaching these sounds to English learners.
Besides, plosive consonants are the type that students also make many mistakes. This result supports the
findings from the study of Nguyen Thanh Hoa (2016) who states that the typical error of pronunciation in
consonants is to remove consonants. Most students do not pronounce consonants like / t / and / p /. The data
obtained from this study also indicates that students have problems pronouncing the ending sounds as /t/,
/z/, /s/, /k/, /v/. The ending sound students commonly struggle with are / t /, / z /, / s /, / k /, / v /. Just like
the reason for a long vowel pronunciation error, the ending sound errors comes from the effect of the mother
tongue. There is no pronunciation of final sounds in Vietnamese, thus English learners apply this habit to
English pronunciation. This is a very serious problem in speaking English since lacking final sound will
lead to mispronouncing and thus misunderstanding.
In summary, the contribution of this study has been to confirm our understanding on the field of teaching
English with regards to the aspect of pronunciation. Overall, this strengthens the idea that the pronunciation
errors are mostly caused by the mother tongue. This understanding should help to draw more attention of
the teachers to the task of correcting and helping students, especially young learners, with their
pronunciation.
5.2 Recommendation
It is derived from the actual situation that students do not understand and apply English pronunciation rules.
I have some suggestions for teachers and students Nam Sao Language School – Branch 2 to help students
improve their pronunciation.
Unlike more mature English learners, most students between the ages of 11 and 15 are still unaware of self-
study in English. They do not really understand the importance of correct English pronunciation. Therefore,
teachers play a very key role in providing a good model of pronunciation for the students to follow. The
main textbook of students is Family and Friends (from level starter to level 6). According to the structure
of each unit, there is a phonics part of each unit. In this part, students will learn how to pronounce sounds
in English. Teachers should provide students with knowledge about the pronunciation rules of the English
sounds before asking them practice. Besides, they should organize more games about pronunciation for
students. Most of the activities that teachers organize for students are to help students memorize grammar
and remember the meaning of words, with little pronunciation activities. Therefore, there are some games

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can help students improve the pronunciation that teachers can organize in the classroom: The International
Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) Bingo, Odd One Out and Shout in the silence. Teachers should instruct students
to use some online dictionaries such as Oxford Advanced learner’s Dictionary or Merriam Webster
Dictionary to help students check their pronunciation. Teachers should provide additional some English
pronunciation books for students. These books must be suitable for the level of the student. For example,
Pronunciation Pairs is a book about pronunciation that are suitable for students aged 11 to 15.
In addition to teacher guidance, students themselves need to be self-aware in practicing English
pronunciation. In today's technology era, owning a technology device is an easy thing. Teachers can help
students improve their English pronunciation through the use of electronic devices. Students should listen
and sing English songs every day. This is probably a simple and popular way to help students improve their
pronunciation. English songs are expressed in native voices to help learners feel the best standard
pronunciation. Beginners of English learning should choose songs with a slow rhythm. Students can sing
the song again and record their voice, then compare it to the singer's voice. Moreover, they can use some
apps and software in the pronunciation test such as ELSA Speak, Pronunciation Power.
Reading aloud is another way that can help students improve their pronunciation. Reading books not only
helps students improve their pronunciation but also increase their vocabulary. At this age, students can read
English short stories which are suitable to their level such as The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, The
Ginger Bread man…
5.3. Limitation
However, due to the time limit, the research cannot cover all issues and involves a small part of English
pronunciation errors. Therefore, the author hopes this research can be a useful document for students
interested in studying pronunciation mistakes and suggesting solutions to pronunciation problems. Further
investigation should be done with more participants and get deeper into the causes for pronunciation errors
made by learners.
APPENDIX 1:
List of words that students have to read

The consonant sounds The vowel sounds

park, open, cup seven, other, computer

banana, above, tub nurse, world, skirt
to, butter, late ship, hill, dish
do, India, read sheep, mean, tea
cat, record, six dress, men, next
got, again, do hat, match, cat
me, summer, come cup, cut, money
no, any, sun bath, car, start
sing, singer, walking foot, book, full
sport, boss, face goose, you, fruit
zoo, lazy, use lot, want, cloth
fast, after, if ball, sport, short
visit, seven, of home, only, boat
rich, chip, nature mouth, around, shout
giraffe, judge Sunday, age, cake
three, both, seventh night, fly, drive
this, weather, breathe joy, boy, choice
she, pressure, push cheer, really, clear
Asia, vision, treasure hair, pear, wear
love, follow, lock sure, during, tour
will, belt, file
hello, behave, help

© 2021 Trường Đại học Công nghiệp thành phố Hồ Chí Minh
 AN INVESTIGATION INTO COMMON PRONUNCIATION ERRORS MADE 87
BY YOUNG LEARNERS

yes, reuse, cute

week, quiet, why
rock, read, orange
APPENDIX 2:
Read the text below:
How to stay healthy
We all want to be fit and healthy, so here are some tips to help.
+ Do lots of sports:
Watching TV or playing computer games won’t make you fit, but playing sports will. You can join a club
or play with your friends in a park. If you don’t like team sports, you can walk to school, go swimming, or
try skating instead. It will make you feel stronger and give you more energy.
+ Eat a healthy diet:
Candy and chocolate are fun to eat sometimes, but it is not good to eat them every day. These foods have
too much sugar in them. Make sure you eat vegetables, such as cabbage, with every meal, and lots of fruit,
too. Fruit and vegetables help you stay healthy and grow strong. Besides, you should eat more fish. Fish is
a great source of protein.
+Drinks lots of water and milk:
Water or juices are better for you than soda because soda has a lots of sugar in it. Eating a lot of sugar is
bad for your teeth. Milk is good because it helps your 206 bones to grow and keeps your teeth strong.
These small changes can add up over time to give you a big health boost.

REFERENCES
[1] A.S Hornby, Oxford Advanced Learn’s Dictionary of Current English, London : Oxport University Press, 1987.
[2] Barbara A. H., Brian B, The Status of Final Consonant Clusters in English Syllables: Evidence from
Children,Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, vol 64, issue 1, pp. 119-136, 1997.
[3] Burgess, J., Spencer, S, Phonology and pronunciation in integrated language teaching and teacher education, in
System, no. 28, pp. 191-215, 2000.
[4] Burns, A, Clearly speaking: pronunciation in action for teachers, National Center for English Language
Teaching and Research, Macquaire University, Sydney NSW 2109, 2003.
[5] Elkhair Muhammad Idriss Hassan, Pronunciation Problems: A Case Study of English Language Students at Sudan
University of Science and Technology,Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol4, no 4,pp. 31-44, 2014.
[6] Fangzhi, Cheng, The teaching of pronunciation to Chinese students of English.English Teaching Forum, vol. 39,
no. 1, pp. 37–39, 1998.
[7] Helen, A. & Sarah, S,Work on your Accent, United Kingdom, 2012.
[8] Islam Ababneh, English Pronunciation Errors Made by Saudi Students, European Scientific Journal,vol. 14,no.2,
pp. 224-261, 2008.
[9] Le Thanh Hoa, Lỗi phát âm tiếng Anh của sinh viên Việt Nam. Trường hợp sinh viên Đại học Đồng Nai, Ph. D
thesis, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, 2016.
[10] Merriam Webster Dictionary, 1828
[11] Naomi Simmons, Family and Friends 4, Oxford University Press, 2010.
[12] Nguyen, T.T.T, Difficulties for Vietnamese when pronouncing English final consonants. Högskolan Dalarna,
Engelska C. Uppsats, 2007.
[13] Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary New 9th Edition, 2015.

© 2021 Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City

88 AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE COMMON PRONUNCIATION ERRORS MADE
BY YOUNG LEARNERS

[14] Priscilla S., Chang S. L. & Jeannet S,Pronunciation Problems: A Case Study on English Pronunciation Errors
of Low Proficient Students, University Malaysia Pahang 4, pp. 25-35, 2016.
[15] Richards, J.C., & Schmidt, R, Dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics. Essex, Longman, 1992.
[16] Yates, L., Zielinski B., 2009. Give it a go: Teaching Pronunciation to Adults, Sidney, National Centre for
English Language Teaching and Research, Macquarie University.

NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ LỖI PHÁT ÂM THƯỜNG GẶP Ở TRẺ EM

Tóm tắt:Nghiên cứu này nhằm mục đích điều tra các lỗi phát âm phổ biến của những học sinh tiếng Anh
tại một trung tâm Anh Ngữ vào những buổi học ngoại khóa. Nghiên cứu này áp dụng phương pháp định
tính và định lượng, sử dụng dụng cụ ghi âm giọng nói để hiểu sâu hơn về thực tế của lỗi phát âm do những
học sinh này thực hiện. Những người tham gia là 50 học sinh từ 11 đến 15 tuổi đang học tại một trung tâm
Anh Ngữ Năm Sao chi nhánh 2. Học sinh được yêu cầu đọc to một đoạn trong sách giáo khoa đã học và
được ghi âm lại. Dựa trên các phân tích được tiến hành, các lỗi ngữ âm là các nguyên âm dài, phụ âm bật
và phụ âm cuối. Nghiên cứu này sẽ là một nguồn tài nguyên hữu ích cho cả giáo viên và học sinh để cải
thiện tình hình giảng dạy và học tập liên quan vế mặt ngữ âm học. Tuy nhiên, kích thước nhỏ của dữ liệu
không thể khái quát toàn bộ tình huống và do đó, một nghiên cứu khác với cỡ mẫu lớn hơn nên được thực
hiện để tìm ra câu trả lời chính xác hơn cho vấn đề.
Từ khóa: phát âm, trẻ em, lỗi, tiếng anh, trung tâm

Received on: 01/12/2020

Accepted on: 08/03/2021

© 2021 Trường Đại học Công nghiệp thành phố Hồ Chí Minh