THE INFLUENCE OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION

ON VIETNAMESE LANGUAGE
1. Pronunciation
1.1 Definition
Pronunciation is defined as the method of producing certain sounds (Richard and
Schmidt, 2002). Besides, in Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, the word
pronunciation is the way in which a language or a particular word or sound is
pronounced. According to Ur (2001) pronunciation is the sound of the language, or
phonology; stress and rhythm; and intonation and includes the role of individual sounds
and segmental and supra segmental sounds, whereas Paulston & Burder (1976)
determined pronunciation is the production of a sound system which doesn't interfere
with communication either from the speakers or the listeners viewpoint. Futhermore,
Otlowski (1998) stated that pronunciation is the way of uttering a word that is accepted
or generally understood. From those statements above, we can conclude that
pronunciation is the way of someone produces segmental and supra segmental sound in
an accepted manner. Nowadays, most people are non-native English speakers, they tend
to choose English pronunciation by pronouncing British voice or American voice. Both
British voice and American voice are accepted because they are the international
standard of English pronunciation.
1.2 The importance of proper communication
Learning a language means to performance the sounds, utterances, and the words
properly and correctly. When we talk to the native English speakers, the first thing they
notice which create good impression about the quality of our language ability is our
pronunciation. Limited pronunciation causes an unpleasant talking and
misunderstanding for both speakers and listeners, even if you used advanced English
grammar and vocabulary. Morley (1998) states that poor and unintelligible
pronunciation will make English learners lose their self-confidence leading to the
negative effects to estimate their reliability and capacities. Therefore, we can use simple
words or grammar structures to make people understand you, but we cannot use simple
pronunciation. In addition, Lund (2003) pointed out pronunciation is the only aspect of
 language that calls for a close interaction between the cognitive and physiological
processes. In acquiring new sounds we are also dealing with a complex re-organising of
the articulatory processes. According to Gelvanovsky (2002), pronunciation has an
important social value, which means that it should be related to prestige, such as
intelligence, professional competence, persuasiveness, diligence, and social privilege.
Pronunciation can provide information about the speakers geographical and social
origin, and in most cases it is the most salient characteristic of non-native speakers.
2. Factors that affect students pronunciation
2.1 Studentsages
Nowadays, learning a foreign language is very common, especially English. English
keeps a high position in work and daily life. The most important thing when studying a
new language is speaking and notably pronunciation. There are many things that affect
pronunciation and age is one of those things.
Age is one of the elements affecting peoples pronunciation and it also affects the
success when studying a foreign language. According to Pesce (n.d), if learners are in
the young ages, they will easy to obtain an accurate pronunciation. Especially, young
learners from 1-12 years old who have the best chance to learn, imitate the
pronunciation of a native English speaker. According to Mai Thuong (cited in Iacono,
2012) and Nhng lu khi cho tr hc ting Anh (cited in Jennings, 2014), age has a
huge impact on the pronunciation of learners. Children learn faster than adults so
children should be familiar with English as soon as possible. Many researches proved
that 2-7 years old is a good age for children to familiar and learn English. Especially,
young children from 2-3 years old have the ability to acquire a new foreign language
and it is similar to acquire their mother tongue. Fords article on Children should start
learning languages at age three (2014) states that young childrens minds are not stored
too much information so they are easy to learn a new language. Besides, 2-3 years old is
the ages that children can imitate, acquire the sounds of the language and adopt
pronunciation which is easier than adults. Young children from 1-12 years old have time
to learn through recreational activities. Moreover, language lessons are not difficult at
their age and those combined with recreational activities relating to that language, from
that helps young children to learn a new language more easily, especially pronunciation.
 According to Nhng lu khi cho tr hc ting Anh (cited in Jennings, 2014),
childrens brain is like sponges absorbing information around. If children can learn a
foreign language as soon as possible, the suction power of this sponge is stronger. In
addition, the structure of hearing and speech organs in young children makes them
easier to imitate the different pronunciation.
On the other hand, people have problems with sounds that do not exist in their language,
especially with adults (FAQ: Why Do Some People Have an Accent?, n.d). Besides,
according to Factors that affect pronunciation (2017) and FAQ: Why Do Some
People Have an Accent?, (n.d) if the learners are older, it will hard for them to learn
the sounds and have an accurate pronunciation because they are still affected mother
tongue when they pronounce in English. Adults may over-analyze new language rules
or sounds and try to make them fit into some understandable and coherent pattern that
makes sense to them (Abrams, 2014). Abrams (2014), in her article, Want to learn a
language? Dont try so hard states that grammar rules of a new language are hard to
explain and it is also hard for adults to overcome those obstacles. This is the reason why
adults learn a new language harder than young children who simply accept exceptions
or the rules of the language and learn from them. This is particularly true with
pronunciation, adults are hard to acquire an accurate pronunciation because since the
way people make sounds is something that is established early in life, and becomes
second nature (Abrams, 2014).
2.2 Exposure to English
Exposure to English is the way that creating an English speaking environment for
students to have more chance to immerge themselves in the language. There is a degree
that the students who are exposed to English in daily life regularly will improve their
pronunciation faster (7 Factors that May Affect Your Students Pronunciation, 2014).
English is used as the main language in the countries such as: Singapore, Philippines.
According to Why do these Filipinos speak English so well? (2016), the author
showed the reason why Philipines speak English well. This is because of the occupation
from the America, the Filipinos was influenced English deeply. The American sent their
native teacher to Philippine to spread their languge and offered teachers in Philippine
communicate in schools all in English. English is used by the Filipinos in everydays
 life. All of the movies are shown in English. Chanels and news on the TV are in English
100%. Moreover, the most tricky feature that helps the Filipinos are good at English is
all the notice boards on the road are all in English.
Lee (2016) showed that English is a language that is spoken most widely in Singapore,
and conducted a survey that 36.9% people from the age of 5 use English at home. This
number is raising recently: 23% (2000), 28.1% (2005), 32.3% (2010) and 36.9% (2015).
With this survey, Lee (2016) indicated there is a tendency that people speak almost in
English since they start their family. Clearly, in these countries, all of the people speak
English more fluently than non-English speakers as an official language. Vietnam is an
illustrated example. According to Phong (2011), the essential reason that Vietnamese
cant speak English correctly is that their habit of mother tongue. Some words that are
pronounced in Vietnamese particularly, so it is hard for Vietnamese to pronounce
correctly in English. The students have a chance in school to heard the word
pronounced in English, but their own teacher pronounced it uncorrectly. Besides that,
the traditional way of learning English is not effective. All of the lessons at school all
focus on grammars, the students just only have a motivation to learn the English
grammr to pass their tests. For example, they just need to learn and remember the signal
to change the verb to the correct tense, and then they give a right answer. However, they
have lack of the environment to practice speaking English with a native speaker, an
important factor to pronounce English correctly.
2.3 Learners attitudes
One of the reasons why many English learners never reach their destination is that they
do not have a clear goal to learn. At school, English is compulsory, the student think
that learning English is their duty, they do not know what will they use English for, and
how to use it. When a person is force to do something, they will not give their best to it
and someday they may give up. We only go on a way when we know where it lead to
and where is our destiny. The same as studying English, learners must have their own
destiny which means specific goal (communication environment, pronunciation,
vocabularies, accents)
Beside purpose, motivation plays an important role in mastering new language. Highly
motivated students will in all likelihood have a better pronunciation. Why did we can
highly imply that? Learning is a long way, when leaner at the beginning of the trail, if
they have enough motivation and determination this trip will become easier because on
that way, they will voluntarily find their own reasons to keep going and cheering
themselves. When studying, if learners can not motivate themselves, they may give in
soon in the future. Having motivation does not mean that it will be easier but it means
learners will become better. Pronunciation is not simple, because it requires hard work,
determination, practicing. This explains the reason why highly motivated students will
have better pronunciation. Motivation is a push and it forces them to improve more as
well as avoid surrendering.
Students who are genuinely open-minded and interested in improving their
pronunciation often do improve it. When mastering language, learners can not be
pessimistic; no one is able to totally being excellent at something neither is in language.
At the beginning, mistakes is unavoidable, but learners who is able to overcome will
soon get back to racetrack and finish the race faster than they did. No one is perfect,
unless we can look at our imperfection and fix it that we can become perfect. A learner
who recognize mistakes in their pronunciation, accept it and try to fix it, they will more
likely to become a good English leaner. Be optimistic in learning new language!
Students who have prejudices or a natural dislike for English will be less
successful than those with a positive attitude and open mind, this is of course a rule of
life. People can only be forced to do something that they want to or love to. On the
contrast, students who have prejudices or a natural dislike for English can involuntarily
learn and forced to master it but without motivation, goal,.can they get to the finish
line like everyone else? Or they will just surrender and stop somewhere on the trail?
Lack of persistence: Some people fail when they learn English not because they are not
capable. Scientists have shown that since being a baby, human can not speak their
mother tongue right away, it is a process to watch, listen, and learn. Not until listen and
repeat many times that a baby can say a correct word, this happen over and over again,
for a long time it will constitute their mother tongue. Eliciting the positive and negative
emotional attitude toward learning English. (Gritter, 2016). Learning a new language is
like go back to when we were a baby and start the process one more time, no one can
speak language from the first days. Determination is indispensable, learners need it to
 push themselves trying and practicing, especially for learners who are not very talented
at mastering language. Be determined or someday you will find yourself left behind the
others.
2.4 Native language interference

a b c d e f g

a: Consonants phonemes J = Japan

b: Initial clusters K = Korea
c: Final phonemes V= Vietnam
d: Short vowels
e: Long vowels
f: Minimal pairs
g: Dipthong vowels
a) Consonants phonemes
The Japanese pronunciation of English consonants phonemes is that Japanese is
difficult to be distinguish between /r/ and /l/. Basson (1986), who investigated
Japanese speakers' acquisition of English phonology found that English /r/ was one
of the more difficult English consonants for the Japanese. Kenworthy (1987, p.
150)describes the Japanese pronunciation of English aspiration as a problem that is
medial and final, and gives, without explanation, the example of /t/ pronounced as
/t/ in eating.
 b) Intial clusters

c) Final phonemes

d) Short vowels

e) Long vowels

f) Minimal pairs

g) Dipthong vowels

3. Solution for proper communication

When you learn a new word, you learn what it means and how it is used in a sentence.
You might even learn the different forms of the word. For you to actually use this word
while speaking, though, you need to know how to pronounce it.
There are a few ways you can learn the correct pronunciation of a word. You could ask
someone to say it for you, or find an example of the spoken word in a video. You could
use FluentU English videos to hear native English speakers talking in movies,
documentaries, cartoons and moreand then you can click on any word in the subtitles
to hear its pronunciation.
However, Khman (2009) pointed out that a dictionary will still be very helpful to you
while you learn English. First of all, a dictionary allows you to look up a huge diversity
and quantity of English words. Even if you have the FluentU app on your iPhone, there
may be times when you need to use a dictionary. For example, you may be in a
classroom or meeting where you cannot use your cell phone or maybe your phones
battery just died. Maybe you do not like using apps, and prefer to have a paper
dictionary. No matter the situation, reading the dictionary pronunciation guide can be an
incredibly useful tool for English learners.
On the other hand, Nguyen (2007) observed organize appropriate activities to promote
self-monitoring and self-evaluation. Students can not keep up with the teacher's
feedback and repairs. Teachers should provide students with the ability to self-test, self-
assess their ability and pronunciation standards. The teacher will accompany the student
in the early stages of the training process and allow them to self-fulfill the requirements
set forth in the later stages of the process. By using the cassette player and tape, the
teacher guides students to record their own talk, discussion, conversation or take with
you. At the end of the activities, the teacher revises the students and assesses themselves
E-learning is an effective and feasible method, utilizing the advancement of electronic
and internet media to convey the knowledge and skills to individual learners and
organizations anywhere in the world, gender at any time. With rich media training tools,
online learner community and online discussions, E-learning enables people to expand
their access to courses and training but reduces costs. According to Yangklang (2013)
the results generally revealed that most of students posed satisfactory competence in e-
learning program. Based on the scores of 40 students, it was found that their word stress
and intonation placement was higher. Therefore, it can be said that the e-learning
program can encourage them to improve their stress and intonation pronunciation.
Moreover, there are many sounds that cause difficulties for Thai students in learning
English pronunciation. So, it is necessary for the English teachers to create other
instruments to improve English pronunciation of students.