DESIGN ACTIVITIES TO CORRECT PRONUNCIATION ERRORS IN /n/ SOUND AND /l/ SOUND FOR FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

Abstract

English major first-year students at Thai Nguyen University of Education who live in different regions of Vietnam have their own problems in terms of pronunciation. In particular, because of the dialect factor, some students make mistakes about the /n/ sound and /l/ sound when speaking Vietnamese, so those two sounds are also mispronounced when speaking in English. In this research, the researcher considers finding out the pronunciation mistakes that students often make and the percentage of students mispronouncing /n/ sound and /l/ sound; simultaneously, design activities to help correct pronunciation and correct errors of /n/ and /l/ sounds of English major first-year students at Thai Nguyen University of Education. The action research method was used to perform this study. Besides, data was gathered through questionnaires, which were then supplemented by the tests (a pre-test and a post-test) and interviews. The findings of the research found that the majority of errors students have a tendency to make are mispronouncing consonants and pronunciation errors in /n/ sound and /l/ sound. The result also shows that the correction exercises in /n/ sound and /l/ sound for English majors are remarkably effective. According to research, it offers a new source of data to assist teachers in teaching students' speaking skills, as well as a practicing source for students to develop their pronunciation in /n/ sound and /l/ sound.