Common mistakes in pronouncing English consonant clusters: A case study of Vietnamese learners

Abstract

Pronunciation plays a significant role in English teaching and learning around the world and this particular field has received much attention from several scholars. The study was conducted to investigate common mistakes made by Vietnamese university learners while pronouncing English consonant clusters. This is a quantitative study with the participation of 39 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. To collect data for the study, a pronunciation test was employed. The results show that the common mistakes made by the learners varied, depending on the types of consonant clusters. Specifically, clusters containing voiceless plosives led to the highest mispronunciation. There was also a tendency to simplify the complex clusters of three-consonant by deleting the first, second consonant, or in some cases, both. Accordingly, this study suggests pedagogical implications for teachers and learners in similar contexts in Vietnam in acquiring the pronunciation of English.

Proficiency and Error of English Final Consonant Cluster Pronunciation Produced by Sundanese Students

“…This student's achievement portrayed their difficulties in pronouncing the target clusters as native Sundanese speakers. This problem does not merely belong to Sundanese students, but also other EFL students, such as Indonesian students (Widya Sari, 2022;Yuliati, 2014), Saudi students (Alzinaidi & Latief, 2019;Bouchhioua, 2019), and Vietnamese students (Tran & Nguyen, 2022). Their proficiency in the target clusters fell to an intermediate level.…”

“…It is one of the most difficult skills to master. (Tran & Nguyen, 2022). Khanbeiki (2015) proposed implicit instruction to improve students' pronunciation.…”

“…The cluster simplification was also performed by Vietnamese. Vietnamese students delete the first and second consonants of English's final complex clusters (Tran & Nguyen, 2022). Vietnamese is one of the languages that does have final consonant clusters.…”

“…Lack of pronunciation proficiency negatively impacts students' self-confidence and limits their social interactions (Gilakjani, 2016). On the other side, pronunciation is one of the most complicated skills to master among others (Tran & Nguyen, 2022). There must be factors that Indonesian students face in articulating a certain English sound due to the differences in phonological structure between English and their native language.…”