The Common Problems of Thai University Undergraduate Students on English Pronunciation Errors
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Abstract
This research study aims to investigate the English pronunciation of Thai university undergraduate students to see how their English pronunciation is. There are three research questions: 1) Do most students pronounce English words correctly; 2) Among pronunciation concerns which are the most common errors of the students; and 3) What are reasons for students to make errors in pronunciation? The population of the study consisted of 122 undergraduates in a Thai university. Two tools were applied to collect the data, namely: an observation check list, and a semi-structured interview. The data derived from the observation checklist was analyzed by using frequency and percentage; while from the semi-structured interview was analyzed by using the coding, intra-coding, and percentage. The results of the study showed that most students (97.54%) pronounced English words wrongly. There are three errors found as common errors: stress (82.35%), starting sounds (69.75%), and ending sounds (100%). There are five reasons reported for them to make errors in pronunciation: 1) they can’t pronounce the words with correct sounds; 2) they’ve never known the accurate pronunciation; 3) they feel shy to pronounce the words; 4) they feel their wrong pronunciation sounds professional; and 5) they memorized from the high school teacher’s pronunciation. Among the reasons the participants gave, it was found that the intra-coder reliability was at 0.83 which means the result analysis was acceptable and reliable.
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