Using tongue twister technique to improve first year non-English majored students’ pronunciation at Hanoi University of Industry

Abstract

Tongue twister is determined as a technique that challenges students to pronounce words with similar sounds rapidly and precisely. This is also an intriguing technique for improving learners’ English pronunciation. The article presents the application of the tongue twister technique to increase the English pronunciation ability of first-year non-English majored students at Hanoi University of Industry through seven stages of the action research with the participation of 29 students majoring in Automotive Technology. The quantitative data were collected and analyzed with the scores of pronunciation pre-test (given before the course) and pronunciation post-test (given after the course) while the qualitative data about students’ opinions were obtained with their reflective reports. In general, the findings indicated that the implementation of tongue twister as a teaching technique could enhance the students’ pronunciation of sounds (vowels and consonants). In addition, it can be concluded that tongue twister is an appropriate technique to improve students’ ability to use word stress and intonation correctly, and decrease the pauses and hesitations to speak more fluently.